ROCK A RAMA

ROCK A RAMA

This month’s Rock-a-ramas were written by Richard C. Walls, Richard Riegel, ' Joe Fernbacher and Michael Davis.

HORACE SILVER—Silver ’N Strings Play The Music Of The Spheres (Blue Note):: Following 27 years of faithful service pianist Silver, the last of Blue Note’s famous repertory company, has delivered his final album (no, he didn’t die—the label did, tho it continues to release juicy re-issues). Much of it is typical Silver, stylish funk bop piano, hummable quintet tunes (with an unobtrusive overlay of strings) tho it does get a bit eccentric when show-biz type gospel Singers start belting out philosophical songs that would make Norman Vincent Peale blush. Still, fans should be delighted (or at least interested) and it’s the end of an epoch which should count for something. R.C.W.

THE PROOF—It’s Safe (Nemperor)::Now I can see why the Knack’s 2nd set hasn’t made that much of a splash. All across America, anonymous jouneyman rockers who sat out the mushrock 70’s in the stix are suddenly coming forth with these pink & green power pop debut LPs, as summer 1980 correct as your slimmest cravat. The Proof are from Mattawan, N.J. (who ain’t?), and their ellpee compares favorably to the Cretones, if not Walter Egan and Tommy Tutone as well. Other words, The Proof are hardly Ramonesish world-beaters,,but I’d go around the corner to hear ’em in a club (and/or on your radio) any night of the week. ,, R.R.

MARTHA AND THE MUFFINS—Metro Music (Dindisc/Virgin):: I like women, I like women, I like women, I like women, I like women, I like women, I like women, I like women, I like women...the only thing I like better than women is...more women; and the only thing I like more than more women is...Canadian women. Common let’s be honest...PULLEEEZZEEE!!!!! Sit on my face. “Echo Beach” is one of the great songs of the 80’s and “Terminal Beach” borders on genius. I was wondering when Roxy Music would mutate into this time zone. J.F:

GARY MYRICK AND THE FIGURES (Epic) ::See Proof Rama above. Same difference, except that tyyrick has more of a just-another’ pretty-power-pop-face than the lead guy in The Proof, so you can add or subtract points according to your own cosmetic bent. Same L.A.' relationship-decadence lyrics the Eagles have tried to cram down our ear canals for eons, ! but somehow they sound better put to the Figures’ punk-wave guitar revving. Y’know what I mean?" ME R.R.

DEF LEPPARD—Oh Through the Night (Mercury):: Frorti the clearing house of national metal, Mercury, comes a joke almost as funny as Lou Reed’s one about the blind man making a call in a phone booth. C’mon a deaf leopard— sounds like Francis Coppola having a pasta nightmare. These guys are young, all 18, so that makes them instantly mythical to anyone over 20. They also play ioud, pop metal with all of its built-in anthems: “Wasted,” “Rocks Off,” and “It Don’t Matter,” all are noisome screeds to misogyny, misfitism and manic depression. I give them a 92 ’cause they make me wanna eat Japanese cars—and that’s one way to get jobs back for Americans. J.F.

TELEX.—Neurovision (Sire):: Electronic bump music for all the long evenings of your postdisco autumnal blues, played on keyboard configurations your accountant hasn’t told you about yet, by authentic Belgians (same land as Plastic Bertrand.) Matter pf fact, the name of a certain electron-combo from der Vaterland has been dropped in association with Telex, so let me put it this way: Telex are to Kraftwerk what the Dave Clark 5 were to' the Beatles: funny & fun noise machines released on a bright yellow label: Enjoy. R.R.

RECORDS—Crashes (Virgin):: All you runty punk molls step aside and return to your noisy sculleries. All you mod mobsters throw away your raiments of apocolypse. All you power pop potentates suck on this, ’cause the Records have arrived. Toss aside all your trendy labels ’cause this here is just a plain ’ole fashioned rock in roll band. They’re rock plebes just waitin’ fer prom night. Their power is inescapable. If you doubt -me, so what. If not, just listen to “I Don’t Remember Your Name,” which is just as powerful as the Shoes’ “Tomorrow Night” (single-version), and “Guitars in the Sky,” which is the song Cheap Trick’s been trying to do since their first album. I’m impressed/ J.F.

SAVAGE ROSE—Solen Var Ogsa Din (Sonet import)::Strange how these connections come about. DiMartino mentions Savage Rose in the Women In Revolt article, then CREEM gets a letter telling about their recent activities and album, then the album itself shows up in an import shipment to the record store where I work. And it’s a good record and it makes me wonder if sometimes, it’s musically healthier for a band to toil in obscurity rather than in the public eye. True, Anrtisette and pianist Thomas Koppel are the only original members left but the current band has crafted a sound of its own, one that’s sparser and more delicate than the one the earlier Savage Rose shocked and seduced Europe with at the turn of the last decade. But Annisette’s voice remains as --strong and flexible as ever, cooing lullabies one moment, then letting loose her aWeinspiring vibrato at the turn of a phrase. The only hassle is that the phrases these days are mostly in Danish; uh, anybody out there know Danish...?? Anyway, the album is available through Greenworld, 2730 Monterey St. Suite 104, Torrance, Calif. 90503. M.D.