IPs
Catholic Boy
The Jim Carroll Band
ATCO SD 38-132
The Rock-as-Poetry
movement, a product of the Bob
Dylan-pervaded Sixties, is
mostly made up of rock stars
whose lyrics posess certain
poetic qualities.
Generally, they’ve been mu
sicians first and poets second
Dylan, John Lennon/Paul
McCartney, and Bruce Spring
steen are names which come to
mind.
There’s an interesting sub
culture associated with the
genre — the poet who decides
to become a rock star. The most
prominent example in recent
years has been Patti Smith, who
has incorporated her lyrics into
song structures as well as
simply reciting them.
There’s a new kid on the poe
t/rocker block by the name of
r
Jim Carroll. As a poet, his
credentials are pretty impres
sive. He wrote his first book, The
Basketball Diaries at the age of
thirteen. His second volume of
poetry, Living at the Movies, was
nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
As a rocker . well, the jury’s
still out. A new album and a
recent concert tour have
produced mixed results.
The Jim Carroll Band, made
up of guitarists Brian Linsley
and Terrell Winn, bassist Steve
Linsley, and drummer Wayne
Woods, rocks out in extremely
perfunctory fashion, which
leaves it up to Carroll to ignite
things.
For a rookie rock vocalist,
Carroll is reasonably success
ful. He can't carry a tune, so
most of the time he talks his way
through his songs a la Lou
Reed. He clearly believes that
what he has to say is important,
which both helps and hurts him.
The credibility is there, but Car
roll sings as if the fate of the
universe hinges upon his every
word, and what at first sounds
powerful occasionally sounds
mannered.
And what of his much-touted
poetic talent? He sometimes has
trouble fitting his words into the
rhythms of his songs, but he’s
not the first writer to have that
problem, and it’s not a fatal flaw.
His subjects range from his her
oin addiction to his religious
upbringing .
What matters is not whether
he can master the fundamentals
of poetry, but whether he can
use his talent in that field to
create rock songs that work as
rock songs.
His most successful effort is
in some ways his most bizzarre,
a song called "People Who
Died": Teddy sniffin' glue, he
was twelve years old/Fell from a
roof on East Two-nine/Kathy
was eleven when she pulled the
plug/Twenty-six reds and a
bottle of wine.
The list goes on and on. Peo
ple contract hepatitis, have their
throats cut, get pushed in front
of subways, and hang them
selves in jail cells. It doesn’t
seem to make sense — a rocker
like that shouldn't concern any
thing heavier than cars and
girls.
The rest of Catholic Boy
ranges from fair to very good,
with “City Drops Into the Night,"
“Day and Night,” and “Catholic
Boy" deserving special notice.
Carroll s lack of stage pre
sence at a recent Eugene ap
pearance indicates that for now,
at least, the best place to hear
his music is on the album. With
rock apparently stalled at the
edge of its musical limits, the
wave of the future may very well
be poet/rockers like Carroll and
England's John Cooper Clarke
Uneven though it is, Catholic
Boy is an honest, intriguing step
in that direction
By Phil Bernstein
ODE CLASSIFIEDS LOST & FOUND
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