July 1979
Creem
PASS THE PLATELET I want to thank you folks for giving Capt. Beefheart coverage on his latest album and tour. Damned few other supposedly rock rags gave this man any attention at all, which only goes to prove that CREEM is America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
THE BEACH BOYS: "L.A. (Light Album" (Caribou):: I quite like the electronic disco extension of "Here Comes The Night," but more as an oddity than a positive pleasure. The chief positive pleasure—Brian's "Good Timin' is not a new^song. What is new is the banality of the orchestration' on "Lady Lynda".
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
Okay, everybody, let's wedding marph right off that cliff: Band of gold fever see ms to have stricken ail creatures great and smalt this season. Included in the sweep were the hush-rush nuptials of Rod Stewart & Alans Hamilton (is she or isn't she and do you care?) and Eric Clapton & Pattie Boyd Harrison (who's looking to surpass Chefs surname record).
Tonio K. Loves His Dada
Stephen Demorest
LOS ANGELES - "From time to time, my middleclass upbringing makes me a little uncomfortable with the word 'motherfucker'," admitted Tonio K.; who seemed a pretty regular guy. "I heard my parents took this, record over to their friends' house and listened to it, and I've been trying to envision how they reacted."
Is Your Poetic License Expired?
Penny Valentine
Can rock 'n' roll and poetry nestle comfortably alongside each other or does the mere mention of the latter make rock fans suspicious? Excuse me while I reminisce . . . At school they made us read Keats. Nightingales; orchards, castle feasts: all those things that had absolutely nothing to do with my life! And yet it still didn't manage to put me off-poetry altogether.
DREAM SEQUENCE, TAKE 2
Robert Duncan
A Conversation With BRYAN FERRY, Frog Prince Of Rock 'n' Roll
JOE JACKSON CHART TOPPING & GIRL WATCHING
Charles Shaar Murray
The hands spell nerves: balled into fists and rammed into the pockets of the pinstripe jacket.
Features
THAT’S COOL, THAT’S TRASH: A HISTORY OF THE FIRST PUNK ERA, PART 2
Robot A. Hull
The Standells' story con volutes through a media maze.
ROLLING STONES
Features
NICK LOWE Achieves Verbal Dominance
Susan Whitall
I still wasn't quite ready for the Nick Lowe wall of sound.
HOME COOKIN'! Recording Tips ForThe Semi-Pro
Allen Hester
Imagine this: You are a musician working in a small club. Unknown to you, a record company exec who missed his plane decided to drop in for a drink while he waits for the next flight out of town. Your playing knocks him out; when he hears you sing an original tune, his palms get sweaty and his knees start to knock.
AN AFTERNOON OF REALITY THERAPY WITH RICK NIELSEN
Richard Riegel
Bet My Protestant Ethic Is Bigger Than Yours!
CREEMEDIA
Mitch Cohen
Manhattan is dangerous comedy, comedy that connects in ways that will make people—people involved in the fragile acrobatics of coupling, especially; people doing same in New York City most especially—squirm. After all, it's one thing to call your movie Real Life as Albert Brooks, another amusing fellow, does; quite another to really put it out there where we can recognize it.
Confessions of a FILM FOX
Penny McCall's attempt to get a hefty chunk of former squeeze Pester Frampton's earnings was thrown out of court recently when a N. Y. judge reminded the lady that she was breaking the law (adultery's illegal there), since she neglected to get a divorce from her husband! Meanwhile, the Framp's style hasn't been cramped —he's been seen lately with dress designer Fleur Thlemeyer, who seems to bear a close resemblance to Penny, who bears a close resemblance to Peter, etc.
THE RAMONES
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
ROCKET 88
Richard Robinson
This year, you, I, and everyone else in this nation who was brought up to spend money will hand over one billion dollars to car stereo salesmen. In exchange, piillions of cars are wired for sound. There are two differences between the radio that comes (as an extra) with your car, and the bi-amped/power boosted/ Dolbied stereo system you install independent of Detroit; differences in price and quality.
Records
VILLAGE PEOPLE GO WEST, BUT WILL THEY STAY THERE?
Kevin Doyle
First of all, I'm pretty upset about the big change imposed upon Alex Briles simply for the sake of a song.
JERRY LEE’S STILL ROCKIN’ HIS LIFE AWAY
Nick Tosches
In the last years of his life, the only thing that separated Elvis Presley from Mel Torme and Jerry Vale was his refusal to appear on The Merv Griffin Show.
ROCK.A.RAMA
ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO—Nice Guys (ECM):: The Ensemble continues to alternately pay homage to and extend various forms of black music maintaining their base, of free form improvisation, humor and evocative arrangements. The amount of imagination and emotional commitment displayed, as well as the consistency with which their propensity for risktaking results in cohesive musical statements, makes for superior entertainment.
Backstage
BACKSTAGE
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down