BRIEFLY

Rip It Up, Issue 28, 1 November 1979, Page 18

BRIEFLY

By George Kay and Ken Williams

ferry Lee Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis (Elektra) When Jerry Lee arrived in Los Angeles for these sessions producer Bones Howe told him he'd booked four days in the studio. “All right," said the Killer, “but what do you need the other two days for?” Of such stuff is the Jerry Lee Lewis legend. Of such stuff, too, is made great rock and roll. Make no mistake, this is great rock and roll. Years of dabbling in Nashville C&W has not dulled the edge of Jerry Lee Lewis. He sounds as lively as a squirrel out of the trees and his material is just right, a mix of rockabilly, R&B and country that allows Jerry Lee to touch all oases and come home free. The Killer rocks back. K.W.

T. Rex, A History oi T. Rex (EMI) It’s hard to believe that it was only a few years ago that Marc Bolan was the teen idol 3nd a few years before that the hippie pixie founder of Tyrannosaurus Tex. Water under the bridge but some of his songs have lasted the distance, notably “Get It On", “Hot Love”, "Jeepster”, “Telegram Sam’’ and “The Groover”, as they all have a steady R&B feei oeneath Bolan’s twee vocals. All of these and more are on the intelligently compiled History of T. Rex. G.K. Doll By Doll, Remember (Warner Brothers) There are certain bands you can’t pigeonhole and Doll By Doll are one. It would be convenient to label them as an enlightened English heavy metal four piece but this would ignore the weighty ballad and thoroughbred rock elements in their approach. As a songwriting force they generally fall into the traps of predictability and repetition but key-man Jackie Levan shows that he has the ideas to develop the band into an effective unit. Stay tuned. q k

Sad Cafe, Misplaced Ideals (RCA) This, is the second album from the Manchester based Sad Cafe. Pseudo-sophisticated (which means they feature sax and keyboards) and indirect in their approach, they nevertheless have enough old-fashioned charm and a care-for-the-music attitude to make the album worth investigation. ■'Here Come the Clowns" and “Run Home Girl” have an easy fluid West Coast feel and the rest of the album, although vulnerable to accusations of blandness, is flawlessly arranged- - G.K.

Plastic Bertrand, J'te Fais un Plan (RCA) “Ca Plane Pour Moi” had enough tacky idiot catchiness to make it stick (unfortunately) and "Super Cool” should do the same if released as a single. But Plastic Bertrand is a blatantly mercenary and effete glitter-punk crashing in on aimless copies/satires of the fashions of the new wave. Credibility zero. g.K.