Steve Earle
Copperhead Road
Uni/MCA Records
Back in the late 70's, there
existed abeing known as Southern
Rock, a fusion of styles such as
Country, hard rock, and Blues. The
groups in this genre ranged from
hard rockers, such as Blackfoot
and Molly Hatchet, to glorified bar
bershop quartets, like the Byrds, to
the greatest of them all (hats over
hearts please): Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The smoke had pretty much settled
by 1985, leaving only the Charlie
Daniels' Band and .38 Special to
man the guns. About this time,
Steve Earle entered the music
world with a vengeance, and a killer
attitude.
His debut album. Guitar Town,
created a few waves in a Country
industry infatuated with the world’s
best George Jones wanna-be,
Randy Travis. Earle was too
Country for Rock, and too Rock for
Country. By the time his second
album. Exit 0, hit, he was being
hailed by some as the new
Southern Rock messiah, the man who
could play both The Bottom Line and
The Grand Ole Opry, which he has
done. But Earle is a veteran and
would not be bothered with labels, and
decided to plow on his own course
with his third album. Copperhead
Road. The new Southern Rocker has
recorded a work which is very interest
ing and almost refreshing. The two
sides are split into song cycles, one
hard and the other soft.
True to the Southern Rock formula,
Earle's songs are about enemies and
ancestors, and fighting and loving
America. This time around, however,
the enemy is not the Apaches, but the
Viet Cong, as side one is basically the
voice of a boy who went to war and
came home a confused man; con
fused enough to write about it, but not
confused enoug'i toput it in a John
Cougar video. The title track, in
particular, reinforces the theme of a
mountain man who went to the jungle
and came home to take over the
family moonshine trade, but with
marijuana instead of lightnin'. Side
two is about relationships in the
modern world, but saves itself from
redundancy through Earle's musical
adventurous streak, with the Pogues
featured on one track, and Telluride on
another.
If Steve Earle is the shape of
Southern Rock today, then the genre
will have little to worry about. Earle is
a songwriter of very high caliber, and a
composer with enough daring to keep
himself interesting, but enough focus
to stay in line. This is a good album.
If I tookstock in giving grades or stars
to records, this would definitely be A
plus, or **** material.
Eric E. Faircloth
Ian Gillian and Roger
Glover
Accidentally on Purpose
Virgin Records
When the history of Rock is written,
Deep Purple will definitely go down as
the greatest hard rock band, bar none.
As the only group to merge varying
styles into a heavy package, they
forged a path for other adventurous
hard rockers in the 1970's. After
showing the world what they could do,
they disbanded in 1976, leaving a
tremendous gap in the rock world.
They returned in 1985 with Perfect
Strangers, and showed pale imitators
A'ho was boss. The group is once
again going on a brief sabbatical, with
the mernbers going their separate
ways for a short while. Two of the
members decided to stick together in
the wilderness and putout an album
together; lead vocalist Ian Gillian and
bassist/producer Roger Glover.
The result of this union is called
Accidentally on Purpose. Strange title,
but it is appropriate for the music. The
album reminds me of the various
internal offshoots of Crosby, Stills,
Nash, and Young. Picture Neil Young
and David Crosby making a Eurofunk
album together. Gillian and Glover
prove that it is possible to make a
lame album when one tries hard
enough. And they really tried. And
they succeeded. If this is what they
have to offer right now, I hope they let
Ritchie Blackmore take over the next
Deep Purple album. Overall, this is the
only thing I have heard that is more
boring than a Baptist hymn.
Traveling Wilburys
Vol. 1
Wilbury/Warner Bros.
The term "supergroup" is used to
describe what happens when stars get
together and form groups.; The 70's
were full of them, with Blind Faith,
Rocket 88, and the SuperjSessions
series. The 80's gave us Asia and the
KBC Band. All of these groups share
two common traits: they are boring,
and they should have stayed home
instead of going into the studeio or on
tour. The Traveling Wilburys certain
qualifies as a supergroup, with five
figures who are legends in their own
right: George Harrison, Bob Dylan,
Tom Petty, Geoff Lynne (of ELO
fame), and Roy Orbison (the only rock
singer who comes close to touching
the crown of Elvis Presley). Instead of
making a boring, sei;-ind'jlgent piece
of vinyl waste, the o!d boys have
turned themselves into the only
supergroup that can be called super.
The music is very gr ;jd, with a tight
backing band of sessi: n players and
vocal harmony work tr at is as seam
less as anything the B^.ach Boys have
ever done; except that the Beach Boys
only wish that they could be this good.
The voices mix well, and the harmony
style is not unlike that of a good
Gospel Quartet, with each member
given equal time in the spotlight.
Standouts are Bob Dylan's vocals (of
course) and the brief moments when
Roy Orbison steps up to the mike for
his parts with a voice as smooth as the
best silk, and as haunting as a lonely
fog (how's that for a lame compari
son?). This is the last we'll hear of
Roy Orbison, as he died shortly after
the album's release.
There are several singles on radio
right now, and well they should be.
This is one of the best albums I've
heard in years, and it's sad that Vol. II,
if there is one, will not be nearly as
good because of Orbison's death.
Eric E. Faircloth
Living Color
Vivid
Epic Records
A long time ago, in a galaxy far
away, Dr. Funkenstein looked upon
the Earth and decided that the world
was incomplete. In his infinite wis
dom, the Chosen One sent down
George Clinton and gave us Parlia-
ment/Funkadelic, the first group to
ever mix hard funk and hard rock for
the masses. Equal parts James
Brown and Jimi Hendrix with a big
dose of Led Zepplin in there some
where, P-funk rocked the world from
one end to the other. The newest
group in the line of P-funk progeny is a
New Yori assembly known as Living
Colour. Currently known for the song
"Cult of Personality", the group is in
the middle of a long climb that should
end up ththe top.
Discovered by Mick Jagger and the
toast of the Big Apple rock scene for a
few years now. Living Colour is as
tight and refined as most veteran
groups. The first single, "Cult of
Personality," is about mind control and
(guess what) personality cults. This is
a good sign: lyrics that are not the
usual superficial fare heard on the
radio. The rest of the songs are about
similarly weighty topics. The group
has a unique sound and texture to it,
with a hard-rock rhythm section of
Muzz Skillings and William Calhoun.
The distinctive lead vocals of Corey
Glover (remember him from Platoon?)
give an edge to the sound, and are
distinctive enough to make the listener
pay attention and grab the ear. My
vote for Next Big Thing in the guitar
worid is Vernon Reid, who can lay in
the background, and then unleash a
great riff which is far more interesting
than anything Eddie Van Halen has
done in the last five years or so. This
is a group to watch.
Eric E. Faircloth
Eric E. Faircloth