ROCK • A • RAMA

ROCK • A • RAMA

This month’s Rock-A-Ramas were written by Richard Riegel, Jon Young, Michael Davis, Bill Holdship, Thomas Anderson, Craig Zeller and David Sprague

NEW YORK DOLLS Night Of The Living Dolls (Mercury)

If you think Motley Crue are “outrageous,” you should’ve see the New York Dolls make their national TV debut on Midnight Special in 1974. What’s more, it now seems evident in retrospect that, unlike the Crue, the Dolls were probably one of the 10 greatest real rock ’n’ roll bands in the history of the world. 'Course, only time I saw them live, half the audience walked out, which again goes to show how the best often ain’t appreciated in their own time. The band’s two LPs are currently out-of-print in the U.S., but this anthology presents nine tracks, plus an unreleased cover of “Give Her(Him) A Great Big Kiss,” which pales beside the Shangri-Las’ original (but what wouldn’t?). My only complaint is the exclusion of some favorite tracks like “Bad Girl,” “Don’t Start Me Talkin’” and “Frankenstein.” It probably wouldn’t hurt to re-release both LPs. Great, great, great stuff —and proof positive that the ’70s weren’t a total waste.

B.H.

DUMPTRUCK Positively Dumptruck (Big Time)

It’s a curiously heavy name for a band so consciously subtle and literate, but then again, you remember Love Tractor. Go figure. Dumptruck recall, at times, most all the figures of worship at the Great Guitar Grotto, but still manage to scythe a keen path of their own. In Seth Tiven and Kirk Swan, the group does Television (the band most oft brought up upon initial listens) one better. Not only do they engage in stinging aerial instrumental battles, but both write, sing and flail around with equal acumen. Not that this is fussy stuff; Don Dixon’s done a lot, mostly by refusing to do much, aside from capturing the spacious, airy feel that makes ’em such a bitch live. The magic of Dumptruck is intangible; they all but dare you to wander (the chorus of “Nine People” revolves around the line “For a minute think of anywhere but here”), but speaking as a known short attention-spanner, you won’t be able to.

D.S.

VARIOUS ARTISTS Cover Me (Rhino)

Bravo—here’s an inspired idea whose time is ripe. Gather up all the Springsteen-scripted songs that others have lent their pipes to. Well, not all the songs—which leaves things open for a second volume. Unsurprisingly, this is heavy on the Southside. (What kept “Talk To Me” out of the Top 10?) Patti Smith still sounds enraptured (“Because The Night”), Robert Gordon breathes “Fire” and Johny Cash is “Johnny 99.” The biggest kick is hearing the look-alive performances the Beat Farmers and Zeitgeist turn in on selections from the somnambulistic Nebraska. But why’d they leave out Michael Jackson’s version of “Bobby Jean”?

C.Z.

PERE UBU Terminal Tower: An Archival Collection (Twin Tone)

Have they been gone long enough to be legendary yet? Well, it’s been over four years now, and since the bulk of this long-overdue singles compilation stems from 1975-77, maybe so. Then again, with Maimone and Ravenstine working with David Thomas again, are they even gone at all? Whatever the case, this LP contains several Ubu rock ’n’ roll classics; this is the material that gained them their reputation as one of the Midwest’s foremost new wave pioneers, the tunes that were championed even by those who couldn’t hack the band’s more improvisational later period. “Final Solution,” “30 Seconds Over Tokyo,” they’re all here, and on a real American label for a change.

M.D.

THE WINDBREAKERS Run (DB)

Yipes! More Southern guys with a knack for ’60s-derived folk-poprock. Fortunately, these talented Mississippi boys follow a distinctive recipe that leaves little chance of confusing ’em with R.E.M., Guadalcanal Diary, Mitch Easter (a guest here), et al. The difference: an extra helping of garage-rock grunge, resulting in funeral freakouts (“You Don’t Know”), Electric Prunes-style raveups (“This Time—She Said”), and swirling whirpools of guitar excess (“I’ll Be Back”). Run also exhibits a strong romantic streak (“Visa Cards And Antique Mirrors”), giving the Windbreakers a shot at the kind of mass teen appeal their compatriots lack. Go for it!

J.Y.

VARIOUS ARTISTS A Diamond Hidden In The Mouth Of A Corpse (Giorno Poetry Systems)

Gathered on one piece of vinyl, we have here the adrenaline-fueled guitars of vintage (1983) Husker Du, David Johansen’s sinuously funky “Johnsonius,” William S. Burroughs dead-panning about medicine men, longevity drugs, and godhood: plus John Giorno’s musical rendition of the old “why-the-oceansmells-like-fish” joke. All here on the first side alone! Also featured is Sonic Youth’s patented drone-a-rama, and a Diamanda Galas’s performance. The Giorno folks have been putting out stuff like this for quite a while now, and though it’s not for everybody, it’s definitely worth checking out. Probably, though, this album will become such a mega-hit, you’ll hear it everywhere and won’t have to take my word for it. Just as probable is Amy Grant recording for SST. So order yours today. (Giorno Poetry Systems, 222 Bowery, New York, NY, 10012.)

T.A.

AMERICAN GIRLS (l-RS.)

If the women in the Bangles have given us back the ’60s on a paisley platter, then the American Girls (they’ll take that tag and all its ambiguities for now) have moved on to restoring the hot-pantsed dream of the 1970s. That polyester-checkered decade exited with lots of unfinished rock business, notably the peteringout (so to speak) of the first major all-female rock band, Fanny, by the time of the Bicentennial. And American Girls include Brie Howard from a late edition of Fanny, so it’s only proper that they wrap up that decade now. American Girls play smooth but provocative silverpop, with a knobby beat and with vocals that continually threaten stridency but always pull out just in time. “Blind Ambition” has the best Blondie cadences since Ms. Harry’s own delicious ’70s quiche-pop. This may be one of the most radical albums of the year in its new revisions of postmodernism. “We all want to be androgynous/homogenous” sing A.G., and they got that right.

R.R.