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Izitso
Izitso is good proof that behind Cat Stevens' sentimental and somewhat naive persona there exists a musician and composer more far-reaching than the wistful but cloying singer/songwriter who relies largely on soft acoustic instrumentation. Touching several bases, often in apparent opposition to each other, Stevens displays both the diversity and the maturity to match this […]
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Hotel California
Hotel California showcases both the best and worst tendencies of Los Angeles-situated rock, but more strikingly its lyrics present a convincing and unflattering portrait of the milieu itself. Don Henley, handling five of the eight vocal tracks, expresses well the weary disgust of a victim (or observer) of the region's luxurious excess. Yet the record's […]
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Steal Your Face!
Steal Your Face isn't so much a collection of music as a further confirmation of the Dead's existence. These four live sides aren't really very good, but few will notice. Nine years after the Summer of Love, the acid mystique lives on. The Dead are too loose here, and frequently sloppy as well, particularly on […]
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Another Green World
Eno's eccentric music doesn't stray beyond rock's accustomed borders so much as it innovates within those parameters. Another Green World's five vocal numbers generally represent his most conservative approaches, but its nine instrumentals are among his most radical reshapings of the genre. Together, they make perhaps the artist's most successful record. The vocal selections could […]
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Run with the Pack
Run with the Pack, Bad Company's third and best album, reiterates the raw, rowdy style of their debut, Bad Co., solidifies the loose ends that marred Straight Shooter and adds new directions of its own. Maybe most importantly, the record is refreshing proof that rockers don't have to produce literature in their lyrics or cultivate […]
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Solid Silver
The reunion of the original Quicksilver Messenger Service (plus Dino Valenti, who didn't appear on their earliest efforts) is one contradiction after another. Though much of the arranging is dull and unvaried, when the inimitable John Cipollina lets loose his stinging, tremoloed guitar, the band is at its finest. Quicksilver still revels in crisp rhythm […]
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Early Flight
Not surprisingly, what could well be the best Airplane album since the four-year-old Volunteers consists mainly of tracks from the mid-Sixties. To be sure, there is a boring blues jam, and the rejects from Takes Off, while competent, are not on a par with the original LP. But the two outtakes from Surrealistic Pillow are […]
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Get Your Wings
Maintaining an agile balance between Yardbirds- and Who-styled rock and Seventies heavy metal, Aerosmith's second album surges with pent-up fury yet avoids the excesses to which many of their peers succumb. The music of the five-member group contains the vital elements of economy and control — no ill-advised solo extravaganzas. The snarling chords of guitarists […]
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