I was wrapping up my first year of college as this issue came out; one assumes I leafed through it soon after moving home for the summer, even if there’s nothing here that feels familiar. As ever, I welcome the opportunity to dig in to learn about some artists and tunes.
Articles
Even though compact disks are looming on the horizon, there are pieces on Choosing a Turntable (Alan Lofft), Turntables: How to Evaluate the Specs (Julian D. Hirsch), and How to Judge a Record Without Playing It (David Ranada).
This month’s reviewers are Phyl Garland, Alanna Nash, Mark Peel, Peter Reilly, Steve Simels, and Joel Vance.
Best of the Month
–Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Love Over and Over (AN) “…a startling pastiche of styles, from folk to classical, from spiritual to secular, from Old World to New, from Tin Pan Alley to the Brill Building. They even come close sometimes to getting all of that into one song through their choices in lyrics, vocal line, and instrumentation…”
–John McLaughlin, Music Spoken Here (MP) “McLaughlin’s work with his present group is developing long a path strikingly similar to Weather Report’s in its electronic tonal landscapes, in its powerful rhythmic drive and structural complexity, and in its concept of musical space and how to fill it.”
Featured Reviews
–Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, Poncho & Lefty (AN) “This may be the most laid-back album I’ve ever heard…The arrangements are light but not airy, the old veteran pickers know exactly when to play—and more importantly, when not to play, and the instrumentation is lean, clean, and tasteful.”
–Philip Lynott, The Philip Lynott Album (MP) “…a mad collision of styles—romantic ballads, high-stepping barrelhouse rockers, New Wave, dub, Eurodisco, parody, you name it. And it works.”
Recordings of Special Merit
–ABBA, The Singles—The First Ten Years (SS) “The most representative kitsch of our recent past? A revealing slice of life from the belly of the Welfare State?…No matter. I love every note here, and I’m not embarrassed to say so in print.”
–Garland Jeffreys, Guts for Love (MP) “…Jeffreys is in complete control. He seems finally to have learned how to channel his anger into serious music making.”
–Todd Rundgren, The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (JV) “Fortunately, Rundgren’s wit, which runs from the subtle to the berserk, dominates this new solo album, on which he plays all the instruments and sings all the vocals.”
–Rosalie Sorrels, Miscellaneous Abstract Record No. 1 (AN) “But Sorrels has omitted the work of one of my favorite songwriters and poets, Rosalie herself, and a Rosalie Sorrels album with her own material is almost not a Rosalie Sorrels album at all!”
–Donna Washington, Just for You (PG) “Her uptempo numbers here are sharp and sassy, and on the more intimate items she drives the lyrics home with intensity and finesse.”
Other Disks Reviewed
–Dr. Demento, Demento’s Mementos (JV) “Some of them are genuinely funny, nearly all of them are splendidly vulgar, and only a few of them are merely juvenile.”
–Sammy Hagar, Three Lock Box (MP) “Like a lot of other hard rockers, Hagar feels he has to write clever words to entertain us. He needn’t bother…There are also songs about sex and forgotten war veterans, but at this volume, who can think about sex?”
–The Members, Uprhythm, Downbeat (MP) “…rock/reggae stripped of any optimism or idealism by a tough, cynical, pragmatic intelligence.”
–Missing Persons, Spring Session M (MP) “It all goes to show that while great art (which this definitely isn’t) doesn’t spring from the law of supply and demand, good L.A. rock sometimes does.”
–Ric Ocasek, Beatitude (MP) “His smart, economical lyrics and catchy melodies are everywhere in evidence, so Cars fans will surely not be disappointed by this album. They may just wonder where the rest of the band fits in.”
–Yoko Ono, It’s Alright (SS) “All right, all right, I feel sorry for the poor woman—but I feel sorry for Jackie Onassis too, and if she made records I wouldn’t take them seriously either.”
–Thompson Twins, Side Kicks (MP) “…it may be that the Thompson Twins can’t decide whether they want to be serious or silly. In the end, this is music at war with itself.”
–Grover Washington, Jr., The Best Is Yet to Come (PG) “Easy listening, yes, but enormously appealing.”
–Margaret Whiting, Come a Little Closer (PR) “(She)’s been around since the late Forties, but you’d never know it from the astonishing fresh sound of her voice. She still displays the same wonderful intonation and diction that always made her singing—of anything—somewhat special.”
–Neil Young, Trans (SS) “…it’s Young’s latest alienate-your audience effort, which is okay by me. Better to burn out than to fade away, I suppose.”