Arts
Page 11 Friday, May 8, 1981 The Michigan Daily
LEGENDAR Y BLUES BAND
Stay ing true to the blues
By KEN FELDMAN
If any musical format can be labeled
restrictive, it is the blues. With a
tradition of at least 60 years, and with
rock stars routinely impersonating it to
prove that they have roots, the blues of-
ten seems a parody of itself.
Well, it certainly did not seem so
Wednesday night at Rick's. The Legen-
dary Blues Band knows what can only
be termed the secret to the blues, and
their performance illustrated what sets
artists with genuine blues authority
apart from those who have simply
memorized the chord changes.
FIRST OF ALL, they were
technically light years ahead of most
bands that dabble in the blues. The
rhythm section, of Calvin "Fuzz" Jones
on bass and Willie Smith on drums,
positively jumped. Louis Myers' guitar
electrifyingly recalled everyone from
Clarence White to B. B. King, and Jerry
Portnoy's harp work was both varied
and sure.
But the clincher was Pinetop Perkins
on piano. Not content to rehash Albert
Ammons riffs (as so many boogie
players are prone to do), Pinetop was
downright daring in his improvisation.
He looked like he was having more fun
than the audience, and the band was
tight enough to allow him the freedom
to be experimental.
In fact, within the admittedly limited
framework, the legendary Blues band
was the most progressive band I have
seen in a long time. While they could
play the Blues' greatest hits as well as
anyone, they are more interested in
stretching the boundaries of the blues.
Jerry Portnoy, who is the harp player,
manager, and Master of ceremonies for
the band, also wrote most of the
original songs that the group does.
AMAZINGLY, THE originals stood
out among the innumerable blues stan-
dards as the most inspired. "Love to the
bone," an original by Portnoy, and
Pinetop's own "Pinetop Boogie" stood
out as the best of the lot. All of the
originals were experiments of sorts,
though they remained true to the essen-
ce of the blues.
Another point worthy of mention is
the singing. The band has basically four
frontmen, and they take turns at the
mike. Consequently, the performance
kept moving with Jones, Myres, Por-
tnoy and Pinetop each providing a new
wrinkle on the blues.
The bottom line is that if you have
even a passing interest in the blues, you
have to see these guys. There is just no
way to explain in print the lived-in
quality of their music. Though Willie
Smith just joined the band in Septem-
ber, the other members have been
together for seven years, and it seems
like they have been playing as an en-
semble all their lives. If all this seems
too good to be true, I suggest you either
see the Legendary Blues Band live, or
check out their next album Life of Ease,
which will be released in the fall. Either
way, you will know that the blues are
still alive.
Throaty Lane keeps
Chartbusters afloat
By FRED SCHILL
Robin Lane leaves the lingering im-
pression that she would feel perfectly at
home in any nightclub in any period of
time. Her low, throaty vocals evoke
images of the formally-clad crooners of
the Forties, standing placidly before 20-
piece bands and moaning languid ren-
ditions of tunes like "Blue Sunday."
Her vocals have that aching sort of
texture, mixed with just enough
rawness to apply them to a power pop
format. Lane sounds like she has a
small frog lodged permanently in her
throat, a quality that flows comfortably
with the thready insistence of the Char-
tbusters' rhythms..
THOUGH THEIR set at Second
Chance Monday night was painfully
short (just 56 minutes before the en-
cores, which ran about 15 minutes
more), the Chartbusters managed to
stampede through almost all of the
material on their first two albums,
neglecting only "Pretty Mala"
from the second and "Many Years
Ago" and "Be Mine Tonight" from the
first.
"Power pop is rather loose nomen-
clature for the Chartbusters' sound, but
it fits about as well as anything else.
Two of her band members formerly
played with the Modern Lovers, while
Lane herself was a folk singer until she
heard and was greatly influenced by
Johnny Rotten.
To say that makes for an unusual
compilation of styles is an under-
statement, but the result is neither as
odd nor as innovative as one might
guess. Their sound is distinctive
because Lane's contralto style is distin-
ctive, measuring barely a register over
bassist Scott Baerenwald's harmonies.
THE RESULT is that Lane's vocals
float just above the band's punchy, new
wave-ish rhythms. Buoyed by Baeren-
wald's plucky, bouncing bass riffs and
hemmed in by Leroy Radcliff's reedier
Telecaster, Lane takes the middle
road, vocally resolving the contrast.
Guitarist Asa Brabner simply rides
the flow, anhancing its fundamental
qualities with textured solos that purify
the band's sound, while drummer Tim
Jackson's hammerfisted percussion
makes whatever direction the band
goes sound emphatic.
Lane's lyrics typically moralize
about the trials and traumas of love,
with an emphasis on hot much it hurts
and how blind it can be. It that sounds
trite, remember that lane's voice is
See DANCE, Page 13
Pianist Pinetop Perkins performing with the Legendary Blues Band Wed-
nesday night at Rick's American Cafe.
SPRING/ SUMMER*
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