Music notes
By LOUIS HILGARTNER
Staff Columnist
So ya wanna buy a book
about music? Step right this
way.
Are you looking for your fif
teenth authorized Elvis Presley
biography, or something a little
more unusual like "The Official
Van Halen Tour Guide To Great
American Hot Spots?"
You can't go wrong.
So many different kinds of
books have been written about
the music industry, there really
is something for everyone.
Trade magazines are avail
able for everything from record
ratings to drum equipment.
One trade magazine that mu
sic has come to live and die by is
"Billboard." Although "Bil
lboard" doesn't have many in-
depth articles — other than just
"what's going on" — it does
contain the "hit" charts which
keep track of the success of al
bums and singles. The "Bil
lboard" charts can decide
whether a record makes it or
not and the charts are read reli
giously by record company mo
guls and radio programming
services.
Other trade magazines cater
to musicians.
Publications such as "Musi
cian," "Contemporary Key
board," "Modem Drummer"
and "Guitar Player" help musi
cians keep up with who is
doing what with who and what
kind of equipment they're
doing it with.
They report test results on
new equipment and sometimes
include discussions of rare and
vintage instruments. Also in
cluded in some publications are
columns by professional musi
cians which offer music instruc
tion for both beginners and ad
vanced players.
While these magazines are
technically oriented, they also
offer interviews with prominent
musicians. These interviews
aren't confined to discussing
different instruments or tech
niques various players use.
They also give the novice a
glimpse of what it's like to be at
the top — and what it takes to
get there.
Trade magazines which keep
the home and/or car stereo buff
up to date on the latest state-of-
the-art equipment, how to build
his own gear and as with other
trade magazines, what to look
for in the future, also are on the
market.
Probably the best known mu
sic magazine is "Rolling Stone."
For over a decade, "Rolling Sto
ne" has been keeping track of
the music biz. With its inter
views of famous musicians, so
cial commentaries and coverage
of just about every major event
in the history of rock 'n' roll, the
"Stone" has carved out a per
manent niche in music journa
lism.
In addition to these weekly or
monthly periodicals, there are
also music "year books" which
offer a synopsis of the year's
hits, misses, concerts and un
forgettable quotes.
Hundreds of biographies
have been written about fa
mous musicians such as Jimi
Hendrix, Jerry Lee Lewis and
Buddy Holly. It would take
days to mention all of them and
invariably I would leave out
somebody's favorite. (My own
personal fave is the autobiogra
phy of Ray Charles.) There are
books which are biographies of
whole bands. Numerous books
have been written about bands
such as the Beatles, the Who
and the Rolling Stones.
Some books are written about
special interests or unusual top
ics.
Some tell how to survive in
the music jungle.
If you want to get a song pub
lished, learn to promote con
certs or become a music lawyer,
there are books out there to
help you on your way.
Also popular are the books
that tell what secret messages to
find if you spin records back
ward. These novel creations
never cease to amaze me. What
I can't get over is someone actu
ally grabbed a bunch of records
— that don't make much sense
if you play 'em forward — and
sat there for hours spinning
them backward decoding all
these little secret utterances.
Were they really that bored?
With the variety of music
books offered, there's no reason
you shouldn't be able to find
one that grabs you.
Other note-worthy tips:
On the Global Satellite Net
work's "Rock Line" radio talk
show, former Clash guitarist
Joe Strummer said the demise
of the Clash was due to differ
ences of opinion : "We are tryin'
to lead young people away
from drugs ... and if one of your
teammates isn't fit for what
you're tryin' to do then out they
go. Out goes Topper Headon
for bein' a heroin addict; out
Album review
By LOUIS HILGARTNER
Staff Columnist
The Kinks
A Compleat Collection
Compleat Records
★★★V2
Somehow the Kinks manage
to keep on going strong when
the Music Laws of Probability
and Attrition should have nulli
fied them years ago.
Their latest release is A Com
pleat Collection and it contains
some of their most popular
songs as well as some which
have never made it anywhere
except into the vaults of various
collectors around the world.
Obviously, no Kinks collec
tion would be complete without
"You Really Got Me," "Where
Have All The Good Times Go
ne?" and "All Day & All Of The
Night."
The album also includes "I
Took My Baby Home" which —
backed with "Long Tall Sally"
— was the Kinks' first single.
Two other rare tunes, "You
Still Want Me" and "You Do
Something To Me," also are in
cluded. The Kinks' second sin
gle was comprised of these
tunes, which haven't been re-
released in several years.
This album also marks the
first American release of "Sittin
On My Sofa" — the flip side of
the hit "Dedicated Follower Of
Fashion."
Some less-than-totally-ded-
icated Kinks fans might be sur-
rised to find "Stop Your Sob-
ing" and "The Phone Call,"
both of which were made fa
mous on the first Pretenders al
bum.
"Stop" and "Phone Call"
were on the Kinks' first album
and so was a song called "Re
venge," which was released as
a solo single (lyrics added) by
Jimmy Page who would later
head up that little-known band
— Led Zeppelin.
Because it includes both rare
tunes and songs which are syn
onymous with the Kinks, A
Compleat Collection is an al
bum that will satisfy Kinks die-
hards and newcomers alike.
By CARY STEGALL
Staff Reviewer
Footloose
Various Artists
Columbia
From my view somewhere in
the land of MTV, it looks like
Footloose will be the movie to
see this spring. Kevin Bacon
stars as a New York kind-of-guy
who moves to a small town
where listening to music and
dancing are still against the
church's better wishes. The plot
is basically "how you gonna
keep 'em down on the farm
once they've seen Flashdance?"
The soundtrack is an unusual
venture for Columbia Recrds in
that Dean Pitchford, the mov
ie's screenwriter, wrote the ly
rics for all the songs to keep the
continuity of the movie built in
to the music. From there the re
cord company got several big
artists to come up with the mu
sic and record the songs. This is
the first time that a pop sound
track has been made this way.
The title track by Kenny Log-
gins is a rev 'em up kind of
song, as commercial as they
get, but with enough energy to
knock down a house. Kenny
has a knack for making anthem
songs and he certainly has used
this on "Footloose." You can ex
pect high school students
throughout the nation to be
singing this one next month,
but they'll never pay Loggins'
other tune a second notice. It
doesn't deserve one.
The two cuts by black artists,
"Let's Hear for the Boy," by
Deniece Williams and "Dancing
in the Sheets," by Shalamar are
two of the best tracks on the al
bum. Williams has put together
a bouyant little tune that bops
right along. The Shalamar track
continues the sound of their last
album, The Look, with the
sharp vocals and tight bass that
made that album such a suc
cess.
Surprisingly one of the best
tracks here is the duet of Mike
Reno of Loverboy and Ann Wil
son of Heart. Their cut, titled
"Almost Paradise," is a nicely
produced and performed bal
lad, written by Eric Carmen.
Filling out the rest of the album
are songs by Sammy Hagar,
Bonnie Tyler and Karla Bonoff.
Fans of the David Letterman
band take note, the guitar on
the tracks recorded in New
York is played by Hiram Bul
lock of Late Night fame.
Christine McVie
Christine McVie
Warner Brothers
When you get some of the
best musicians around together
to record an album, you've got
to expect a lot out of it. That is
what Christine McVie has done
on her first solo album outside
of Fleetwood Mac in fifteen
years, and she delivers the
goes Mick Jones for bein' a rock
'n' roll egomaniac..."
The Clash will be touring the
West Coast later this spring al
though they won't be promot
ing a new album with the tour.
Strummer said this was just an
other example of the Clash's
willingness to do the unusual.
Some questions remain un
answered about this tour: Will
they call themselves the Clash?
... Will anyonecome and see
them? ... When is the new al
bum coming out? ... Should
they stay or should they go?
Van Halen is on tour and
should be in Texas in late April
or early May. No definite con
cert dates have been set.
MTV asked singer David Lee
Roth what the public should ex
pect on this tour.
"Well," Roth replied, "we de
sign everything ourselves. I de
sign the stage clothes, Alex
(Van Halen) builds his own
drums, Eddie (Van Halen)
builds all his own guitars and
generally things tend to get big
ger."
The Sammy Hagar/Neal Schon
band is finally getting in gear.
Although no dates have been
set as yet, look for this hard
rock supergroup to hit the
See "COLUMN" page 14
goods admirably.
Together with her co-horts in
Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleet-
wood and Lindsey Bucking
ham, McVie also managed to
get Steve Win wood and Eric
Clapton to play. Although
Clapton and Fleetwood only
work on one song each, Win-
wood and Buckingham both
play and sing on several tracks.
McVie has written almost every
song along with Todd Sharp, a
member of her back-up band.
innmivi X'Vtr
All the tracks have a gentle,
lush sound that Fleetwood Mac
has used over the past several
albums, with many variations
on the pop formula. Most of the
songs are uptempo, like the
first single, "Love Will Show Us
How."
"So Excited," written with
Billy Burnette puts a little guts
into the mix with a nice twangy
guitar throughout, reminiscent
of the early Dire Straits sound.
McVie finally gets a chance to
Push her voice a little bit, yet
keeps a consistent sound. The
See "ALBUMS" page 15