April 1977
CONTENTS
30 SECONDS OVER BIRMINGHAM Thank you for sending me a review copy of your Rock Revolution book. Enclosed is a Xeroxed copy of my review on it published in New Music Magazine, December, 1976: ROCK REVOLUTION, edited by The Editors of CREEM Magazine, Popular Library, May 1976. $1.50
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
"Africa Dances" (Authentic)::What The Harder They Come did for Jamaican reggae this sampler attempts to do for the American-influenced urban music of Africa. Its scope is necessarily broad, but only once does an alien-sounding rhythm (Arabic tarabu) interfere with its remarkable listen-ability.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
Poor Patti Smith! She was spinning around on the stage in Tampa, Florida, at the Convention Center (Bob Seger was the headliner), when she lost control of the spin and fell six feet onto the concrete floor. Lenny Kaye and Ivan Kral were too engrossed in their playing to see where she fell; they kept on playing as the guards picked her up and took her backstage.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Billy Altman
MANCHESTER, ENG.—It’s punk rock night in seedy, industrial Manchester, and the crowd has assembled here to watch the latest British rock sensations, the Sex Pistols, who have been riding a wave of notoriety the likes of which has not been seen here since the Stones went around relieving themselves against walls.
Leo Sayer
Patrick Goldstein
In ancient times soothsayers were held in great esteem by kings and peasants alike for their mysterious, often downright bizarre prophesies. Today, in the more mundane realm of the music biz, record company execs are captivated, indeed obsessed, with the new coterie of electronic wizards who can—SHAZAM SHAZAM— pick hit singles.
LYNYRD SKYNYRD
HOME: The Mobile Line AGE: Eight or twelve, depending on whether Johnny Walker Red or Black is coursing through their bloodstreams at the moment. PROFESSION: Growing their hair long to cover up distinct pick blotches on the back of their necks.
Is Ray Davies In Disgrace?
Patrick Goldstein
The only disappointment stemming from my talk-fest with Ray Davies concerns his hotel room. It looks just like mine—only messier and perhaps a wee bit more expensive (the view is a helluva lot better but why quibble over details). The 18th floor suite is decorated with a layer of newspapers, magazines and theatre guides, discarded clothes, tapes, a host of empty Coke bottles (has Paul Nelson been here before me?) and white roses are strewn across the premises.
A DREEM DATE WITH GENE SIMMONS
Darcy Diamond
“I want to join the Kiss Army!” I pleaded in the house phone of a ritzcheesy West Hollywood hotel. “Do you like pain and tire chains and Hostess Twinkies?” the rusty voice queried. “Yes. Yes, oh yes.” I volunteered. “Then come on up and I’ll show you my clippings and private girlie folio and we can speak Hungarian,” invited Kiss’s blood-spitter, Gene Simmons.
SHY ROCK STAR ALMOST UNBURDENS HIMSELF
Nick Kent
I’ve known Led Zeppelin professionally for probably 4 years now, starting back in the winter of 1972 when I was sent out on the road with them only to find myself ending up in a fairly ludicrous but nonetheless highly tense argument with Jimmy Page in the dressing-room on the very first night.
Bruce Springsteen's Longest Season
Robert Duncan
The big news the week of October 20,1975 was a rock star and a kid who ran into President Ford’s limo in Hartford. Quick. What were their names? "Everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes," Andy Warhol once said. I don’t think James Falamites would argue with that.
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF FUNK
Ed Ward
Are you ready? Are you ready for Thuh Bomb? Right now, are you funk-in' for fun or are you still trapped in the Zone of Zero Funkativity? What will you do when the Mothership lands? Will you be prepared to Give Up The Funk? Hey, but don’t worry about it—after all, three quarters of F-U-N-K is F-U-N.
The Rollers: The True Underground
Lisa Robinson
My contention has always been that success in the Music Business has never had anything to do with music. Just look at the Bay City Rollers. I rest my case. Two years ago I witnessed hordes of plaid-clad, screaming teenage girls in Glasgow, Scotland.
BOY HOWDY'S TOP TEN
Georgia Christgau
Before you notice that this is a “ten best” list, please be informed that it was written before King Kong, Network, A Star Is Born, Bound For Glory, and Silver Streak. I expect those would have knocked off a couple of my choices, because even though these are my favorite movies of the year, I like them knowing that there were other years better than this one.
Creem Stars Car no. 26
Are you bored with your present job? Tired of being low person on the totem pole of success? Maybe you're qualified for the exciting and rewarding position of car accessory for John Oates. How to find out? Simple. Just answer these questions in the privacy of your own home: Do you enjoy being seen and not heard?
Confessions of a FILM FOX
Abba dabba do more than just cut hot discs, since the Swedish rock import’s manager gave the OK to director Lasse Hallstroem to muster up a feature film based on the group. He’s currently working on production in Australia, and the film will no doubt be released in the U.S. by the end of this year.
State of the Art: Rock Guitars, Circa’77
Bill Parsley
More people are buying and playing electric guitars than ever before. Every neighborhood in the country has at least one young hot-licks king. Since its introduction in the mid-20s, the electric guitar and its related equipment have seen as many trends and changes as the musical styles that perpetrated it.
Bowie on the Brink: Waiting for the Gift of Sound and Vision
Richard Riegel
In a career that has shown him to be perhaps the most successful graduate of the Evelyn Wood Genre Dynamics Institute, David Bowie has demonstrated that he can live uptown, down-town and all around. His track record to date shows only two real instances of failing to come up with the unexpected: Pin Ups, a weak-kneed attempt to stall for time after finally popping the top off the American market with Aladdin Sane thinly veiled as a solidarity maneuver with the up and coming punk scene; and Station to Station, a perfectly explainable bonus ball after lighting up the hit machine with “Fame.”
Journeys Through The Past And All That Jazz
Joe Goldberg
There is something that has been happening to jazz music for the past several years, which both pleases and frightens me, depending on when you ask, and, recollecting the matter in as much tranquility as I’m able to summon at the moment, I’m still a bit puzzled.
ROCK · A · RAMA
KID DYNAMITE (Cream)::Hey, is this the real mid-60s rock I keep reading about in every comer of the papers? These Lone Star geezers— most of’ em rejects from one Steve-Miller Band or another—were born in the 1940’s, which means that they were punks in the right place and time.
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down