ROCK • A • RAMA

ROCK • A • RAMA

This months’ Rock-A-Ramas were written by Jon Young, Michael Davis, Bud Scoppa, Craig Zeller, Richard C. Walls, Richard Riegel and Thomas Anderson.

ELVIS PRESLEY

The Number One Hits; The Top 10 Hits; The Complete Sun Sessions; The Memphis Record (RCA)

A full decade after the exit of the King, the Elvis Presley hype machine madly continues to churn out repackages as if there were no tomorrow. In fact, these four new titles rank among the more intelligent recyclings, each providing a good starting point for budding Presleyphiles. The hits collections present big El in all his larger-than-life glory, turning simple pop tunes into tragicomic epics. Love that sparkling sound! Sun Sessions captures Presley as a young colt, frisky, daring, eager to please. Revisit “That’s All Right” or “Mystery Train” for a splash of the purest, sweetest rock ’n’ roll this side of heaven. The newly-unearthed outtakes on side four are interesting, though hardly essential. Finally, the two-disc Memphis Record is an absorbing, if inconsistent, chronicle of Elvis transformed into an uneasy adult. This “mature” work, circa 1969, produced melodramas of undeniable power, like “Suspicious Minds,” but also pointed the way for his rapid descent into self-parody. Required listening in any case: The Complete Sun Sessions and The Top 10 Hits, in that order. And remember: the original is still the greatest. J.Y.

VARIOUS ARTISTS La Bamba Soundtrack (Slash/Warner Bros.)

RITCHIE VALENS Ritchie Valens Ritchie

In Concert At Pacoima Jr. High (Del-Fi/Rhino)

With a little help from friends like Marshall Crenshaw and Brian Setzer, Los Lobos have pulled off the near impossible: a soundtrack of rock ’n’ roll classics that stands toe to toe with the originals. Only these guys could recapture Valens’s emotional innocence and emerging six-string prowess, and they’ve been rewarded with their first hit single, “La Bamba.” If all the hoopla over Valens makes you wanna dive in deeper than a best-of-package, you can choose from these three recent reissues. The hits are found on Ritchie Valens, alongside such near-classics as “Ooh! My Head,” “Hi Tone” and a raucous rendition of “Boney Maronie.” The other two are spottier. Ritchie features the energetic “Hurry Up,” several ballads, and a couple of convincing blues instrumentals. The concert side of the Pacoima Jr. High record is pretty so-so sound-wise but the flip contains an instrumental version of “Malaguena” that points directly to the emergence of surf music three years later. A multi-talented guy, that Ritchie Valens. M.D.

THE

NEIGHBORHOODS Reptile Men (Emergo)

Although they’ve been on (and sometimes off) the Boston scene for a while now, these neighborhood boys have just cooked their tastiest mess o’ beans yet. Beefy chords, reinforced melodies, rebel poses— you’ve heard it all before, and it still sounds great. Fiery frontman David Minehan owes a hefty spiritual debt to good old Iggy (note the title), but he’s got a heap more gumption than the latter-day Stooge; mix “Modern Cowboy” or “Reptile Man” with Raw Power and you’ll be cookin’ good. What’s more, “Out of Your Reach” and “The Man ..” pick up the turbopop torch dropped by Cheap Trick many moons ago. So get it, Jack! J.Y.

SIMPLE MINDS Live In The City Of Light (A&M)

The press kit for this double set (recorded last year at a Paris concert, then cleaned up in the studio), suggests that the band’s intent was to come up with a live document as compelling as the Who’s Live At Leeds and the Stones’ Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out. Didn’t happen, folks. Live In The City Of Light contains none of the intoxicatingly dangerous spontaneity of those two definitive discs; instead, it simply portrays an accomplished band working well within safe limits. This unadventurous approach renders the set largely superfluous despite SM’s undeniable power and competence. The most ambitious number, a punchy medley comprising their own “Love Song,” Little Steven’s “Sun City” and Sly’s “Dance To The Music,” makes you wish they’d use their imagination on the remaining 13 numbers. But what the hey—cooler bands than Simple Minds have failed the live album challenge. B.S.

THE HOLY SISTERS OF THE GAGA DADA Let’s Get Acquainted (Bomp)

An editor once censored my review of an early Bangles record as I hadn’t once mentioned that the band was composed entirely of females, so I’d better get the genderidentification out of the way first here. Despite their name, the Holy Sisters Of The Gaga Dada are four women, and they’ve definitely got the numbers of some of us “Mr. Mr.”s out there (the song’s not about the dumb-blond rock group of the similar name, but it should be.) Deceptively folkysounding on first blush, the Holy Sisters Of The Gaga Dada come through in the long run as an approximation of Kraftwerk in drag snatched from Au Pairs, performing the theme from The Sterile Cuckoo as a punk roundelay, on pennywhistle and clumpy drums. Sort of. Come Saturday morning, forget your own “Housework In Exile” and audit this fine, fine record instead. R.R.

ELTON JOHN Live in Australia With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MCA)

“With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.” Does it sound like this boy’s in deep trouble or what? It goes without saying that Elton’s creative juices have been pretty much dammed up since this decade began. But if you were worried that he hit bottom with that idiot jeans jingle, check this tworecord disaster out. Elton goes way back to when he was such a sensitive sufferer and lets the dam burst wide open. The only thing is, those creative juices have been washed away by a flood of saphead schmaltz. And lord, is it ever sickening. After a while all I could think was burn down the orchestra ’cause rocking seems to be the hardest word. The worst live album of the year, unless you’ve already heard the Simple Minds set. C.Z.

ELTON JOHN Live in Australia With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MCA)

Elton may not have done diddley since the mid-’70s, but that damning fact has no bearing on this highly-focused double live set. The 14 songs gathered here were written by John and lyricist Bernie Taupin during the glory years of 1970-76, and they’re presented with an emphasis on the original orchestrations of Paul Buckmaster and James Newton Howard. Now, you plight expect this sort of big-ballad affair to come off like Mantovani or the Boston Pops, but when played at a suitably high level, the LP will rattle the walls as effectively as anything Iron Maiden has wrought: it rocks. On 10 of the performances, the 88-piece (!) orchestra, conducted by Howard with grandiosity unabashed, is joined by John’s rock combo and horn section, but it’s those huge slabs of strings and Elton’s “Look, Ma” pianistics that make this his hottest disc of the decade. B.S.

PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES (Profile)

File this one under “Angelic Upstarts,” as these lads are selfsame early-generation English punks arriving on the U.S. shores much too late to reap any punk glory (what little we ever hosted, as it was). Could be the Test Tube Babies are even more addlepated fantasizers about America than I am, if they really think there’s a market here for “accessible punk.” What a bonkers concept! (Though it just might be the flipside of the paradoxical elitist-muzak “New Age” twaddle humiliating our recent charts.) Ah well, Test Tube Babies sound pretty good in hard rock with “smooth” and “rough” sides just about equal in proportion to Thin .Lizzy’s old melody-metal (guitars sound a lot like the Lizz’s, too.) Great song titles here (“Allergic To Life”), and a whole minisuite about alcohol. Not Ian Dury, but not bad. R.R.

VARIOUS ARTISTS Back To The Beach Soundtrack (Columbia)

On paper, this nuevo beach movie soundtrack promises much inspired silliness. In reality, it delivers somewhat less, but deserves a listen anyway. While the Dick DaleStevie Ray Vaughan summit on “Pipeline” doesn’t quite ignite, Herbie Hancock’s twisted update of “Wipeout” has a definite loopy charm. Also scoring high in likable nitwittery are Frankie Avalon’s “California Sun” and Dave Edmunds’s “Woolly Bully.” And in the utterly absurd department, there’s Pee-wee Herman’s goofy “Surfin’ Bird,” topped only by the pairing of Annette and Fishbone on “Jamaica Ska,” thereby proving reality is stranger than anything you or I could ever imagine. So what’s not to dig? Eddie Money’s lame stab at surf music, for one. Still, it’s all good-natured trash, meaning you could do worse. Hang 10, moon dawgies! J.Y.

CRAZY BACKWARDS ALPHABET (SST)

This is basically a quartet with occasional guests (and people dropping out to make it a trio) and often very Beefheartian, partly due to the presence of John French, drummer for the Capt. for many moons and the guy who actually taught the musicians (?) on Beef’s legendary Trout Mask Replica how to play (?!) their guitar parts. Actually, this is smoother than Beefheart’s best—there may be some asymmetrical song structures and dadaist lyrics but there’s also some fairly straight-ahead blues and uncliched guitar boogie by Henry Kaiser (some nice cliches, too). Also a ZZ Top song sung, or muttered, in Russian (I think) and a worthy cover of Albert Ayler’s “Ghosts”—layers of howling sound evoke the Ayler vision. A good record, lots of humor and smarts. R.C.W.

BRAVE COMBO Polkatharsis (Rounder)

Happy up, everybody. Brave Combo is back! The beloved polkameisters serve up 14 hot tunes here, including “Jesusita En Chihuahua,” “The New Mind Polka,” and the Shmenge Brothers’ classic “Who Stole The Kishka.” Reed player Jeffrey Barnes (the only guy I’ve ever seen play two saxes simultaneously without missing a note) is all over this, coming up with everything from a Serbo-Croatian wail to a Benny Hill honk. Singer/accordionist Carl Finch plays some of the best Tex Mex accordion this side of Steve Jordan on “Atotonilco”; and Bubba and Mitch keep the 2/4 rhythms as buoyant as ever. Hats off to Rounder as well, who evidentally put up some real money for the recording of this LP, as there’s a brightness to the sound that the boys never quite achieved on their independent releases. And who can resist an album featuring a song called "Crazy Serbian Butcher’s Dance”? T.A.