CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

by

Robert Christgau

Ahh, 1979—what a year. In contemplating the earlier years of the decade, I’ve often found myself forced—by word-of-mouth or historical imperative or getting around to it or sheer dumb luck—back to that banner year, a year that saw more “A” records released than any other in the 70’s. Also very few great ones, but never mind. Here’s a few I missed—some very good, some pretty good, some disappointing, some as awful as I’d expected all along. To the best of my knowledge, they’re all in print—many were released toward the very end of the year. But step lively—albums disappear fast these days.

ART BEARS: “Winter Songs” (Ralph ’79):: With its tape loops, orchestral percussion, and artsong timbres, this is as far from rock as guitar-based music canbe; it’s also closer to Eno’s hypnotic repetitions than Henry Cow has ever come: This time the lyrics aren’t so much attempted myths as haiku-like apothegms set in some abstract historical space. They’re not great poetry, but they’re not bad poetry either, which combined with the music makes for pretty good poetry. B +

THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND: “Million Mile Reflections” (Epic ’79):: The adventurous journeyman having long since turned into a professional reactionary, he here offers 'nine nominally new ways to kick shit down an Interstate divider. Including a hit single lifted from Stephen Vincent Benet, rock ’n’ roll heaven south of the Mason-Dixon line, passing criticism of the' Ku Klux Klan, and a sentimental reminiscence of “Mississippi,” a state the adventurous journeyman fled in an uproar back when he didn’t ride so easy. , C

DR. JOHN: “Tango Palace” (Horizon ’79):: “Keep That Music Simple” is the good dr.’s prescription for cracking “the big Top 10.” It was released as a single. It stiffed. C +

HENRY COW: “Unrest” (Red ’79):: Finally released in the States five years after it came out in Britain, thisdemanding music shows up such superstar “progressives” as Yes for the weakminded reactionaries they are. The integrity of Cow’s synthesis is clearest in “Bittern Storm Over Ulm,” based on the Yardbirds’ “Got To Hurry”— instead of quoting 16 bars with,, two or three instruments, thus insuring their listeners another lazy identification, they break the piece down, almost like beboppers. Though the saxophone is still second-rate and the more lyrical rhythms flirt with a cheap swing, the band is worthy of its classical correlatives—Bartok, Stockhausen and Varese rather than Tchaikovsky and predigested Bach. A-

SI KAHN: “Home” (Flying Fish ’79):: This Carolina-based unlion organizer—who dedicates his second album to his father, Rabbi Benjamin M. Kahn—is the most gifted songwriter to come out of the folkie tradition since John Prine. His overview is political and his songs personal, their overriding theme the emotional dislocations of working far from home. No doubt part of his secret is that he lives among folk rather than folkies, but his understated colloquial precision is sheer talent. Some will consider the all-acoustic music thin (it’s often solo or duet, twice a capella) • and the voice quavery. I find that both evoke the mountain music of the 20’s in a way that make me long for home myself, and I’m from Queens. A-

LITTLE FEAT: “Down On The Farm” (Warner Bros. ’79):: Not a bad Doobie Brothers parody, but the harmonies were better last time and the laugh lines are in short supply. Might be funnier if they targeted the Doobies ’79 rather than the Doobies’75. C +

KENNY LOGGINS: “Keep The Fire” (Columbia ’79):: I used to think Kenny has no sense of rhythm, but his problems were actually less severe—he just couldn’t rock. This Tom Dowd-produced Doobie-disco job swings just like Jesse Colin Young. And if you think it isn’t Doobie-disco, tell me why the one great song on the record was written with Michael McDonald. “ThisJs It,” it’s called, and it is. C +

IAN McLAGAN: “Troublemaker” (Mercury ’79):: In which the fifth Face, his mates dispersed to the Stones, the Who, Meher Baba, and Hollywood, makes a Faces album as good ’n’ raucous as, oh, Long Player. He’s more convincing taking a pot shot at the Hollywood Face than movin’ out (on guess what kind of person) or seducing a virgin (that’s the Hollywood Face’s specialty). But if men will be boys, this is how they should go about it. B

SUGAR MINOTT: “Black Roots” (Mango ’79):: This is Jamaican pop, by which I mean modestly tuneful Rasta talk mellifluously sung. Pleasant, but nothing to base a canon on—only “Oppressors Oppression” (makes a wise man mad) and “Two Time Loser” (in love careless love) will do more than make you hum along. B

WILLIE NELSON AND LEON RUSSELL: “One For The Road” (Columbia ’79):: As the duo dueted swingingly through “I Saw The Light” and “Heartbreak Hotel” on the first of these four sides, I thought Willie had somehow gotten away with yet another triumphant nonalbum, butrthe slack B-Western self-parody of “Don’t Fence Me In” and “Sioux City Sue” on side two set me straight. And on sides three and four, where Leon accompanies Willie through another batch of stardust, are a mistake—even if the music were as good (compare this “Lucky Old Sun” to the one on Sound In Your Mind), it’s too soon for a reprise. Frank Sinatra he’s not. B-

W1LLIE NELSON: “Willie Nelson Sings Kris Kristofferson” (Columbia ’79):: Needless to say, he also outsings Kristofferson, and without much extra in the god-given department, thoughthe high note that climaxes “Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends” is a doozy. But his inborn tact is wasted on this material. As A1 Green, Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, and even Ray Price -have proven, the way to put such arrant corn across is to pull out the stops. R-

“NO NUKES” (Asylum ’79):: I prefer the movement to the music, but both share a woozy notion of what constitutes genuine consensus and how much it’s likely to achieve. Carefully integrated both racially (Raydio, Chaka Khan, Gil Scott-Heron, Sweet Honey In The Rock, not to mention the Doobies and various backup bands) and culturally (Springsteen and Petty for the low-rent “hard rock” crowd), it’s nevertheless limited by the social connections of its stalwarts. And though this three-LP set features attractive music from all but the real dips, even the hest of it is almost devoid of bite, rough edges, and main force. Graded leniently for a worthy cause. C +

NRBQ: “Kick Me Hard” (Rounder/Red Rooster ’79):: I’m gratified that three out of four successive songs on side two—“Chores,” “This Old House,” and “Things We Like To Do”— mention problems of home maintenance, albeit invidiously (I put off the vaccuuming myself). Makes you think that after 10 years they’re starting to grow up more than “It Was An Accident” would have you believe. B +

PEACHES & HERB: “Twice The Fire” (Polydor ’79):: There’s not a bad cut on this album, and though there isn’t a great one either I’ll settle for “Howzabout Some Love,” the Sunshine Band sorig of the year, “Roller-Skatin’ Mate,” the dance craze song of the year, and “Love Lift,” the neologistic song of the year. Boogaly-booptoyou. B +

SUZI QUATRO: “If You Knew Suri...” (RSO ’79):: Just because, she’s with Robert Stigwood doesn’t mean she’s frying,to sound like Andy Gibb. But she doesn’t put out Blondie’s snazz just because Mike Chapman is still producing, either. Yvonne Elliman’s, maybe. C +

GENYA RAVAN: “...And I Mean It!” (20th Century Fox ’79):: Some find this teen-identified sexy mama—in “Roto Root Her” (her title, don’t blame me) she demands an I.D. chain—embarrassing, others find her politically incorrect. Ian Hunter (on this album) and Lou Reed (on the last) could care less, and I prefer her to any incarnation of Suzi Quatro. Fave: “Night Qwl” ’s auto doowop. B

SPARKS: “No. 1 In Heaven” (Elektra ’79):: Anglophilia’s favorite androids were destined from day of manufacture to meet up with some rock technocrat or other, so thank Ford it was Giorgio Moroder, the most playful of the breed. They even got a minor dance hit out of it—“Beat The Clock,” a good one—but that’s not the point. The point is channeling all their evil genius—well, talent then—info magic tricks. Like the ultimate voice-box song. Or the title tune, which sounds like “Baba O’Reilly” and then breaks down into Eno (or is that Gentle Giant?). Fun fun fun. B +

EDDIE “CLEANHEAD” VINSON: “Kidney Stew Is Fine” (Delmark 79):: Cut in the early 70’s with an all-star band featuring T-Bone Walker and Jay McShann, this was winning various grand prix in Europe as Wee Baby Blues long before it was released here. More tentative and' human-scale, more felt perhaps, than The Original Cleanhead, it sacrifices power and presence as a result, but the material is tough and funny, Vinson sounds loud enough, and at times Walker threatens to steal the record. A-

WEATHER REPORT: “8:30” (Columbia/ ARC ’79):: The live double their more bemused admirers have awaited for years is indeed Weather Report’s most (if not first) useful album. But it also defines their limits. This is a band that runs the gamut from the catchy to the mysterioso. Joe Zawinul is the best sound effects man since Shadow Morton. And when he gives himself room, Wayne Shorter can blow. B +

XTC: “Drums And Wires” (Virgin 79):: My reservations about this tuneful but willfully eccentric pop are ideological. With its playful clash of cross-currents (crossed wires, really, to go with the jungle drums) it’s just a “Complicated Game”—like everything else under the sun, Andy Partridge believes. This idea is an attitude rather than an analysis, and it assures that the music’s underlying passion will be strictly formal. But I like games, especially those—like Clue or categories or three-handed hearts or this record—whicl> require concentration but not lifetime dedication. Partridge and Colin Moulding are moving toward a great art-pop mean that will set standards for the genre. Catchy, funny, interesting—and it rocks pretty hard. A-