Political album asks, 'Where's the voice of America?'
Little Steven
Voice Of America
EMI Records
It would ap
pear to be a
prescription
for failure:
Leave Bruce
Springsteen
and the E
Street Band at the height of their
popularity. Record a political
album (horrors) that doesn’t tow
the Ron Reagan “nuke first, ask
questions later” line (more hor
rors). Make only one of the
album’s ten cuts a love song
(out and out sacrilege).
Little Steven’s Voice Of
America addresses the
Orwellian aspects of our society
and bitterly contests the United
State’s actions in Central
America; it comes as no sur
prise that it has indeed been a
failure — commercially. As a
well crafted rock’n’roll album,
however, and a stunning piece
of socio-political commentary,
it is a laudable success.
The title track is an unrelen
ting musical blitzkrieg, recall
ing the angry intensity of the
Sex Pistols and early Clash, and
wastes no time getting to the
point: "Can you hear me, wake
up / Where’s the voice of
America? / Somebody help me,
we gotta stop a crime / I been
betrayed by my own kind / I
been quiet, too quiet / While
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Don't put it off.
A
across our borderline / We die.”
The final lines are only
marginally reassuring: “Can
you hear me, wake up / We’re
the voice of America.”
The song "Fear” com
municates visceral paranoia,
featuring an eerie call and
response chorus and some of
the disc’s most disturbing
lyrics: ”In this jungle we’re
slaves to politics / And we call
ourselves civilized / If you ain't
got the muscle / Fear is gonna
run your life ...”
The LP’s saddest song is "Los
Desaparecidos (The Disap
peared Ones),” in which a Latin
American woman must tell her
son that his father has been
taken away “for speaking his
heart out one day,” and
wonders why the people of the
United States “just turn their
backs to our shame.”
The album ends on a hopeful
note with “Believers” ("I see
peacemakers coming, I see
justice in our time”) and
"Undefeated” ("Don’t call
yourself a patriot / Not with that
gun in your hand / There's only
one way out of here 1 unders
tand / Undefeated, everybody
goes home”).
Little Steven’s first album.
Men Without Women (1982),
was an homage to 1960s
Motown music (particularly
Smokey Robinson), complete
with a Stax-type horn section. It
featured an impressive array of
musicians (including four E
Streeters) known collectively as
The Disciples of Soul, but was
dismissed by many as being ir
relevant to the music of the
L980s.
This time around Little
Steven blasts his way into the
heart of popular music’s do
main with songs that are ex
ceedingly relevant. Syn
thesizers, electronic drums and
slick, state-of-the-art produc
tion are used to maximum effect
without sacrificing a spon
taneous feel or any of the LP’s
raw-edged power.
He is again backed by The
Disciples of Soul minus the
horns and Springsteen
sidemen. Ex-Plasmatic Jean
Beauvoir provides a hard driv
ing bass guitar and former
Rascal Dino Danelli’s drumm
ing compares favorably with
that of Max Weinberg (the
backbone of the E Street Band).
Pee Wee Weber's and Zoe
Yanakis’ potent keyboards are
(thankfully) never obnoxious,
and Monty Louis Ellison’s ex
otic percussive devices add an
amazing degree of subtle
rhythmic complexity.
If you buy one album this
year, make it Voice Of America.
Play it on the best stereo you
can find, and play it loud. It’s
that good.
Kevin Frank
JZflUl
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