RANDOM REVIEWS

Random Reviews Various Artists You Got Lucky–A Tribute to Tom Petty (Backyard) You can’t polish a turd, as Eleanor Roosevelt used to say, and that’s one of the main problems with so many “tribute” albums these days. Sure, the Carpenters had a couple of great, ultralite pop songs, but most…

MOODIES ENHANCER

Their writing has all the sensitiveness an’ feeling that makes music cool to listen to you will probably call it contemporary blues– it could be that if you want it to be it doesn’t matter just let it pass through you. Those are just some of Donovan’s groovy liner notes…

TAPES IN THE MAIL

And you thought Ticketmaster was evil! Hey, just because it wants to add a ticket “service charge” that’s almost as high as minimum wage–just ask Eddie Vedder, he’s plenty mad–the ‘master ain’t all bad. It’s sponsoring the second annual Ticketmaster Music Showcase on Saturday at Minder Binder’s in Tempe, featuring…

A TOWN WITHOUT MARTY

Juanita Najera swears she is not fanatical about Marty Robbins. A fan, yes, but not fanatical. Yet it is because of Marty Robbins that she moved from back East to Glendale to live in the town of Robbins’ birth–to live, in fact, in the house formerly occupied by Robbins’ twin…

TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH: THE SUPER BUSES DO BATTLE

War of the Super Buses–The Confrontation: Last week on these very pages, you were promised the titillating lowdown on the ultimate grudge race to the death–the power-packed, diesel-only dirt on a new low in merchandising gimmickry. That’s right, the toy replicas of the mighty touring coaches of country legends Billy…

EIHT IS ENOUGH

The mean streets of Compton have claimed many, but 24-year-old, self-proclaimed gangsta rapper MC Eiht has taken the lurid, true-life tales of his hometown to the top of the charts. Along the way, he’s managed to upset hip-hop moralist Dr. C. Deloris Tucker and psychic legionnaire Dionne Warwick with his…

HERE’S THE BEEF

At almost any given moment during the last 40 years, while most Americans have been doing things like going to the dentist, balancing checkbooks, eating toast or snoozing soundly in their very own beds, a man named Sleepy LaBeef has been at the wheel of some large vehicle barreling down…

EMIGRANT SONG CREATOR OF IRREPRESSIBLE “VOLARE” MEETS HIS CREATOR

Amid all the manufactured mainstream media malarkey about 1) both Woodstocks (anniversary and 94), 2) the Rolling Stones’ toothless and soulless new album, Voodoo Lounge, and the band’s “Till Death Do Us Part” kabillion-dollar U.S. tour, and 3) the breathless promise of a concert, live from Graceland, of Elvis songs…

INTERNATIONAL POP OVERLOAD20 FOREIGN-LANGUAGE RECORDS

Though you’ll probably never hear titles like “We’re a Scandinavian Band,” “Sweet Home Nawasaka” or “The Haarlem Shuffle,” more than a handful of cunning linguists have slipped through the predominantly English Only world of Top 40 hits. Here are a few. 1956: An octet of French vocalists scat-sing George Shearing’s…

LOLLAPALOSAR

If you haven’t figured it out, I’m old. And I’ll tell you something else: I have a tough time getting it up for great, big rock n’ roll shows anymore. But I’ve had my fun in the past, sure. For example: I got smashed against the front wall, stoned out…

WHEN LESS IS MOREGETTING SMALL WITH TERRY RILEY, INVENTOR OF MINIMALISM

Throw a rock at any group of music fans and you’ll likely hit someone who claims to enjoy minimalism. Someone who’ll rattle off the charms of a three-hour, “plink-plink” piano piece and act bemused if you don’t agree. He’ll blather on about spirits set free by minimalism’s incessant repetition, using…

VIVA JERRY JEFF!

His fan club includes the nation’s top two executives (he played at President Clinton’s inaugural), as well as staunch admirers like gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Now, after more than 25 years of road work and as many albums, Jerry Jeff Walker, writer of “Mr. Bojangles” and singer of the…

TAPES IN THE MAIL

All right. Before we dive into the always controversial and titillating world of local reviews, let me tell you this: I went to see rockabilly shouter Robert Gordon at the fine establishment that is the Rockin’ Horse the other night. Some of you were there, too, a handful of Gordon…

THE CD EQUATION REVEALED THEY RECORD’EM, WE REVIEW’EM

Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge (Virgin) It’s the Stones. It’s great. Buy it. Little Jimmy Scott Dream (Sire) America is a wonderful place. A country that, no matter how much misfortune comes your way, no matter how much you just plain fuck up, if you hang around long enough, things just…

ANOTHER SLICE OF MEAT LEAF

Why did it take so many tries to figure out the magic recipe for serving up Meat Loaf again? The all-telling cover art provides us with the necessary clues! Note: Every ignored follow-up is missing the three essential ingredients, in tandem: a muscle-bound boy, his bike and that darned bat!…

WHAT’S THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY?

Dazzling Pantene spokesmodel Kelly LeBrock once said, “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.” Maybe LeBrock’s plea was less breathtakingly presumptuous than it seems. Perhaps it was a simple assessment of a basic human attitude toward the naturally gifted, a little naive noblesse oblige from someone born to the runway. Let’s…

HELLO TO MYERS, TA TA TO DARRIN

The only negative thing I can say about Joe Myers’ new release is that you might get splinters from it. The guitarist has gone all out with the packaging of Sonoran Snake Lady, creating a roughly hewn wooden box for his second CD to live in. And before you begin…

ANOTHER SLICE OF MEAT LOAF

By now, almost everyone has seen those nauseating beer commercials. They feature twentysomething slackers with thirtysomething memory banks rattling off their favorite TV shows, cultural artifacts and popular music from the Sixties and Seventies, with nary a receding hairline or beer gut in sight. The worst one to date offers…