ROCK • A • RAMA

ROCK.A.RAMA

This months Rock-a-ramas were written by Richard Riegel, Gregg Turner, & Jim Feldman. Jim Feldman wrote las months Mary Wilson review, not Joe Fernbacher.

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS—Survival (Island):: This album is something of a comeback from the Jimmy Buffett-in-blackface dope tourism of Kaya , at least as far as getting Marley back on the track of making with the Rastafarian protest songs. All the cuts here are concerned with the cause of Pan-African liberation, speaking in tongues both general ("So Much Trouble") and specific ("Zimbabwe"). If Marleys delivery of his righteous indignation sometimes seems overly muted (to someone more accustomed to the Polemics of the Clash, if not Peter Tosh), hes nonetheless on target philosophically, once more. Not a bad moment for us white folk to begin memorizing all those black-nationalist flags on the cover of Survival, just in case the Third World promo men feel like colonializing us one of these days.

R.R.

THE GERMS (GI) (Slasht:IN L.A. THEY STILL POGOU Punk-rock means two-minute blasts of distended downstrokes and dis-affected power-chords inciting troops of latter-day spineheads, recycled glitter queers (give or take a few Hollywood homos), and fan-frantic slaves of the rhythm to peak levels of froth! And these slaves have a master—namely, Darby Crash, lead singer of hardcore L.A. punkers the Germs. Their long-awaited albums finally been released, and its a goddamn killer-dillerl Every bit as obtrusively ug/y in the white noise vein as alia the limey bands purport to be, every inch as punk-rocknroll as modern predecessors. One song after another, a}l 16, fast and loud, mean and vindictive and hateful. DUMB and STUPID under the auspices of misanthropic and intellectual! Its all here—top-notch bestiality in "Lexicon Devil"; snarls of lower-evolved species in "Manimal"; out.and out RNR in "What We Do Is Secret." And what lyrics! "Let me touch the tips of inculcated desire/And brush the fettered veil away/Shutdown in the depths I lay." As Germs fan R. Meltzer says, "These are the kind of words you scribble on toilet paper while youre on the can, but instead of using for wiping and flushing purposes, you hang on to and keep. Great words!" All in all, this may be the most important L.A. testimonial since L.A. Woman.

' G.T.

ALDA RESERVE—Love Goes On (Sire):: "Alda Reserve"? As,in the inevitable gee-aintcivilian-life-a-gas! spinoff from M*A*S*H, when whatzisface finally hangs it up after 17 seasons of (not really) fighting the Commies, and of stitching up the masses with surgical-steel puns? Nope, these guys never played Korea or even Nam, they were the "house band" up at Hurrah until the record companies started queuing up to sign em. Alda Reserve happen to be a kind of alternative Knack, just right for grownups & Easterners, as they too pump out power pop chilly with chip-on-the-shoulder lyrics, but all in the name of the icy Intellect. So distanced this LP is, Mr. Bow-Wow Bowie would probably give it his nod; recommended listening for anyone who finds the Talking Heads too unutterably weird.

R.R.

RUFUS & CHAKA—Masterjam (MCA*:I was dismayed to find out, on a recent episode Of WKRP, that Dr. Johnny Fever hates disco (& nearly throttled the first AfrorAmerican he could lay his hands on, his colleague Venus Flytrap, in his rage). Shoot, Dr. Johnny/ Howard H., you shoulda got the message when you used to play the gay guy in Dr. Bob Hartleys therapy group, but disco has long since eclipsed old Frank Zappa sides or whatever in the relevance department. Take this new Rufus set, for instance: Rufus have assimilated disco with the accomodating elan of, say, Blondie, by layering their usual hard funkrock licks over the essential disco pulse-beat. Good show! Chaka Khans snarling-lips vocals tend to slice through all questions of category, as a matter of fact.

R.R.

NICOLETTE LARSON—In The Nick Of Time (Warner Bros.)::In which singer Larson and producer Ted Templeman continue to adhere closely to formula and, at the same time, manage to overcome most of said formulas inherent cliches to produce a highly enjoyable record. The two clinkers first: NO MORE MOTOWN COVERS. STOP IT. This, time its "Back In My Arms Again," with one of the alltime great lines—"Flo, she dont know/Cause the boy she loves is a Romeo"—left out!! And theres more to Karla Bonoffs "Isnt It Always Love" than just marimbas. On the whole, though, Larsons singing is actually sexy ("Daddy," written by Bobby Troupe in 1941) and funky (Lieber/Stollers "Dancin Jones")— and three songs by Chunky aka Lauren Wood, point up her breezy energy especially well. Highlights are Lowell Georges "Trouble," and Larsons duet with Mike McDonald on his "Let Me Go, Love."

J.F.

STARJETS (Epic/Portrait):: Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy picks up a lot of special credit for writing songs about his Irish homeland, but (in best metallic tradition) his compositions tend to romanticize Ireland as a mystical emerald entity, rather than plugging directly intq the current self-determination struggles. Maybe Lynott is commenting on the conflict in his own way, by showing us his vision of what the peacetime Ireland could be, but meanwhile, the Belfast-bred Starjets have jumped feet first into the fray. Not surprisingly, for these young & drunk-with-being-20 post-punks, the continuing civil strife has been a terrific bother to their dreams of exploring the sensualities of the rock n roll life style, and their songs fairly glow with the cheerful paranoia of Starjetian life during wartime. Cocky, energetic power-pop, distantly related to the Clash, but also to the Beach Boys. Lynottd be proud.

R.R.