ROCK · A · RAMA

ROCK · A · RAMA

GARY LEWIS AND THE PLAYBOYS— Very Best Of (UA); Golden Greats (Liberty)::This is the band that Blandie & the Talking Heads are trying so desperately to emulate. These days everybody’s doing handstands over the rawness of the DC5/Troggs/Stooges, but it’s refreshing to hear this summer saccharine amidst the brawl. Not recommended for today’s' teen-degenerate, but a definite must for the crewcutset. ‘Green Grass,” “Everybody Loves a Clown,” and “She’s Just My Style” will literally tear yr heartstrings. And a special bonus on Golden Greats (“Time Stands Still”) is Gary imitating his spastic dad (Son of Spazzl). It sure beats watching Father Nose Best & My 3 Wombats. 1 R.A.H.

STEVE HILLAGE—Motivation Radio (At lantic)”Hillage’s bozo-brained optimism wears out real fast whether you’re a refried hippie or not but he’s so darpn good on his synthesized guitar that ya just can’t ignore him. Post Hendrix guitar coupled with a pre-Hawkwind mind; gotta be a cosmic joke. Fortunately, it’s a good one.

M.D.

PHIL MANZANERA-801—Listen Now (Polydor Import):: Well, well, look who’s joined the rock ’n’ roll chapter of the Urban Paranoia League (upper division). A bit of a fall from Phil’s former association with Roxy Music Makers ;uptown but he’s still got plenty of classy company and he leads ’em at a Floydian clip right through to the dark side of the womb. Nice place to visit but I hope he doesn’t take up permanent residence there; maybe next time, there’ll be a little less doom and a lot more zoom.

M.D.

JIMMY THUDPUCkER & THE WALDEN7 WEST RHYTHM SECTION—Greatest Hits (Windsong)”Do'oriesbury, the world’s dullest comic strip, finally made it to NBC-TV recently with a posthumous salute to the counter-culture. Light-hearted potholes made it virtually unwatchable. Released in this special’s wake, Thudpucker’s Greatest Hits is a poor excuse for a cartoon album. It’s one relevant yawn after another that would put even Dick Cavett to sleep. Best example of the cartoon strip'-as-elpee genre: Walt Kelly’s /Pogo platter way-the-hell back yonder. To be released: Nancy & Sluggo’s Greatest Dialogs.'

R.A.H.

AFRIKA KORPS—Music To Kill By .(Iron Cross)” With all the hoopla over homegrown releases (remember, that’s how P. Smith &

Television got their staVt), it’s getting nearly impossible to keep track of every peon who decides to press a! few hundred copies of his band doing ten-min. versions of “Gloria”. It’s the Gong Show Syndrome: every screwball thinks he’s got talent! And Afrika Korps incarnates this shoddiness with a brilliant halo.' It’s merely another stage in G>zmo-goon Ken Highland’s career of fraud & self-promotion. Recorded in cqnjunction wjth D.C.’s local dregs, the Lpok& the Slickee Boys (an idea firmly rooted in the tradition of the Kaseijietz-Katz Super CirkUs), the hysteria of Ken & Krew only ^eerfts muddled & artificial. Highland cops lines from Lou Reed as if the ole cheez-it was the Godfather of Soul. Plus the usual Igg pants & Jagger moans. And the only reason this record is even worth mentioning is because it’s THE WORST EXAMPLE OF PUNK MEGALOMANIA RUN RAMPANT IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF PUD! , 7 R.A.H.

SHAUN CASSIDY—Born Late (Warner Bros.)?:Sat. nite, 8:30, Channel 7Leave It To Cleaver (Comedy). The Beav finds he’s at that awkward age—too old for Dennis the Menace pranks, and too young for Dobie Gillis stunts’ ■ * so he shoots himself. Beaver Cleaver: Shaun Cassidy! R.A.H.

VARIOUS ARTISTS—Afro-Cuban Jazz (Verve):: Three of these four sides display exciting seminal meetings of Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz u/ith sides one and two featuring Charlie Parker’s very hot licks against Machito’s multi.-rhythmi,c thrusts (1948-50) and side four presenting Dizzy Gillespie screaming whispering bluesing against a 1954 extension of His Manteca theme (palled “Manteca Suite”, this time with Chico O’Farrill doing the thrusting. The Dizzy side burns, the Parker sides transcend. There’s another side, O’Farrill and orchestra, eight very dated cuts whose appeal is only for the collector. Still, for Bird and Di?, definitely worth checking out. R.C.W.

MX-80 SOUND—Hard Attack (Island Import):: Though I could hardly improve my earlier description of this group’s many attributes (cf. August 7T Ramas), MX-80 Sound have already moved beyond the tough excellence of their Big Hits EP with this debut LP. MX-80 are New Wave without being selfconsciously so (it’s well nigh impossible to be self-consciously anything out here under the unforgiving sky of the Midwest; that’s why all the Cleveland punkos have to move oh to N.Y. before they can bawl out “I Wanna Fug Yer Left Nostril” with any conviction); MX-80 possess an authentically oddball sound that probably derives a bunch from their continued hanging-out around the Indiana U. campus. Hard Attack contains, super versions of MX-80 concertstoppers “Civilized/Demeyes” and “Afterbirth/ Aftermath” (the titles sjseak for themselves), plus a remixed-for-the-occasion version 'of the MX-80 anthem, “Tidal Wave”, highlight of Big Hits. And to think that these guys still have songs like “K-Tel Existence” in the can! Check for Hard Attack at your nearest import source, and if it’s not there yet, send $4.00 to Gulcher Records, P.O. Box (335, Bloomington, IN 47401, fpr the re-released (& still-essential) Big Hits, so you can jazz away the meantime. R.R.

.This month’s Rock-a-ramas were written by Robot A. Hull, Michael Davis, Richard C. Walls and Richard Riegel.