February 12, 1980
Mas: hew breed'
By Caroline Harding
Columnist
Time magazine describes her
as one of a "new breed" of
women rockers. Backbeat mag
azine declares that"the world
needs more rock and rollers like
her."
She is Carolyne Mas, a
twenty-four year old singer/
songwriter/musician who hails
form Bronxvile, New York. Mas
possesses an expansive, throaty
voice which is the result of her
studies at the American music
and Dramatic Academy. Her
debut album is the product of a
few well-received New York
club appearances and proves
her to be an exciting new artist.
In addition to producer Steve
Burgh, Mas has also enlisted
the help of guitarist David
Landau, a vetern of Jackson
Nighthawks a 'Full House'
By Gwen Bikis
Columnist
"Full House" - The Nighthawks
The Nighthawks did a gig in
Greensboro recently; one which
I regrettably did not attend, but
nonetheless heard the word on.
The material on this album,
their fourth, would seem to bear
proof to the reports I heard
about the quality of their con
cert appearance in Greensboro.
The album is solid, highly
listenable, and, best of all
irresitably danceable.
The Nighthawks, hailing from
the Washington, DC. area,
have a contingent of followers
strong more in loyalty than in
numbers, a monthly newsletter,
an official newsletter in their
honor, and little fame beyond
the local level. Their lable,
Adelphi, is small and obscure,
based in the Washington sub
urb of Silver Spring, Md.
The majority of their concert
dates are played in smallish
nightclubs and bars. Their
idiom is that familiar bluesy
base upon which rock and roll
was founded -- that rich blue
vein which has been mined by
so many rock outfits, with
varying degrees of success.
This album may be the Night
hawks' most successful. Much
of their previous material soun
ded watered-down to me:
George Thorough-good and the
Destroyers without George's
biting slide and gravelly vocals.
Much of the added punch of
Jacks and Kings, "Full House"
could probably be atrributed to
the featured sidemen: Pinetop
Perkins (his guitar style is
uniquely delicate and sensitive)
Guitar Jr., Bob Margolin (plays
with Muddy Waters, Dave Max
well (plays with Jimmy Cotton).
It has been a sort of tradition
for rock bands to highlight the
Browne and Warren Zevon
tours. Landaus' guitar work
adds real spark to the cuts, and
Cripin Cioe's saxophone frames
the album with an upbeat style
which is reminiscent of Clar
ence Clemmon's work with
Bruce Springsteen's band. Mas
herself handles the piano and
electric guitar quite competent
ly
Mas writes all her own songs
on the album, with the excep
tion of three which were co-writ
ten with guitarist Landau.
"Quote Good-bye Quote" is a
fast cut which echoes with lively
handclaps and streetgang
whoops and cries, while
"Snow" is a swelling, mid-tem
po number which provides a
welcome cantrast to the high-po
wered rock found elsewhere on
the album.-
"Sadie Says" and "Still
often-neelected talents of blues
veterans in collaborative al
bums. The old bluesy Fleet
wood Mac did it; Mick J agger
and Steve Winwood recorded an
album with Howling Wolf;
Canned Heat did one with John
Lee Hooker. The results of such
collusions have been mixed, but
here, the influence of the Chi
cago Tradition is like a trans
fusion.
The performances here are
not notably air tight, like the
finest of Chicago blues, but the
jamming possibilities are end
less (they must great in
concert). As such, this very
good album, which contains
little actual, get-down-to-it
jamming, falls short of excel
lence.
That is a shortcoming, but the
album has many strengths. The
musicians stop short of taking
themselves too seriously, a
deadly boring sin when rock
bands play the blues. No drag
gy, slow blues with overindul-
gent instrumental solos, no
straining vocals (a la Led Zep
pelin singing the blues), and
none of the horrendous at
tempts at authentic dialect.
Instead, this album features
fast boogie numbers with clean
driving harmonica work (Before
You 'Cuse Me); Wilson
Pickettish soul renditions re
plete with a backdrop of driving
horns (Gotta Get My Baby
Back); and two instrumental
featuring Pinetop Perkins
whacking away at the piano like
Little Richard ("Two Bugs and
a Roach," and "Rockin' the
Boogie").
Side One opens with a good
Chuck Berry rocker, ("Little
Queenie") and closes with "Sea
Cruise," an intriguing mix of
rock, blues, Presley-ish "hic
cup" vocals, and jazzy, swing
ing horns.
Guilfordian
sane" are undoubtedly the two
brightest cuts on the album, as
they are fine examples of Mas'
witty and precise style of sing
ing. "Carolyn Mas" is not
without flaws, however, as two
selections prove to be somewhat
disappointing. The lyrics on
"Never Two Without Three"
fail to make sense, and "DoYou
Believe I Love You" seems to
suffer from frantic overdrive,
which a slower tempo could
easily remedy.
As a whole, "Carolyn Mas"
is an admirable first'album, and
should have many listeners
crying for an encore. Mas wil be
entering the studio this March
to start work on a second album,
and the final product should be
released by the end of this year.
Keep your eye on this startling
offshoot of the new breed of
lady rock and rollers.
The blues as played here
verge more on the rock main
stream than on the true blue
bedrock that powered Paul But
terfield or vintage Eric Clapton.
The blues here are more rollick
ing and reckless that true blues
sung in pain and fostered by
injustice and oppression.
Jacks and Kings is, instead,
bawdy partying music, with lots
of hopped-up boogie. As an
example of what rock has
assimilated from the blues, the
Nighthawks' newest music
shines. I wouldn't recommend
this album as highly to a blues
buff as I would to a rock-and
roller, but who could dispute
the value of a good, solid, rock
and roll album?
Forbert and Mas to rock Guilford
The Cuilford College Union
will present the new folk star
Steve Forbert in concert at 8
p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, in Dana
Auditorium. Carolyne Mas, a
rock singer, will be his warm-up
act.
Tickets will be available at
the door for $3.50 for Cuilford
students with ID cards and
$5.50 for non-Guilford students.
Two years ago, soon after
Forbert had arrived in New
York City with an aspiring
punk-rock group and was sing
ing in clubs there, the New York
Times called him the "new Bob
Dylan," the "new Elvis Pres
ley" and the "new Rod Ste
wart."
Writer John Rockwell said:
"His singing voice is both
tender and aggressively sexual
- a folk-rock tenor that at its
upper extreme thins out into a
kind of introverted Rod Stewart
timbre. The phrasing is
instantly, intuitively right. Mr.
Forbert is the kind of a singer
who makes you realize his worth
the minutfe he begins to sing.
Forbert's star began to rise
with the release of his first
album, "Alive on Arrival." It
continued to rise with his
.second "Jackrabbit Slim."
■ " A 'ii
Carolyne Mas provides a warm-up for Steve Forbert in concert on
Tuesday, February 19 at 8:00 p.m. in Dana Auditorium.
Martha Hume in her "Pop
Music" column for the New
York Daily News discussed new
releases by the Eagles, Fleet
wood Mac and Elton John
("abominable attempt at
disco") and told her readers:
None of the new stuff is as good
as Steve Forbert's 'Jackrabbit
Slim.'
"If you didn't pick up on this
young songwriter from Missis
sippi and Greenwich Village
when he made his first album,
you ought to do so now," Hume
advised.
"There seems to be dozens of
singers/songwriters around and
it's difficult for one to stand
out," she wrote. "Steve For
bert, because he writes like an
angel and has a distinctive if
sometimes strangled voice,
does. And unlike the Eagles and
Fleetwood Mac, Forbert's still
hungry enough to really try to
do a good job when he makes a
record."
Forbert's warm-up act for his
current tour, Carolyne Mas, is
among the front ranks of a
whole new breed of women
rockers: tough, independent
singers/songwriters who have
assumed stances previously re-
Page five
served almost exclusively for
male performers.
Referred to in the New York
press as the "female Bruce
Springsteen," the similarities
are a big, throaty voice, a
dramatic performing sensibility
and outstanding song arrange
ments.
Mas sings in the succinct,
precise phrases of a trained
vocalist which, in fact, she is,
having studied at the American
Music and Dramatic Academy
and performed with the Light
Opera of Manhattan
"An educated larynx some
times runs counter to rock's
gritty spontaneity, and to her
credit she manages to bypass
that dilmemna, succeeding
even among the spirited, hand
clapping street gang shouts of
'Quote Goodbye Quote,' " ac
cording to Backbeat magaz ne
writer Steven Rea.
Mas' first album was "Caro
lyne Mas," which she recorded
soon after a series of well
received New York City club
dates.
Some of her popular songs
are "Stillsane," "Sadie Says,"
"It's No Secret," "Snow" and
"Call Me (Crazy To)."