St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 40

FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1990, 4D ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH upbeat HOT TICKETS STEVE PICK Iggy Pop's 'Best In Years' Still Avoids Normalcy i linn- mmmm vum ml' mum jmi. I mi iim I 1 it 7 i- 1 respect in frontPeople oughta get along pretty OK." But Iggy is not as good a writer as Richman, and he needs the help of the music to really make his point. Luckily, Don Was is the type of producer who lets the performer find the music he needs to express himself properly. Iggy Pop hasn't had such sympathetic backing in a long time.

Aronoff's powerful drums drive the songs nicely; Lindley, Wachtel and Slash mix and match their guitars to provide thick and beautiful sounds that, if not to the level of Stooge Ron Asheton's wall of noise, are at least rowdy enough when necessary and pretty at other moments. Iggy has done tongs catchy enough to live up to his last name before, but he hasn't lately, so it's nice to hear "Home," which has a killer hook, and "Candy," which benefits from a solid melody, or the Hiatt contribution, "Something Wild," which could be a radio-ready hit if radio were only ready to give something this good a chance. "Candy" is a duet with Pierson; neither she nor Iggy Is a traditional singer who knows how to harmonize, but the combination of their untrained, distinctive voices is a very effective one. On the other hand, Hiatt does harmonize with Iggy on "Something Wild," and that adds a nice touch as well. After all these years, Iggy Pop is still awkward, still convinced that the outside world is the place to avoid.

In the title track, he sings, "I'm building a house where I can thinkAnd have some balance and dignityI'm building a house where no one can hurt meI'm building a house where the weak are strongI'm building a house with a real songI'm using a faith that is ImmortalI'm building it with simplicity And the way that we feel, you and meI'm building it with what I believe in." Actually, "Brick by Brick" is not one of the most successful songs included here, but these lyrics nakedly define what Iggy Pop has done in his career. At his best, the music has told us this more clearly, and more poetically. If we weren't in the CD age, which allows for 54 minutes of music, this song might not have been included here. But it's nice to see him spell out his aesthetic, if only to prove he knows what it is. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT of punk rock is "Thou shalt not be bored." No sin is greater for the punk rocker, and nothing is more to be feared.

This attitude, common to adolescents in general, was first articulated In rock music by James Osterberg, better known as Iggy Pop (though he was called Iggy Stooge when he began his I wasn't yet an adolescent when the first, self-titled Stooges album was released in 1969, but I've talked to people a few years older who recall the feeling of relier and excitement the music gave them. There was nothing else like it at the time. The accepted rock ideal was a perfect community, a universal love for all mankind that was symbolized by Woodstock, held that same year. The Stooges weren't singing about that. The Stooges were singing about boredom and frustra-' tion and teen-age angst more directly than anyone had done before.

But the words were only a part of the story. The Stooges were influenced by the avant-garde jazz of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. They understood the beauty of pure sound, of what most people even, and perhaps especially, those who like rock would call noise. To hear the Stooges' first album is to hear the aesthetic of free jazz mixed with the simplicity of rock 'n' roll; the result was anything but boring. The Stooges created confrontational rock 'n' roll (well, the Velvet Underground could be a claimant to this patent, though it had a different aesthetic) and thus laid the groundwork for the punk-rock explosion of the mid- 70s.

Iggy Pop led the group through some membership changes, then went off on a checkered solo career that included some terrific music which didn't usually sound as hard-edged as the Stooges' records but was often spiritually and thematically similar. Now, it' 1990, and Iggy Pop is back with a new album, produced by Don Was, fresh from his commercial triumphs with his own group Was (Not Was) and Bonnie Raitt "Brick by Brick" has guest appearances by Slash of the very popular band Guns N' Roses, Kate Pierson of the B-52's, John Hiatt and session stalwarts David Lindley, Waddy Wachtel and Kenny Aronoff. It's the best album he's done in years, quite possibly since "New Values," Next week's best bets In live music, as selected by Post-Dispatch reviewers. The emphasis is on acts you might otherwise overlook. PON'TMISS Albert Collins, Mississippi Nights, Thursday, July 26 The Iceman cometh.

A night spent with legendary blues guitarist Albert Collins is a night not easily forgotten. From the moment the renowned Texas guitar slinger takes the stage with his band, the Icebreakers, there's no doubt about who rules the blues guitar scene. Collins, who's sporting a new record label after years with Alligator and has a new release coming out this fall, is still a master blaster. His shows leave you drained of energy but screaming for more and more is what you get, with shows lasting well over two hours and forays into the street aided by a long, long guitar cord. After all these years, Collins never ceases to amaze not only fans but also industry insiders, who have just given him his 11th W.C.

Handy Award. Terri F. Reilly ALSO APPEARING The Escape From New York Tour, Fox Theatre, Sunday, July 22 Some bill! Jerry Harrison and his fellow Talking Heads cohorts of the Tom Tom Club share the stage with Deborah Harry and the Ramones. Lots of talent, lots of fun. Bonham, Mississippi Nights, Monday, July 23 If you're one of the few not going to see the Piano Man at The Arena Monday evening, and good old heavy rock 'n' roll is your cup of tea, drummer Bonham and his crew are likely to please.

Meat Beat Manifesto, 1 227, Wednesday, July 25 Industrial dance party mix, along with Dessau and the Pods. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Westport Playhouse, Wednesday, July 25 Back when these guys began playing, two decades or more ago, their music was called rock. Now it's labeled country, but they're still the same great entertainers. Pavlov's Dog, Granny's Rocker North (Alton), Wednesday, July 25 David Surkamp and his new Pavlov's Dog will head for the East Coast early In August for a tour of the N.Y. club scene in support of their new album.

Here's your chance to get a preview of what the New Yawkers can expect. Harry Connick Powell Hall, Saturday, July 28 Harry Connick the epitome of good taste and excellent musicianship, is just too good to be true. But believe it! Iggy Pop which came out in 1979. Iggy hasn't really changed much. He's still afraid of the boredom that comes from giving in to normalcy.

"I despise the trendiesI know they're lying," he sings in one song. In another, he sings, "My head keeps trying to sell me ambitionBut in my heart, I want self-respectThere's a conflict." "Brick by Brick" is a single-minded retreat from the coldness of modern life; as such, Iggy's not really all that different from, say, Jonathan Richman, who could possibly have written a couplet like "People oughta have RATING THE RECORDS TOP ALBUMS 1 i 1 "YOUNG LIONS" 9. "The Real Thing," Faith No More 10. "Johnny Gill" 11. "Reading, Writing and Arithmetic," The The best-selling albums of the week, based on sales at Streetside Records outlets: Adrian Belew (Atlantic) Sundays 1.

"Flesh and Poison 2. "Compositions," Anita Baker 12. "I'm Breathless," Madonna 3. "Pandemonium," The Time 13. "Pretty Woman," soundtrack 4.

"Nasty as They Wanna Be," 2 Live Crew 14. "Poison," Bell Biv DeVoe 5. "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em," M.C. 15. "Violator," Oepeche Mode Hammer 16.

"Wilson Phillips" 6. "We Are in Love," Harry Connick Jr. 17. "Lofty's Roach Souffle," Harry Connick Jr. 7.

"I'll Give All My Love," Keith Sweat 18. "The End of the Innocence," Don Henley TOP MUSIC VIDEOS 8. "Mariah Carey" 19. "A Night on the Town," Bruce Hornsby Adrian Belew, heard recently at The Arena playing lead guitar for David Bowie's "Sounds Visions" tour, places his formidable instrumental skills at the service of some interesting material on "Young Lions." Bowie provides some songwriting and vocal assistance, including the impressive pop-rocker "Pretty Pink Rose." A veteran of the early '80s King Crimson quartet (a potent vintage that featured Bill Bruford and Tony Levin), Belew retains the anxious, aggressive and frequently dissonant guitar sound pioneered by that group's founder, Robert Fripp. "Young Lions" has a cover of "Heartbeat" from Crimson's 1 982 "Beat" album.

As a record producer, Belew works up lively, experimental sounds-capes. "I Am What I Am" employs old tapes from a radio preacher, the Prophet Omega. Beneath the Prophet's emphatic homily, Belew lays down a fire-and-brimstone guitar and percussion bed. The Netherlands' avant-garde percussion ensemble Van Kampen generates an ecstatic drum-and-voice montage on the title cut. Belew's free-verse imagery that intros the tune tribal night underneath flores-cent skiesbonfires rage strangewild waving shouting Picasso faces characterize this album's primitive, distortion-charged sound pretty well.

Paul A. Harris The top music videos, as listed by MTV: 1. "She Ain't Worth It," Glenn MadeirosBobby Brown, 2. "Enjoy the Silence," Depeche Mode 3. "Cradle of Love," Billy Idol Top Singles listings are on Page 7.

'GOO' Sonic Youth (DGC) Sonic Youth is the Rolling Stones of noise music, a band imitated as often as Aerosmith and a source of strength to alienated college students all over the globe. A lot of smart people think it's the best band in the world. But as the avatar of '80s indie underground rock is finally making its major-label debut with "Goo," Sonic Youth faces a conundrum: How does an aggressively confrontational band make (a) a commercial record without (b) selling out? The answer, of course, is to make the record an elaborate joke on the idea of making a commercial record, a hermetic, album-length parody that is the equivalent of putting those waggling-finger quotation marks around the whole thing. The songs revolve around catchy, nonsensical choruses things like "My friend Goo Just says, that stick with you as insistently as anything ABBA ever came up with. Great swaths of dissonant guitar noise move the way radio hooks are supposed to and become radio hooks themselves.

There's always a beat to grab on to, sometimes tribal, sometimes poppy, always danceable, and "Goo" rocks as hard as Mudhoney, while working on about half a dozen more levels. Call "Goo" the "Exile on Main c. Street" of the snide generation. Jonathan Gold 4 J- "STANDARD TIME VOL. 3: THE RESOLUTION OF ROMANCE" Wynton Marsalis (Columbia) Nearly three years ago, Wynton Marsalis set aside his burgeoning career as a classical trumpet soloist in order to make jazz a full-time pursuit.

He returns to that virtuoso trumpet sound and that spellbinding technique on "Standard Time Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance." The recording marks the trumpeter's first record date with his father, pianist and jazz sage Ellis Marsalis, who subtly and meticulously does the driving here. Spatial lyric expression abides in the pianist's embrace of jazz standards like "Where or When" and "It's Easy to Remember" and Wynton Marsalis originals that evoke trumpet legends King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Clark Terry. These trio and quartet settings are a throwback to an era before protracted, elliptical solos became commonplace on the jazz bandstand. Wynton -Marsalis has largely and wisely abandoned the post-bop compositional style of his early record career.

His own material here is more compact. Natural song development guides his gestures and ideas, making them simpler and more complete. "Standard Time Vol. 3" is an intimate serenade by a jazz man on a mission to the romantic heart of American popular music. Paul A.

Harris 1 V. ji "MUSIC FROM 'MY FAIR LADY' Ruby Braff and Dick Hyman (Concord) Veteran recording artists Ruby Braff and Dick Hyman turn well-known Lerner and Loewe tunes into lively, inventive dialogues for cornet and piano on "Music From 'My Fair With his elegant, sculpted vibrato and his refined musical instincts, cornetlst Ruby Braff can simultaneously caress and satirize a famous lyric like "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" or "I Could Have Danced All Night." And because this duo is in no particular need of a timekeeper, pianist Dick Hyman is free to follow his nose Insinuating, for example, snatches from Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train" into "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" or turning "With a Little Bit of Luck" into a fast piano rag. Braff and Hyman playing Lerner and Loewe might seem a conservative endeavor on the surface, but a more spontaneous, more inspired duet session than this is hard to imagine. Paul A. Harris Paul A.

Harris is the host of "Sunday Brunch" from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on WSIE (FM 88.7). Jonathan Gold writes for the Los Angeles Times. ram ram NOW SHOWING AiiT o.n.f fffir-''- A mm mm a.