Sept. 7, 1979 record review: Back to school quiz

 

“Ring, ring goes the bell” – Chuck Berry

Sept. 7, 1979 

Back to school with a quiz

Here it is – another school year. More teachers, more books, more burning of the midnight oil. Or gasohol, if you will. Your cerebral muscles are obviously all out of shape from the summer, so here’s a chance to start conditioning them back into Olympic form for that first big exam by exercising your rock ‘n roll IQ.

         Testing your musical knowledge has got to be easier than a gut class in cinema appreciation, right? First of all, it’s multiple choice, so you’ve already got the right answer. In case that fails, try sneaking a peek at the results on Page 35 without rustling the paper. You never know when a talent like that might come in handy.

         So sharpen your phonograph needles, put on your earphones and get ready to give yourself 10 points for each correct answer. If you score 90 or 100, your doctorate is in the mail. If you end up with 70 or 80, you’ve got the knack for picking the winners. Or maybe ESP. A total of 50 or 60 means you’d better roll over, Beethoven, and find out who Bram Tchaikovsky is. If you get 40 or lower, you’d better stick to the bargain bins.

         1 – Most of the superstars sat out the record industry’s slumping Summer of ’79. What veteran group bucked the trend and issued its 13th album? A – Jefferson Starship. B – The Rolling Stones. C – Chicago. D – The Eagles.

         2 – The jump from Asbury Park, N.J., to fame and fortune isn’t as easy as Bruce Springsteen made it look. Which Asbury Park group changed record labels in an all-out bid to put their fourth album on top? A – George Thorogood and the Destroyers. B – City Boy. C – Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. D – The Good Rats.

         3 – Who are The Shirts? A – Five guys and a girl from Brooklyn. B – A punk-rock outrage from Akron, Ohio. C – The newest British superstar band. D – A pair of singing Japanese garment workers.

         4 – Which New Wave rockers have come up with the immortal line: “Falling in love is like falling down steps. If you do it enough, you’ve gotta break somethin.’” A – The Reds. B – The A’s. C – The Clash. D – Gary Numan and Tubeway Army.

         5 – England’s maverick Stiff Records, original home of Elvis Costello, enlivened the hot months by releasing four albums in America through Epic and Columbia. Two were by American-born women – Lene Lovich and 16-year-old Rachel Sweet. The other two were by men. Who are they? A – McFadden and Whitehead. B – England Dan and John Ford Coley. C – Ian Gomm and Ian Dury. D – Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.

         6 – Which of the following Frank Zappa albums has been released within the past year? A – “Sheik Yerbouti.” B – “Sleep Dirt.” C – “Studio Tan.” D – “Joe’s Garage.”

         7 – There’s a revival currently in the girl-group styles pioneered by Phil Spector in the early ‘60s. Which of the following singers is not part of the revival? A – Bruni Pagan. B – Carolyn Mas. C – Ellen Foley. D – Ellen Shipley.

         8 – The British band Rockpile contains not one, but two hit performers, both of whom release records under their own names. Bassist Nick Lowe is currently turning around Columbia Records’ sagging fortunes with his smash, “Cruel to Be Kind.” Who is the group’s other leading light? A – Peter Gabriel. B – Robert John. C – Bram Tchaikovsky. D – Dave Edmunds.

         9 – Yes, there is life after David Bowie. Which of these former Bowie proteges is on the rebound? A – Lou Reed. B – Mott the Hoople. C – Iggy Pop. D – The Spiders from Mars.

         10 – George Thorogood and the Destroyers have set the standard for latter-day blues-rock. Which up-and-coming outfit comes the closest to matching Thorogood’s mark? A – The Fabulous Thunderbirds. B – The Fabulous Rhinestones. C – The Fabulous Poodles. D – The Incredible String Band.

         Bonus question: Once again there’s talk of Latin music crossing over into the popular mainstream. Which of the following stands the best chance of making the leap? A – Havana Jam. B – The Fania All-Stars. C – Willie Bobo. D – Eddie Palmieri.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Frank Zappa.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: Here’s Page 35 with the answers.

         1 – C. Chicago with “Chicago 13” (Columbia FC-36105). A little perkier than this ensemble’s normal offering of a couple hits and lot of filler. This time Paul Simon’s producer, Phil Ramone, brings out their fine points. The hornwork has become more of a stylized signature than ever, but they still have fun. The single, “Must Have Been Crazy,” testifies to the album’s general good nature.

         2 – C. Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes switched from Epic to Mercury for their latest, “The Jukes” (Mercury SRM-1-3793). Mercury means business on this one. They’re throwing a big campaign behind it. The Jukes mean business too. From opening urgency of “All I Want Is Everything” until the fading moments near the end of side two, they let out all the stops and it’s breathtaking. For a taste of what they’re up to, see them at the free outdoor concert Saturday evening at UB.

         3 – A. The lady is Annie Golden. Sometimes she sounds like Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie. Sometimes she sounds like Renaissance’s Annie Haslam. Either way, she’s a terrific vocalist with a five-man band behind her that can handle anything from hard rock (“Laugh and Walk Away”) to a cabaret shuffle (“Milton at the Savoy”) on their debut album, “Street Light Shine” (Capitol ST-11986). The Shirts are in town Sunday afternoon at Buff State’s Good Times Festival and Sunday night at Harvey and Corky’s Stage One.

         4 – B. Send the royalties to Richard Bush, front man for the A’s and possessor of an inspired rock ‘n roll tenor that pulses all over with emotion. He puts the edge on the A’s debut album, simply entitled “The A’s” (Arista AB-6238). There are twisted little gems like “C.I.A.” and “Five Minutes in a Hero’s Life” and “Grounded,” their school-days interpretation of the classic “Twist and Shout.” Beyond that, the harmonies and the strength of their playing deepen this Philadelphia fivesome’s charms. They’ll give a live example at Buff State’s Good Times Festival Sunday.

         5 – C. Ian Gomm’s “Gomm with the Wind” (Stiff-Epic JE-36103) and Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ “Do It Yourself” (Stiff-Epic JE-36106), which are as delightful as they are underappreciated on these shores. Gomm is an ex-member of the fabled Brinsley Schwarz, the germinal British pub-rock band which also gave us Nick Lowe, and he slides smoothly from one sunny pop tune to the next. Along with goodies of his own, like “Hang On” and “24 Hour Service,” he does a fascinating remake of the Beatles’ “You Can’t Do That.” Dury, meantime, is a stumpy, randy music hall-type entertainer with a leathery warble, a boisterous R&B band and a mad, mad sense of humor. The English love him (Led Zeppelin invited Dury to play on their summer concerts) and you will too. Included with the LP is a bonus single of Dury’s zany “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick.”

         6 – All of them. The latest is “Joe’s Garage” (Zappa SRZ-1-1683 Phonogram), which delves into the seamier side of being in a rock band. Songs like “Catholic Girl,” “Wet T-Shirt Nite” and “Why Does It Hurt When I ----?” might be considered pandering to our basest sensibilities, but they’re great fun. Furthermore, there’s a four-color booklet with all the lyrics so you can sing along.       

         7 – A. Bruni Pagan, whose “Just Bruni” (Elektra 6E-215) is stone disco, has the added distinction of chanting the most explicit chant (in “Fantasy”) since Musique’s “In the Bush.” Of the other three, Ellen Foley, the lady who tantalized Meat Loaf in “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” revels in girl-group bombast in “Night Out” (Epic JE-36052), produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson. Her finest moment: The crashing love ballad “Thunder and Rain.” Her worst: The remake of the Rolling Stones’ “Stupid Girl.”

         “Ellen Shipley” (New York International EXL-1-3428 RCA) is a marvelous Brooklyn singer who mixes girl-group styles (the “doops” in “Man of the World”) with straight rock (“I Surrender”) in an uncommonly strong debut album. Like Shipley, “Carolyne Mas” (Mercury SRM-1-3783), also has been compared with Bruce Springsteen, the man who brought Spector’s grandeur back to rock. Mas writes as compellingly as she sings and the songs are dynamite – survivor rockers like “Stillsane,” big sister taunts like “Sadie Says,” the list goes on and on. She’ll do them all Sept. 20 at Harvey and Corky’s Stage One.

         8 – D. Where Nick Lowe is pure pop with a wink at the ‘60s, Dave Edmunds goes back to where the great guitar licks are – in the rockabilly styles that gave birth to rock ‘n roll. His hit from “Repeat When Necessary” (Swan Song SS-3597 Atlantic) may well be the Elvis Costello number, “Girls Talk,” but things like Graham Parker’s raging “Crawling from the Wreckage,” the happy-go-lucky “Home in My Hand,” a couple items from Magazine’s Howard Devoto and the creepy “Black Lagoon” are what give this album its rollicking kick. All in all, it’s got more power than Lowe’s “Labour of Lust.”

         9 – C. Iggy Pop, the wildest man in rock when he fronted the Stooges in the early ‘70s, seemed heavily sedated under Bowie’s production. In “New Values” (Arista AB-4237), with former Stooges guitarist James Williamson producing, he’s awakened with a growl and it’s great. As sinister guitars riff circles behind him, Iggy’s bluesy menace is low-key, sympathetic and endlessly inventive. He mixes a verse of “Summertime,” for instance, into the lecherous “Girls,” makes a devastating declaration of ennui in “I’m Bored” and ends “Five Foot One” with a wish that “life could be Swedish magazines.”

         10 – A. The Fabulous Thunderbirds are Muddy Waters’ favorite band, it’s said, and they come out cooking in their recording debut, “Girls Go Wild” (Takoma TAK-7068 Chrysalis). They hail from Texas, they’ve been around (guitarist Jimmy Vaughn played under Texas Cannonball Freddie King) and they wail like they want to blow the walls down. Especially harmonica man Kim Wilson. If Thorogood and the Blues Brothers whetted your taste for good-time music, then this is not to be missed.

         Bonus Question – B. The Fania All-Stars “Cross Over” (Columbia JC-36100) is the best mix of Latin spirit and American pop, bright and peppy throughout. The All-Stars also appear on the two-record “Havana Jam” (Columbia PC2-36063), a dismal sampler of a dozen of the Columbia artists (except Billy Joel) who went down to Cuba for that historic show last spring. Some are Spanish, some are not, some like Stephen Stills try to bridge the gap. None of them succeed very well. No wonder Castro’s giving us such a tongue-lashing.