Aces Burning

Rip It Up, Issue 13, 1 July 1978, Page 13

Aces Burning

Ken Williams

Amazing Rhythm Aces Burning the Ballroom Down ABC In the movie The Last Waltz the band’s drummer, travel worn Levon Helm, talks about Memphis and the surrounding area as the “sort of middle of the country” where all musical influences come together. From this melting pot of blues, country and gospel emerged 8.8. King, Elvis Presley, the Band, and the Amazing Rhythm Aces. It’s by no means fanciful to see the Aces as the successors to the Band. At their best, the Aces can evoke that sense of the vanishing American frontier that was the hallmark of the Band, a meld of the pastoral and the medicine show. Their new album consolidates the reputation they have built with their three previous releases, a mixture of rhythm and blues, country and gospel, tinged with Western Swing styled guitar, intricate and propulsive. As usual, Russell Smith pens most of the songs, including the Bob Segerish title track and the haunting "Spirit Walk.” He hasn’t Robbie Robertson’s sense of drama or his feel for an oblique lyric, rather he concentrates on melody and musical texture, to set the tone. There’s no catchy “Third Rate Romance” or “The End is Not in Sight,” but the album is a delight throughout. “We’re schizo,” says Smith, “We dig people as far apart as Ella Fitzgerald and Hank Williams. Most of what we like comes out in our music.”

The Vibrators Pure Mania Epic The Vibrators are one of the string of second-division punk bands which caught onto the New Wave mania when it hit Britain in early 1976. They came along at a time when energy, rather than skill, was the key word. Learn four chords, form a band and play at breakneck speed, not forgetting to yell out the traditional counting-in. The Vibrators, in fact, were largely opportunists, who saw the New Wave as a chance for the fame which had long eluded them. Leader lan Carnochan, affectionately known as Knox, is 32, and chief sidekick John Ellis is 26, as is drummer John “Eddie” Edwards. Original bassist Pat Collier was in the same age group, and has since been replaced by 19-year-old Gary Tibbs, whose punk credentials are slightly better. The Vibrators started off playing the same London pubs and clubs as most New Wave bands, until they caught Chris Spedding’s eye. He got them to record his "Pogo Dancing”, but their own “We Vibrate” single made a far greater impact, and will doubtless be looked at as one of the first great punk singles. Pure Mania die big business in Britain, since it was one of the first genuine “punk”

albums as such to be released. Sadly, it is now over a year old as it is finally released here and shows its age. To coin a familiar phrase, Pure Mania now sounds like Last Year's Thing. Every song sounding the same, taken at high speed, dubiously dirty lyrics with occasional kinky references . . . it’s all there. And it’s long since been surpassed. The Vibrators have been living and gigging in Germany in recent months and are now touring Britain again. Reports are that their show and material has changed drastically from this. This simply serves to echo the recent complaint made in these pages by Jah Jarrett over the reluctance of record companies to release reggae. The same applies to New Wave. Pure Mania might have sold had it been released last year. But even to New Zealand punks it’s now sadly irrelevant and has only curio significance. Judge for yourself by all means, but when are people who like something other than the Bee Gees, Linda Ronstadt and Fleetwood Mac going to get a decent deal? Surely a little of the sales profits from Saturday Night Fever could be used to hasten the release of a little more minority music? Is that an unreasonable request? Duncan Campbell

Frankie Miller Double Trouble Chrysalis

Double Trouble, Frankie Miller's fifth album, is a fairly apt title as, by all accounts, Miller is your regular Sauchiehall St scrap-

per, and compared to Full House, his last album and best known reference point, D.T. is, as the title suggests, more abrasive and beliggerent. Miller’s new producer, Jack Douglas (Aerosmith) is partly responsible, but his new band (his fifth consecutive new line-up), comprising Ray Russell (guitar), Procol’s B.J. Wilson on drums and Paul Carrack from Ace on keyboards who has cowritten much of the material with Miller, is an improvement even on the excellent asskickers he had on Full House. Carrack, who already has Ace’s classic “How Long” under his belt, has the right melodic feel to complement Miller's grimy vocal style try the R&B approach of "The Train” or “Love Waves”. Miller’s own “Have You Seen Me Lately Joan” is a gem, a dusky mid-tempo rocker with a sneaking melody that’s difficult to forget. Andy Fraser, the same, has two powerful songs on D.T. “Love is All Around” and “Double Heart Trouble”, a good Bad Company cockstrut and Miller’s Paul Roger’s phrasing is perfect. Frankie, like Rod Stewart, is a shrewd interpr 'ter of other peoples’ songs as he de-

monstrated on Full House with Lennon’s "Jealous Guy” and the old “Love Letters”. On D.T. we get Marvin Gaya’s “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” which doesn’t do much for me, but the oldie "Goodnight Sweetheart” swings with a sort of sentimental power and ideal closing track. A good album, but Miller is a restless sorta guy as he just can’t seem to keep a band tied down for more than one album and there’s little hope of him becoming a household name with this instability. He will probably never become fashionable and D.T. may not be this year’s most essential record but he’s far too good to be ignored. George Kay

Various Artists Transatlantic the Vintage Years Transatlantic There was a time when you could almost guarantee a musical product by the record on which it appeared. Island, Elektra, Transatlantic these were three cases in point. Now, with Transatlantic being revived by RTC we are given a sampler of some of the best work that appeared on that label. Songs by Pentangle, the Humblebums, Richard Digance, Ralph McTell, Gerry Rafferty, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn make one realise that at one point Transatlantic certainly had a stranglehold on the more interesting British ‘folkies’. For me, anyway, Steeleye Span and some of the later electric folk groups took the wind out of Pentangle’s sails to some degree. And yet Transatlantic had Mr Fox who made two quite exceptional albums in the late 60s early 70s. But they unfortunately don’t feature on this sampler. Nicest surprise on the record is an Irish group, The Boys of the Lough doing live performances of "The Kincora Jig” and “Behind the Haystack”. Don’t know how much this disc is, but I should imagine it is mid-price. Let’s hope it whets people’s appetites for Gerry Rafferty and the Humblebums! William Dart