BY DON WALLER
n one finger, the whole “roots-rock re
vival” is simply a predictable, pendu
lum-like reaction to the slick, videoge
nic acts that currently rule the upper
reaches of the pop music charts.
On the other, it’s a measure of how fragmented
the audience for pop music has become that even
the purist rock n ’ roll band these days requires
clarification by hyphenation
Hence the term “roots rock,”
which is as strangely, eerily close to
redundancy as any two pair of words
can get. B sides, how can rock ’n’ roll
be revived when it never died?
Nevertheless, what is true—and
germane— is that a loose group of
musicians, led by Bruce Springsteen
and former Cretdence Clearwater
Revival mainman John Fogerty, most
of whom had been playing the exact
same music for years, has captured
America’s orbs ’n ears of late.
Coasidering most of you reading
this are college stdents and therefore
don't have anything better to do until
Letterman comes on, take 60 sec
onds out of your lives and subject
Bruce Springsteen’s music to some
SERIOUS historical analysis...
Time's up! Blue books in!
Now, what have you gtx? Jr Walker
and the All Stars’ “Shotgun”? Gary
‘U.S.’ Bonds’ “Quarter to Three”?
Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”?
Trashy white bands from Mitch Ry
der and the Detroit Wheels to the
Young Rascals on down the Jersey
shore? Just about every guitarorient
ed British Invasion band of ’64 '65?
And, of course, the spectre of Phil
hanging over the entire linguini
with-Valvoline, dying Northeastern
industrial base mess around?
Yes, as you can tell, 1 was an En
glish major. But right now, Ah'm old
and tired. Been interviewin’ rock n’
roll hands for elebenty sebben years.
So, when my future grandchillen
climb up on my knee and say, "\b,
Rippa, I\>ppa Straighten us to the
Great Roots Rock Revival of 1985,"
what am I gonna say? ‘Go away, kids,
you bother me,' that's what
Whereupon, they will threaten to
use all my web Kip Checker records
for Frisbees, so I 'll smile the slowest
of slow sad smiles, bum a forbidden
cigarette and regale the tiny mon
sters with this do wah diddy " Fails
are irrelevant. They change every
three months. In the end, only the
underlying restlessness matters.”
That was Nik Cohn, circa 1969, in
his .457 magnum opus, "Rock: Prom
the Beginning.
Wiit a minute Talk about your
contradictions; I wish you could see
mine. First, I tell you that this roots
rock music isn't a lad, that it's been
around as long as rock 'n' roll itself
Then, I say that It’s only a fad ami
therefore not to take it too seriously.
Well, welcome to America Where,
as I write it is July 4, 1985 Indepen
dence Day. Fireworks Bruce Spring
steen on the radio at the 7 11, sing
ing "Born in the USA,” which the
Iranian clerk behind the counter
doesn’t notice His grandchildren,
however, will grow up to be musi
clans. What'll they he playing? Why,
roots rock, of course.
What we re taking so long to say
here is that a whole lotta these kool
kats walking around in pearl but
toned shirts n’ toting vintage Tele
casters were playing in a synth pop
hairstyle combo two years ago, in a
skinny tie "new wave" band five
years ago and in a disco lounge act
three years before that.
Anyway, here’s the sanctified low
down on the roots rock sound that's
going round. So open your mind,
clean up your face, buy a few of these
records or better yet - go see these
bands when they hii your college
town and decide for yourself if
they're jivin' or jammin’.
r
\
Along with Springsteen and Ho
gerty the rtxxs rock arts with the
most impact have been Los Lobos
and The Blasters law Utbos. the
more successful «mi record, came to
Hollywixid as Blxsters proteges, hav
ing played everything from authentic
acoustic Mexican folk music to RttB
to SO's rtxk n' roll in front of multi
generational crowds in Hast HI lay
for the past ten years.
The Utbos may Uxtk like they just
got ctff work at the body shop, but
they capture the ambience rtf a small
time border town dance lull on a Sat
unlay nite litis is partyin' music.
Neither do The Blxsters. who've
been recording what they like to call
"American Music” for the Ixst six
years Blues. c<hiiitry. rtxk, gospel
it's all grist for these steel mill union
leader's sons: Phil ("the Man of
1,000 Mtices") Alvin and Dave, his
penman/gil tar pickin' brother
As far back xs the mid '60's, the
largest, most loyal audience for any
single style of American roots music
hxs always been the exalted brttther
hood of blues fans And then- are an
amazing number of good blues
I lands around: AOR guitar heroes
Stevie Ray VUughan, a Texan who
mates the bluesy side- of Jimi Hen
drix with the rtxkin' side ttf Buddy
Guy and George Thorogottd, a l)ela
ware slide specialist who worships at
the shrine of St Hlmorc (.Janies), are
the current commercial cham|ts
They are followed by the fabulous
Thunderhirds, who play amplified
country blues ii la Slim llar|to and
s|totliglu Stevie's big brother Jimmy
Vaughan, Roomful of Blues, a Rhode
Island based, multi horned Jump,
jive and jazz outfit, and L A ’s crimi
nally underrated James Harman
band, whose duel guitars of Kid Ra
mos and Hollywood Hats enable
them to whip ass on just about any
Itxal blues band in the land
While the blues is such a tradition
al element of rock n' roll xs to have
been transformed into heavy met
al think about it the recent
ground-swell of country oriented
roots rinker-s represents a more slg
nificaiu shift in rock 'n' role models.
Led by ex-punk rockers, brothers
Tony and Chip Kinman, Rank And
File got there first. Mixing Kverly
Brothers harmonies with Lefty Friz
/ell’s roadhouse rhythms
let! by the Lively and talented Ma
rta McKee, Lone Justice has I x-i-n the
most bsllyhooed, although It s even
money whether this bourbon n’
branchwater voiced thoroughbred
wouldn't lx* better off doing pure
country material rather than the cor
|>orate rock she's saddled with
My money, racing fans, is on the
long Ryders, who take off from such
second generation country rtxk acts
as the Flying Hurrito Brothers, the
Gram Parsons era Byrds, the Buffalo
Springfield and the Band
And, if that ain't rexk n' roll, or
roots rtx k, or whatever you wanna
call it, what is?
And. if it isn't, then whaddya call
/axi York City's Fleshtones, other
than "the wildest band this side of
Birdland?" Or how 'bout the Ban
gles, the Del FUegos, Three O'Clock,
the Rain 1‘arade, the Del Lords, the
Droogs, True West or the Pandoras,
all of which can be lumped with vary
ing accuracy under the generic head
ingof '60 s Influenced, semi psyche
delic, boom-boom revivalists?
And what about R.F..M , drawing
on the Velvet Underground and
Byrds for inspiration, anil winding
up the most successful act working
this particular side of the street?
After all, who would've thought
that the biggest bands to come out of
the "punk-rock revolution of '77"
would lx* the Bilice and the Talking
Heads? Only those hip enough to
trap the rap of that great rock n'
roller, Heraclitus, who said, "You
can't step in the same river twice."
Which means that guesstimating
which of the aforementioned acts'
songs will still be bar band standards
in the year 2010 is a task better left to
those with crystal balls.
Or, let me put it to you another
way.. If Bob Seger came out with his
debut album this year and it sounded
exactly like his 1976 "Night Music,”
would people hail it as "a triumph of
hauntingly accessible roots rock?”
In the words of that ancient Greek
philosopher, Lou Reed.
"Despite all the complications,
You could still dance to a rock 'n'
roil station."
And it was all right... ♦
DISCOGRAPHY
10 Hot
Historical
Tracks
You won't knd£MeP»est«y, or even Muddy Wtolers. here Ratherthwircxaxknguptheusuaitelof
seminal roots'ockere (line Richard. Chut*. Jerry tee) or smpfy rehashing the past gtones ot
such household names at Har*.Wliems ant) 8 6 Kiig, what tolowsis a putposefudy mated tp,
shot* ip set ol »des that l turn even me normesl ot dorms mto the hppest room n loam
* The Jackie Wkaon Story Jackie Wdson (tp*X8S 2 Vbis) Arguably the greatest vocatst ol hs
generation the late Wdson it also among the most underacpreoated This package omits the sap with whch
hs producers often sadrked Wdson n lavoi of Ns more— shal we say. uptown'’ —performances gospel, btues.
RS8. soU. smash hits Ike lonely teardrops" Thai samd at the end ol Wilson s rencktion ot 'Oomy Boy n
ahum he wnngs ?4~court 'em -notes out ot the saxje sytable tor.' s your jaw tsttng the Door
► Uve el the Harlem Square Club 1963, Sam Cooke (RCA) The. previously ixveteased due IP captured
Cooke at his most sooltu Playing a smal Miami nrtespot, Cooke
reworks hit thencurrent hits with a gospel drenched mtensity that
sacnkcas none ol the nch lone Ik*! phrasing and caCUalnrky casual
attitude that nspsnd later nvtatois Irom Otis Reddng lo Rod Stew
■-r art Finger popping SOU never sounded belter
■ft v*-1 / b Groanin' the Btuem Otis Rush (RynghtEngkshtnport) tndustn
J al stierglh guitar blues from the beginning ol this snger/nttslinger's
' V, A * starred cateer Hear where Jmmy ftege learned T Can't Oat You.
1 ' ^ Baby' He* where Enc Clapton teamed Al Your Love' Hear Rush
LOU Rood take solos so tough you'd have to shave 'em with a blowtorch Hear
b Chicken Shack Boogie Amos Mtxim (Pathe/French import)
The rampn stompr title track dates beck to '49 and ought to conclusively prove once and lor al that rock n'
rd tkd not sporty forth tram Ekrs Presley s ducktal Ike Minerva from the brow ol Jove 'Oown the Road
/^sece' (nespkcabty not included here) goes back even lurther 16 1946 vrften pranrst/vocakst Mkxm bossed
tho Wtesl Coast Mhp blues scene, wheren smal. handover combos boogwd then woogws around such adjt
topics as reckless eyebakng and reckless hrghbakng
► V.U. The Vblvet Underground (Wygram) Alter sitting n the vaUts tor 15 years, the recently released
■turn stt sounds ahead of 4s tone Urmtiates wi tmd that thrs tost. soU conscious band ol ait rock primitives
was not only capable ol a wider range ol styles than s commonly thought, but also that leader Lou Reed once
swig as 4 he—or al least the character he portrayed ready meant al the tension, mystery and stark beauty
packed into these grooves Often mtated. never duptcated
b Nuggets, Vol 1 Various Artists (Rhno) This kodection ol klassick garagerock hits ol the 60 s bats 10 for
13. it you kanbeteve the klwmsol the kkHwvMiownt the bier notes It
energy, launch, suburban punk postumgs and veiled references to
taking lea with Mary Jane make you wanna tune n, turn on and drop
out, then |om the Standots, the Leaves, the Seeds, the Count five.
Muse Machine. Chocolate Watch Band and many more n Wonderful
Wig City. |ust over the Shadowtoie from Anywherevdte, U S A
► The Johnny Burnette Rock 'n' Ron Trto The Johnny Burnette
Tno (Chatty/English. 2 LP import) The widest, hairiest. slobberm
gest, most mane rockabiy ever recorded Dig guitarist Paul Burnle
son's accidental lur/tone on The Tram Kept A Rodin " (The Ytod
beds and Aerosimth del) Cok* these rednecked, white hot and blue
Memphis peckervyoods gone. REAL gone
b Rockin' UnH MtdmghL Roftn' Until Dawn. Don & Dewey (Specialty) This dyname duo ot soil scream
ers taught Sam & Dave—not to mention the Righteous Brothers—everytheig they know The aural equivalent ot
a bw tight, this lipped dec nonetheless contans the ongmal- they wrote 'em—versions ol such oftdovered
classics as Justne.' Big Boy (tele." Koko Joe,' 'Farmer John' and "Leaving It Al Up to You Whaow1
b Louiarans Blues and Zydeco Cbtton Chereei (Aihooke) You can substitute just about any ot the
acconkanetCyvocalisI s several atoums tor frits 60 s effort Whether smgng m French pators or American yve
playing swrtng R&B or snappy two steps this legend has been the undeputed king ol rydeco. a taghfy
rhythmic toim ol indigenous Amencan tat* music, since the 50 s Bon Ion roulet
b The Wild Tchoupitchoulas The Wdd Tchoupitchoulas (Antides) In honor ol Inckan tribes that helped
runaway slaves escape, it's a Mardi Gras tradition that certain tamdies ol Afro Amencan men dress up as Native
Amencan wamore They have songs-more accurately, chants—that have been handed down from generation
to generation to go along with the spectacle Pulsating with potyihythmc power and-agan-a urequety
Amencan expression, this music, is tho perfect antidote lot a hot summei's day You don' have to know that the
Nevte Brothers are members ol the title to bedeve that when the Wdd Tchoupitchoulas brag they re gonna
stomp some rump." Jack, they back then wax
Clifton Chenier