ROCK • A • RAMA
TOM GRUNING—Midnight Lullabye (Inner City):: The first impression of this debut is of a poor man�s Tom Waits (is that redundant or what?) but the resemblance is superficial— Gruning is more of a straight ahead jazz singer than Waits, but a less compelling personality.
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ROCK • A • RAMA
This month�s Rock-a-ramas were written by Richard C. Walls, Richard Riegel, Michael Davis, and Dave DiMartino.
TOM GRUNING—Midnight Lullabye (Inner City):: The first impression of this debut is of a poor man�s Tom Waits (is that redundant or what?) but the resemblance is superficial— Gruning is more of a straight ahead jazz singer than Waits, but a less compelling personality. His melodies and accompaniments aren�t as slickly tough, which could be considered a plus, and his delivery, as befitting a Texan, is more folksy than desperate (Inspirational Rhyme: �Got a six day job in a shipping yard/Don�t make much money, but I sure get tired�). Comparisons aside, a lot of it�s just plain jive, but then that�s the point, no? Still, he shouldn�t have allowed the liner notes to say �He�s not an oppressed minority or an alcoholic...Tom wants to make a living in his corduroys and not have to lift anything heavy.� Failed irony�s never won fair criticism.R.C.W.
THE LORDZ—You & Me Are Rockers (World Sound):; Remember way back when the Ramones were laying around Joey�s moldy rumpus room, trying to master the. chordal intricacies of the latest metallic wowsers, and they couldn�t, so they decided to write their own carbona-not-glue blitzkrieg boppers? The rest is transcendent history, etc., right now let�s dig Detroit�s young Lordz, who positively ache to emulate the heroin & sportscars sonic thunderbolts their big-city brothers in the MC5 used to shoot out. But the Lordz are still rather raw draftees into the guitar army, and this debut LP comes out less slab metal than metallic-flavored powerpop, which manages to defy all the categories us critics keep foisting on you innocents. Shopping-mall agitprop master, at least, get this wonderful press clippings from their publicity kit: �The Lordz will entertain in a benefit concert at 2 p.m. on Halloween at the Sears wall by the fountain in the center of Livonia Mall. Donations will be accepted, with proceeds going to the Burned Children organization.� My kinda band! (Yours, too, at P.O. Box 35378, Detroit, MI 48235) R.R.
ELLEN McILWAINE ^ Everybody Needs It (Blind Pig):: I wonder if it�s.coincidence that Mcllwaine�s first album in years is being released at the same time as the LP but that �other� slide-slingin� blues-rooted female vocalist, Bonnie Raitt. No matter; this disc cuts Raitt�s formula-rock outing to pieces. Ellen�s slide work on tunes like �Temptation Took Control� and �Come Sit Down And Tell Me� is positively nasty and her always-overpowering voice hasn�t faded with time. But her ace-in-the-hole is Jack Bruce, whose bass playing on �Danger Zone� and �Hang On To A Dream� makes his recent work with Robin Trower sound lame in comparison. I donlt know about everybody, but those of you who believe rock is more about rugged individualism than playlist politics might wanna check this out. M.D.
McCOY TYNER — 13th House (Milestone):: Career overlap finds Tyner temporarily astride two labels (this one and Columbia) so that now the albums seem to come at ya every three months instead of every four. The theme of this chapter is big band, scrupulously arranged by Tyner, Jimmy Heath, and Slide Hampton, with worthy solo contribs from Hubert Laws and Ricky Ford. Completists, those who havn�t gone broke yet, take note. R.C.W.
THE CALL (Mercury):: More or less the Novo Combo route here—seasoned musicians who didn�t get (or want) their shot in past style wars, trying out the newer progressivisms—but the results are better realized on The Call�s disc. Clenched-jaw, urban-melodrama-verging-onparanoia, a la Talking Heads, but far icier and more detached music than David Byrne would ever allow his disciplined-to-funk urban soul to express. Strong guitar work predominates, there are an unusually (and admirably) large number of antiwar messages in the lyrics, and the Band�s high-foreheaded Garth Hudson guests on sax and keyboards. No, I don�t know what that last move means, either, but I do. like the art deco subway cover. Shades of recommended. R.R.
DUKE JUPITER-1 (Coast to Coast):: Stillbirth city: these guys are so stereotypical of the soggy-70�s country rock that defamed the decade that they�re almost interesting in their virtuoso predictability. Main concerns of their flaccid boogies are the everlovin� road (goes on forever), picking up women (start with slim & blonde, but they always wind up bein� dirty, y�know?). and picking up more (slim & blonde) women. Drummer/vocalist David Corcoran, author of that instantly-immortal D.J. credo, �You�ve Gotta Love The Wrong Ones (�Til the right one comes along),, strikes me as the quintessential 70�s-cuntreerock MAN, per his trickled-down-from-the-Eagles, eternal-happyhour philosophy: neatly sprayed hair and a neatly trimmed mustache will excuse (nah, justify!) all the emotional failings a guy can lug off into that tequila sunset! R.R.
VARIOUS ARTISTS-Ballads By Four (Galaxy):: This is a companion piece to Five Birds And A Monk (Galaxy—rama-ed in Dec. �81 CREEM) with the well-oiled Galaxy rhythm section—Stanley Cowell, piano; John Heard or Cecil McBee, bass; the legendary Roy Haynes, drums—accompanying the following balladeering saxes and their chosen vehicles: Art Pepper/ �Somewhere Over The Rainbow�—Pepper conversing otherwise hobnobbing with his brother wizards, John Klemmer/�God Bless The Child�—still berserk-ing but more faithful to the song�s longing contours; Jimmy Griffin/�Smoke Gets In Your Eyes�—soulful with a fat solo by McBee; and Joe Henderson/�Good Morning Heartache�—showing how exultant double-timing can still be poignant. Great stuff, all of it. R.C.W.
SCREAMING SNEAKERSMatching Orders� (Screaming Sneakers EP):: This quartet�s from Manhattan by way of Miami, which means few people out there have heard the word—but in the two or three years they�ve been together they�ve emerged from Blondie�s shadow to out-popmusik Parallel Lines without a second thought. Lead vocalist Lisa Nash mixes sexy Lulu intonations with a hot �n� bothered Lesley Gore on �I Can�t Help It,� and the band couldn�t be better: sweet and loud simultaneously. There�s more material just as good in the can—so where is it? Address inquiries to The Ratcage, 171 Avenue A, New York, NY, 10009, and they�ll tell you. D.D.
TOM COSTER—T.C. (Fantasy)�:: A slick but amiable album by the ex-Santana keyboardist, mixing (looking for an) arena rock, fusion, soft metal, unwardly mobile mood music, acoustic jazz piano, semi-classical synthesizers...to these ears only the acoustic jazz piano sounds sincere but it�s hard to dislike a big harmless piece of candy like this. And you thought critics never said nice things about facile, meaningless records... R.C.W.
