RECORDS

Rip It Up, Issue 1, 1 June 1977, Page 10

RECORDS

Procul Harum Something Magic Chrysalis

I imagine the British press gave this album a rough time considering the current teenage movement there and let's face it, Procus Harum have been around for ten years or more. However, this is NsZs and anything with more gusto than a metronome tapping is worth mentioning in the hopes that the insipid strains of the banal disco-fad will be drowned out.

Something Magic is an overstatement as a title, although the side one chooses to listen to first does have a bearing on this conclusion. I strongly recommend you listen to side one first and if it appeals to you, stick to it. It consists of five songs, intelligently structured, with some nifty though stylistically dated orchestration. The band never really takes off but with keyboard-based music like this, any raving usually results in loss of detail and murky production. Within the limitations imposed, drummer, Barnie Wilson, introduces some interesting counterpoint work, complemented neatly by Chris Coppings’ bass.

Side two is a contrast, consisting of a work entitled, jT he Worm and the Tree', a philosophical treatise that will be widely interpreted, I’m sure. I will avoid pointless derision of the lyrics; let me just say that I read them to my one-year-old son and he was not impressed. I will have to say that The Worm and the Tree' is conceptual corn but j heni‘ Michael and the Slipper Tree' is corny and I love it. I feel this album, due to its quirky characteristics, is strong enough for most people’s taste to make it worthy of consumption: Eat up. Mike Chunn

Gong Gazeuse! Virgin

Gazeuse! follows much the same pattern set by Gong's previous album Shamal which, in turn, was a radical departure from the group's previous style. Gong now plays a Soft Machine-type avant-garde jazz-rock with an emphasis on the percussion talents of Mireille Bauer, Mino Cinelou and Pierre Moerlen.

But Gong has had an awkward past and, although none of the original members remain in the present group, the past has left its mark. Gong was founded by David Allen, then a refugee from Soft Machine, who created the idea Of the planet Gong, inhabited by psychedelic dwarfs. The idea evolved into a whole Gong mythology, a mythology which the group naively adopted on stage and record. When Allen left, Steve Hillage (then Gong’s guitarist) carried on the tales of Allen’s weird imaginary world. It wasn’t until he left in late 1975 after his solo album Fish Rising that Gong dropped all reference to Allen's fantasy.

For all the excellence of Gazeuse! and the band's dogged persistence, the scars of that fantasy still remain. Many people must still feel, as Pink Floyd's Nick Mason confessed prior to producing Shamal, that Gong is “woolly hats with maybe equally woolly heads’’. Jeremy Templer

Disco Magic Phonogram

Disco Magic, is a well-packaged and thoroughly marketed collection of disco cuts. Its the sort of record that keeps record companies where they belong in business. But its not likely to score with your average music freak, no matter what kind of stuff he may be into. The problem is that collections encourage indiscriminate listening. They are designed for the undiscerning. If you can tell the difference between one song and the other, then you needn't buy the record. However, this one does have its good points. It includes several funk classics such as Hot Chocolate's “You Sexy Thing" and Natalie Cole’s "Sophisticated Lady". There are a couple of good tracks from the Bar-Kays, a band that dates back to the days of Memphis Soul and Stax Records, and a quality Ohil Players number. There are two good percussive tracks (Osibisa and Kalyan), both unfortunately marred by fairly trite lyrics. And then there’s a bunch of instantly recognisable Top 40 songs by the likes of Shirley, Gloria Gaynor, and Wild Cherry. There's some really gross stuff on it too, studio disco of the assembly-line variety. Its this uninspired and mindless stuff which gives disco a bad name. But it sells. The four or five examples (Silver Convention, Symphonic 2000, Billy Ocean etc) of this commercial shit detract from an otherwise reasonably palatable album.

But even with Process Soul, there are no absolutes. For instance, the Bee Gees are placed with a solid, danceable cut on side one, and a track on sjde two that could be a parody of the genre. So much for initators.

From my point of view, the main fault of Disco Magic is its sameness. There are no highs or lows- Good soul music (or any good music for that matter) can take you from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other, and back again. Unlike records by people like Al Jarreau and Rufus, Disco Magic has no dynamics. Which is why it’s good business. Its probably going to get played at parties till its coming out of your eyeballs. At least half the tracks are downright funky the rest you’ll probably tolerate just because they’re there. And in twenty years time, when your kids ask you what you used to dance to, drag out your copy of Disco Magic. That'll show ’em. John Malloy

Bee Gees Children of the World RSO

Other points of merit aside, you have to admire the shrewdness with which the Bee Gees have relaunched themselves at the public. From the appearance of singles "Nights on Broadway" and "Jive Talking" the boys have assailed the market with a new and cunning blend: enough funk to appeal to disco devotees, enough vibrato to rouse old fans and even enough tune to take in a more demanding soul audience.

But not till I listened to Children of the World did I realise how prolific they’ve been over recent months. A good proportion of the songs I recognise from the radio, and of course there are r others off the previous album that’ve had chart success. Well, good luck to them; such new found energy is enviable, especially when the product is good.

I'm happy to say that the product is good. The Brothers Gibb are writing good songs better songs than they used to write. "Nights on Broadway" was a real goodie, and on Children of the World are a few more. "Love So Right" is a pleasant soul ballad, as is "Love Me"; "You Should be Dancing" pushes along, and the rest more than bear up. Unlike certain other disco bands, the Bee Gees are not tune hoarders. The average song runs to such extravagances as verses and choruses, or at least to 3 riffs in place of the standard one. With tolerable variety and tasteful arrangements this is a pretty fair collection of material.

BUT ... to tell you the truth, I'm not at all sure the songs are done justice. I never could get used to that distinctive Bee Gee's sound, and there are moments here when the vocals cease being merely reedy and take to a sheep-like bleating. Oh well a matter of taste.

Mind you, almost as if adopting the

same attitude, the Gibbs have placed the voices right down into the mix which gives things an unfortunate flat quality. Never, as in your true soul classic does the vocal line punch its way forward. A pity. What's more this principle applies to everything; not even excellent guest sax man Gary Brown gets to be heard. It’s a bit paradoxical that the uniform, made-for-disco sound should at the same time re-establish this band and hold them back. It's a good record, but it could have been better. Bruce Belsham

Emerson, Lake and Palmer Works Atlantic

When rock first met the classics it was with an embarrassed smile; rock had come to steal or to borrow. Keith Emerson was still at school, just a normal kid whose mother had him taking regular piano lessons from the age of seven and entering piano competitions (which he mostly won). You can bet he was also good at science, general knowledge and maths and never cheated. When he began to compose his own piano concertos and to write his own arrangements of the classics, rock was able to meet the classics with respect and an air of nearforbidding seriousness.

After he left the Nice, Keith Emerson teamed up with Greg Lake and Carl Palmer to form the most serious,grandiose and technically accomplished group working the terrain of "classical rock’.After a three year spell away from studio and stage, ELP has reemerged with its most mature album yet. But, like most truly experimental albums, it is only partially successful and the experiment is not always interesting. Works is a double album set which gives a side to each member and a fourth side with Emerson, Lake and Palmer together. Emerson's self-composed con-

certo is in three movements, performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Emerson playing a Steinway Grand piano. Greg Lake's five songs are in direct contrast to Emerson’s classical opus. The ballads work; "C’est La Vie" is strangely like "From the Beginning" on Trilogy but employs a choir,an orchestra and piano accordions with Lake's acoustic guitar. Lake's vocals often seem too wooden and even operatic, as in “Pirates" on the final side, but are not out of place here. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and "Nobody Loves You Like I Do" are unfortunately marred by Peter Sinfield's lyrics ( You can change the worldlßut if you lose controllThey will take away your T-shirt) and orchestral arrangements which sound awkward. On the third side Carl Palmer plays percussion to orchestral and big band arrangements, including an orchestrated arrangement of "Tank" which originally appeared in unorchestrated form in Tarkus. “LA Nights" features Joe Walsh's

lead guitar and scat vocals in one of the few exciting moments on the album. But it is Emerson's arrangement of Aaron Copland's "Fanfare For the Common Man" on the final side which is the most dramatic and impressive track. Ironically it was the result of a studio jam during a soundcheck. Works is sub-titled “Volume One". That’s not just hesitant optimism for ELP has indeed regained confidence but in moving further to the classics the group has left its original rck audience for an audience it has yet to find. Works may well finish what three years’ isolation had only started. Jeremy Templer

Cliff Richard Every Face Tells A Story EMI

When I first listened to this album I thought Hey, this guy sounds like Elton John!' Then I thought, well, maybe Elton John sounds like Cliff Richard?’. I was confused, and I’m not sure who sounds like who now. Nevertheless, beyond vocal similarities the arrangements here do tend to suggest the Captain Fantastic himself, in that they range from imitations of his good time rock style to his string laden and anguished style. But I still like it.

After all, Cliff's a good singer whose considerable talents have too often been buried in Eurovision boom-a-bang songs. Here, he gets some neat little tunes that sit comfortably in the pop-rock vein, and the punchy arrangements courtesy of producer Bruce Welch push everything along with generally just the right amount of uh ... oomph. However, at times, Cliff does seem to play it just a little bit too safe. T he formula becomes a little too restrictive and things tend to veer towards an overdose of blandness, with smooth vocals and snappy commercial backing all the way.

But over a few weeks of consistent listening, it has stood up. There's not a disposable song on the album and some are outstanding. The rocker, “Every Face Tells A Story" proves Cliff can still move it with the best, while "Try A Little Smile” shows the way to handle a ballad with just the right balance of anguish to pop sensibility and the soul influenced “It’ll Be My Babe" showcases a song the Average White Band wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen with.

There’s not too many artists in rock ’n’ roll still prepared to take chances after 18 years and, while it would be nice to see him rock out a little more bravely on his next album, it's good to have him back. And I, for one, hope he lasts another 18 years. Alastair Dougal

Ohio Players Angel Mercury 6338 787

This is the first Ohio Players album I’ve heard, and it wasn’t instantly accessible to me. At first listening it appears slick, polished to a sheen, and just a mite too clean to be true. But it ain't necessarily so. It improves with listening. The Ohio Players are an 8-man band with a lineup that includes three horns, a keyboard ace (of course), and guitars, bass and drums. Their songs are polished to the point of being seamless, and they specialise in falsetto harmonies (even smoother than the Pips.). It’s a dangerous game though, being that good. It’s like the feeling you get watching the Doobie Brothers live. Initially, their technique can dazzle, but after a while they can seem like a machine well oiled, faultless, and impersonal. But behind the O P’s surface polish lies at least some discernable feeling. Lyrics that appear trite at first can get imprinted on your brain, largely through the rhythmic and melodic emphasis on them. In, fact, their simplest phrases are their best, such as the backup voices on the title track singing "Send Me Down An Angel". It's all in the way they sing it. Likewise, the song "Ohio" consists of one word sung repeatedly as part of a solid instrumental, and its very simplicity works. Their songs with more complex lyrics are a different bag altogether. For starters they are all about love (the storybook kind). It’s been said better, and worse yet, said before. "Can You Still Love Me" (Now That We’ve Made Love) is a trifle teenage for my taste. The spoken rap on "Faith" is downright corny. However, the cats that buy it may not be listening to the lyrics. The playing is consistently good. The rhythm section is solid, but never as punchy as that of the Comodores for example. The horns add in some crisp fills, and the guitarists have those percussive licks down pat. I could stand a lot less of the ARP string ensem-

ble, though. In fact I'd like to hear the keyboard man without his electronic kitbag. Maybe he can really play. I guess it all comes down to what you like. It is sophisticated, overtly sexual music, from the naked woman on the cover to the true-love lyrics and what's between the grooves. But it's sex without sweat, a minimum of body movements. It's got a place in my record rack and maybe its got a place in your heart. But I would like to see them get nasty. John Malloy

Can Flow Motion Virgin

Controlled monotony is a favourite rock device from bands as diverse as the Allmans to Pink Floyd. Other areas of music have utilised this notion, starting as it does from the silences examined by John Cage, through to the electronic technology of Stockhausen. Closer to home, Terry Riley and John Cale overlay simple repeated patterns to gain a tapestry of sound. Changing slightly like water flowing, always the same, always different. The band members of Can were classically trained by that electronic magician Stockhausen, but were influenced by the all persuasive sound of rock music. Can took rock forms and filtered them through the German classical experience to create metal music that sounds like a mad watchmakers version of rock music.

Most of Can’s music is highly electronic, with simple bass and drum patterns endlessly repeated till they become a pulse, without fills or frills. The guitarist, Michael Karok, plays short percussive licks using no sustain and the sound separation is so clear that each line is audible. Compare this to the Stone’s mix, where the voice is deliberately mixed back into the instrumental lines. This clarity carries through into the melodic lines where you get a number of conventional American styles in weird combinations. For example "Laugh Till You Cry” has a 2/4 reggae guitar pattern and a fiddle line, both of which are, however, put through an effects board so they wow and flutter. "Cascade Waltz” with its insane ukelele guitar rhythm sounds like the autodestruction of a waltz; while the banal rock melody of ‘‘Babylonian Pearl” sounds as if it was played by numbers.

It is clear that Can are into a different trip entirely from the USA-English rock syndrome, they start in a sense where John Lennon and "Number 9” left off. If you are into nervous system music then the German bands will make sense to you, remember a change is as good as a holiday? Jae Renaut

Little Feat Time Loves A Hero Warner Bros

Where Little Feat once sidled now they're strutting. If their previous albums were showcases of laid-back funk this one is out to kick you in the guts. Take the opening track, "High Roller", opening on Bill Paynes chattering keyboards and scythe-like chording from Paul Barrere, a blast from the Tower of Power horns and it swings into the most energetic thing the Feats have done since “Tripe Face Boogie". And that's the initial impression one gains of this album. Energy. Seductive funk isn't exactly out the window but it is temporarily pushed aside for a harder edged and rockier style. And is that a gain? Well, yes and no. On the plus side is A Day At The Dog Races". An instrumental it ventures into the kind of territory normally covered by the likes of Weather Report and beats them at their own game. It builds from its funky basis to a full-scale paint-blistering attack from Payne on piano. You may never have thought Little Feat were an avant-garde band but on the basis of this track they deserve to be taken seriously as such.

The second thing one notices about Time Loves A Hero is that there's a distinct lack of Lowell George on it. He produced the previous three albums but this one’s produced by Ted Templeman. Whereas previously George has been credited with guitars, on this one he plays slide guitar only and there's barely a note of it on the album. Where previously George has seemed to be the band's main writer, here he co-writes one song and writes only one himself. Where previously he’s been the band's strongest singer (in fact I would vote him one of rock n’ roll s great voices) here, he sings precisely three out of the album's eight tracks. And as a final insult the instrumental “A Day At The Dog Races" is written by everybody except George. Now, what exactly is going on here? The answer is, Lowell George has been

ill. In fact the blurb states (jokingly, I hope) that his vocals were "phoned in from the intensive care unit of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center”. In George's absence Barrere seems to have taken the helm aided by Bill Payne and, fine singers though both these gentlemen are, neither is, at least yet, in Georges class.

This record does have several extremely fine tracks. I’d pick “High Roller" and A Day At T he Dog Races" as the best with "New Delhi Freight Train", "Rocket In My Pocket" and "Red Streamliner" as nearest follow ups. But there is no one outstanding song to stand beside “Long Distance Love” from The Last Record Album. So while Time Loves A Hero is of a more uniform standard than The Last Record Album (that is, there is nothing as disappointing as "Mercenary Territory"

or "Day and Night") there are fewer high spots.

I think my problem is that I was expecting the definitive Little Feat record and this isn't it. Little Feat still make better music than 99% of the bands in the world but the problem with a great band like the Feats is that you always expect that little bit more than just the very good. And anyway, I miss Lowell George. Alastair Dougal

Jefferson Airplane Flight Log Grunt

The Airplane was the archetypal American acid guitar band with complex vocal lines, heartfelt lyrics and a mad scientist for a bass player. Even at their powerful best they never boogied, but lurched.

This two record set covers the years 1966-76 and is a fairly representative selection of the socio-musical changes of the band and its era.

The bands first period is well represented by the standards, "White Rabbit" from Surrealistic Pillow through to “Somebody to Love” from Bless Its Pointed Little Head. The changes from an essentially acoustic feel through the electric explosion of After Bathing at Baxters is well covered. The classic, Airplane formula of a three part vocal leading to close harmony lines over bass and drums, ending in a climax by repeating a vocal riff over a simple repetitive rhythm pattern is demonstrated clearly in the track “Won’t You Try Saturday Afternoon” from After Bathing at Baxters. The sound is very good and I suspect these tracks may have been remastered.

Stage two, reaching from Volunteers to Blows against the Empire saw the Sci-fi - revolutionary feel of Slick and Kantner dominating the band as Marty Balin, the group s candy centre dissolved more into the background. His vocal lines in the Crosby, Stills, Kantner classic “Wooden Ships” show the Airplane at its best. Complex vocals sung with control as well as feeling, over an instrumental texture that complements rather than completes. The next stage-reflects the personal and musical chaos of the early 70 s. The tracks taken from this period include the hit "Pretty As You Feel” from Bark and "Milk Train" from Long John Silver. On both tracks the defection of Balin in 1970 has left an uneasy balance between the vocal pyrotechnics of Kantner-Slick and the hotlicks of guitarist Kaukonen and bass player, Casady. The end finally came when the latter pair left to form Hot Tuna a blues roots band here represented by tracks from Hot Tuna , 1970 and Burgers, 1972.

The present stage of the band as Jefferson Starship, has founders Slick and Kantner along with David Freiburg (ex Quicksilver) teamed with a band that paradoxically is musically tighter than earlier versions of the Starship, but is less interesting: Craig Chaquico is a fine guitarist but lacks the bite and originality that was Jorma Kaukonen’s trademark and despite his tendency to forget his drummer, the rich full bass sound of Casady s playing was so much an Airplane trademark that to listen to Slick and Kantner without them is like having the left side of your stereo system unhooked something is somehow incomplete. Tracks from this period are taken from Baron Von Tolbooth, through to Dragon Fly and include the classic "Sketches of China".

The Airplane-Starship was more than any other single band the embodiment of a particular way of looking at the world typical of the radical optimism of the late 60 s. This double album set enshrines the band lumps and all, in its place in the aural history of modern American electric music and as such is recommended both for those of us senile enough to feel nostalgic and anyone who missed out, on one of the more exciting periods of rock n roll. Jae Renaut

Billy Paul Let ’em In Epic

The Miracles Love Crazy C.B.S.

On the Miracles’ album Billy Griffin raps, "Hey Pete, why do we write songs like these man, people are not going to change". Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Billy Paul's album is produced by Kenny there is a message in the music Gamble and Leon Huff of Sigma Studios. Presently, both the Miracles and Billy Paul are into heavy lyrics and fairly light music. On their fine City of Angels album, Miracles Pete Moore and Billy Griffin, for the first time, wrote the songs. The Miracles have now left Motown records and Pete Moore (a veteran Miracle) has produced their latest album.

When Smokey Robinson left the Miracles, (Billy Griffin replaced him as lead vocalist), few would have imagined that they would successfully develop their own independent abilities in writing and production. City of Angels was a concept album about a Los Angeles music star from which came the popular singles

"Love Machine" and "Night Life". Compared with City of Angels the material on Love Crazy is energetic but otherwise disappointing.

Part of the achievement of City of Angels was that it was a serious album but not slow, dull or laboured. The Miracles jumped right into songs like all Motown acts but the new album is different. Good material is made less accessible by slow take-us-seriously introduc-

tions to several tracks that add nothing but playing time to the record. Unlike the Miracles, Billy Paul continues to record safely within one of the big black music companies. Most of his material is provided by the Sigma Studios writers and producers. The backing is of course by the very competent M.F.S.B. Billy Paul does not write his own songs but his material is good. The arrangement of Paul McCartney’s "Let ’em In” with civil rights speeches added is commanding. Though the songs range from punchy soul numbers to the middle of the road ("Without You”), Billy Paul’s vocal style keeps the album together. His best vocal performances are on Sigma Studio material, however his version of the Badfinger song, "Without You” is weak. Billy Paul’s album, made in the security of the Gamble and Huff set up, is less adventurous but a more successful recording than the Miracles Love Crazy. But look out for the Miracles as they are one of the few black vocal groups not dependent on the big black music producers (Curtis Mayfield, Thom Bell, Norman Harris etc.) for material and direction. Important messages (education, C.1.A., changing the'world around) rarely make important recordings. Before the Miracles and Billy Paul can “change the world around" with their music they will need to work with more appropriate forms from the black music tradition. Compared with the best of sixties black music, current soul is too often lightweight and unable to bear substantial lyrics. Murray Cammick

The Four Seasons Helicon Warner Bros

Beach Boys Love You

Warner Bros

Long ago in 1962 two groups from opposite coasts of the USA shot to the top with the first of long sequences of hits. The appeal of both was founded on catchy melodies and soaring vocal harmonies. From California, The Beach Boys

“Surfin' Safari” and from New York, the Four Seasons “Sherry”, began a long rivalry for the honours of top American vocal group. For rivals they certainly were, often fighting a chart battle to virtual standoff, trading hit for hit for over five years. (Anecdote: On a '63 album the Beach Boys warned 'Four Seasons you better watch out”. On the flip of their 64 hit "Dawn (Go Away)” The Seasons replied with "No Surfin Today”).

Today The Beach Boys body of hits is indubitably the more popular Schoolgirls, who weren t born when "Surfin’ Safari first broke, have the group’s name scratched on their pencil-cases beside Starsky and Hutch. This situation is, I suspect, due more to availability of Beach Boys music on a plethora of budget albums than unquestioned musical superiority. Try lining a few of the respective hits up against each other and see for yorself. Are ”l Get Around”, “Fun Fun Fun”, “California Girls', “Help Me Rhonda”, all that superior to "Walk Like a Man”, “Rag Doll”, ’’Workin’ My Way Back to You” or “C'mon Marianne”?

Fifteen years later both groups are still around, and on evidence of their new albums both seem unsure of their current musical direction. Has the original following grown up, leaving them behind, content simply to refer to past work for nostalgia purposes? Should the group maintain the same sound, so successful in the past, and hope to win a new generation with it, or change and try to find a new audience altogether?

On the evidence of Helicon The Four Seasons seem to be adopting the latter approach. Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio, the only two original members, own the group's name. They have gathered around them four musicians to create a sound intended, they say, to "show the group off as a unit”. What this means is that The Four Seasons are now essentially a band rather than a vocal group. Instead of falsetto harmonies riding on a simple backing, we now have a rhythm section that is mixed as far forward as the vocals, and harmonies that, if present at all, remain comparatively in the background. If, then, they are to be regarded primarily as a band, then The Four Seasons evince several shortcomings which once didn't seem important. Firstly, the arrangements are uninspired and over a whole LP tend to become monotonous. Too many of the songs are both introduced by and basically depend on Gaudio's limited bang-on-all-beats piano style, coupled with a strict, clipped, flat rhythm section. Yet if the piano is repetitive the electric keyboards are often simply silly: in "Rhapsody" the arp imitates the hum of long-distance power cables; it adds a tinny whine to Helicon, and twit-

ters irritatingly in “Long Ago". Only in "Down The Hall” do electric keyboards really contribute, lifting the harmonies of a good up-tempo number. (In fact this song’s strong melody and sensible lyric make it one of the album's few fully satisfying cuts.) As mentioned above, the vocals have been mixed well into the album’s overall sound. Although this may at times be an advantage some of the group members are not strong lead singers it is disconcerting that Frankie Valli's warm voice is not better displayed. Furthermore, many of the numbers do have attractive, albeit fragile, melodies, but due to the mixing cannot survive the cumbersome arrangements. Sometimes we are left with merely a memorable line or two rather than a coherent tune: witness "Let's Get It Right” or the gorgeous harmonies of the hook in “Rhapsody" ("Rhapsody” is possibly the only track to have the harmonies sufficiently “up front" to satisfy old Seasons fans).

Despite my critical carping there are good things on this album; it’s just that they seem to clash with detracting elements: the fine driving beat of "New York Street Song” is irritatingly interrupted by a clever' moog and percussion break. Similarly the happy cruising melody and straight harmony backing of "Put A Little Away " is interspersed with gimmicky phasing of guitar and vocals. I have gone into some detail concerning this album because only in mentioning details can I hope to explain its frustrating overall effect. The Four Seasons haven’t yet fully resolved whether they are to be a moderately heavy band or a vocal group. I hope they decide to become a vocal group again because, as this album shows, they can write melodies, can sing fine harmonies, and Frankie Valli's still got that voice.

If The Four Seasons show a certain indecision of direction, the Beach Boys seem to be totally lost and foundering. Love You is their first album in who knows how long to be totally written and produced by Brian Wilson, but after repeated listenings it is virtually impossible to believe he is the same man whom the sixties rock press labelled as genius'. What has happened to the mind that created a whole musical genre, almost mythic in its ability to make teenagers the world over into surrogate Californians, vicariously surfing and cruising through their summers with The Beach Boys? Alright, that was 10 or so years ago and Brian is now a married man and hasn't shown interest in the beach or the strip for a long time. Granted; but what is so tragic about this album is that in sticking to the style of writing and arranging that worked so brilliantly on the ’67 album Pet Sounds he has only turned in a wretched self-parody. On Pet Sounds Brian quixotically mixed unusual musical elements

fuzzed bass, chimes, wood blocks, harmonica, fair-ground organ and so on yet somehow made the whole work triumphantly. Much of that album’s success rested, of course, with the beautiful languid melodies and vocal treatments. It is precisely here that Love You is so disappointing: it contains some of the most trite songs I have heard in years. Brian was never a particularly strong lyricist but once, with tunes like those, it didn’t really matter. Now, with ‘melodies' that are often no more than one or two line fragments stretched out to song length, (eg. “Mona”),one is thrust at the lyrics in the hope of finding interest. They are uniformly fatuous. Pat, pat, pat her on the butt She's going to sleep . . . Or

WeVe got extra sensory perception You can send me thoughts I've no objection . . .

Maybe lyrics should rhyme but some writers can invoke meaning as well. Perhaps my major complaint about this record is its almost total lack of strength or energy. There are at most one or two memorable tracks, (eg. “Good Time”), and the tempi are nearly all so dirge-like that, as a friend succinctly put it, the arrangements sound like a carousel winding down. Added to this is a rhythm section that, although never noted for subtlety, has become monotonously ponderous.

Not content with writing and arranging, Brian sings some lead vocals. Unfortunately his voice sounds in permanent need of a cleared throat. (The dog begins howling whenever "Love Is A Woman” comes on.) The record's inner sleeve contains an effusive gushing dedication of love from the group to Brian. After hearing the album this note seems less dedicatory than some sort of desperate reassurance to an ailing spirit. Peter Thomson

Kiki Dee EMI

Kiki Dee sounds like the name of an exponent of bubblegum music. But in her recent release on Rocket Records, Kiki Dee, which is co-produced by Elton John, she reveals a voice that is strong and clear and true.

Unfortunately she doesn’t sound as if she’s enjoying herself. Combine that with banal lyrics and you have a recording that I personally have not felt like playing much. Elton’s influence is evident in the strong, driving narrative quality of most of the numbers, with piano dominant in a largely-uninspired backing band. Sophisticated recording techniques do not improve a singer who has nothing substantial on a feeling level to sing about. With female recording artists of the calibre of Joni Mitchell and Joan Armatrading churning out magnificent stuff, any newcomer has a lot to aspire to. But it’s early days yet. Perhaps Kiki Dee is presently engaged in acquiring the experience that will, one day, enable her to sing from the heart. Rhondda Bosworth

Willie Nelson Live (I Gotta Get Drunk) RCA

This album will give folks who have just picked up on Willie Nelson, an opportunity to hear that his career’did not begin with Red Headed Stranger. Too few people know that Faaron Young’s “Hello Walls”, 8.8. King’s “Nightlife" and “Aint’t It Funny How Time Slips Away” are Willie Nelson compositions. This album was recorded live, at the famed Panther Hall Ballroom in Texas before an exuberant or should I say drunken crowd of rednecks’ all trying to get their voices recorded for posterity. Unfortunately, you won’t recognise many of the songs on first playing, not because of crowd noise but because Willie flies through the numbers barely pausing for breath between each. The best cuts definitely appear on Side One, while Side Two is somewhat samey/boring apart from the medley (one of three included) "Opportunity To Cry/Permanently Lonely”. Side One opens with “I Gotta Get Drunk", a classic bar room song in the western swing tradition. The truly immaculate bass playing on this track is, I presume, by Bee Spears who, together with all the other members of the band, is a long standing member of the Nelson band. James Clayton Day plays a really nice pedal-steel break on this track, which is also notable for the great lines:

There's a lot of doctors that tell me That I better start to slow it down But there's a lot more old drunks Than there are old doctors So I guess we'd better have another round.

That’s truly what country music is about earthy, real and retaining a sense of humour.

“Hello Walls" as part of a medley, loses the impact that it would hold as an individual number but it is still, undoubtedly, a country classic. The only other cut really worth mentioning is “I Never Cared For You", one of only two songs on the album that manages to rise in tempo above a dawdle. Willie here picks a fine solo on his holed, gut-strung Martin and as in most of his other songs, plays some very tasteful Django Reinhardt-ish jazz chords. While all this material is at least five years old and none of his post 73 material is included, it is still a collection of Willie Nelson classics and, as such, an historically important release. Anyway, I hope the cash does come in, even if only for Willie Nelson’s pocket. He deserves the compensation. Alan Hunter