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Rip It Up, Issue 28, 1 November 1979, Page 16

Ken Williams

Ellen Foley Nightout Epic Meatloaf's lady cuts her first album, an event which is doubtlessly a major piece of emancipation for the lady. And she has got lots of big names behind her on it including Mick Ronson and lan Hunter. They co-produced the album and play throughout it. On the cover Ms Foley is the ultimate word in elegant chic, looking like a cross between some doll-like automaton and one of the Shangri-Las ready to go out on the town. Inside the cover is some of the best rock I have heard this year. Driving cuts like “Hideaway”, “We Belong to the night" and “What's a Matter Baby?” are raunchy abrasive music coloured with some searing guitar work from Ronson. On the ballads there is a fair range from the very simple "Don’t Let Go” with Foley's tremulous voice taking the song through its paces over the keyboards and vocal accompaniment, to ones which operate more clearly within a straight rock context. “Night Out” has, for me, the same edgy chic which characterised the better work off Mink De Ville’s first album. It’s really rather a lovely album. Depending upon your taste try “Don’t Let Go” or "Hideaway” and if you are ready for a really driving version of Jagger and Richard’s “Stupid Girl”, give it a spin. William Dart

Waylon Jennings Greatest Hits RCA Waylon Jennings would have made a perfect hero for the westerns of the late John Ford. He has the weathered, lived-in qualities Ford drew from John Wayne. Like Wayne at his best, Waylon Jennings has an heroic stature and a fiercely independent spirit. His Greatest Hits collection demonstrates that there is probably noone in country music who can match him in this regard. It is this very independence that made him for so long an outcast or, by his description, an "outlaw" from the mainstream of country music. At a time when Nashville country (and that meant country music, period) had atrophied into a bland and predictable formula Waylon recorded songs by Bob Dylan, Billy Joe Shaver, Gordon Lightfoot and Jim Webb and employed a rock-oriented backing band, the Waylors, which offended the C&W establishment. Jennings was also one of the first to step outside the Nashville norm by demanding personal production rights. Jennings’ don’t-back-down attitudes inevitably led him away from the tightly controlled Nashville scene. The early seventies saw the growth of the so-called "outlaw movement” as a new generation of country singers and writers gathered in Texas and made it known that a new day had dawned. Jennings' best music has a gritty strength seldom heard in the candyfloss of Nashville. The Greatest Hits package is an essential one. The music spans the period 1972-78 and includes such classic performances as “Honky Tonk Heroes”, “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” and "Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line”. For good measure, Waylon’s Outlaw partner, Willie Nelson, appears for a couple of duets. (The album is also available on a picture disc, at $12.99). Waylon Jennings epitomises the rough-hewn integrity most other country performers just sing about. Ken Williams

Culture Harder Than The Rest Front Line Two Sevens Clash Lightning In a career spanning only three years, Culture have achieved an enviable position in reggae circles. This vocal trio sings with wisdom and passion which belie its youth. The three are men from the hills, hailing from Jamaica's Clarendon County district/ Their heritage shows strongly in their earthy; urgent, primitive harmonies, and leader. Joseph'Hill's voice closely matches that of Burning Spear. Hill is the kingpin, having an infallible ear for a good hookline, and drawing, unflagging support from Albert "Ralph” Walker (his cousin) and Kenneth Paley; Their songs are typical Rasta themes; slavery, oppression, poverty, and the . love of Jah. The difference, as with all good reggae, is in the telling. Thus Hill thunders defiance without cliche: Jah, Jah see them a come ; : U: They are coming to accuse I of things I know not about But I and I a conqueror I am not afraid. He also preaches hope: Black man, meakly wait and murmer not For the Black Starliner shall come.. Two Sevens Clash is Culture’s first vinyl outing, voted top reggae album of 1977 by Britain's music press. The title track recounts the prophesy of Marcus Garvey just prior to his death: of the disaster that would befall the earth in the year 77.. The prophesy may not have come true, depending on how you view things, but the album, on Jamaica’s Lightning records, has now been brought here through the good people at WEA. Essential for lovers of Jah music. Harder Than The Rest was the group’s debut on Virgin’s excellent Front Line subsidiary. Its never-less-than-fine successor, Cumbolo, has already been here a while. Harder possibly has the edge, probably purely for containing "Work On Natty”. Sweeter righteous riddims are few and far between. Harder also has a slight advantage over Clash in the production field, with Sonya Pottinger doubtless having access to better facilities than Joe Gibbs. But the quibble is a small one. Really, there is nothing to choose between these two albums. You should have them both. Forget Detroit and Philadelphia. Kingston is the world soul capital now, if only because it refuses tc rest on its laurels. Come and get your Culture. Duncan Campbell

Jaco Pastorius Epic Jaco Pastorius has no small opinion of his own abilities. He free acknowledges that he is the best bass guitarist. That’s as may be. Such superlatives are nigh impossible to substantiate, but Pastorius is indeed a player of awesome power. This album, previously available only on import, was recorded in 1976, before Pastorius became a permanent member of Weather Report, a group which shares Jaco’s high selfesteem. It presents a vivid portrait of one of today’s major musicians. The album encompasses Pastorius’ range of musical interests, from small group jazz to eloquent bass solos (his rendition of Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee” is an exercise in tonal beauty) and to the rhythm and blues he says was his staple as an adolescent (“Come On, Come Over” is a relatively undistinguished song given life by those secular preachers, Sam and Dave, who have been sadly neglected in recent times). If there are grounds for criticism they are that Pastorius perhaps attempting too much, but he is never less than interesting. Jaco Pastorius is an album that bears close attention.