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Samantha 7: s/t (Portrait)

Who'da thunk it? Although 80's glampusses
Poison had a couple songs that were actually
worthwhile, I was not prepared for Samantha
7, fronted by Poison's C.C. DeVille, to be so
darned entertaining. Apparently C.C. is a big
fan of 70's power-pop, and blends this melodic
jones with an equal yen for the cooler end of
the 70's hard rock spectrum (Thin Lizzy, Sweet),
to create a boppin' poppin' platter that makes me
grin.

S7 is a solid bass-guitar-drums trio and
DeVille is a...ahem...unique vocalist. If you've
ever heard the man speak, he sounds like Joe
Walsh, if Walsh had drank a couple shots of
anti-freeze. As a singer, DeVille has little range
or technique, but charms anyway with his
hangdog, oh-so-ordinary, just passable voice.
He oozes with snarky character, best exemplified
on his acoustic lament 'Good Day', so I'll cut him
some slack for the generally simplistic lyrics. Not
that he can't pen a clever couplet now and then.
The album's best tune, the punk-pop-meets-Van
Halen-boogie 'Bonnie Bradley', sports this great
opening: "Bonnie Bradley lives across the street/
she has a dog named Ray/I went down to the
pound/and got a dog so we could meet/And I
named my new dog Fang/Now Fang and Ray/
They play all day/But Bonnie doesn't know my
name".

This is Ramones-quality stoopidity, that
leads to the singalong chorus that inevitably
rhymes 'Bradley' with 'love you madly'. C.C. is
the Bard of Drag-rock! Further highlights include
'Framed' and 'Seane Girl', both sounding like they
could have been outtakes from Thin Lizzy's
BLACK ROSE, missing only the classic dual lead
guitars. On the softer side, DeVille shows that
he can do a non-pathetic power ballad, as "Cover
Girl" is somewhat in the style of early E'Nuff Z'Nuff.
Best of all, most of the songs clock in below 3
minutes, as no tune takes more than 30 seconds
to get to the hook. And the few mundane tracks
are over quickly - no need to hit the skip button.
This record breaks absolutely no new ground, but
the fun that the band had making this record
comes out of the speakers.

GRADE: B

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Various Artists: Full Circle: A Tribute to Gene
Clark (Not Lame)

Gene Clark is probably not the first name anyone
thinks of when discussing the Byrds - he's not
exactly the Forgotten Byrd, but more like the
Slightly Overlooked Byrd. This certainly has
more to do with his failure to wear Dickensian
sunglasses, to become the bloated member of a
supergroup, or to die tragically and romantically at
a young age, than the quality of his craft. In fact,
the nature of his talent may be the reason that he
is not sufficiently celebrated. As this tribute album
makes evident, Clark almost immediately displayed
an innate mastery of various American song forms,
which made his melding of country, folk and rock
into the 12-string-dominated country-rock that
we revere to this day seem as effortless to create
as it sounded. Clark's songs are the blueprints of
country-rock, and other artists have studied them
for so long, that Clark's sound has become second
nature.

The pervasiveness of Clark's influence may be the
biggest reason he seems to have been taken
for granted. But the artists on this tribute took
nothing for granted, resulting in a phenomenally high
percentage of outstanding performances. The artists
involved clearly recognize that the most important
thing on a tribute album is not, as some feel, radically
rearranging the material in an attempt to 'put one's
stamp' on it, but committing 100 percent to the
material. Indeed, many of these interpretations are
very faithful to the originals, but these artists have
so completely mastered the lessons Clark taught,
that the performances are inevitably excellent.

A few acts rock it up a bit (Barely Pink, Myracle Brah,
The Merrymakers), others cool it down (The Kennedys,
Steve Wynn), and some nail the sound down so pure,
they may just be definitive interpretations (Michael
Carpenter, The Grip Weeds, Walter Egan). Not that
new wrinkles aren't added to some songs, like Jim
Basnight's clever and sincere R&B infusion on "You
Showed Me", and Ray Bandes recasting "Tried So Hard"
in a Merseybeat/lite garage rock mode. Or a new
approach by a band - check out happydeadmen,
transforming their Smiths/Lloyd Cole-type strum-rock
into Swedish cowboy rock. The packaging and liner
notes equal the excellence of the songs. Sid (Long Ryders/
Western Electric) Griffin's essay is a concise, convincing
statement on the power and beauty of Clark's music.

Furthermore, the performances are fully annotated. Two
pages of the booklet list the original source of every
song on the disc. And this list reveals that only 1/3 of
the songs are Byrds-related. Thus, most of these songs
will be new to all but the most diehard Clark fan.
Never before has a tribute album been so educational,
while remaining familiar and accessible every step of
the way.

Grade: A

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