ROCK • A • RAMA

ROCK A RAMA

This month�s Rock-a-ramas were written by Joe Fernbacher and Billy Altman.

NAKED ANGELS—Original Soundtrack (Straight Records)::At last the true musical (ahem) soundtrack for Altamont. When you�re locked into the B-side of life (and who ain�t), this is the only muzak, the only dirge to quench the urge. All cycle mythology aside, this is definitely art as sleeze. Screw kitsch; this be meat. The record slips through the textures of outlaw ether like an ice pick into the testicles (yeah, I saw Midnight Express too), and makes Easy Rider look like Mork and Mindy on a six-day suck n� fuck session at Plato�s Retreat. �Rat Grind� excels, 'Toccata for Truck� is pure biker id-rock, and �Bar Dream� is pure uncut boozeadelia. , J the F

BLACKJACK (Polydor)::Just as there�s no great thrill in playing the card game after which this band is named, there�s no great thrill in hearing their debut album. They�re not untalerited, but the matter-of-fact predictability of their approach—heavy intros about 30 seconds too long and intense playing and singing (vocalist Michael Bolotin does Seger almost as we|l as ol� leatherlungs himself) that simply sounds overblown in light of the slight material. The only ace in the hand; �Love Me Tonight,� is the first card dealt out and sounds curiously out of step with the rest of the LP. If the cover of the next album is a green felt table, don�t say you weren�t forewarned. B.A.

THE SKIDS—Scared to Dance (VirginImport):: At last a shivering beacon shining darkly in an ever encompassing sea of carcinomic metallic recession. At last a new charm hanging on the fleshy bracelet that is all pure blood music, a bracelet that beckons to lost musical souls like Jacob Marley swirling through some grey alien mist locked into an arenaceous penal-gland extract high...The Skids are massive and �Scared to Dance� (the song) recalls and revives most vividly all those blood-love images of Charlie Starkweather, Charles Whitman, Richard (what the heck) Speck; and Ed Gein—none of these guys were scared to dance—are you? This�d never get an 85 on Bandstand, but it would be well liked by the Addams fdmily. J the F

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND—Easy Teeth (Bootleg):This might be the only time we�ll ever get to hear the Captain playing the way he really wants to play—unadulterated Beefheartian posey is the only way to describe this double record live bootleg. All the hits are here, including live versions of �Crazy Little Thing,� �China Pig,� �Big Eyed Beans From Venus;� and even a few of the lesser knowns: �Flavor Bud Livin�,� �When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy,� and the ever encompassing �A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond.� The sound quality is okay and the music is positively enhanced by ,the inbet ween Beefheart isms only the Captain can recite: �The last time I saw Roland Kirk, he wanted to know where to get something to eat at 2 in the morning, I said, the only places you can get ribs at 2 in the morning, Roland, are in the Bible...� This is Captain Beefheart at his unconditionally guaranteed best. J the F HERMAN BROOD & HIS WILD ROMANCE (Ariola)::Channeling. one�s ovyn singular madness so that it works within the system is something not many folks seem to be interested in these days, Euroman Herm absolutely demolished New York�s Bottom Line awhile back with a drugs-sex-booze-rock �n� roll music/monologue set that had the audience so perplexed that no one knew just when any particular song was beginning or ending or when he was telling a joke and when he was being serious. All you could be sure of was that he was imrpaculatfely fucked up. All of which makes this record, a well-paced, underneath the skin sensual, rockin�, boppin�, soulful, tough, frivolous, gutsy and (gasp!) accessible affair, that much more interesting. Brood�s songs, vocals and piano playing all neatly straddle the schiz line and besides, anybody that dedicates an album to, among others, Lenny Bruce, Otis Redding and Frankie Lyman, is okay in my book. B.A.

JENNIFER WARNES—Shot Through the Heart (Arista)::It�s mostly by way of association that people tend to discount Warnes, but I find nothing wrong with the fact that her singing style lays halfway between Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt—she sounds like the same wonderful singer she was back in the days of the Smothers Brothers show when everyone I knew went ga-ga over her. Her maturity since then is evidenced by the subtleties of her performances here, from the I'm-ok-on-my-own stance of �I Know a Heartache When I See One� to the heart-on-the-sleeve vulnerability of her cover of �Don�t Make Me Over.� And the four-part acapella rendition of Stevie Foster�s �Hard Times, Come Again No More� is simply one of the most lovely things I�ve heard all year. B.A.

SLEEPY LABEEF—Early, Rare, and Rockin� Sides (Baron)::First off, this guy has the BEST name I�ve ever heard for, a rock �n� roll singer. Second, Sleepy has the best eyes ever made. They equate to Johnny Valentine�s hairdo, they equate to the soul-pits of Jerry Lee�s eyes, they equate to rock �n� roll as purgatory. For those interested in the beginnings of country-rockabilly, this guy has it all. His version of �Ride on Josephine� simply sizzles. Robert Gordon go fish. J the F

SCOTTY MOORE—The Guitar That Changed The World (Epic)::For those interested in a complete primer to rock �n� roll guitar the way it should be played, this album will fill the bill better than any' Mel Bay learn-bypictures book. This is rock �n� roll of the soul, the purest, uncut kind of music; music that hails the spirit of the times. Look, the Prez was only good when he was younger (just like all of us) and thqse early sides that flashed into the public�s ear were all backed by a music that complimented his gyrations and punkitude, perfectly, and Scotty was the lead guitar under all those hits. Moore plays licks on this LP that Jirhmy Page is still trying to learn. I like this. The sounds of history. - • J the F

LEE CLAYTON-Naked Child (Capitol):: Here is. this quiet, unassuming album, with all the fire, passion, and gut-level honesty usually set aside for electric outlaws like Molly Hatchet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, etc. Yet, Lee Clayton takes the whole field of loud country music into another r^alm of intensity. He combines some of the finest straight-out suburban cowboy poetry with white light guitar breaks and cowboy doo-wop background singers. He might be the first of a new wave, cowboy-soul. �I Ride Alone� and �Jaded Virgin� are ..two masterpieces of'the hew form. However, the form attains its initial reality on an epic of Miltonian proportions, �10,000 Years/Sexual Moon,� which paints a picture of the last cowboy gettin� horny on the eve of the apocalypse. This record burns with the hidden desires of all chip kickers longing for the release of space and rediscovery of new frontiers. Besides all this it�s got a dedication to Season Hubley on it and we all know that she�s not only Kurt Russell�s wife, she played Priscilla Presley... and she is the hottest thing on two legs. Hubbahubba...I�d like to change her seasons, humbly. J the F