MOON OVER MACOMB (Rick Johnson Finally likes Something!)
Moon Martin is one of our finest rock ’n’ rollers. It’s not his fault his looks fall somewhere between Hawkbait and Bud-Tease on the tuff-guy scale. Besides, like good old Cub “Four-Eyes” Koda, it doesn’t stop him from transporting illegal rhythms across state lines.
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MOON OVER MACOMB (Rick Johnson Finally likes Something!)
MOON MARTIN Street Fever (Capitol)
Rick Johnson
Moon Martin is one of our finest rock ’n’ rollers. It’s not his fault his looks fall somewhere between Hawkbait and Bud-Tease on the tuff-guy scale. Besides, like good old Cub “Four-Eyes” Koda, it doesn’t stop him from transporting illegal rhythms across state lines.
Street Fever is The Moon’s third] consecutive good LP, an unheardof feat in these Snooz-A-Roni days of softening agents and no-name tissue. Major selling points include the usual excellent material, skintight performance and Martin’s trademark moonwalk vocals. That’s right—a veritable Hungry, Hungry Hippos of talent!
Better still is the glossily paranoiac atmosphere that, hovers over The Moon’s romantic intents like archangelic Doors giving “Cathy’s Clown” a .taste of the whip. Does this boy have a problem with women asks Mario Thomas? Well, does Terrible Ted snack in the woods? Yes indeedy—our man’s got a black belt in misogyny, the better to see you with, my dear.
Martin’s sound is as straightforwardly uncomplicated as it evdr was. Just true-toned, bare bones rhythm lines, augmented by the occasional guitar or keyboard punch. His somewhat less than killer shark vocals are a problem for a few students, all of whom are now assigned a ten-letter oral report on David Lee Roth, due tomorrow. To these admittedly potmarked ears, he’s a real neat singer, giving off indefinably scary/creepy vibes, like Anthony Perkins trying to sell you a shower curtain.
Look for several more hits here from the man who gave such diverse Tweetybirds as Robert Palmer and Dolly Parton new leases on shelf-life. The man is just a goddam good songwriter, with one foot in the classics and the other on Linda Ronstadt’s throat., Whether it’s catchy little left jabs like “Stranded,” “Breakout Tonight” and the inescapable reverseRecords’ pollination of “Signal For Help,” or one of the new pair of stinging needles-and-pins ballads, his tunes stand up on their own two chords.
Plus, all you Z-52ers dan tango your psychobooties off because most of the cuts have the officially registered )980-model dance beat. Not that The Moon gives a diddly— he’s obviously the kinda guy who does most of his dancing between the sheets.
