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MUSIC
REVIEW
The Babys—Head First
Imperceptibly enough, the Babys have unconsciously
released a third album to soil the record charts of the
world. Diminutive in stature, this album is not music in any
mature form. Instead it contains atonal tantrums of sound,
gurgling and spitting up on the listener. It refreshes
memories of teething pain and diaper rash.
Head First is not a good album by any stretch of the
imagination and rightly should have been entitled Breech
Position. It contributes nothing but noise and aggravation.
The songs are of minor consequence, arranged for no
apparent reason in an increasingly bad sequence. "Not
one song is noteworthy and not one note is songworthy,"
mused the ever-pragmatic David Joost upon overhearing
the Babys. The Babys affect different people in different
ways; some want to care for them, and others want to
commit infanticide. These guys are small potatoes, they’re
toddling thumbsuckers in a Ted Nugent world. And their
new album, Head First, should only be the way they fall
out of ther highchairs.
-Victor Sylvia
Generation X—Valley of the Dolls
How many of you remember Ian Hunter and Mott the
Hoople? Let’s see some hands.
Well, after a few unsuccessful solo ventures, after a
long semi-successful career with Mott the Hoople, Ian
Hunter has switched to producing new talent. Case in
point, Generation X, a run-of-the-mill, rag-clad,
obscenity-spewing, two-chord punk band.
Valley of the Dolls kicks off to a better-than-average
start with "Running with the Boss Sound,” a catchy little
nonsense tune that will get any punk-junkies’ veins throb
bing. However, the remaining eight songs don’t cut.
Despite potentially good-sounding titles, such as "King
Rocker,” “Love Like Fire” and the electrifying “Night of the
Cadillacs,” this is not a punk album. Not even close. Nor is
it a rock album. And despite the fact that it is made of vinyl
and has a hole in the middle, I doubt if it is any kind of
album at all.
Generation X is second generation punk with less slice
and more deceit. So as a public sen/ice to punk rock fans,
if the real thing is all you’ll accept, pick up the Sex Pistols’
Never Mind the Bollocks, Iggy and the Stooges’ Raw
Power, or even the Dead Boys’ Young, Loud and Snotty,
but leave this one to fade into obscurity, where it came
from.
-Victor Sylvia
Steve Goodman—H/g/? and Outside
Many of you who went to see Steve Martin here last
spring may remember his warm-up act, Steve Goodman.
He wowed the crowd with his own brand of tongue-in-
Steve Goodman
cheek folk-rock. One song in particular, "Men who love
Women who love Men,” which is included on this album,
got a rise out of the audience.
The short but potent singer is short but not quite as
potent on High and Outside as he was in concert. The
production value and backup is poor. Next time, go with
the one-man show, Steve.
One of the better songs on this album is entitled “Hand
it to You.” Here’s a bit of it:
/ kissed the bride, and we settled down
And it wasn't very long before the stork came 'round
He’s got three little babies and a mortgage too
When I get my paycheck I’ve got to hand it to you.
Or if you have different tastes, how about:
There are those who make love for pay
There are those who make love any way
Over in the bar with the bottle of Scotch
There are those who’d rather just watch.
So there you have it, an album of fine songs by an
aspiring artist who should follow the example of his friend
Steve Martin and release live albums.
-Victor Sylvia
Michel Colombier—M/che/ Colombier
Impressive. Tom Scott, Herbie Hancock, Larry Carlton
and the London Symphony Orchestra have collaborated
with Michel Colombier to create one of the best jazz al
bums in recent years. Colombier’s style is consistently
fresh and innovative. Every note hits the mark and
reaches new heights in jazz expressionism.
Two highlights are “Do It” and “Spring.” The first fea
tures Hancock on clarinet and captures all we’ve come to
expect from him. “Spring” has Carlton on guitar, Jaco
Pastorius on bass and Colombier on piano and synthe
sizer.
Words (or at least my words) can't describe its intensity.
The joyous awakening after darker times is the theme, of
course. But you’ll have to experience it for yourself. I
suggest that you buy as many jazz albums as you can,
and you can start with Michel Colombier.
-Victor Sylvia
Badf i nger—Airwa ves
I recently read in Rolling Stone that Warner Brothers
will soon start decreasing the number of albums they re
lease. It seems that they’re wasting too much money be
releasing any old thing. If other companies take up a simi
lar attitude, performers might see this as an incentive to
polish their product before unleashing it on the unsuspect
ing fans. And many groups would vanish completely. Such
would be the fate of Badfinger.
Do you remember when Badfinger’s sound was com
pared to that of the Beatles? Initially the group disliked
comparison and strived for an individual sound. Well, now
they’ve got it, and no one likes them.
So far I haven’t said anything about A/rwaves. That’s
because very little can be said about it. One song, “Lost
Inside Your Love,” a formula hit, might get a response
from the public, but I doubt it.
What is happening? Is disco the best we can do? With
today’s technology and expertise, one would think that
music need not be so primitive. In the 1960’s, even with
the drugs and violence, music was often pure and mean
ingful. But those days are gone forever, and as the sterile
1970’s slowly slip away, the manure continues to hit the
fans.
-Victor Sylvia
Police blends reggae and pop for ‘original’ sound
By Bruce Meyer
United Press International
In the «formula-oriented, get-
on-the-bandwagon world of rock
‘n’ roll, any artist who comes up
with something original — even a
new synthesis of existing forms
— is assured of considerable
notoriety, if not success in the
marketplace.
Only a handful of suchnd
groups appear each year, but the
crop so far this year is showing a
lot of promise. Among the most
promising is a unique Anglo-
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American trio who call them
selves The Police.
Distinct from most recent
three-piece rock bands, the
Police rely not on thunderous
power-chord riffs to give their
music depth, but on a deft blend
of spare, driving New Wave snarl
and rhythms borrowed from
Jamaican reggae and other West
Indian pop forms.
It’s a powerful combination,
and The Police make it all work
with precision playing and clever
lyrics, as demonstrated on their
debut album, “Outlandos
d’Amour.”
The tunes include a bizarre
reggae-punk love song,
“Roxanne," a tongue-in-cheek
suicide note from an unrequited
lover, “Can’t Stand Losing You,”
and an outright farce about a
bright young fellow who marries
his inflatable lover, “Be My Girl.”
If all this sounds strange, it is.
But it is also very good music
from a band with more than a few
really original ideas and enough
talent to make them work.
“We started out in London with
a real purvk guitarist,’’ says
drummer Stewart Copeland, the
American in the group. “He could
only play three chords, but he
loved them and I loved the way
he played them. But Sting (the
bass player-lead singer) and I,
who have been playing longer,
we really wanted to explore — to
look for something. And while I
don’t regard musical proficiency
as being very important, you have
to be able to do what you want to
do.”
The result was the addition of
Andy Summers, a highly profi
cient guitarist, to The Police —
and the end of the band’s pure-
punk image. With Summers offer
ing the ability to handle even the
most complex demands of Sting’s
writing, The Police blossomed
into one of the best British ex
ports since Elvis Costello was
first heard from a couple of years
ago.
The album, good as it is,
scarcely scratches the surface of
the band’s abilities. It's basically a
record of The Police stage show,
performed in the studio; anyone
who has seen their riveting pres
ence on stage will know just how
much potential they have, given a
bit more production experience
and a shot of money.
But Copeland says the band
will never relinquish its determi
nation to keep shoving at the
musical boundaries.
“Philosophically speaking, it’s
always been important to me —
the idea of making music that just
gets me off. Taking chances is
important. But when you spend a
fortune in the studio, you have a
commitment to produce a com
mercial product. We don’t want
those kinds of limits.”
That’s a good rock ‘n’ roll at
titude, whether it holds up over
the years or not. And with rock
now looking its fourth decade
squarely in the face, attitude can
be very important.