WILLY DEVILLE WANTS TO DREAM

WILLY DEVILLE WANTS TO DREAM: THERES A NEW ROSE IN SPANISH HARLEM

by

John Neilson

Willy DeVille is a dreamer.

So what else is new? Hes certainly not the only rock n roller to fit that description. Bruce Springsteen has his vision of an America that lies midway between James Dean and Norman Rockwell, full of big cats and little gurlies, where any kid with a good heart and a fast guitar can earn a one way ticket to the Promised Land. Van Morrisons vision is more pastoral, closer to the 19th Century than the 20th, full of Irish meadows and grassroots spirituality. For Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe, time stopped somewhere in the early 60s, when the Everly Brothers were still on the radio, Phil Spector was at his peak, and real rock n roll was three chords and a lot of reverb. Ray Davies, meanwhile, built a career out of romanticizing an England where the sun hasnt yet set on Waterloo Station, although he has been trying (not altogether gracefully) to come to grips with the 80s on his latest LPs.

What these dreamers have in common is the fact that their muses are all time warps of one sort of another—real or imagined pasts to be recreated, refined, and relived with each subsequent album. Like NeverNever lands, their existence is a source of solace, for they are places where big kids can go and not be grown up any more.

For Willy DeVille, Never-Never Land is uptown 63, where street-corner Romeos serenade under tenement windowsills and burning-hearted lovers spend their days under the boardwalk and their nights up on the roof, passionately yearning for that one kiss...you know the schtick. Its New York street music, by a guy tender enough to win the hearts of urban senoritas yet tough enough to rearrange the face of any punk whod call him a sissy.

"Were doing urban music thats a cross between Graham Parker and Bruce Springsteen, but slightly more sinister.., Willy is rattling off a line from a review someone did on Mink DeVille in an effort to answer my question as to the roots of his music. Were sitting backstage at the Nitro club in Detroit, having been told by the tour manager that our interview will have to be squeezed in while the band is setting up for their soundcheck. So much for a penetrating in-depth interview—this ones going to be quick and dirty.

"Do you know who Miguel Pinero is? Willys companion asks helpfully.He wrote Short Eyes. Willys in the same place musically as Miguel is in his plays.

Maybe so, but to one who cannot really call himself a fan, much of DeVilles music (on his latest LP Coup de Grace in particular) sounds like an exhaustive search for the perfect sequel toSpanish Harlem. Now that may be exaggerating somewhat, but theres no denying that Mink DeVille is tapping into a vein of music that flourished almost two decades ago. Unfortunately, while an old Drifters song, say, might conjure up evocative images of city life from a more innocent age, many of Mink DeVilles songs evoke nothing more for me than images of old "Drifters songs. So Will, isnt your music a little, you know, dated?

"Nawww, Im not doing oldies, man. I think what Im doing is contemporary. This is young music, its what I feel, its NOW— thats the thing.

> But stylistically, though...

"You can always put on a Billie Holiday album anytime, cant you? And you can also put on Muddy Waters anytime. Its classic music. And Im trying to give people a little more—make them feel a little more—than the usual BuhBuhBuhBuhBuhBuhBuhBuhBuh (arms thrashing away at an imaginary guitar). Hey, I could do a record like that and itd probably be a fucking hit!

"Its what I believe in, I feel what I feel now as much as anybody else feels now. In fact, if you have any doubts you could ask yourself if Im not ahead of my time! You know, everything goes in cycles. I was wearing ties and people were saying to me ˜Dont you think thats a little dated? I was wearing ties and dressing sharp before the Knack or any of those assholes—they all had fucking chicken haircuts and scarves and were into being the Rolling Stones. I mean its BULLSHIT, man! Youve seen that a million times. You need something new, something different, and thats what Im trying to do. Give em something new, give em something to think about fer Chrissakes—this isnt comedy!

Fair enough—so what do you want people to think about?

"I think if you go on your instincts your instincts will never lead you wrong. Thats what I think—if I had a message for flagwaving and all that jive: ˜Start thinking about what you feel, and stop thinking about what youre thinking about. Its like everybodys still hungover from too much LSD.

Call him arrogant and youd probably be right, but at least Willy DeVille doesnt mince words when he feels strongly about a subject. And one subject he feels VERY strongly about is Elvis Costello, who Mink DeVille supported along with Rockpile during Costellos This Years Model tour.'

"I was maybe a little bit insecure at the time, maybe thats why a lot of people took me for a bigmouth, but I was right: Elvis Costello IS a fascist, aint he? Who else would call James Brown a ˜dumb nigger— who else, man, besides THAT TURKEY? Cmon, man, didnt you see him coming? With his phony glasses, cmon! Everyones so naive, theyre afraid to realize they were ripped off. THE BRITISH FUCKIN INVASION WAS A GODDAMN BIG MONEY COMPLICATED POLITICAL CON GAME, and we all got suckered!! Well, I dont know about me...but a lot of people got suckered. Theyre taking our music and spitting it back at us when we have people like Ben E. King, Smokey Robinson—incredible artists, and you know we pushed them aside for anything that fucking glittered, you know what I mean? Shit, its so cheap. Thats what makes me sick about this business. I love my craft but I hate this business. I didnt get into it for that. I got into it because I loved music, I loved records, Ive loved them since I was a little kid...

At this point the pounding of the drummers soundcheck sends us off in search of a more secluded spot to complete our talk, which—by the time the tape starts rolling again—has shifted onto the subject of Mink DeVilles third (and best) album, Le Chat Bleu. On this remarkable album Willys soul aspirations come closest to being realized. Having dispensed with the original Mink DeVille band after the uninspiring Return To Magenta LP, Willy enlisted the services of French string arranger Jean Claude Petit and Elvis Presleys old rhythm section to make the record of his dreams.

I'm not doing oldies, man. I think what I'm doing is contemporary. This is young music, it's what I feel, it's NOW.

"I had this brainstorm—that sounds terrible in print—and I got together with (songwriter) Doc Pomus, and I said ˜Doc, what do you think—the Ben E. King records I like and all the other stuff, its kind of a ripoff of some French music, cause I heard some cellos with Edith Piaf that sounded an awful lot like ˜I Who Have Nothing. And I said ˜Hey, suppose if Ben E. King had gone for real cello players and he could hear it the way I hear it, and do that kinda thing...

With this notion in mind Willy flew off to Paris to record the album, only to have his record label turn up their noses at it upon his return. (The album until recently was available in the U.S. as an import only.)

"I bought brought it back and Capitol said ˜What the fuck is that?! Youre supposed to be a dumb punk, asshole. What are you doing you getting smart and romantic or something? You think this is slick? 

They wanted the Mink DeVille of CBGBs andSpanish Stroll?

"They wanted ˜BuhBuhBuhBuhBuhBuhBuhBuhBahBahBahBahBahBahBah ... Im telling you, Im going to get a hit record with that. Theyre so stupid— theyre fucking used car dealers.

Its not too surprising, then, that the latest LP, Coup de Grace was released on Atlantic Records, home of many of the soul legends of the early 60s. Unfortunately, while the album has its share of fine songs, the production leaves them sounding somewhat flat. The right notes are in all the right places, but one isnt moved the way one should be by a good soul/rock LP (like Le Chat Bleu). The overall effect is uncomfortably close to passion-by-numbers.

Live, however, the new Mink DeVille band manages to bring the songs to life. Added backing vocals makeMaybe Tomorrow sound like a whole new song, and Louis Cortelezzis sax sounds less like punctuation and infinitely more gut wrenching. The bands confidence and power make it easier on Willy, who seems to move with much more assurance than on the Costello tour (relying less on such stagey tricks as pseudo-James Brown knee drops and the like).

All in all its an entertaining show, like your basic soul revue 20 years on. Time tested grooves, guaranteed to please and tug all of the right emotions. Complex interpersonal politics boiled down to whether or not Romeo will get to walk his little girl home. And above all, dreams—of simpler times, storybook romances, and of growing up to be a soul crooner just like Smokey Robinson and Ben E. King.

But its only right that Willy should have the last word on all this, so how about these from one of the songs he contributed to the five-year-old Live At CBGBs sampler:

"Let me dream if I want to...