Permanent Waves #10

Are you ready to ruck?!

Six albums on the slate for this week, still powering through those late winter/early spring doldrums! Let’s mindset.

Bobby Caldwell - The Cat in the Hat

I eventually slogged through a second full listen of this, but I put off doing so all week too, which kind of says it all. Following up the hit smooth soul jam “What You Won’t Do For Love”, soul man Bobby Caldwell is a little Hall and Oates, a little Christopher Cross, if you ask him he would probably say he’s influenced by Stevie Wonder and/or Elton John. I like Stevie and Elton, of course I like Stevie and Elton, but the year is 1980 and as far as I can tell nobody was asking for a white Stevie, or a straight Elton. It’s a lot of intangibles, I’m really struggling to pinpoint exactly where this goes wrong enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth— just too overpolished, too precious, not enough personality, or maybe a certain off-putting pastiche-y-ness? Thumbs down!

VERDICT: SKIP

Daryl Hall - Sacred Songs

The solo debut of this week’s second (and more accomplished) soul man boasts a Robert Fripp production credit on the very cover art itself, lest a single listener miss Hall’s thirst for a drop of David Bowie’s thin white duke swag. As a Daryl Hall joint, it feels a little diffuse, and as a Robert Fripp joint (though I’m far from an expert on those) it feels a little mild-mannered. These guys do undeniably know their shit, and the proceedings are accordingly listenable, whether it’s an extended post-glam jam (“Babs and Babs”) or a quiet little droning instrumental (“Urban Landscape”) or a spiky ball of anxious Fripp-jazz (“NYCNY”). At the end of the day, I’m just not quite suitably convinced that Daryl’s ever had much on his mind except women— The best song here literally finds him using two women as a metaphor for his mind. Mindset of the week: You’re selling yourself, and that’s a matter of fact / Your love is your life and your life is your act

VERDICT: FINE

Gentle Giant - Civilian

I’ve delved deep into the Gentle Giant back catalog over the past few months out of pure intrigue regarding their pivot from some of the proggiest prog rock to ever prog to mainstream-friendly AOR (zamn is prog carcinizing back into power pop??). Their more ambitious material doesn’t always hit for me, but even when it misses I certainly won’t mistake it for any other band. I even like The Missing Piece, a lot more than the overall fandom seems to, but I can’t say too much for their latest and final(!!!) album than “well, at least it’s got more energy than Giant for a Day”. On “I Am A Camera”, they’re the same earnest goobers they’ve always been with a fresh new wave-y edge, but more often, songs titles like “Convenience (Clean & Easy)” and “Number One” belabor their showbiz commentary and dumb down their meandering melodies. Take it as an excuse to go pick up Octopus or The Power and the Glory— or, hell, Fragile, if you need something with a quality radio single.

VERDICT: SKIP

Cockney Rejects - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1

When the punk revolution swept through the UK, was this not the future Joe Strummer envisioned? A hundred gangs of lumpenproletariat street toughs, all bashing out sturdy, minimalistic, interchangeable blasts of guitar noise about juvenile delinquency and juvenile angst. Doesn’t it just bring a tear to yer eye! What the Cockney Rejects lack in range, they make up for in hutzpah. I do wish their songs all blended together less, but I can always appreciate a good shout-along, and cheeky titling to boot (“Are You Ready to Ruck?” delivers both, and the album isn’t actually a greatest hits compilation at all, ho ho ho)

VERDICT: NICE

The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us

Again, mea culpa, I just haven’t got the stomach for rockabilly, and after Songs the Lord Taught Us my 1980 crown for the genre stays firmly with the Blasters: I think the camp of it all is just a shade more self-conscious than it needs to be. I can’t knock it for much besides that, really. The production (courtesy of one Alex Chilton, there’s your damn power pop mindset!) is wonderfully dingy and sweaty, and the band does a damn fine “Strychnine”. Most of it is just too papa-oom-mow-mow for my taste, and The Cramps’ rather compelling fashion is less impactful in audio format.

VERDICT: FINE

Sue Saad and the Next - Sue Saad and the Next

After forcing myself to curb my enthusiasm, I’m still plenty willing to give Sue Saad and the Next a lot of credit for sheer hook-craft and cunning genre triangulations, but on first listen this album absolutely blew me away. I like Pat Benatar, but like with a lot of solo rockers I’ve had lingering reservations about her true commitment to power pop mindset. Not so with Sue Saad! This is a singer who needs a band to be a star, the way God intended! Her singing is somewhat rougher around the edges than Pat’s, but she isn’t going it alone: The Next imbue their crackerjack arena rock with the tension and concision of true punk scholars, and the results are often dazzling: “Your Lips-Hands-Kiss-Love” features the best Aerosmith riff since “Sweet Emotion”, and “It’s Gotcha” and “I Want Him” both book along like hopped-up hellions. The slower numbers aren’t nearly as special (“Looker” is total we-have-Benatar-at-home), and their stab at reggae on “Young Girl” lands a little awkwardly, and ultimately maybe squaring the circle between new wave and AOR isn’t exactly a noble cause— which genre do we think will come out on top there? Whatever, this brings the tunes regardless.

VERDICT: NICE