Extended hanging out with out-of-town relatives, a Myrtle Beach vacation, and last-minute prep before leaving for college were consuming my days forty-two years ago. Songs from some of the albums listed below filled my head at the time, too—let's check 'em out.
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This was a "Speaker Special" issue, with a couple of pieces on the latest and finest to increase your listening pleasure. Rather than say any more about that, though, I'll point out that Popular Music Briefs (a section I overlook far too often in these writeups) highlights recent appearances in NYC by Tommy Tutone and Linda & Richard Thompson, and also makes note of a couple of actresses getting into the record biz (Pia Zadora's new release and Sissy Spacek's new contract).
This month's reviewers are Chris Albertson, Noel Coppage, Phyl Garland, Paul Kresh, Mark Peel, Peter Reilly, Steve Simels, and Joel Vance.
Best of the Month
--Fathers and Sons (CA) Ellis Marsalis plays with Wynton and Branford on side one, while Von Freeman gets together with Chico on side two. "This new album is, of course, based on a kind of gimmick, but the result happens to justify the means, and both groups generate sounds that rise about the occasion."
--Dolly Parton, Heartbreak Express (NC) "…so full of Dolly Parton that it suggests she has made some sort of accommodation to her voice or is resigned to getting the most out of her discomfort. But the best things about it, compared with other recent albums, is that Dolly sounds like she means it."
Recordings of Special Merit
--Bobby Bare, Ain't Got Nothin' to Lose (NC) "(Bare) has a big, natural-sounding baritone and uses phrasing that seems nonchalant but is actually teeming with nuance…obviously in his prime."
--Cat People soundtrack (PK) "…the initial tension is sustained right up through the final strange, sensuous note. If the movie is half as good as the score, it must really be something."
--Tim Hardin, Unforgiven (NC) Hardin died of a heroin overdose in late December 1980, leaving this unfinished work. "All the songs have both depth and a light touch, plus the grace dancers shoot for. This album is a great relief from Top 40 tedium—and, of course, a must if you identify with beautiful losers."
--Ray Parker, Jr., The Other Woman (PG) "But Parker can also be coolly sophisticated; the slower numbers here give him ample space to come across like the matinee idol his good looks might qualify him to be."
--Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels, Live 1973 (NC) "The record is an honest piece of work that seems to value simplicity the way Einstein did when he said to keep things as simple as possible—and not one bit simpler."
--Third World, You've Got the Power (MP) "Third World isn't any less authentic for being accessible or less worth hearing for wanting to be widely heard…proves that reggae can be 'palatable' and powerful."
Featured Reviews
--Five new doo-wop releases by acts from the past on a new label, Ambient Sound: The Capris, the Harptones, the Jive Five, the Mystics, and Randy and the Rainbows (JV) "…together, they make a convincing case for the enduring value of 'traditional rock and roll.'"
--Peabo Bryson, I Am Love (PG) "There are lyrical passages more than a little reminiscent of the early Johnny Mathis, phrasing drawn directly from black gospel music, and overall a stylishness of presentation comparable to that of the finest popular singers of any era, from Sinatra and Bennett to Streisand and Flack."
--Haircut One Hundred, Pelican West (MP) "Half of (this album) would sound just right blaring through the doors of a Greenwich Village record shop specializing in New Wave; the other half might be heard at a salsa shop in the Times Square subway station. Yet the feel of each part spills into the other."
--Stars of the Streets, two volumes of NYC street music (MP) "Between them, they capture the music of seventy sidewalk stars—and the freedom, the merriment, the uncompromised and unselfconscious communication of music made in the streets."
--Art Tatum, Pieces of Eight (CA) "And if you already have some Tatum on your shelf, even if you have an abundance, you ought to make room for this album."
Other Disks Reviewed
--Asia, S/T (MP) "Here are guitar riffs that grip you by the primitive brain stem and jerk your head and feet around, blistering solos sure to give rise to an epidemic of contorted facial expressions and involuntary spasms, and the kind of pure, almost angelic electronically assisted vocal harmonies that can turn a listening experience into a religious experience."
--Laura Branigan, Branigan (PR) "…brings a lot more sincerity and a lot more vocal talent than most disco singers do, and she often achieves real communication with the listener. Considering the material she's been given to work with…that's no small achievement."
--Ornette Coleman, Of Human Feelings (CA) "…Coleman plunges his alto saxophone into a sea of often robotic funk. The effect can be quite mesmerizing, but the music also begins to lose definition after a while, and the repetitious rhythm makes me wish someone would give the throttle a good yank."
--John Cougar, American Fool (JV) "(His) trite material tells tales of bleeding hearts, flaming crotches, and lives of loud desperation…It's all supposed to be dramatic, like the pretentious album title, but what it amounts to is cheeseburger."
--Godley & Creme, Snack Attack (JV) "…their primary task is to translate their visual sense of texture and bitter humor into sound. The ambition—the gall—of their ideas is what makes their work continually interesting."
--The Human League, Dare (SS) "Unlike their more melancholic colleagues—Joy Division, say, or the unspeakably tedious Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark—the Human League deals in catchy pop fluff (though it's mechanical to a fault) with generally intelligent lyrics. Overall they suggest a punk version of ABBA."
--The Kids from Fame (PR) "The pitch is that these kids are just loaded with talent and waiting to be recognized. Don't you believe it."
--Greg Kihn Band, Kihntinued (JV) "He and his group remind me somewhat of NRBQ; they're not nearly as rowdy but have a comfortable self-assurance, as though they're not looking for a hit but simply playing the music they like best." I began typing this up last Thursday, hours before the news of Kihn's death broke. RIP to a guy who gave us some fun tunes.
--Melissa Manchester, Hey Ricky (PR) "Someone has apparently decided that it is time for Melissa Manchester to get with it. Well, someone ought to have his head examined. I was never a big Manchester fan, but to hear her talents used so wastefully disturbs even me."
--Rick Springfield, Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (JV) "I suspect that between road tours with his band and taping his appearances as Dr. Noah Drake on the soap opera General Hospital, Springfield just doesn't have time to write better material."
--Utopia, Swing to the Right (JV) Rundgren's continuing misfortune—for he is a talented artist—is that the focus of his work is blurred by his urge to flamboyance, overacting, and overreliance on technical gimmicks. (This album) is typically ambitious, ambiguous, and unresolved."
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