Twilley Don’t Mis

Rip It Up, Issue 15, 1 September 1978, Page 12

Twilley Don’t Mis

The Dwight Twilley Band Sincerely Twilley Don’t Mind Shelter Nobody asked me to name my favourite disco single this issue, but that's just as well. I don’t have a favourite because, even in 1978, I still prefer pop to disco. Over the past month I tried Cheap Trick’s In Colour but only came away bemused, suspecting a too liberal mix of rock with pop. Misfits re-established my fondness for the Kinks; healthy survivors are rare in rock but they boost morale and even Clive Davis may be smiling. Later I turned to Dwight Twilley, a spirited newcomer with an unabashed love for pop. The Dwight Twilley Band relies on the pairing of Twilley with Phil Seymour. Twilley writes the songs; both of them sing. Working together under the pseudonym of Oister (the band’s original name), they produced most of their first album, Sincerely. Twilley played guitar and keyboards, Seymour played bass and drums. Robin Cable produced one track “England” at Trident Studios in London; most of the other songs were recorded at Leon Russell’s Tulsa studios. “I’m on Fire” went to number 16 in the U.S.

singles charts while Denny Cordell and Leon Russell were suing each other at Shelter. Sincerely was held in litigation for a year and eventually released in the States in mid-1976. Twilley Don't Mind followed a year later. It’s taken longer than it should have for these albums to be made available here but, as they say, the wait was worth it. Twilley combines English and American influences (notably the Beatles, the Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley) in songs that embrace pop culture. As he told Rolling Stone in November last year, ‘‘Pop is my favourite word”. Twilley knows the formula to the two minutes-plus hit. He writes pop for car radio, songs like "Looking For the Magic”, “Baby Let’s Cruise”, "Just Like the Sun” and “Trying to Find My Baby”. The albums mix a.m. and p.m. driving songs; pop songs about true love and drive-ins, freeways and takeaways, girls and TV: Thursday night, got my baby at home Turn the lights down low and the TV on . .. Sincerely is marginally the better album, but I also like the first side of Twilley Don’t Mind a lot too. And “pop” is one of my favourite words. Jeremy Templer

Citizen Band Mandrill About a year ago, I reviewed the first Hello Sailor album and said then that I thought it was the most convincing rock and roll record that I had heard from a New Zealand studio. At almost the same time, Citizen Band began work on their first album. As they might have guessed, it takes a long time for the wheels of the local recording industry to grind, and it is only now that that project is about to see the light of day. Superficially, there are similarities between Sailor and C.B. especially in the mechanics of the two-guitar lineup but where Hello Sailor had clearly definable origins in foreign musical forms like reggae, HM\ or funk, Citizen Band forges a much more consciously local style in the footsteps, dare we say, of Split Enz. The role of Split Enz in Citizen Band has to be faced squarely. There can be no doubt of the continuity of style in Michael Chunn’s bass-playing and the singular effect that his combination with drummer Brent Eccles has on the rhythmic structure of manyof the songs. The introduction to “The Ladder Song” or the inserted passages in “Counting the Regiments” refer directly to such Enz pieces as “Stranger Than Fiction” and “Lovey Dovey” (although it should be stressed that these touches left Split Enz along with Michael). Other parallels are less easy to pin down the willingness to deal with recognisably local themes (whether American tourists at Whaka, or a “Glide Time" office party) the absence of any geographical tinges in the singing the less-than straightforward arranging. Still, they are no more than parallels and parallels with a band which hasn’t teally existed for two or three years at that. What they have that sets them apart is an affection for and an understanding of the beat-group rhythms which underlie so much pop music of the last fifteen years. Their eclecticism, and use of different rhythms serve as a startling reminder of the grip that American music has on the bulk of New Zealand musicians. Citizen Band use the melodic and rhythmic vocabulary of Ray Davies or the Beatles rather than Lou Reed or the Commodores. Somehow, perhaps simply because of that novelty, they are able to cut themselves loose from the stereotyping which afflicts the music scene here. Paradoxically, they thus become much more New Zealand performers than their peers. They don’t ape the “real thing” they just take what they want. All this is not meant to imply that Citizen Band is a compendium of styles borrowed but not assimilated. The material ranges from the beat-pop of “Out In The World” to the grand balladry of “Julia” and the Light Metal riffing of “Tex Goes To The Tinema,” but there are strong unifying elements in the lead vocals by Geoffrey Chunn (who wrote or co-wrote all but one of the songs) and the consistent guitar-based sound, which relies heavily on the melodic sense of Greg Clarke. The songs themselves even the punk pastiche, “Dig That Tex” all possess’extremely strong melodies and a hatful of telling lines which keep popping out at you. The only quibble that might be raised about the writing is the extreme brevity of the words in a couple of the songs. “Out In The World”, the most obvious example, has only four lines. Aside from that, though, the longer, sly pieces like “Office Come Alive” and “Ladder Song” offer lyrics which repay lengthy deciphering. Aside from the fact that this is the first time many of those words have been audible, repeated listening to the album confirms it as a good indication of Citizen Band on stage the willingness to keep most of the songs short (although “Tex Goes To The Tinema” sins here) and a refusal to resort to more than a sprinkling of outside help, mean that the set is always firmly based in their live sound. The principal added attractions are Warren Sly, co-writer of a couple of the

songs, and keyboard player, and Rob Gillies who contributes sax and trumpet to two songs. Their role as performers is strictly subordinated to what emerges as a distinctive CB sound. But, however much one makes a case for Citizen Band not being comparable with its local predecessors or competitors, it is inevitable that such comparisons are going to be made. As far as my reference to Hello Sailor is concerned, I think it’s most accurate to say that the difference is one of emphasis. Sailor may have been the most convincing New Zealand rock and roll album I’d heard, Citizen Band is the most convincing New Zealand rock and roll album yet. Francis Stark The Jam This Is The Modern World Polydor The Jam’s debut album In the City, despite its clear debt to early Who, was one of last year’s highlights as it proved that Paul Weller was one of the new whiz-kids with an acute awareness of the "phoney” in society and the ability to smack these messages through with powerful driving melodies. Although Modern World doesn’t reach the same heights, it’s still a neat attempt by Weller to streamline his songwriting into more well-defined themes. His songs all deal with contemporary situations or conditions and many of them are tinged with an almost working class cynicism, not unlike a lot of Ray Davies’ recent songs. For example, in “In the Street, Today” he sings of “Murder on the terraces/fools in high places/its all so sickening/and we’re so satisfied.” “All Around the World" one of the three singles ripped from the album, is the Jam at their best-trimmed direct guitar chords from Weller, no superfluous guitar solos here mate. “London Girl”, "Standards” and the angry “Here Comes the Weekend” display the same tight structure, but bassist Bruce Foxton’s “London Traffic” and “Don’t Tell Them You’re Sane” are too ordinary. Foxton is improving as the Jam’s current single “News of the World" (unavailable here) testifies but he hasn’t Weller’s perceptive abilities. Modern World is a progressive step for Weller which largely pays off. Not bad for a geezer from Woking nudging the ripe old age of twenty-one. George Kay

The Flamin’ Groovies Flamin’ Groovies Now

Philips The Flamin’ Groovies are stayers. Emerging in San Francisco in the mid-sixties, by ’6B they were being booed off that city’s stages for playing rock of the most basic and vital kind at a time when psychedelic meandering and spiritual posturing were the order of the day. Since then they’ve hung on through various personnel changes, untold tours, numerous setbacks and a scattering of brilliant high points that seemed to give the Groovies enough charge to take on yet another year and another tour. Flamin' Groovies Now is their first album on general release in N.Z. and, although not consistently A-grade, there’s still plenty to enjoy. The producer, as on last year’s great Shake Some Action, is Dave Edmunds. Cyril Jordan's souped-up guitar leads the Groovies through a number of mostly excellent originals, plus a classic or two from the Byrds and the Beatles, and a powerful version of the primal English rocker “Move It”. The early Byrds sound is a touchstone for three or four of the tracks, but these are not empty rehashes or nostalgic indulgences, this music lives and breathes and rocks its arse off. With “-power pop” being the current phase it means that the Groovies are running shoulder to shoulder with a trend, but it’s purely coincidental. They have always gone their own road, seldom compromising, and have paid the price with a prolonged obscurity. They may never be hugely popular but on Flamin' Groovies Now , as always, they ooze the spirit of rock ’n’ roll. Terence Hogan.

Diana Ross and the Supremes 20 Golden Greats Motown If nothing else this album serves to prove what a highly-developed music productionline can do. So what if Diana Ross had a narrow emotional range and songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland altered the tunes enough only to distinguish each single from its predecessor. A combination of just these factors produced a series of incandescent singles that, today, sound as fresh and vibrant as ever they did. More than anything else Holland - Dozier - Holland perfected a sound Diana’s breathy vocals over a beat that became tougher as the years passed and culminated in 1966 in H-D-H’s finest work The Supreme’s “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and the Four Tops “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”. Thereafter they continued to mine the for-

mula, but increasingly the results had less urgency. In 1967 Holland - Dozier - Holland left Motown and new tricks had to be found to fuel the Supremes. Social comment was tried with “Love Child” and “I’m Living in Shame ", and though undoubtedly sincerely felt, lines like: “Came the telegram/Mama passed away while making home-made jam”, sounded more artful than heartfelt. And Diana was already being groomed for greater things and left the Supremes for the movies and the middle of the road. Happily the recorded evidence of that productive period remains, and this intelligently compiled album contains all the classic Supremes cuts and few more besides. Indispensable stuff. If only Abba had been born in Detroit. Alastair Dougal

Daryl Hall and John Oates Livetime RCA The inevitable “live” album. This time from two of the best purveyors of blue-eyed soul. Is this the result of a slide in creative ability? Certainly nothing startling is offered here. In some ways, it makes an effective sampler to the duo, although it doesn’t chart their peaks.

There’s nothing wrong with the album. It’s very competent, but only on occasion is it

more. “Sara Smile’’, “The Emptyness’’, “Abandoned Luncheonette" and “Do What You Want" are exhilarating, with the vocal interplay on the latter a particular highlight. The band is skintight: Caleb Quaye on guitar, Kenny Passarelli on bass, Roger Pope on drums. But, again, only sporadically do they do more than simmer sympathetically (the soaring intro to “Sara Smile” is a notable exception). The eight minute “Sara Smile" lifts Side Two to a level not achieved on the previous side, but the delicate mood set up by the following “Abandoned Luncheonette” is shattered by the clamour of an anonymous rocker, which seems redundant here. Its aggression seems forced, and the band swings better at slower tempos. Still, I suppose concerts are meant to end on a big bang, although despite the sound of applause there is little of a live “feel” about the record. Ken Williams

Willie Nelson Stardust CBS. Willie’s been saving this one up for a long while. Stardust is a treatment of the old singer’s ten favourite standards. Nelson says the songs on the album are all pieces from youthful days and all have a special attraction for him.

He also confesses that until recently, the songs being mostly sophisticated ballads from the forties, they were too complicated for him. “They have a lot of chords in them," he maintains. Consequently he sought the help of Booker T. Jones to do the arrangements. Booker T agreed and the album went ahead.

Covering classic material is not new to Willie Nelson. His much touted Red Headed Stranger album included ten country standards, and took in his brilliant version of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”. What is new is the Broadway territory Nelson explores. For all that he’s still securely Willie Nelson in his gentle, understated versions of numbers like “Stardust”, “Georgia on My Mind” and “Unchained Melody”. Stardust is a tender but persistent record. The backings are sparsely effective relying on guitar and the quiet emphasis of a harmonic line or piano. It’s all very tasteful. But I can’t help thinking that a man of Nelson’s intense talent should have more fruitful ways of spending time than playing around as a musical curator. Bruce Belsham

Various Artists The Front Line II Althea and Donna Uptown Top Ranking Virgin Records Front Line The Front Line label was created by Virgin to exclusively promote reggae acts. In one trip to Jamaica, aided by Jah Johnny Rotten, self-confessed reggae freak, they signed up about a dozen acts, many of which appear on this new sampler. The first Front Line collection was an intelligent assembly, giving the unitiated a chance to hear reggae acts that might otherwise have escaped them, including the Mighty Diamonds, U-Roy and Johnny Clarke. This second volume is again an education to those who know of Marley and Toots, but have probably never heard of Poet And The Roots, The Gladiators or Prince Hammer. Jamaica is a dangerous country, the bastion of the Third World, where violence is ever-present, and the man who carries no protection in Trenthtown is a fool. The music reflects this life-on-the-line existence. Just listen to Prince Fari’s “Foggy Road”, mon, an’ feel de chill.

Other goodies herein include a track from Culture, the vocal trio whose Two Sevens Clash was voted the reggae album of ’77 by the British rock press, and will we ever see it here?

Front Line also offers an introduction to dub artists like Ranking Trevor and l-Roy. Listen to Roy’s rendition of “Rivers Of Babylon” and you’ll see where Boney M get off. Even better are toaster Tapper Zukie's righteous “Tribute To Steve Biko” and Big Youth’s “Love We A Deal With.” But what must be remembered is that such

collections are merely a taste of what the complete product is like. With that in mind, when will we see some of the albums used here released in their entirety? I, for one, would like to see the release of albums by The Gladiators and U-Brown, along with more product from The Diamonds. Althea and Donna also get a track on the sampler, but they alone have had their album released here on the strength of a hit single albeit a foreign one. “Uptown Top Ranking” was a surprise Number One in Britain, but didn’t even get airplay in this country. For Althea Forrest and Donna Reid it must have been a surprise too, since they did the song only to prove to the rather chauvinistic Rastamen that women 4 too could compose. Both come from affluent Jamaican backgrounds, but say their sympathies are "strictly roots”. The album takes a mild political stance, but this is not where their strength lies. It’s singing agonised teenage love songs (self-penned) where these girls shine. If the Shangri-Las had been born in Jamaica, maybe they would have sounded like this: “He’s my dreadlocks boy and I love him so.” If they can write more like this, maybe they can continue the success of “Ranking.” When they try to talk of the Rasta faith, they get out of their depth. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Jah contingent waits anxiously for further developments to satisfy our craving for Rastaman vibrations. Duncan Campbell

Larry Carlton Warner Brothers Fans of Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan or The Crusaders will be familiar with the work of Larry Carlton, one of L.A.’s most sought after session guitarists. His style is smooth and flowing (as befits the L.A. ambience) and much admired for its clean economy. Joni Mitchell called it “admirable editing”. Not for Carlton the intense flurries of notes a la McLaughlin; his emphasis is on spareness and subtlety. ' The slight pity with this album is that, while it showcases Carlton’s talents, the quality of basic material is somewhat desultory. Consequently, unless one is tuned into his fine soloing, the music tends to become aural wallpaper. Sometimes numbers sound like pale references to work the musicians have done elsewhere: “335” recalls Aja's “Peg” s elsewhere drummer Porcaro uses a beat from Scaggs’ Silk Degrees.

Nonetheless the musical standard, apart from Carlton’s singing on two tracks, is quite exemplary and there are highlights. Carlton can attack the type of furious up-tempo beloved of Al DiMeola and, by doing more with less, emerge supreme. This record should be heard by guitar students because Carlton is an important stylist. But, much as I enjoy his playing, I prefer it on consistently stronger material. Peter Thomson. The Tubes What Do You Want From Live A&M All that is gross, grandiose, offensive and excessive is grist to the mill of The Tubes. This bunch of loonies from San Francisco has taken rock theatre and turned it upside down, making satire and burlesque incredibly hip. Their studio albums have only hinted at their impact on stage, and this live offering is still only a partial salve, since we still lack the visuals. Never mind. Here, you can revel in the delights of Fee Waldo Waybill, extolling the virtues of giveaway quiz shows, wrapping barbed wire around his torso and poking fun at punks, tying up willing young nubiles ... all good, clean fun. If nothing else, this album shows what a fine rock band The Tubes are, proficient and disciplined, yet still abel to rattle your gold fillings. Drool over the gatefold pictures, tingle with delight as Re Styles sings “Don’t Touch Me There”, surrender to the sheer aural attack of "White Punks On Dope”, chew on the sleeve ... This album only makes me yearn even more to see The Tubes here, on stage. Betcha we never do. Duncan Campbell Etta James Deep in the Night Warner Bros The collaboration of singer Etta James and producer Jerry Wexler sounds like one of those unions made in heaven. Etta is a highly regarded (but never highly successful) singer who’s been around for nearly 25

years. She’s one of the black R&B singers who missed the rock and roll boat. She’s probably best known for ‘Td Rather Go Blind”, recorded by Christine Perfect and Rod Stewart, and re-done here. Wexler is one of the key men in the development of soul music. With Atlantic since its formative days in the early fifties, he has worked with almost everybody. The record could have been outstanding. It’s not, and the fault lies with the choice of material. Alice Cooper's ‘‘Only Women Bleed” is a case in point. It’s literally shredded before the hurricane force of Etta James. It can't take it. Neither can the Eagles’ “Take it to the Limit”. That the album doesn’t live up to its potential is made even more apparent on fullbodied tunes like “Piece of My Heart” and Allen Toussaint's “Sweet Touch of Love”. With songs that can withstand the intensity of her attack, she is sublime. After years in the wilderness, she deserves to be heard with this fine album, which just misses delivering its promise. Ken Williams

The Boys NEMS Well its like this, last year after a short apprenticeship in London SS, Matt Dangerfield, Honest John Plain and Casino Steel formed the Boys along with Kid Reed and Jack Black. Halfway through the same year the album in question is released amidst good subjective reviews with comments like "this is hedonism as opposed to nihilism”. Because the album was so delayed in being released here I have the advantage of time the great leveller and can safely say that much of the music is passe headbanger antics. Fast, furious ‘n’ futile. But there are five songs here that show more than just promise. “Soda Pressing” is racy, good tune, crisp chords; “No Money” is supercharged pop with Beatlish harmonies anticipating the Pleasers. It gets better with Plain’s paean to teen romance “First Time” chugging guitars and doe-eyed vocals. You’ve gotta hear it. “Cop Cars/Keep Running” is built around Dangerfield’s guitar simulating a police siren, very effective! If the Boys can continue in the vein that these songs indicate, then their new album Alternative Chartbusters will be worth waiting for. Meanwhile The Boys would make a great EP. George Kay

The Kinks Misfits Arista

The wisdom of Greta Garbo. At the peak of her career and she decided she wanted out. No Gothique twilight for this lady, hacking and hatcheting her way into the audience’s collective heart, her wrinkled visage pulsating with the kind of insanity that only Hollywood could create. James Dean, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison all had the good fortune to die at their peak, and leave us with nothing but good memories and the stuff that legends are made of. What about the survivors? Now Ray Davies there’s a man that must be one of the real personalities that the 60s British scene spawned. The Kinks have survived, more or less, into the late 70s and yet, on the basis of Misfits, one has one’s doubts as to whether they should have. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” is a beautiful song, but is it enough to carry a whole album? "Out of the Wardrobe” gets a giggle out of transvestites, but that sort of humour seems to be more the territory of Shel Silverstein and Billy Connolly these days. And Ray Davies’ arch comments on the racial situation in Britain in “Black Messiah" just seem a little self-indulgent. Add to this some really noisy and uninspired group playing and the least informative cover of the year, and it is indeed a worrying album. Perhaps the new wave lot will win by default. William Dart

VSOP The Quintet CBS Oregon Violin Vanguard Modern jazz comes in varying shapes, as can be heard on these two albums. One unit embraces classical and Indian music forms and the other is comprised of jazz musicians who have made forays into the rock format. The Miles Davis Quintet of the mid-Sixties was the most innovative jazz band of the day. From the acoustic Miles In The Sky through to the seminal electric albums Silent Way and Bitches Brew the unit (augmented by people like Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and John McLaughlin) paved the way for the socalled fusion music of today. Miles Davis is "replaced” on this album by Freddy Hubbard, the other members all belonging to the Quintet of the Sixties: Herbie Hancock (piano), Wayne Shorter (tenor and soprano sax), Ron Carter (double bass) and Tony Williams (drums). Taking a break from their (generally electric) bands, The Quintet have taken their knowledge from their jazzrock experiemnts and applied it to their use of acoustic instruments. The first VSOP album was purely a Herbie Hancock outing, on which he assembled three different units, including this one, as a tribute to Miles. The Quintet on that album failed to really fire due, in part, to Hubbard’s erratic playing. However, although not quite the maestro Miles is, this time around he’s got all his fingers in the glove and even provides the highlight on the album the delightful duet with Shorter (on soprano sax) on “Lawra”. Not just a nostalgic album, the musos are all in top form and have put out a set that demands repeated airings. Oregon is Paul McCandless (woodwinds), Glen Moore (bass), Ralph Towner (guitars) and Collin Walcott (percussion). They have, including solo and joint efforts, over a dozen albums out yet remain largely unknown outside the States. Their music owes nothing to rock and seemingly little to jazz; their main influences appearing to come from Bartok and Shankar. On Violin they are joined by Polish violinist Zbeigniew Fiefert, whose debts to Coltrane and Tyners’ tonal experiments are apparent here. Not quite the virtuosa that Ponty is, he does, however, embellish the lyrical qualities this unique unit possess. No foot-tapper this, place it alongside Astral Weeks as perfect lone listening at 3am. John Dix

Jimmy Buffett Son of a Son of a Sailor ABC Jimmy Buffett has by now well established his laid back style. “Margueritaville” was achetypal Buffett, rest easy picking, wry lyrics, slow cruise. He likes the yachting life (part of the legend is his dope-running activities), and his music is reported to be perfect for matching sea rhythms. He certainly has an easy roll. It’s pleasant music, relaxing, enjoyable, certainly not apocalyptic. The humour is apparent in some of the titles, “Cheeseburger in Paradise", “Cowboy Jungle’’, but that can wear thin rather too quickly. Buffett is most appealing on the slow drifting ballads. “The Last Line” and “Manana” are especially nice, putting one in mind of Caribbean islands. One cheeseburger too many, but overall a shot of summer looseness. (Kenneth Buttrey’s country drumming is a bonus.) Ken Williams

Pere Übu Datapanik in the Year Zero Radar This 12 inch extended play gives us two of te American group’s singles “Heart of Darkness/30 Seconds over Tokyo" from 1975 and “Cloud 149/Untitled” from 1976 plus a 1977 track “Heaven”. Reasonable value for $3.99. But let’s not be bourgeois. The very name of the group implores us not to be so. The lurid pink and yellow cover screams out at one across a darkened record emporium. Anyway, back to the music. Lovely, lovely stuff. Stark chants over endless instrumental riffs. Recipe for Pere Übu record take a bit of Lou Reed, a pinch of Iggy, stir together with a touch of Sky Saxon. But this is not taking into account the fabulous electronic barrage in the latter stages of “30 Seconds”. “Cloud 149” is pure West Coast late 60s punk Standells, Thirteenth Floor Elevators and all t’others. Unbelievable instrumentals in “Untitled” (note the way I avoid acres of tricky verbiage with vague adjective) and a freaked-out La Bamba off-shoot in “Heaven”. In the immortal words of Wayne County, "Pere Übu 4 ever!!!!” William Dart