CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

Robert Christgau

(This month Robert Christgau rates rock best-of compilations. — Ed.)

ABBA: “Greatest Hits” (Atlantic ’76):: Although four of these songs have gone Top 20 here, the title commemorates the band’s conquest of such places as West Germany and Costa Rica, where Abba’s Europop is the biggest thing since the Beazosmonds. Americans with an attraction to vacuums, late capitalism, and satellite TV adduce Phil Spector and the Brill Building Book of Hooks in their defense, but Abba’s real tradition is the advertising jingle, and I’m sure their disinclination to sing like Negroes assures the Europopuli. Pervasive airplay might transform what-is now a nagging annoyance into an aural totem. It might also transform it into an ashtray. God bless America, we’re not likely'to find out which. * C +

ARGENT: “The Argent Anthology: A Collection Of Greatest Hits” (Epic ’76):: Only on “Hold Your Head Up” did they ever get back to the gentle intensity that made their debut half a delight. With Rod Argent seeing Keith Emerson (in the mirror and Russ Ballard contributing such FM fodder as “God Gave Rock ’n’ Roll To You,” this is a more graphic document of what happened to the 60’s than you want to hear. C +

DAVID BOWIE: “Changesonebowie” (RCA Victor ’76):: The way La Bowie’| vaunted concept albums reduce to greatest hits is a revelation. Non-dross from the likes of Diamond Dogs and Young Americans holds its own with the best discrete songs from Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, and what’s more, chronology resembles progress—like the Supremes regressing from “Where Did Our Love Go” to “Love Child” in reverse, although not as important aesthetically. - I A

BREAD: “The Best Of Bread” (Elektra ’73):: Though at times they sound like countryrock crossover of unprecedented spinelessness, this is basically prime pop—I thought “Everything 1 I Own” was a better single than “Tumblng Dice.” I only wish they reshuffled the lyrical cliches as skillfully as the musical cues. Even in fun I can’t work up much feeling for an ass man as smarmy as David Gates. B

JOHN CALE: “Guts”' ((Island ’77):: This is how Island makes up for withholding U.S. release on Helen Of Troy, and I think we’re better off. As a whole, Helen Of Troy is sodden, and stylized, and while “Pablo. Picasso” and “Leaving It All Up To You” are Cale at his mad best, “Mary Lou” and “Helen Of Troy” itself almost drag this compilation down. JThey don’t, though. Cale’s Island music epitomizes the cold, committed dementia of the best English rock',1 and side two—comprising “Fear Is A Man’s Best Friend,” “Gun,” “Dirtyass Rock ’n’ Roll,”1 and “Heartbreak Hotel”—is a hard-sell advert for the disease. A

DR. HOOK: “Revisited” (Columbia ’76):: Although his rock ’n’ rolLnumber with this band was often forced and unfunny, you have to admire Shel Silverstein’s eye for detail and ear for diction, his willingness to go for the aorta, and his did-he-mean-that? . humor. This compilation includes “Cover Of The Rolling Stone,” still an acute, account of the superstar half-life, and “Carry Me, Carrie,” based oh a text by Theodore Dreiser, as well as several salubriously blase references to the dread scourge, homosexuality. Docked a notch for “Penicillin Penny,” who after all got her dose from someone with a penis. B-

THE GUESS WHO: “The Greatest Of The Guess Who” (RCA Victor ’77):: Unbeknownst to anyone but their Record company, the Guess Who staged a mild comeback in 1974 and 1975—their next-to-last official LP, Flavours., charted higher than anything they’d released since 1971. What this meant was that they’d gone Top 10 on the AM again, with the inspired “Clap for the Wolfman”—Burton Cummings proved a master of the music-life song once somebody else thought of it. The second side of this ultimate compilation showcases their late period, which means a decrease in misogyny (and the elimination of such dubious hits as “Share The Eand” and “Bus Ridefr”) from Best Of. Tuneful, hard-driving commercial rock’n’ roll with some lilts for variety. What more do you want? A-

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE: “The Worst Of The Jefferson Airplane” (RCA Victor ’70):: For someone who enjoys their albums, like me, this factitious compilation—15 cuts is a lot, but though it includes all (two) of their AM smashes it doesn’t even pretend to be a singles anthology— is a waste. But for someone who finds their albums wanting, like me, it hasits uses, especially as an overview. These folks are literate both verbally and musically. Their chops don’t quite

JEFFERSON STARSHIP: “Gold” (Grunt ’77):: Though their biographies suggest no special expertise in the subject, these aging romantics §ing only about love. To put their generation in kinder perspective, they encourage young Craig Chaquico to play his stupid guitar. Perennially poignant Marty Balin, now departed once again, dominates this compilation like a matinee idol squeezing a last year or two out of his profile; perennially unpredictable Grace Slick, now also departed, soundless and less interested in providing point or counterpoint. The mpsic isn’t utterly formulaic—from their tight folkie harmonies to their John Creach phase through various oriental mysteries, they’ve cultivated an agreeable exoticism. But it goes nowhere except the bank. B-

JANIS JOPLIN: “ Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits” (Columbia ’73):: I was disheartened to learn that five of these ten tracks were cut with Full Tilt Boogie, but one of them is “Ball And Chain,” and I’m delighted tb report that such competent classics as “Cry Baby” and “Move Over” sound a' lot more raucous following “Try” and “Bye Bye Baby” than they did on Pearl. In short, this blatant piece of product represents her more fully than any other disc: spontaneity as "rebellion, tied to the will, the major mode of the late 60’s, preserved—imperfectly, of course— forever on a piece of plastic, A

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE: “Flight Log” (Grunt ’77):: The truism is that their history matched the counter-culture’s from optimism to visions to anger to dissolution, and this compilation devotes more than a disc to phase four. 1 really tried to pin down some overarching theme I’d missed at the time, '.but dissolution seems to be itnot only did they have nothing to say, they didn’t have much' to say it with. The three Hot Tuna cuts sound fresh and intelligent by comparison, and the 60’s stuff—only two repeats from Worst plus a live “Somebody To Love”—is, well, optimistic and visionary and angry. C +

equal their tastes—“White Rabbit,” with its bolero build and librarian’s-eye view of lysergic acid, is perfect, but “Chushingura” is almost as sloppy in* the picking as “Today” is in the sentiment. They were hippies when becoming a hippie took beatnik initiative and psychedelic imagination. TAnd when they’re good they make th6 for-betteror-worse evolution of rock ’n’ roll into rock seem both appropriate and inevitable. B +

THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND: “Greatest Hits” (Capricorn ’78) I can distinguish Tucker from the other boogie bands because they favor cowboy hats, but danged if I can tell their albums apart. Country people know onexow from the next, too, but poor deracinated souls like me refuse to be bothered until A&P runs out of milk and r&r runs out of gimmicks. , Toy Caldwell does write pretty good songs for a boogie man, though, about one a year to go with the album, and it’s nice to have them all in place. Pure boogie mythos, with lots of “Ramblin’ ” and “Searching for a Rainbow,” though I’m pleased to report that there are more miners and, yes, cowboys here than gamblers, a reassuring token of social responsibility. I recommend this album. It’s as near as you can get these days to hearing that old steam whistle blow. A-

DAVE MASON; “Very Best Off Dave Mason” (ABC ’78)ABC has finally compiled a Dave Mason album as good as Alone Together by the simple expedient of omitting only the worst and longest of Alone Together’s eight songs (two of which have now appeared on five of Mason’s six ABC/Blue Thumb albums), adding the two live Traffic-originated tracks, and sticking one oh from Headkeeper. Engaging throughout, especially compared to his Columbia stuff, and true to Mason’s place in history. With his gentle, multi-percussive impetus, warm but basically characterless vocals, skillfull hooks, and drippy Lyrics, the man is the father of California rockpop. Loggins & Messina, the Doobie Brothers, Pab|o Cruise, every folkie who ever tried to swing a little, where would any of them be without Dave;) Docked a notch for wellspringing. BMICHAEL NESMITH: “Compilation” (Pacific Arts ’77):: Nesmith began his career on RCA a crackpot inventor and ended as a bankrupt cottage industry. The title of his final RCA LP, And The Hits Just Keep On Coming, which is why he’s seen to its reissue, as well as that of Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash, another pretty much standard country-song sampler. Seven of the twelve cuts on this compilation (another great title) come from those twoialbums. The side that concentrates on earlier stuff is an amazing; contraption, one piece of zonked Nashville after another. The other side is a pretty much standard-plus display case. Among the missing: “The Grand Ennui,” “Calico Girlfriend,” “Mama Nantucket,” “The Keys To The Car.” ; l ' . B +

ROXY MUSIC: “Greatest Hits” (Atco ’77):: I’ve never thought average guys were compelled to ape the ruling fclass, I don’t believe romance is inevitably corrupted, and the collapse of European culture is long overdue. In short, what Bryan Ferry has to say has never spoken very loud to this listener no matter how you break it down. So while others may mourn the nuance and conceptual integrity of Stranded and Country Life and Siren, 1 got off on this compilation, which puts his dialectic on display in its most enteirtaining guises. What with all the popfcraft and robot energy and campy asides— and genuine emotion and ideas—f was even inspired to listen to “A Song For Europe” all the way through. Found I could translate the French part. A

LEON RUSSELL: “Best Off Leon” (Shelter ’76):: From “Roll Away The Stone,” metre iconoclastic than Mott The Hoople’s, to “Stranger In A Strange Land,” more iconoclastic than Robert Heinlein’s, the first side reminds you what an uncommon rock ’n’ roller he can be. But on side two, which yokes “A Song For You,” “This Masquerade,” and “Hummingbird” to three potboilers from Will O’ The Wisp, you realize that his iconoclasm was (is?) as accidental as his standards. B +

RINGO STARR: “Blast From Your Past” (Capitol ’75):: Though I wish John Lennon’s “Goodnight Vienna” replaced “I’m The Greatest,” Lennon’s misbegotten attempt at a mock theme song for Ringo, basically this compilation is what might happen if you or 1—or any innately unpretentious person with strong tastes in rock ’n’ roll and lotsjof smart pros helping out—were to spend five years putting together an album, with the false starts eliminated. It could only happen to an ex-Beatle, of course, but what the hell—it does include his great debut B side, “Early 1970,” which could only have occurred to a passionate Beatle fan. B +

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TEN YEARS AFTER: “The Classic Performances Of Ten Years After” (Columbia ’76):: OK, so the classic performances are on Deram. Neoclassic, then. I still find that their late phase has its kinetic (as we used to say) charms.: And admit that even without the regrettable. “Positive Vibrations” I’d be very unlikely to play this except for historical reference. B

WET WILLIE: “Wet Willie’s Greatest Hits” (Capricorn ’77):: Alone among Southern boogiemen, the Willies have avoided country as in C&W for country as in funk, and their rhythm section gets away with it—drummer Lewis Ross and bass player Jack Hall are all juke-joint bump and-grind. In a better world they’d be rednecks in a soul band, but as it is they’re stuck in a,group with two problems—singer and songs. (Oops, forgot the guitarist, which isn’t hard.) Jimmy Hall supposedly combines Ronnie Van Zant’s discretion with Gregg Allman’s power, but to me he sounds like a cross between1 Chris Youlden and Lonesome Dave Peverett—with an authentic accent, of course. And although their one lucky strike has been the reggaeish “Keep On Smilin’,” most of the time they strive fruitlessly for r&b tunes as inescapably elementary as the hereincluded “Shout'Bamalarna” and “Grits Ain’t Groceries.” I guarantee you that Little Milton isn’t going to return the favor and cover “Leona” or even ‘Baby Fat.” They might get Stoney Edwards to do “Airport,” though. I B-

WINGS: “Wings Greatest” (Capitol ’78):: Twelve songs, five of them hits not on any previous Wings album, running 54:11 in all, replete with rhythm shifts and subthemes and counterplots and flights of fancy and forays into abject nonsense. In short, pop f6r potheads. All I could ask is a stylus-width scratch across “My Love.” B +