ROCK • A • RAMA

ROCK • A • RAMA

This month’s Rock-A-Ramas

were written by Billy Altman,

Richard Riegel and

Jon Young

STRYPER

(Enigma)

You know you’re in for something, er, different when the back cover of a record hosts not only a quote from the scriptures (“By His Stripes We Are Healed”—Isaiah) but a thank you nod to “#1 Jesus Christ (The Boss Man)” to boot. And different is probably the best way to describe this mini-LP by what is—unarguably—the world’s firstever BORN AGAIN HEAVY METAL BAND!!! Yes, like the Pharoah say, I kid you not, and prophet Trakin’s words (see Dio review elsewhere in this issue) do indeed appear to have come to pass, as screeched onto vinyl by the stryped tongue of Michael Sweet: “Why lose when you can win? Give G-d a try/The Devil’s not your friend/The truth is not a lie.” Can’t you just see these guys giving sanctuary to defenseless chickens escaped from the clutches of Ozzy Osbourne, or maybe bringing in the exorcist to help turn Tony Iommi into a rightie? Oh well, Lord or no Lord (and I don’t mean Jon) it ain’t metal if it doesn’t give you a headache, and this six-songer, while it may inherit the earth, has got the lamb but not the chops. Alternate Title: Deadly Blessing. B.A.

THE STOMPERS

One Heart For Sale

(Mercury)

They may not score too highly on the originality meter, but otherwise these aptly-named Stampers are a thorough delight. As produced by pop pros Ritchie Cordell and Glen Kolotkin (Tommy James, Greg Kihn, et al.), Sal Baglio and crew fondly evoke Graham Parker, J. Geils, the Raspberries, Jackie Wilson (!) and other greats in one action-packed cut after another. Their swell Phil Spector salute even comes with sleigh bells and a husky sax solo. One problem: when Baglio gets really excited, he starts to sing like Billy Joel, a must to avoid. And here’s hoping that their much-deserved return engagement will offer a few distinctive wrinkles, just for art’s sake. J.Y.

BRUCE FOXTON

Touch Sensitive

(Arista)

The Jam keep moving, as their bassist follows Paul Weller’s Style Council onto that slippery U.S. solo vinyl. An ’80s-soul jump outing, Touch Sensitive sounds much better than the usual fragmentof-a-broken-up-group product. Foxton comes across as more confident than the stereotype bassist, maybe because he doesn’t have to take orders about hair-length or collar-width from the style-mad Weller anymore. With his Rick Springfieldish looks (but he’s a cirrus Britisher just the same), Foxton could really clean up with the Emmteevee-watcher hordes. R.R.

JOY RIDER

Tired Of Phoney

(RCA)

Tough to go wrong with’ a title as cool as “Insomnia In Zambia,” and Ms. Rider, who once upon a time was part of the second wave of CBGB-ers in the late ’70s (indie of note: “No More Nukes”), here fashions what should be a natural for the dancefloor set all autumn and winter long. Sultry and hypnotic, the song turns on a “Tequila”-style guitar riff while percussion sounds roam the channel tundra and Rider awaits the dawn among the foliage. And the grade, especially on the more funk-filled tracks like “Don’t Play With My Heart” and the hipster’s delight, “Push And Shove.” All in all (you should pardon the expression), a real sleeper. B.A.

THE PANDORAS

It’s About Time

(Voxx)

No intensely-coiffed young Englishmen here, but younger-than-yesterday American women playing out their takes on those wonderful punkblends-into-psychedelic sounds of ’66-67. The hot pink jacket is an admitted cop of the Shadows Of Knight’s Gloria, and is a fishnetted-thigh a hint that this record is as fatally nostalgic as most Bomp-label products. But (and?) I love it. Fine originals from Paula Pierce, wheezy Farfisa from Gwynne Kelly, and it’s more than likely that the underproduction is deliberate too. Thought for the day from “I Live My Life”: “Wearin’ your old skirt/To keep from gettin’ hurt.” (The Pandoras get theirs at paisley-mad-mod thrift shops.)R.R.

THE BACKSTERS

Get On Your Back!

■ (A&M)

Nerdy-looking Joel C. Peskin and Mike Kowalski could pass for shiny-suited salesmen— until they start to play, that is. Then the Backsters become an amazing time machine, taking us back 30-plus years to the era when awesome r’n’b saxmen like Hal “Cornbread” Singer and Big Jay McNeely honked, shrieked, and helped pave the way for white rock ’n’ roll. Peskin (sax) and Kowalski (drums) avoid nostalgia on this swaggering EP because they play as loud as possible at all times. Only the occasional intrusion of pallid background singers mars the effect. How convincing is Get On Your Back!? Well, Peskin claims he got a hernia while blowing on Red Prysock’s “Handclappin’,” and I, for one, believe him. J.Y.

WATERFRONT HOME

New Breed Of Mermaid

(Bob Cat)

This duo couldn’t be more 1984-cliched if they tried; I mean, just how original can a sexy dark lady vocalist and her curly-haired synth boy be by now (cf. Innocence In Danger, et.al.), especially doing tunes entitled “Finger On The Trigger” and “Teenage Girl In Love”? But maybe that’s precisely the idea, of course. These folks seem to be authentic Eye-talians, a primo r’n’r ethnic whozis that’s been conspicuously absent from the heavy keyboard scene since Felix Cavaliere shook my spine (for good) with his Hammond B-3 back in ’66. So welcome ashore, Waterfront Home, Wops on trons is what we’ve so crucially needed all along, or as W.H. themselves put it: “I’m an American/What are you?” (Record sounds as good as Kraftwerk in latest-model Adidas!)R.R.