ntroducing But,Lordy, this is a dull album. I don't ques- the Grateful Dead, and generally a bit like the tion his sincerity-I don't even question the old Buffalo Springfield (whose birth and de- a major rocktalent: sincerity of Billy Graham, who recites a few velopment, like Crazy Horse's, was heavily in- verses on one song-but I question the judg- fluenced by Young). The instrumentals don't ment of anyone who would record such a lack- encompass anything fancy but are reminiscent LE\A HOR\E luster bunch of songs. Reckon I'll hang around of the easy precision of Creedence Clearwater and see if the prisoner -drifter -reprobate side of Revival. All in all, a fine effort. N. C. Johnny Cash's performing personality doesn't surface again. It has always been interesting. KAREN DALTON: In My Own Time. Ka- N.0 ren Dalton (vocals and guitar); orchestra. In a Station; Take Me; Same Old Man; Katie Cruel; IDACOX: Blues Ain't Nothin' Else But How Sweet It Is; and five others. PARA- . ... Ida Cox (vocals); various accompanying MOUNTPAS6008 $4.98. groups. I've Got the Blues for Rampart Street; Chattanooga Blues; Chicago Monkey Man Performance: Good Blues; Blues Ain't Nothin' Else Bur!; How Recording: Good Can I Miss You when I've Got Dead Aim; I , in the liner notes here, says that Ain't Got Nobody; One Time Woman Blues; Karen Dalton has been his favorite female vo- andseven others.MILESTONE C)MLP2015 calist, as well as an influence on his own style, $4.98. since the early Sixties. He concludes that "her We quote from Stereo Review: "You will Performance: Classic blues voice is so unique to describe it would take a be ... caught up in the delicate sensitivity, the Recording: Poor to Fair poet. All I can say is that she sure can sing the hard -driving swing, and the plain old strutting, s..t out of the blues." down-home drive she uses to bring these Inthe classic blues years of the mid -twenties, songs alive." Gladda hearit! Gladda hearit! Unfortunate- Ida Cox's star was usually eclipsed by thesear- The songs they're talking about are Leon ly, Neil is mistaken on almost all points. Dal- Russel'sA Song for ing brilliance of and Ma Rainey. ton sounds not so much like the early Sixties as You, Paul McCartney's But if Miss Cox lacked the public flamboyance Maybe I'm Amazed,Elton John'sYour Song, the early Fifties, when jazz was at its peak. Her Gene McDaniels' Nature's Baby (the title song of Miss Smith, and the gutsy energy of Miss voice, her phrasing, and even her hesitant rasp from Lena Home's new album), and others. Rainey, she had some pretty solid credentials might be "unique" if there had never been a We'll let Stereo Review's Don Heckman of her own. Among her best assets was a lovely . The matter of her influence on have the final word: "The arrangements are voice-one with a far more melodious, less himself and the cathartic effect of her blues great ... the production is outstanding, and strained quality than either Miss Rainey or singing are, of course, Neil's personal concern the recording has the electric presence of a Miss Smith. Some of Miss Cox's finest mo- 'live' date." (and a neat little phrasemaker he is). ments are preserved in this excellent reissue Karen Dalton, unhappily, seems to be collection. Particularly fascinating are her early DISTRIBUTED BY caught in a time lag where appreciation for BUDDAHltRECORDS . versions of Chicago Monkey Man, a tune that what she does well-good, solid jazz singing, A SUBSIDIARY OFIghiWIIIIX later became popular as Goin' to Chicago, and done with intelligence and taste-has very lit- ALSO ON AMPEX 8 -TRACK AND CASSETTE STEREO TAPES. the Ted Weems favorite, I Ain't Got Nobody. tle of its original audience left and has yet to Producer Orrin Keepnews has managed to develop any appreciable nostalgia cult among make the transfers from extremely scratchy young people.. She proves that she is indeed 78's with considerable fidelity-in most cases. able to sing them the way that they used to. The glaring exception is the first tune on side But who's listening? P.R. BALTIMORE two, How Long Daddy, How Long, in which the "wow" is so bad that the wavering intona- THE DOOBIE BROTHERS.The Doobie tion makes the track almost unlistenable. Aside Brothers (vocals and instrumentals). Nobody; from that, this is a particularly valuable collec- Slippery St. Paul; Greenwood Creek; It Won't tion, and one that should find a spot in the Be Right; Travelin' Man; and six others. WAR- libraries of all blues collectors. D.H. NER BROTHERSWS1919 $4.98,eM 81919 $6.95, M 51919 $6.95. CRAZY HORSE:Crazy Horse (vocals and in- strumentals). Gone Dead Train; Dance, Performance: Dull Dance, Dance; Look at All the Things; Beg- Recording: Very good gars Day; I Don't Want to Talk About It; What is there to sayabout a group like this? SITEREO Downtown; Carolay; and four others. REPRISE Records no worse and no better come pouring 6438 $4.98. out of the companies at a rate only slightly be- Performance: Neilwho? low that of, say, the issuance of memos in the Recording: Excellent Pentagon. To my ears, in fact, the Doobie Brothers are almost indistinguishable from at This is a nice little surprise. Crazy Horsewas, least seven out of ten of the groups whose HOLE- of course, Neil Young's back-up band, which work is documented in all that free -flowing vi- he sort of fired, en masse, a few months back, nyl. Given a sixteen -track recording machine, and the assumption was that we wouldn't be the kind of music they make could be duplicat- hearing any more about Crazy Horse. Not ed by a similarly instrumented group from al- 'ALERS only has survived, but it has produced most any music union or even any college in a fine recording, loaded with lightweight but the country. catchy tunes. Sometimes the melodies are not So maybe we've finally produced a truly pro- so light, but the lyrics (what you can hear of letarian Gebrauchsmusik that can be played by them) don't average out to anything that can't anybody. But I don't think so. The music most Now, from the comfort of your home be sponged up with a few easy swipes. Good, young people listen to for any extended period you can buy almost any Stereo Com- tuneful tunes include I Don't Want to Talk of time-the music of the Grateful Dead, the ponent at Special Discount Prices, About It, written by guitarist and lead singer Jefferson Airplane, the Rolling Stones, etc.-is from one of the East Coast's Lead- Danny Whitten and featuring some glorious ing Wholesalers...Your order created by performers who, whatever their ap- shipped promptly in factory -sealed bottleneck guitar by special guest Ry Cooder pearance or manner, are both unique and pro- cartons. Write for quote today. (who pops up everywhere), Dance, Dance, fessional about what they do. The Doobie Dance, written by Young, and, especially, Car- Brothers try mightily to sound like any or all 118 BALTIMORE -ANNAPOLIS BLVD. olay, by pianist Jack Nitzsche. of the groups mentioned above (and I could GLEN BURNIE, MD. 21061 Whitten is an undistinguished but at least add a few more), but they still come off as col- natural -sounding singer. The group's vocal orless imitations, reminiscent of the local dance (301) 323-6233 harmonies, on Gone Dead Train and Down- bands of a decade ago who made a living play- CIRCLE NO13 ONREADER SERVICECARD town (a new one by Whitten), sound a bit like (Continued on page 124) 122 STEREO REVIEW