HOUDINI IN DREADLOCKS

Think about it—Garland Jeffreys is out on the road with the Rumour. The Rumour need no introduction, much of America having lengthily admired the five good-timing Anglos who�d helped Graham Parker achieve solid liftoff. Jeffreys, however, is quite another matter. We New Yorkers have been carrying on about Garland for so many years that we tend to forget he�s pretty much a cipher once you hit Jersey. And for a mixed-lineage black/white/Hispanic fireball of a performer to have stepped in where Graham pulled out, and changed all the rules—well, that takes getting used to. But if Garland Jeffreys, after experiencing more than a decade of musical twists, turns and knives in the back, is willing to strut it across America like some fresh kid off the banana boat, and says he�s loving every mipute, then so should you.

Jeffreys� enthusiasm stems from several roots, one being his compatibility with the Rumour, another factor his affiliation with CBS, his fourth label since the early �/O�s. If Escape Artist gets its unrestrained message across instead of being buried in favor of less controversial product, that�s enough to satisfy him. �Wild in the Streets,� an anthem of volatile youth he cut in 1973, should have been chanted as often as �Street Fighting Man,� but is notable primarily for how much it influenced other writers. He made a wretched mistake by briefly signing with Arista, who had him release a disco single. Then, according to Jeffreys, A&M had tons of trouble relating to the three LPs he cut for them.