Lowell finds his feet

Rip It Up, Issue 22, 1 May 1979, Page 18

Lowell finds his feet

The Angels Face to Face

Albert Productions - In Australia, 1979 has been dubbed The Year Of. The Angels.. This five-piece band, relatively unknown here, like many Aussie groups, swept the board in a readers' poll conducted by RAM Magazine, topping The Stones and Dire Straits. Formed in Adelaide in 1974, from the remnants of the Moonshine Jug and String Band, The Angels command a .large and fanatical following among Ozkids. No fancy stuff here. The Angels have cottoned on to a very lucrative market, providing hard, driving pop music to drink and rage to.

Vocalist Doc Neeson has the mean, hungry looks of Lee Brilleaux, and is a better-than-average, though no exceptional, singer. The rest of the band, John Brewster, Rick Brewster, Chris Bailey and Graham Bldstrup, have plenty of flair and energy, that suggests on a good night they could strip the paint from the walls. Each song is tight and tuneful, aimed at maximum effect on the dancefloor, since live is obviously where The Angels shine. Harry Vanda and George Young oversee the production, which is crisp and solid, and with volume and bass turned up, it shakes the foundations very successfully.

Face to Face was voted Album Of 1978 by RAM readers, and The Angels supported Bowie on his Australian tour, (they nearly came here as well). Though New Zealand audiences are not normally quick to respond to this type of sound, definitely a band to watch for.

Duncan Campbell

Dwight Twilley Twilley

Arista Dwight Twilley has a very clear, personal vision of what soulful white pop music sounds like and he doesn’t just go around talking about it like you and me and most of these other mugs, he makes records out of it, and he hasn't made a bad one yet. Twilley is essentially a Dwight Twilley solo album with his former partner Phil Seymour taking a back seat, in fact he only sits. there long enough to sing some backup on “Darlin"’.

And nothing much has changed to tell the truth, in fact some of the vocal and instrumental devices which sounded so fresh on the Dwight Twilley debut have begun to take on the appearance of a relatively limited pool of stylistic mannerisms. But that's nothing new in rock & roll and giants built their whole careers on such limited foundations (e.g. Chuck Berry). A talent of real strength can overcome such flaws and Twilley still does it although the edges are starting to fray and a fourth album might prove too much.

But a stylist Twilley is, echoed vocals, lots of hooks, lots of space, everything in its place, a breezy unreality. His songs aren't about firsthand feelings but are the distillation of the emotions of a teen heart through a man's head and crystallized in the melodrama of a pop music that can't go back. Back home that is. "I Wanna Make Love To You" is sensational and I'll listen to it forever, or the rest of this week anyway. It's about looking at girls and wanting to cry, but what it's really about is Twilley's beautiful vocal entry, the kick in the chorus and those few seconds later in the song which suggest a possible memory of a dream about the Velvet Underground jamming with Badfinger on some Abba hit. "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" is a Twilley composition like the others and despite it’s title owes nothing to the Four Tops and quite a lot to The Left Banke.

More of the same, that's about the size of it If you like the size wear it.

Terence Hogan

Hank Williams 24 of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits MGM Although he was dead before rock and roll hit, Hiram 'Hank' Williams epitomises the myth of the music. Born of poor Southern stock, Williams was elevated to national, and international, fame through a series of recordings which touched a public far wider than their country origins. Williams lived life as intensely as he sang of it. He boozed and took pills, coughed up blood as he sang. On New Year’s Day 1953, while driving to a show in Ohio, he died -in the back seat of one of his five Cadillacs. He was 29. Hank Williams left behind a musical legacy that is still being tapped. Songs such as "Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “Hey, Good Lookin'”, and "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" have been recorded over and over again. Recent recordings. of Williams' material have been made by such rock-oriented performers as the Grateful Dead, Emmylou Harris, Dave Edmunds, Elvin Bishop and George Thorogood. Don’t be put off by the unsubtle album title. There's a wealth of fine music here, the best of a truly major artist. At the list price of $5.99 it's not to be missed.

Ken Williams

Lowell George

Thanks, I'll Eat It here Warner Bros Little Feat has not produced an album of new material for well on two years now. Going by the credits on a number of Californian-born record albums, one might imagine they had been too busy helping out in other people's studios. The notes on Lowell George's solo album seem to indicate otherwise; this album took a total of two and a half years to complete. Thanks I’ll Eat It Here, is a good record. Whether or not it was worth 30 months of labour is merely academic. Anyway, with all that time, it enabled George to gather together the mandatory star-studded session team which provides an excellent service to George's rough’n'ready vocals. Strangely enough, I can only profess to being whole heartedly sold on Side One of this album. Kicking off with Alain Toussaint’s "What Do You Want The Girl To Do” is lovely. It's a very easy version, eclipsing that of Boz Scaggs with its casual build-up and extra length. "Honest Man” is rather predictable and ploddy, but next up is George’s only cover of a Little Feat number, "Two Trains". Perhaps, for some, it loses some finesse in the transition, but the spontaneity gained is infectious. That looseness (here, used positively) is maintained in the final track, "Can’t Stand The Rain”, originally recorded by Ann Peebles, then butchered by the disco group Eruption, it’s good to hear the song given its due again. Side Two fails to grip, although “Find A River" and "20 Million Things" are quietly pleasant tunes. In general, however, it's a one-side album. But don't fee hard-done-by. Lowell George at his own controls is worth twice the price. Louise Chunn

Devadip Carlos Santana Oneness: Silver Dreams Golden Reality

CBS This is a solo project by Santana. An album of essentially devotional music, it burns with an emotional inner fire lacking in recent manifestations of the Santana Band . The Santana Band's re-treads of past rock hits have proved a formula for commerical success, but they're not very interesting.

Oneness, however, stands with the limited edition Lotus set as a peak in Santana’s development. This album is cast from the same mould as Loius: largely instrumental, with strong jazz-influences, and with a wide range of musical textures and colours.

In an interview in Guitar Player magazine, Santana said: "It’s going to be a very interesting album, because it covers such a range of music just with people who are very close to me." These people include his wife (recitation of a poem by Santana’s guru, Sri Chinmoy), his father-in-law, (guitarist-singer Saunders King], Greg Walker (former Santana Band vocalist), Tom Coster (keyboards) and Narada Michael

Walden, whose piano playing ory ‘Guru's Song” is as refreshing as Santana’s soaring, singing guitar is throughout the album. ; i,'. One doesn't have to adhere to ; Santana's faith to enjoy. Oneness. It is sheer music. Ken Williams Supertramp Breakfast in America A&M After two unsuccessful albums Supertramp,or rather Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson,’ hit on*a winning formula with Crime Of The Century, a masterpiece as it turned out with . a brilliant production,' incisive lyrics and strong melodies. The following two albums have been mere 1 variations on . that success and though both had some fine moments they were rather samey and unimpressive. Nevertheless, Supertramp have firmly established ; themselves . as•_ one of the best-selling groups of the Seventies. And so to Breakfast In America. Davies and Hodgson still dominate, contributing all the songs and vocals while the tunes are still built around their keyboards. The tunes are all' vaguely familiar; . "Child Of Vision" for instance is culled straight. from the "Dreamer"/“Lady" arrangement. Davies’ compositions have a more humourous approach this time 'around while. Hodgson seem intent on continuing the, spiritual exercises that dominated Even In The ) Quietest Moments. Despite the big PR build-up this is just another Supertramp album loaded with singles material (it must be admitted that several of the tracks cling to the memory cells,■ defiantly clinging for days after only one listening). - ' Supertramp, it seems,'are wary of attempting, any new formulas and as such could be dismissed as an innovative force. John Dix Poet and the Roots Dread Beat an'Blood Virgin Poet is a guy called Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Roots are a bunch .of London reggae . musicians. This collection is the' first time to my knowledge that • sociopolitiks, poetry and reggae have got together. And it seems to work, unlikely as it soundsJ^SSHBBBBaRpHQ Linton Johnson may be Jamaican, but his roots are in Brixton, home of the London Jamaican community, and. his politics are those of an angry radical. He is concerned with race and violence. Poet’s, poems are all in Jamaican patois, chanted in his deep resonant voice, and are good to listen to. Phrases stick in your head, like hook lines of a good rock tune. He takes it one step further than even Burning Spear, whose songs are poetry that is sung. Here the band is actually synchronised with the poet, emphasising the rhythm of the poetry, while he savours the sounds of the words. Like a lot of dub, the album is sometimes . heavy on echo, but mostly it’s kept at a level that’s acceptable to mainstream ears. The major problem that crops up is the lack of variety : of theme. Like the Rastas, Poet is obsessed with violence

"It Dread Inna Inglan" contains the only production defect on the album, with the inclusion of LKJ leading the crowd in chanting at a demonstration. It may lend authenticity but it sounds half-assed.

Right. If you haven't heard the patois yet go listen to it at least. If you're a reggae freak you'll buy it anyway.

John Malloy