My Amazon Reviews: The Tubes "Young and Rich/Now"

Young and Rich; 4 Stars, Now; 3 Stars
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Finally, a sound upgrade for The Tubes' "Young and Rich." Or for that matter, that it's back in print at non-extortion prices. The Tubes got some serious road work in after their first album, and it shows on "Young And Rich." They also had a more sympathetic producer in Ken Scott (over Al Kooper's helming of album one). Scott gave "Young And Rich" a sense of discipline, and you need go no further than "Tubes World Tour" to catch how fast the Tubes had grown under his control in the studio. A tightly wound if somewhat exaggerated account of the mayhem that trailed in the wake of The Tubes' concerts, it has a conciseness that the first album lacked.

The range displayed on "Young And Rich" is also evident on the album's next two songs. "Pimp" and "Brighter Day" feature vocals from Bill Spooner and Roger Steen, giving the individual Tubes a chance to prove they were more than Fee's backers. But Waybill (listed here as "method frontman") struts his stuff admirably. His finest moments on "Young And Rich" come with the progressive opus "Poland Whole/Madam I'm Adam" (where Fee reluctantly is cast as man one in God's creation porno-movie and Cher is his Eve) and the almost Top 40 "Don't Touch Me There" duet with Re Styles.

A highlight of their live shows, "Don't Touch Me There" sent up girl groups with a Phil Spector wall of innuendo that was at once finely crafted and hilarious. It's the kind of media satire that would be honed to perfection by their next album. In fact, the only misstep here is "Proud To be An American," which plays it too close to "What Do You Want From Life" to come off as clever. Other than that, "Young And Rich" comes highly recommended and shows The Tubes ducking the dreaded sophomore slump.

The same could not be said of "Now," which could be The Tubes' most experimental album. That's not saying the music is all too interesting, frankly, it's not. There was everything here from fusion jazz experimentation ("God-Bird-Change," the main contribution from one album member Mingo Lewis) to a Captain Beefheart cover of "My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains." Which was apparently enough to get the Captain himself to sit in on sax for the otherwise draggy "Cathy's Clone," Re Styles' vocal contribution to "Now." On the original liner notes to the LP, The Tubes gave heavy acknowledgement of having recently discovering The Ramones. So in tribute, they nick Dee Dee's trademark "One Two Three Four" kickoff and insert it twice into "You're No Fun."

Fun is exactly what is missing from "Now." There are a couple of Tubes Classics here ("Smoke" and "Pound Of Flesh," in which Fee brags about being a 98 pound weakling with another, more serious attribute). But for a band that made their bones on outrageousness and top-notch musicianship, "Now" comes up short. They'd blow "Now" out of the water soon after with the genius of "Remote Control." Think of it as parallel to Alice Cooper's lackluster "Muscle of Love" before the brilliant "Welcome To My Nightmare" concept.

As a pair, it's worth having just to get the disc of "Young and Rich."

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Dictators "Manifest Destiny / Bloodbrothers"

Dictators Forever
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Producers Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman saw the nascent Blue Oyster Cult sound in The Dictators' voice and made "Manifest Destiny" parallel the early BOC discs. Thick, sludgy guitars, vocals back in the mix and heavy on the reverb. As a result, I really can't give this 5 stars due to the muddy production, but at the same time, this was the album that made me a Dictators fan for life! Why the Dic's haven't been put on the pantheon they deserve is beyond me, but with songs like "Science Gone Too Far" and their blistering cover of The Stooges' "Search And Destroy," they proved they could blast as well as their CBGB contemporaries of the period. And they were not without a sense of humor; just check out the opening lines of "Hey Boys" or Handsome Dick's monologue on "Disease." "Manifest Destiny" is a brilliant artifact of an era in American Music. They followed it up with their masterpiece, "Bloodbrothers," and Sony has been kind enough to leave "Go Girl Crazy!" in print. My advice is get 'em all now and that includes the recent "DFFD" because it still smokes the competition.

Then there's "Bloodbrothers": The Dictators make sure you know exactly what you're in for as soon as the music starts..."Faster And Louder!" This was the most forward of the Dic's three original albums and the closest they came to a mainstream sound. That being if you could call anything The Dictators did "mainstream." Their's was a take no prisoners attitude, with everything about "Bloodbrothers" being so sorely missing in music at the time of its release. In 1978, Punk was just beginning to come into its own and the whole CBGB's crowd was setting their sights on world domination.

That may have been to The Dictators' detriment. In a period when bands were deliberately trying to sound more garagey and nihilistic, Handsome Dick Manitoba and the boys were rocking polished and hard, more like Blue Oyster Cult than the Dead Boys. Despite being "Faster And Louder," this band was not trying to break punk rock's land speed records. A classic case of zigging when they should have zagged. No matter. There were no other bands with this much panache, humor and ballsy fun coming out of NYC, and "Bloodbrothers" spends its nine songs without letting up on the throttle once. If you aren't out of breath by the end of The 'Tators' rip snorting cover of "Slow Death," then you'd better start the record over and start paying attention.

As others have noted, there are "breaks" between the segues on "Bloodbrothers" that someone should have picked up during the mastering process. You can get "Manifest Destiny" as an Auto-rip from Amazon. but not "Bloodbrothers." BB you can get from I-Tunes.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Pearl Jam "Lightning Bolt"

Like a Bolt From The Blue
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Pearl Jam's discovery that just being a great rock and roll band has its merits again has been a joy to hear. They continue this hot streak started with "Backspacer" with "Lightning Bolt," a mixture of pulse pounding rock and even some punk fury, along with some deeply touching songs that expose just what an affecting singer Eddie Vedder can be.

"Getaway" sets the tone from the beginning, decrying that everyone searching for a better place, but you have to come through "the dark stormy weather." Still, Vedder is happy to claim that "what's mine is mine." This is just before launching into the furious guitar attack of (first single) "Mind Your Manners," a barely three minute detonation. Even with that level of brevity, Mike McCready unleashes a spike of a guitar solo. If you were watching the videos for the Wrigley Field debut of "Lightning Bolt" (complete with Mother Nature adding visual effects), you already know that the mystery woman gives the band something to tear through as it builds to its crescendo.

The moments of balance come with the softer "Sirens" and "Sleeping by Myself" (which first appeared on Vedder's solo "Ukelele Songs"), where nuance rules the day. They've come to understand that softness doesn't always have to come with caustic. That's really driven home on "Lightning Bolt's" closer, the positively lush with emotion "Future Days." The sound of grown men taking on a world that perhaps "Jeremy" would have grown up to love, it's a gorgeous song, rating with the band's absolute bests.

Lest anyone get the idea that Pearl Jam might be forgetting their purpose in life, they haven't. The rock is still fierce, Vedder can still emote like few singers of his era, and McCready retains his status as the band's utility weapon of choice. They haven't forgotten their love for music, once again dipping to the spinning of the black circle for the guitar boogie of "Let The Records Play." But now that's tempered by a man who can say (on "Future Days") "I believe, I believe because I can see, our future days...days of you and me." "Lightning Bolt" may contain plenty of thunder, but Pearl Jam can now also see the calm after the storm.

PS. The Album packaging is sumptuous enough to give an old geezer like me nostalgia trips to when the album sleeve was part of the fun of buying new music. There are some things a download just can't replace.