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NUMBER 201 APRIL 1981

CHARLTON

PUBLICACI5 HONS Mftmber @ Audit Bu reau of Circulations

Publisher Photo Editor ______4 John Santangelo. Jr. Laurie Paladino Not Just A Job But An Adventure Editor Executive Editor THAT'S UNBEARABLE! ______8 John Shelton Ivany William Anderson Joe Jackson In Concert WE READ YOUR MAIL ______10 Associate Editors Executive Art Editor Mary Jane Canetti John Cofrancesco, Jr. RIK EMMETT'S ROCKTOONS 10 Charley Crespo Business Manager ROCK AND ROLL REVUE 12 Assistant Editor Edward Konick The Stars At Play Patty Romanowski CELEBRITY RATE-A-RECORD WITH REO SPEEDWAGON _ __ 14 Art Director Advertising Production Daniel Snow Carol Olechnowich ANGEL CITY'S JEKYLL AND HYDE 15 Kids Just Go 'Berko'

UFO VS . MICHAEL SCHENKER ______16 Malice in Wonderland ROOTS: GARLAND JEFFREYS ______17 Revisiting The Old Neighborhood JOHN LENNON REMEMBERED ______18 DELBERT McCLINTON 21 Boozin'. Cruisin ', Lovin ' and Losin ' RECORD REVIEWS ______22 RUSH 25 Pleasing Most Of The People STEVE FORBERT ______28 Every Man For Himself SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCK STAR? ______30 Demo Tapes For Profit Not For Fun BILL Y THORPE ______31 Accidents Will Happen BILLY JOEL CENTERFOLD ______32 PICK HIT: BILLY BURNETTE 34 SHOOTING STARS 35 Critical Mass. Robbin Thompson Band. Jack Green. Korgls PAUL SIMON ______36 Contributing Editors There 's No Business Like Show Business Toby Goldste in, Jeffrey Peisch, Andy Secher, Ro y Trakin , lra GUITAR WORKSHOP: GAMMA'S RONNIE MONTROSE _ ___ 38 Kaplan. Da n Hedges, Bo b Grosswei ner, Ed Naha, Crispin Cioe, Karen Schlosberg, Rob Patterson, Ed Ochs, Regan ROCK AND ROLL HIT PARADE 39 McMahon. Janel Bladow, St uart Cohn . Sa lley Rayl, Patty Joe Perry, Pat Travers and Mick Jones: Their All-Time Favorite LPs Romanowski, Jeff Tamarkin, Suzan Crane. ROCK POLL ______39 Win Free Police and REO Speedwagon LPs Contributing Photographers Neil Zlozower, Mark Wei ss , Re tna Ph otos, Ebet Roberts, HIT PARADER SPORTS CHALLENGE ______40 Laurie Pa ladino, Sheri L ynn Behr, Steve Namm, Gary Peter Criss And The Great Pool Shootout Gershoff. Richard Aa ron/ Th und erthumbs, Bob Matheu. Bob MOON MARTIN ______41 Leafe. Bob Sorce, Ron Pownall, Russell Turiak, Larry Yelen , Kink Kume. Sam Em erson. Feet Firmly On The Ground GRATEFULDEAD ______42

HIT PARAOER. (lSSN 0612-0266). is published bimonthly by Charlton Middle Aged Crazy Publications. Inc.. Charlton Bldg .. Derby. Ct. 06418. Entered as Second SONGINDEX ______43 Class Maller April 24. 1943 at the Post Ollice at Derby. CT. under the act o f March 3,1879. Second Class Postage paid at Derby, CT . ~ Copyright 1981 Charlton Publications. Inc. All rights reserved Pri nted in U.S.A. HEART 57 Subscriptions : $7 .50 lor 6 i ssues. 12 issues $14.00. Subscription Silence Is Golden Manager Gina Brunelli. Vol. 40. No. 201 . Aprilt981 . Authorized for sale in the U.S .. its possessions. territories and Canada only. Member of Audit DIRE STRAITS ______60 Bureau of Circulations. Not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. photos. The Somewhat Sweet Smell 0 1 Success cartoons and songs. All contributions should be addressed to Ed itonal Ollice. Charlton Bldg .. Derby. CT. 06418. and accompanied by stamped CAUGHT IN THE ACT ______62 self-addressed envelope. NATIONAL ADVERTISING SAL ES The Kinks. The B-52 's nl~u:: rTtl Q · nil .... t ... ,.. 11 tI C :ocf ':I;? .... rt ""h~", V .... r L- "I v 1""'" 1,)1,)\ ~At::;. Pleasing Most of the People All of the Time.

by Andy Secher

,, I just can't figure why some people keep dumping on us," Rush's blond guitarist Alex Life on blurted out as he slumped into a dressing room chair, Lifeson and cohorts Ne il Peart (drums) and Geddy Lee (bass and vocals), had just finished a rousing performance fo r 15,000 appreciativ fans, Even so, as Lifeson slowly unbuttoned his sweat-d renched shirt, his annoyance at Rush's lack of critical acceptance became increasingly apparent. "Sometimes I look at the charts, or listen to the crowds roar, a nd [ say to mysel f. 'Hey, e\'erything's goin' along pretty well.' Then I read somewhere about how Rush is loo complex fo r their own good, or how pompous we are, I'll tell you, stuff like that can get to yo u after a while, We're in the bUSiness of pleasing people with our music, and it can get awful annoying when

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some people refuse to accept what you're trying to do," Lifeson's indignation isn't entire­ ly without cause, In the last eight years, Rush has emerged, quite unintentionally, of course, as rock's answer to Rodney Dangerfield, It seems that no matter how hard they try, they just don't get no respect. Eve n with their more Geddy Lee: "It's kind'a nice to finally be noticed by a wider audience ," recent LPs, notably last year's platinum Permanent Waves, rank­ repu tation as an 0 tentatious hard sudden it seems like that music ing among the most highly success­ rock band, With their late t LP, world has discovered that we exi t. ful heavy-metal albums in rock Moving Pictures, they've trimmed We've put out some pretty good re­ history, this Canadian power tri o the excess from their metallic style, cords over the last few years, and remains a favori te target for both What's left is powerful. intricate we've built up a core of fans who've cri tical journalists and more and undeniably entertaining, helped turn almost every one of them "aesthetically" inclined rock fans, "I really don't see what all the fuss gold, I like to t hink that we've With a style somewhat dependent is about." Geddy Lee laughed as he developed a distinctive style, that on overbearing instrumental pyro­ peered over the top of h is huge oval people can h ear and imlllediately techniCS and mystically inane glasscs, 'We're not exacUy newcom­ identity as new Rush, lyrics, Rush long ago earned a ers to this business, but all of a "Sure we've had our share of 25 critical abuse. but honesuv. how many rock and roll bands -haven't? We know whar we wanr to do wirh our music. and we're not about to let anyone's opinion change that. I must say though," he added with an impish smile. "it's kind'a nice to finally be noticed by a wider audience. [ gue s that's what every performer really wants." While Lee may seem omewhat casual when discussing Rush's recent success, the band's members are the first to admit that their current albums represent a major stylistic shift from earlier works. Unlike their concept albums 2112 and Hemisphere (both of which were heavily steeped in mythology. mysticism and science fiction). the < later LPs 'now boast not only t Lifeson's fiery gUitar and Lee's z screeches. but a clari ty and impact E<: that were previously lost amid more ~ complex musical lneanderings. v - "I realize that much of what we Sex symbol Alex Lifeson usually cools out in hls Fruit of the Looms. did on our earlier albums wenr over our audiences' head," drummer Neil started in that direction with Peart confe sed. 'We were trying to Pennanent Waves, and now with show how diverse hard rock could Moving Pictures I think we've really be, I think we did that extremely succeeded. We've tri ed to present "Then I read somewhere well. but our approach did have a songs that stand on th eir own how Rush is too complex number of built-in limitations. We without being part of an overall for their own good, or got to the point whe-re we were concept." using an entire s ide of how pompous we are." Hemisphere to do only one song. [n the absence of a single so we realized that we 'd have to concept. many songs on Moving trim down our aspirations a bit. We Pictures depict. according to Peart.

Rush. from left: Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Geddy Lee relaxing backstage before concert.

26 spectacula rs featuring flashy musicianship and films that graphically depict some of the songs' themes, For instance. cheir opus Hemisphere - presen ted with creative screen a nimation - is the half-hour long highligh t of the group's concert performance, "The visual aspect of our shows is as important as the music," Geddy Lee ex-plained, 'While our albums may not delve into as many complex themes as lhey used to. - our music. especially onstage, is still very involved with SC ience fiction and mythology, Certa in songs we've done seem to lend themselves very well to the use of a nimation. espeCially a number like Hemisphere, which touches on everything from space travel to black holes, We feel that a strong overall presentation is very im­ portant to th e impact of our shows, Of course. we could just rely on our Neil Peart: "I've always had difficulty seeing members of Rush - particularly music, but we've never been myself - as rock stars.' satisfied taking the easy way out."

.. our view of life, There's one song difficulty seeing members of Rush Though admittedly limited by its on the album called The Camera - particularly myself - as rock three-man, heavy-metal approach, Eye. wh ich examines the phenome­ sta rs, We've always been most Rush remains fresh a nd lia ble non of being able to recall various concerned with the crea tive and because each band member con­ things in your life." Peart explained, artis ti c processes and the 'star trip' tributes to the song-writi ng pro­ 'We're all very interested in men tality is something that we've cess, Pearl supplies practically all of cameras a nd film work. especially never really experienced, I guess it's the band's lyrics, and Lee and Geddy, so a title li ke Moving a natural part of the business, but Lifeson handle the musical Pictures fits right in with our in this band we've been very self­ responsibilities, creating an almost interests, conscious at times, so we try to assembly-line effi ciency, The songs "My favorite song on the album is keep our feet on the ground and still reflect the indivi dual interests Limelight." Peart continued, "It's always stay in touch v.rith what the and personality of each band a bout coming to terms with the fans want." member, attention one gets by being a rock ,. ormally, I write the lyrics fi rst and roll performer, It's interesting What the fans want - and get and hand them ove r to Alex and to me because I've always had - is one of the most elaborate rock Geddy who'll shape the music around 'em, " Peart explained, "That way we're all involved in the creative process, Because of that. we've developed an affinity for one another, Our lineup isn't a handicap: actually. it's our grealest strength,

"We have more self confidence than ever before." Peart added, 'We know what's best for the band, and, more importantly, we fo ll ow our own advice, Recently, as a n ex­ ample. people were telling us to fo llow up Pennanent Waves with a lil'e album thal would cover every­ thing from Hemisphere to Spirit of Radio. But we had so much good studio ma terial ready that it would be silly to release a live album, This band has a sense of purpose and a fee li ng of unity that's really incred­ ible." Wi th the success of Moving Pictures, Rush starrds on the ve rge of claiming recognition as one of the premier hard rock bands, They have finally conquered whatever musical stigmas that have plagued their career. By infusing new ideas into th eir metallic style Rush h as Llfeson and Lee: MI really don't see what all the fuss is about." become the spearhead of heavy­ metal's creative evolution,O 27