November 1988

CREEM

ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS

Now that Orson Welles has been wheeled out of the picture, so to speak, the way has been cleared for thespian Bill Hurt to portray Brian Wilson in the as yet untitled Brian Wilson story. Hey, there’s a title... nah, too confusing. The project, which apparently has full approval from the ex-Beach Boy and Dr. Eugene Landy, could begin filming early next year, with Richard Dreyfuss playing the doc.

MICHELLE SHOCKED: HELL ON WHEELS

Mark Kemp

She looks like any Iggy Pop-clone singer for any generic hardcore band.

Stars Cars

STEVE JONES & PAUL SIMONON

LETTERS

My name is Liz. My friend and I have a complaint. We are all Californians and we want you damn foreigners to get out of our state. That means all of you!! I can see you wondering—"What’s a foreigner?" Let me enlighten you—a foreigner is someone who was not actually born (thereby receiving the proper smog-laden attitude imprint with the first breath) in the area of CA.

ELEGANZA

Tom Nordlie

Of all the dead rock stars I can think of, Elvis Presley seems the most likely candidate to have fudged his own demise.

RECORDS

Howard Wuelfing, Jr.

The unending fuggin’ clickety-snick of 1,000 push-mowers jellies the afternoon air into a cube of dark boredom ’n’ inner numbness: the suburbs’ obsession with stability curdled into spiritual stagnation. Then one fine day, a clatter of cheap guitars and many drummers drumming rises to mock the drone of 1,000,000 mundane household chores and dull routines.

JUKE BOX JURY

CHUCK EDDY

Introductions just take up space, so suffice it to say that three days ago I moved into a new apartment, and today, I’m reviving this column. The former is at 19505 Farmington Rd., Livonia Ml 48152 (send vinyl); the latter concerns singles (mostly the junky "pop” kind, 'cuz there’s nothing else left.)

ROCK • A • RAMA

Evidently this record is supposed to be some kind of dumb joke. It is. What would you think of a dance band that covers “Magic Carpet Ride” and "Heartbreaker" (Zep, not Funk) in metal-disco cadences with a nerdy vocalist who chants the lyrics with all the panache one can muster when reading from a cuecard? Not only that, but they ripoff the Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s “Last of the Teenage Idols/Vambo Marble Eye” on “The Beast is Calling” and end it in a skirl of bagpipe noise which appears to be a kind of backhanded tribute to poor dead Al.

SHRIEKBACK ....ON A SHORT FUSE

Caroline Sullivan

“I’m bald so a lot of people think I’m a weirdo,” grins Barry Andrews, the weird, bald one in Shriekback. “This woman came up to me on the tube the other day and said, ‘You’re following me, you’re from Amon, aren’t you?’ It’s apparently some sort of cult.

PAT BENATAR: TOO SHORT TO LIVE?

Liz Derringer

Features

Robert Cray: JUMPIN’ IN THE NIGHT

Holly Gleason

Robert Cray is talking about the future of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, his brand new record, and his attitude is a little surprising.

WAS (NOT WAS) SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN

Drew Wheeler

I thought my eyes were short-sheeting my brain when I read that Was (Not Was) was appearing at the New York Card And Cassette Exchange—known in some circles as the New Music Seminar. But indeed, on a sweaty July evening, a humble multitude witnessed the assault on New York by the wickedest, the most danceably Dadaistic, the most soulfully satisfying, the most consistently and unflinchingly cool band in the history of rock 'n' roll.

THE RETURN OF BLUE OYSTER CULT

George "Metal" Smith

“Rossignol’s curious, albeit simply titled book, The Origins of a World War, spoke in terms of Secret Treaties, drawn up between the Ambassador from Plutonia and Desdinova, the foreign minister. These treaties founded a secret science from the start.

A Weenie Roast With THE DREAM SYNDICATE

Karen Schoemer

The Dream Syndicate’s live shows are surreal, intense events, though they start out innocently enough. A clan of die-hard fans clusters around the stage, like friends gathered around a campfire waiting for the after-dinner stories to begin.

CREEMEDIA

Jeffrey Morgan

It’s a good thing all those warnings turned out to be false—otherwise we’d all be tapping our way through life with a white cane. Everybody jacks off— and anyone who says they don’t is either lying, getting someone to do their handiwork for them, or hormone-dead.

Creemedia

The Discreet Charm Of Morton Downey Jr.

Richard C. Walls

There is a boldness about simplicity, even over-simplicity, that is morally attractive, as if to defy reality, to deny complexity, is an assertion of moral superiority, of the power of mind over matter, of will over all the mundane and ignoble circumstances governing our lives.

A TRIBUTE TO LES PAUL

Steve Weitzman

The latest Cinemax music special A Tribute To Les Paul—He Made The Music begins airing late October and is a long overdue salute to the man who was responsible for the solid-body electric guitar and modern recording technique as we know it. As if that isn’t enough, he also wrote his share of jazz-flavored pop classics (“Song In Blue,” “How High The Moon,” "Vaya Con Dios").

IMAGINE

David Sprague

Considering how iron-handedly Yoko Ono allegedly oversaw the Imagine project, both the film and accompanying picturebook, I guess it could’ve been worse. But not much. The “years in the making” tagline normally associated with such undertakings appears here, and the care is certainly obvious—in some cases.

TECH TALK

Marc Shapiro

Robin Trower is the last person you would expect to play Robin Trower’s kind of music, It would take a sizeable adrenalin injection for Trower to even qualify as milktoast. By CREEM standards, this aging practitioner of da blues is a board-certified wimp.

THE BEAT GOES ON

Steven Blush

In less than a decade, the New Music Seminar has risen from humble roots to become one of the most important music industry conventions around. And while the New Music Seminar has very little to do with new music these days, it is still one of the few forums available for “the business” to gather and talk turkey.

NEWBEATS

Arion Berger

“Give me some bait. Give me some bait! I’ll babble.” Black Francis, the lead singer and songwriter of the Boston-based Pixies, looks up over his watermelon and smiles. So far they have talked about Angela Bowie, their parents, Southern California, how cocaine is processed and Los Angeles radio personality Swedish Eagle.

BORN TO EAT CORNBREAD

Craig Rosen

A month after the release of Hallelujah Anyway, their second album, the Dancing Hoods planned to be on the road as an opening act for Graham Parker. The Los Angeles-by-way-of-Long Island quartet and its booking agency hoped the support spot would help the Hoods win over some new fans.

HAPPY HUNTNG GROUND

Brett Bush

Disgruntled in Hollywood after a particularly bad week on the road during their three-month tour of the U.S., Agitpop exploded in my living room—spreading band members, beer bottles, ashtrays, roadies and record sleeves over every inch of the place.

SOWING THEIR SEEDS

John Gatta

Once upon a time, Michael Hall sent a query to this mag, hoping to get into its pages as a rock scribe. It didn’t work out and his letter was sent off to freelance writing hell. CREEM hasn’t completely submerged his critical skills, though. His review of the Seeds’ newest LP consists of proud satisfaction for its live-in-the-studio sound tinged with unhappiness with certain parts that he considers “canned.”

Backstage

BACKSTAGE

Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down