ROCK - A - RAMA

ROCK - A - RAMA

This month’s Rock-a-ramas were written By Michael Davis, Richard C. Walls, j. m. bridgewater, The Masked Marvel, and Richard Rieget.

PARADISE ALLEY—Original Soundtrack (MCA):: You might be tempted to pick this up for the two new Tom Waits tunes—which are okay but not Blue Valentine fine—but you also get a bonus: Sylvester Stallone sings. Sort of. Sort of like Waits, actually; give the man some gravel to gargle with and he just might become a star.

M.D.

JACK* DEJOHNETTE—New Directions (ECM):: It’s not really new, it’s pursuing the old ‘ for greater satisfaction. Drummer DeJohnette, guitarist John Abercrombie, trumpeter Lester Bowie, and bassist Eddie Gomez are creating in the context of structured freedomt i.e., in and out, and this type of playing only works if the players have a special affinity for each other. And these players do. The structure/in sections are smooth and the freedom/out sections demonstrate a fascinating interplay between drums and guitar, especially when Bowie is playing up front. Gomez ain’t bad either. Great stuff. R.C.W.

VARIOUS—No Wave (A&M):: A grab bag of sour grapes—the Stranglers didn’t sell so the new wave doesn’t exist (?). Anyway, the Stranglers and UK Squeeze will suck you in but the »: Dickies are bound to repel and who the fuck are jthese other people? Mainly lames except for someone named Joe Jackson whose sensible stuff is worth all the trumpets in T.J^ Howabputa 12 incher for this whosis, Herb? M.D.

DAVID SANCIOUS & TONE—True Stories (Arista):: David Sancious, keyboardist; Jqte of the pre,-Born To Run Bruce Springsteen band and Alex Ligertwood, singer, late of Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, are the moving forces behind this somewhat listless session. The vocals are forgettable and the instrumentals are pretty. Powerless pop for later people. R.C.W.

CRAZY HORSE—Crazy Moon (RCA)::If you missed your annual dose of Neil Young barbed wire guitar on Comes A Time, you can pick it tip here. Neil’s sharp, simple lead lines grace half the tracks here; what’s more, his way with words has impressively improved the group’s songwriting skills. In other words," you don’t hafta be sandy cowflop to appreciate this.

M.D.

CHICK COREA—Circulus (Blue Note):: This .isn’t the popular Corea but rather some previously unissued seminal sides by Circle. There’s not enough room hereto go into the ups and downs and ins and outs of this avant-garde matrix, so suffice it to say that if you’re familiar with Circle, and youlike ’em, then this record is a' must; and if you’re not familiar with Circle, then . what the hell, buy it anyway, you’re probably tired of listening to the same old crap as it is.

‘ X. R.C.W.

JULES AND THE POLAR BEARS (Colum bia)::Gt>od solicitation it^m for the fickle cell anemia research fund* Display with mobile of Doc Welby pouring Sid Vicious a cup ofSanka. So-Cal pandas stuffed with steel wool still have the souls of sheep, even if “stupid questions about love are the stupidest questions of them all.” Does rank almost'every bit as dandy as Boatie Sheen and the Pontoons. “My sister goes down on tornadoes/She gets blown away/You’d make a big wind yourself/In Kansas.”

j.m.b.

JERRY LEE LEWIS & FRIENDS—Duets (Sun):: Mark my words, this album is going to generate a lot of excitement. Shelby Singleton took a bunch of Jerry Lee Lewis B-sides from the_ Fifties and added a second voice that sounds too much like Elvis Presley to be the real McCoy. The packaging isjust vague enough so that you might think the material cameNfrom the legendary, unreleased session Jerry Lee cut with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and the bona fide Pelvis. The excitement is gonna happen when Jerry Lee finds out about the album and goes looking for Shelby with a gun. T.M.M.

PATRICK MORAZ (Charisma):: This is not a bad album, as long as you disregard the printed lyrics of “Keep The Children Alive” (have-youhugged-your-kid-today? sonic-guiltinducers worthy of Harry Chapin), and the grandoise civilization (electronics) vs. nature (acoustics) theme of the whole project. The deck may be stacked toward civilization and its disco-tenets for an old Yes-man like Moraz, but this is decent keyboards & percussion stuff nonetheless, appropriately baroque fizzbop with a Frog accent. Good movie-fnood suggestiveness, caught my psyche pogoing to that time-exposure of the moon somewhere along the line. R.R.

THE YANKEES—High ’n’ Inside (BigSound):; Unlike their World Champion namesakes, these Yankees mqke up for their sloppy playing with raw enthusiasm. They may not be ready for the big leagues yet, but on any given day “Take Me Home & Make Me Like It” could beat out the competition. With a little seasoning, these guys might become a real threat. T.M.M.

FAITH BAND—Rock ’n’ Romance (Mercury)” The problem with these impeccably bland Indianapolis rockers is hardly that they’re Midwestern and middle class, but rather that the only lyrics they .can seem to find to describe their middle class, Midwestern lives are those fraudulent cowboy-rock cliche's they learned off old Eagles sides. Life, even Midwestern life, has gotta be richer than those readymades could ever repeal. Matter of fact, Faith Band, coming from Indianapolis, you should’ve picked up on the authentic Americana of the 500 (real cowboys like A.J. Foyt) long before now, before you ever took the Eagles’ phony words for one second of your own lives. R.R.