45 REVELATIONS

45 REVELATIONS

KEN BARNES

A lot of people can’t appreciate a record like Lou Gramm’s “Midnight Blue” on purely ideological grounds. Some (you find this breed mostly in England) believe rock is a bloated, senile zombie, a crystallization of all that’s wrong with capitalism, and that only in black and Third World musics does genuine proletarian expression (the only valid music, it goes without saying) manifest itself.

Others (and you find most of these in America) feel anything remotely commercial, on a major label, is corporate rock, synthetic by definition and obviously incapable of supplying the raw power and uncut thrills that well up spontaneously from the lowbudget underground. There are still people in this very nation who contend anything played on commercial radio is worthless.

I feel sorry for them. “Midnight Blue,” to return at last to the pretext for the diatribe above, is a simple rock record with the lyrical depth of a Doublemint commercial. But it packs a basic adrenal jolt that reminds me wliy I’m still nuts about this stuff in the first place. The key is the subtle guitar chordings, betraying the presence of Nils Lofgren, who pulled off such eloquence often with Grin 15 years ago, perhaps less frequently in his solo career, and still retains the knack. He’s able to shape a three-chord glaze into pottery In motion, with Gramm’s commanding vocals coming in for the kiln. Single of the Month.

I mildly liked “Typical Male” and endured “Two People,” but “What You Get Is What You See” is the Tina Turner record I was waiting for. What you get is what you hear—a propulsive Stonesy rocker with nifty Eddie Cochran riffing. (Anything that rips off Eddie Cochran, and that, belatedly, includes Big Audio Dynamite’s “C’mon Every Beatbox,” has a big head start on my affections.) Incidentally, in the seldom-explored field of reversed titles, there’s a jaunty little Madonnaesque dance tune out by Brenda K. Starr called “What You See Is What You Get” (leaving the Dramatics out of the discussion).

I can’t get the snaky, semi-oriental “Heart Full Of Soul”-style riff of the Robert Cray Band’s “Smoking Gun” out of my head; the record’s a murderous blues tuff enuff for any purposes.

Full Circle’s “Workin’ Up A Sweat” uncannily evokes the spirit of Chic, the tightlywound guitars and mournful piano. Producer Randy Muller has come close with Skyy, but never so deftly as here.

Leon Sylvers has fallen out of favor as a hit producer, but still can, as demonstrated on his brother Foster’s “Flavour,” create those trickv. sinuous guitar/bass riffs that highlighted his turn-of-the-’80s Solar triumphs.

Ready For The World’s “Mary Goes Round” may become the biggest groupie hit since the Carpenters’ “Superstar,” but this song’s subject is not individually fixated. She knocks on the dressing room door at song’s start inquiring “Hi, is Ready For The World there?” “Who do you want to see?” responds a security guard. “All of them,” comes the reply, and things get wilder from there. Neat teen/Prince sound, too.

Speaking of teen sounds, Spencer Jones’s “Miss Friday” has that kind of fresh, lush Jets/Five Star sparkle that’s made black teen pop more exciting these days than at any time since the J5’s heyday.

After two shrill disco releases, Expose steps up the wistful melodic content on “Come Go With Me” and breaks pop out of the box (where he’d been trapped, unbeknownst to mom, for months now).

The consistently excellent Starpoint adopts a modified “Let The Music Play” approach on "He Wants

^ My Body” to express disappointment at a dancefloor Romeo’s lack of appreciation for their intellectual qualities.

It’s no “Guitar Town,” but Steve Earle’s “Goodbye’s All We’ve Got Left” is quietly powerful, evocative guitar eddies and a captivating reflective mood.

Pam Tlllls reminds me a little of a distaff Earle on “I Wish She Wouldn’t Treat You That Way,” tough country that sounds like this fine singer’s best shot at a hit yet. Co-written by Walker Igleheart, composer of Gail Davies’s breathtaking “Jagged Edge Of A Broken Heart” and keyboardist for the Bangles.

At his best, T. Graham Brown is one of country’s most flamboyant and electrifying new performers, something like Joe Cocker without the caricatured histrionics, with a monster blues voice displayed to fine effect on “Don’t Go To Strangers.”

Speaking of the Bangles, which I was a paragraph back until T. Graham muscled his way in, “Walking Down Your Street” is probably my least favorite song on the Different Light LP, but, especially in its substantially remixed 45 version, still eclipses most of its competition ... though not necessarily the Burns Sisters Band, whose “Listen To The Beat Of A Heart” is a dense update of the Spector ballad style.

Patty Smyth, Scandal-free, updates “Never Enough” by Baby Grand, who mutated into the Hooters; the song is bigproduction American rock-pop at its bravura best.

Jason & The Scorchers don’t have any use for the “pop” side of the hyphen: “Golden Ball & Chain” is unalloyed rock, nasty and power-driven! (Check the sarcastic “Greetings From Nashville” on the flip, too.)

I had some liking for “You Can Call Me Al,” almost included “Graceland” in a previous column, but have to give up the funk for “Boy In The Bubble,” probably my favorite Paul Simon single, a faiscinating melange of dancefloor drums, melancholy accordion, and an all-encompassing lyrical sweep.

If only for the technical feat of cramming 10:03 on the flip side of a 7-inch single, Bruce Springsteen’s “Incident On 57th Street” should be cited. This non-LP track is also a masterful performance.

“Summer’s Gone” by Pittsburgh’s Cynics tones down their usual garage aggression to a more pastoral folk-rock-pop mood that’s quite irresistible (also hear their version of the Dutch Outsiders’ fab “Lying All The Time” on the other side). ($3 to The Cosmos, PO 10787, Pittsburgh, PA 15203.)

The Smiths return to the reverb-of-doom guitars of the mighty “How Soon Is Now” for the murky “Shoplifters Of The World Unite,” while the flip’s “Half A Person” sounds like it’s mocking Morrissey’s miserabilism and is quite pretty as well.

XTC’s “The Meeting Place” is a representative sample of a remarkable LP, Skylarking, which crams their exceptional late’60s art-pop pastiche Dukps Of Stratosphear mini-LP’s wild eclecticism into a modern frame. This particular track is calmly melodic and quite redolent of late-period. Beatles.

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The Lucy Show is a fine band, and “A Million Things” has grown on me, as insinuating, exuberant guitar rock tends to do. General Public never fails to provide infectious, jumpy songs; what’s novel about “Come Again” is the religious second-coming-on-strong theme.

New Zealand is always a consistent source of innovative pop, and one of the best NZ singles in months is “Jaffa Boy” by the Bird Nest Roys, harmonies, melody, and relentless rhythm (plus an OK version of the Hollies’ “Bus Stop” on the flip).

Australia’s Lime Spiders, after paying homage to the 13th Floor Elevators’ “You’re Gonna Miss Me” in a quickly faded intro, turn up the juice with impressive authority on "Weirdo Libido,” a rather awesome cruncher.

And finally, Perth’s Summer Suns invest the energetic guitar pop of “Rachel Anne” with an ominous air of mystery and a gorgeous little bridge. The flip, “Honeypearl,” is less rocky, quite pretty, and all in all sort of the Jesus & Mary Chain without the feedback. (Easter Records, 36 Pier Street, Perth, Australia.)

(And I’m still at 1930 Century Park West, 5th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90067, for would-be singles mailers.)