MAKE MINE MINK

Rip It Up, Issue 7, 1 December 1977, Page 6

MAKE MINE MINK

Ken Williams

Capitol Records Willie DeVille is a classic punk. No green-toothed Johnny Rotten, but ah out-front New York street boy, slick pompadour and snakeskin jacket (‘‘‘man, all I have to do is wear that thing on stage and people' applaud ... ”). Elegant. Willie’s band, Mink DeVille, make classic punk music. It’s all a matter of definition, I suppose, but there are some classic punks. Early Mick Jagger, the Van Morrison of Them (what greater punk anthem than “Gloria”?). This is the music of Mink DeVille. There are hints of Jagger, Van Morrison (remember the Bang album Blowing Your Mind?) on his way to Astral Weeks, and of seventies punk Springsteen, but the material and the band are too strong for any accusations of imitation to be sustained. “We mix everything,” says Willie, “we dig a lot of different things and really try to open up the scope. Purists wreck everything.” There’s nothing pure about Willie. Even his love songs snarl. The album was originally to be called “Cabretta” (it is still printed on the back of the sleeve), a type of leather that’s tough, but tender. That’s Willie.

There’s a song list of dedications on the sleeve. Among them is one La La, singer with the Crystals, whose “Little Girl” is included on the album. Producer is Jack Nitzsche, who arranged for Phil Spector, master of the punk symphony. Initially, there were plans for Spector to produce the album as a sort of West Side Story punk opera. No disrespect, but I’m glad Spector didn’t make the date. Nitzsche’s production is assured, but this is Mink DeVille’s album all the way. All but two of the ten songs are written by Willie (published by Fire Escape Music) and they jump out of the speakers with the same intensity as those other golden punks, Jagger and Morrison. But this is no memory lane stroll for old farts. It’s rock and roll, summer in the city, New York heatwave. Atlantic Records had no option on Mink DeVille. Willie’s words: “We went to them with this cohtract and we said, ‘Sign this or we go on Capitol’ we were going to go on Capitol anyway and they said, ‘We'd only give a contract like that to the Rolling Stones.’ And we said, ‘You don’t know what you’re turning down, man.’ ’’ “I’m a gunslinger” Willie DeVille.