THE CHRIST CONSUMER GUIDE
He loves a good lyric, and if he cant write them or order them up, he has only to ransack his record collection for oldies that are just strange enough. Mixing country blues with Cab Callow, Peetie Wheatstraw’s murderous “Gangster’s Blues” with a supremely mournful country song called “Collins Cave,” he goes for narrative and gets it.
THE CHRIST CONSUMER GUIDE
PHIL ALVIN
“Un ‘Sung Stories’”
(Slash)
He loves a good lyric, and if he cant write them or order them up, he has only to ransack his record collection for oldies that are just strange enough. Mixing country blues with Cab Callow, Peetie Wheatstraw’s murderous “Gangster’s Blues” with a supremely mournful country song called “Collins Cave,” he goes for narrative and gets it. The arrangements range from very spare to orchestral and never mind Tower Of Power—Alvin goes to Sun Ra when he wants Ellingtonia, Dirty Dozen when he wants polyphony. The only exception to all this smart stuff is a perfectly adequate “Daddy Rollin’ Stone.” I hope it breaks AOR,
1 bet it won’t, and I wish he didn’t have to
bother. A-
BIG BLACK ‘’Atomizer”
(Homestead)