ROCK • A • RAMA

ROCK • A • RAMA

This month’s Rock-a-ramas were written by Richard Riegel, Richard C. Walls & Jim Feldman.

THE CUSTOMS—“Let’s Get It On”/“Bring My Cadillac Back” (Shake It!); LINDA & GLINDA CONOVER—“You’re Gonna Miss Me”/“I Wanna Get Happy” (Fraternity):: Cincinnati was a hot town for R&B and rockabilly back in the days when King and the other local labels were flourishing, and every now and then the old fire breaks thru the placid surface of the Queen City. The Customs,, featuring Peter Greenberg (once of DMZ) on guitar, have already broke up, but you outlanders don’t need to know that, and the band’s left us a cool femembrance anyway, in their 45, a pair of spirited covers of first-generation rockabilly tunes. Glinda and Linda Conover are a biowriter’s dream: identically tiny blonde twin sisters who clean the table when they play pool as a team, and who write and record pro C&W discs in their spare time. The Conovers’“You’re Gonna Miss Me” is not the 13th Floor Elevators’ classic, but you may find it just as interesting, in its country-backwaters twists. The Customs’ 45 is $2 postpaid from Shake It! Records, 2530 Luna Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45219; check with your usual country outlets for the Linda & Glinda single. R.R.

HORACE SILVER—Sterling Silver (Blue Note):: Pianist Silver has always been a fiercely original jazz stylist with a good-humored bluesy approach that makes his preferred hard bop context* more accessible than most—almost everybody can dig the blues. This collection of previously unissued stuff (plus three cuts originally issued on 45’s) from ’56-’64 delineates late Blue Note hip elegance and Silver’s disarming mixture of restraint and soul. Classy.

R.C.W.

ANGELA BOFILL—Angel of the Night (Arista/GRP)::Your special tuna noodle casserole is a disaster, the wine has turned, the lights are low (you didn’t pay your bill)—and that certain someone is edging toward the door. It’s yor last chance to show some real class. Quick, put this album on the stereo. A tasty blend of pop/soul and light jazz, this second Dave Grusin/Larry Rosen collaboration with Bofill. impresses through its regard for an ensemble sound and arrangements that Quincy Jones might come up with if he suddenly got really refined. Bofill’s vocal style displays an expanding, yet already sophisticated, musical vocabulary, and her songs (four) are more interesting here tharr those on Angie (lyrics are a problem, though). Angela Bofill is fast becoming a major talent. One major beef: Fete Hamill’s pseudo-romantic, “important,” totally unnecessary liner notes. J.F.

XTC-^Drums and Wires (Virgin)::The jacket of this album is so colorfully nifty that I’d probably find a way to push it even if it contained Hargus “Pig” Robbins Calls Disco Squaredances, or whatever, but as it is, it holds some rather neat late-power pop Engloid stuff. I already wrote up XTC’s label-mates in Interview for a similarly interesting (& sounding) album, a couple issues back, so this may be-where you came in. Anyway, Brit humor abounds in XTC’s grooves, and jocular titles like “When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty” are so priceless that making music to equal the lyrical concepts would seem improbable, but by golly, these blokes have done it, more than once. Bonus 7incher included makes the entire package add up to 15 cuts of better than good poppers, so what’re you waiting for? R.R.

OREGON—Roots In The Sky (Elektra); PAUL McCANDLESS—All The Mornings Bring (Elektra); GLEN MOORE—Introducing (Elektra)::Oregon, you may want to be reassured, is the same as ever—eclectic, laid back, slightly pompous, emotionally thin and often beautiful (tho not all at once). Which is what I imagine vegetarians might be like...music to practice deep breathing by. Oregonians McCandless and Moore’s debut solo efforts tow a similar aesthetic line with McCandless featuring his classical inclinations (and fey title of the year—“On, Elf Bird!”) while Moore presents fusion workouts, chamber diddles and ideas from a musicologist’s scrapbook, all held together by an expressive virtuosity. R.C.W.

MANHATTAN TRANSFER—Extensions (Atlantic):: Fans of the now wave shouldn’t overlook this oddball record; like Blondie’s Eat to the Beat, this album plugs solidly into pop muzik’s increased use of swingand Broadwaystyle songwriting for the 80’s. Well, yeah, Manhattan Transfer were recycling trash culture oyer the airwaves when the B-52’s were still hanging around Goodwill stores back in Georgia, but this time around their finds aren’t as camped up as they might have been in the group’s postMidlerian period. These songs are emotionally streamlined, in best art deco style, with nods to jazzbos like Devo (cf. “Coo Coo U ) along the way. “Wacky Dust” (Yes!) “Total swing! Bop was king!” (Yes!) Make mine M.T. R.R

YUSEF LATEEF—Angel Eyes (Savoy)::For all his exotic leanings and bop savvy, Lateefs ace was always his bellowing earthiness—no matter what conceit he was currently exploring, you could count on the fact that he’d get around to getting down. These ten sides from ’59 feature Lateef 'with such unsung Detroit heroes as pianist Terry Pollard and euphoniumnist Bernard McKinney. Despite the exotica, Unceremoniously groovy. R.C.W.

SUBTERRANEAN MODERN (Ralph)::San Francisco’s music scene is beginning to happen all over again, -but I ain’t talking about goodkarmic readymades from the likes of Marty Balin or Jerry Garcia—the new stuff, as displayed on this eminently useful sampler from S.F.’s own upstart indie label, is as avant-avant, in context, as the beats’ writing was when they converged on the city by the bay in the mid-50’s. All the music here is different, at the very least, even if some of the groups are more immediately appealing than the others. Chrome, for instance, are sort of electronic-music Ramones, basic wall-of-noise stuff, while Tuxedomoon are more compellingly brooding in their electronics. And if the Residents could just stop patting themselves on the backs for being so weird, just for an hour or so, they could really go places with their sonic-palooka buzzes. As you might have guessed by now, the superstars of this LP are the ex-Hoosier MX-80 Sound, who still understand so well that true strangeness followsnaturally from emotional sincerity; MX-80 sound more like out-town Velvets than ever, on these cuts. (P.S.: Aficionados of MX-80 should check with the band at P.O. Box 22113, S.F., CA 94122, to see if there are any more copies of their astounding How Can lyric collection available. Essential.) R.R.

MICHAEL GREGORY JACKSON—Heart and Center (Arista Novus)::In which Jackson makes a commericial move but keeps his integrity, with middling results. It’s not that he isn’t convincing as a funkateer, it’s just jthat he was much more impressive as an avant-garde guitarist than he is as (yet another) half-baked Wonder clone. R.C.W.

ANTHONY BRAXTON—Alto Saxophone Improvisations 1979 (Arista):: After last year’s triple album set of avant-garde sonorities for two orchestras, a double album set of solo improvs seems almost modest—and, unlike the orchestral monster, eminently listenable. Braxton remains an elusive theorist but his virtuosity is unflagging and his dexterous mixing of both outre' and traditional phrasings and intonations keeps the interest up in a setting that seems, at first wince, shamelessly self-indulgent. But it ain’t. Recommended. R.C.W.

ART FARMER-To Duke With Love (Inner City): Another in a series of mellow but not overly ripe flugelhorn-with-rhythm albums by Farmer, this one featuring six Ellington compositions and Cedar Walton’s subdued but crisp pianistics. This is as cool as it gets. R.C.W.