CLINTON ST. QUARTERLY most people will go for the $11.98 list price for one great side. B - Iron City Houserockers Have A Good Time But... Get Out Alive MCA 5111 Sounding like a hardened, but boozy, cross between Springsteen and J. Geils, the Iron City Houserockers (they’re from Pittsburgh, natch) view themselves as a working class band, without politics, as in “just average Joes” . But poor Joe Grushecky, the band’s lead singer, doesn’t stand any chance of ever being an original; he’s assimilated all the great white r ’n’ b ’sters that well. With the rest of the band tight, but unmemorable, great material might save them, but... The lyric outlook of the band is pure Born To Run, with life a daily struggle enhanced only by a little drag racing, and a lot of bar-hopping at night. The song titles, as in the title cut and “We’re Not Dead Yet” tell the whole story. Not really mindless rage; more like average anger. A good bar band, with no great vision to purvey, but trying real hard. C+ - Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons Screaming Target Columbia N IC 36442 Australia, more and more, is seeing its best bands signed and distributed in the U.S. Whereas its stars, such as the Bee Gees and the Little River Band especially, have tended toward pop, an undercurrent of gritty rock ’n’ roll bands has always existed, as far back as the mid-sixties and Easybeats and as recently as lasT year’s debut by the Sports. Now comes Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons, featuring Joe Camilleri on vocals, sax and guitar, with two guitars, sax, bass and drums backing; half the time they follow a reggae beat, the rest of the time they are content to be a tight little rock ’n’ roll combo. But the material, mostly by the two guitarists and Joe, often lacks the spicy detail that, for instance, the veteran writers of J. Geils know how to add. The reggae-tinged “ Hit And Run” and “ So Young” , as well as a screaming rocker, “ Don’t Wanna Come Down,” stand out from the average. Though Jo Jo Zep performs an admirable variety of musical approaches, they have a crying need for flair. A good debut album, but side 2 is practically unnecessary since the best cuts are on the other side. BPhil Lynott Solo In Soho Warner Brothers BSK 3405 Lynott, the lead vocalist/bassist of a band called Thin Lizzy, is yet another in the Springsteen camp, but only by happenstance, not intent. Thin Lizzy has always had an explosive thrust similar to Springsteen, only with a heavy metal guitar balance suitable for coliseum rock. But Lynott, who would have you think him the Black bard of Irish poetry, is literal minded enough to confuse the grandiose with the grand, rhymes with meaning, etc. This limitation keeps Solo In Soho on the ground, although the fact that Lynott arrangements, with a synthesizer rather than a guitar base, adds luster. As for the songs, Lynott is best when he’s not trying to make a statement: I find “ King’s Call” , about getting drunk the night of Elvis’ death, much more acceptable from a rock star (and Lynott is, with all the trimmings) than his statement of Black solidarity, “ Ode To A Black Man” . Typically, Lynott hopes to end with a bang. “ Talk In ’79” , a slow jive talk number which rhymes as much of the new wave scene as he can fit into four minutes. But after we’ve all figured out the references, it really doesn’t add up to anything. Lynott avoided most of his bombastic tendencies and made a solid, different enough, album. B Graham Parker And The Rumour The Up Escalator Arista A L 9517 Graham Parker & The Rumour, whose first album, Howling Wind was the critical success of 1976, seemed the biggest loser in the Elvis Costello success story, for El’ copped' the Angry Young Man throne with a growl quite similar to Parker’s and now the public seems to view Parker and company as Johnny-come- latelies. Oh well.... Last year’s Squeezing Out Sparks, recorded for a new label and with a new producer, almost proved to be Parker’s breakthrough. The instrumental chops of his pedigreed band members were honed slicker than slick, with the result being a music tha t rode streamlined, but full fleshed, lead guitar lines. Parker chipped in with a packet of great songs as well. The Up Escalator, on the same label but with another new producer, uses a similar format, but the production values aren’t quite as clean as the previous album. There’s a similar problem with the song quality. But some — specifically “ Stupefaction” and all the rhymes in it, and the driving, haunting “ Empty Lives” — continue Parker’s humanistic bent with style. At least Parker’s artistic wellspring, the need and struggle to communicate, remains intact. As he states in the first song here, together “ we can face the danger/no holding back” . But perhaps Parker is missing organist Bob Andrews, who quit shortly before this album was recorded, a little more than we might have though. B + Bob Seger Against The Wind Capitol SOO12041 Seger continues to growl tributes to the spirit of old time rock ’n’ roll and softly reminisce about sexual innocence. But these are becoming too well assimilated to the mainstream. Sad, because he used to bring conviction to every moment of every song. BSouthside Johnny And The Asbury Jukes Sacrifice Mercury SRM-1-3836 Southside Johnny, well known as Bruce Springsteen’s hometown mentor, always sings southern-styled, 1960’s influenced, r ’n’ b, with no attempt at importance beyond having a good time. But for all the chops he and his eight-piece band possess, Johnny’s sound has begun to wear thin by the time of this fifth album, and since Johnny wants to get out from his student’s shadow, we’re denied the special songs that Springsteen used to slip him. With due appreciation for the hot three piece horn section, the solid rhythm section and Johnny’s wailing voice, nobody in his band really comes up with intriguing arrangements or imposing material. I t’s all up to standard, but that’s standard standard. Johnny’s a performer, not an artist, so if the highs aren’t high enough, at least the lows never last too long. A good record , by a good performer. B Tonio K Amerika Arista AB 4271 With Mr. K’s first album, Life In The Foodchain, critics called the gravelly-voiced artist the ultimate rock cynic, especially given his seeming putdown o f a singer (Jackson Browne) he later admitted respecting. I ’m sure the same will be written of this album, but methinks Tonio K’s intentions have been misread. Actually, his ideas contain a positive force in their negativity as he cuts through our everyday euphemisms and thought patterns with bitingly moral phrases and questions. For instance, beginning the song, “ The Night Fast Rodney Went Crazy” with “ how come this country runs on retrospect.” Or, after several love-as-we-know-it-in- the modern-world songs, owning up that “ I just want someone who can laugh at the fact that there ain’t nothin’ funny” . Telling stuff. Though sometimes Tonio K has to struggle to keep up with the revved up music, his vocal whine is at least serviceable, and often affecting. But really the importance of Tonio K’s work is found in his words, for he shows more interest in the workings of society than any of the vast majority of the me-generation artists that have cropped up since the sixties. The “ B” is for rocking smart and true, the “ + ” is for all the jewels to be found in his verbiage. B + Michael Adelsheim has worked fo r Longhair Music in Portland fo r most o f the last seven years. He is living proo f that in your heart you ’re never too old to be a new waver. 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