Bv LaUfer

.. I

idealized version at metal, blud-geoning ears with focused andfin8sse Gravity") Unlike thecomrnerciality of Smith's tast work,Wave, Catholic BoV's "norma!" rockrarely dilutes lhe complex satisfaclionoffered.

On the tille track f.nother instantclassic-- Carroll makes a sort of salva-tion out of and

I make the angels dance drop tot.heir kneesWhen I enter a Church the feet ofstatues bleed/ unciers/and tile fale of ail m)lenemiesLike Chfist In the Garden ofGethsernane".Cause I'm a ('atholleRecJeemed II II [}UUIf

lOyIn the style of his aforementioned

I'n'-U,nlipr! on next page

Carrol! is a transformer, chanting andmoaning his litany into something tnfi­nitely more palpable than symbols madeof sounds, HIS no-frillS band breathesright along with him on thiS and mostevery track - almost as if Carroll wereopening his mouth and having it al/corne out ot there: the words, the guitars,the bass, the drums, the keyboards (andsaxophone on the epic "City intothe Night"), It's a mainstream, Stonesishsound, straightforward and unpolished,that recalls fellOW New Yorkers Reed,Smith, Tom Verlaine and David Johansenat various points in their careers, ButCarroll's edition is more life-affirming:he s'ays away from dirge-like jams onminor chords, chOOSing instead to give

strong an imporlanceto the his voice hanging

t'i",~",pr",tAI'oJ on to both, Sometimes thegets lost. in

roaring block chords that suggest an

Jim Carroll createl no-frllill mUlIlcal poelry of bleak yel powerfUl Images.

took a bullet in t/18

that his rage was just

and Georgie leI their gim­rotten

of hepatitis in upper

TBirdrntcksandManhattanSly rn Vietnamhead

someBur Herbre sure gave Tony some bit­etJin prootHerbie sa1rjTony, oan you tly?'But cou/dnt tly

ched!

OD'd on Drano on thetliat he was wed

were two rnore ffiends of mineI miss 'em ._- DIED

ven unorganized religions needtheir martyrs. Didn't Jim Morrisonmake a sacrificial

larnt)? And Janis a great Joan of Arc?Heck. they don't even have te be dead,Grace SliCk was a lot of tun when shewas self-mutilation prlaseIS holy passed on by niose Who

niere In nostalgiC lones, At Johnny1 !under S gigs (when they happen), therut;oery grey of his skin prompts respect­

speCulation about how long theDoll will be with us If and

he destroys himself. thepest mortem reevaluations will

qUick and someone elselots of tal8m for musIc and little tal­

Will tJecome tile new caneJI­(';;;n('",,;',~t;r1n p\/pr\fr;,,,.!l1 needs

-""m':";!",'" to live tr1eir sinsof the faithful are currently gun­

try Jwn Carroli Up until recently anWilrl a cui! and a

fn,-f;fl';Wl eXistence on this planelyr,ciSI/ Sin-

d rnekor fiSC, With all man-,n, "nne",,! tor rOck marlyrdom Ihe

the personal charisma,Glt! People Who Died" IS

[hal starter] the t)UZZ, evenCarroWs debut LP

released !n the tradition ot friendsd'lO Influences Patti Smith and LouReed. both the 45 and trle album are

on gflsly, pootry dancingWi!!l aurHlrjOf) to tr18 4/4 beat 'People"Ii"t,; ca~,ualtles from Carroll's pot-holed,

adolescence over hardrock that singes at fifty paces:

Herbie OLished Irom Ihe Boy'sClub roof

a[Jo OfThat rot/Jed her eyes

1\!()lh"nn is I((,eShe told me--it's

The best poetry builds abetween conscIous and subcon­

SCIOUS Carroll's but flO

leads us ttHough a mlrllmUin of diEtlOn­est to get ther,; !--Ies ot

Hemv Millf: r"'That's what'~ 3crl.w"ed

up about poelry nowadC:ljs, it'S

an trip A,lheilq,,:n,u,

Thewfitten, Carroll

CatholiC bartenderMuch

C:l"\m~,lh"nn (lui

there, man, ain't rnueh time left,you re born out 01 tl'ilS Insane abyss and

to fall back infO It, so whilealive you as show your

bare ass "Such and

drama are, of course. perfect grist lor themartyr mill it's a toserve as a screen onto which all mannerof private demons protected fearscan be projected, Ane) that screen is, toooHen, where art and artists Tileart and the things the artist becomes areceptaole tor get too tangled up to

separately anymore The value 01the art becomes obscured. a matter 01douat -- frequently before tho martyrmakes !tIe final eXit. and almost alwaysafterward. The problem tor !hose prepar-

the IS that Carroil's demons10 fJO bay now Worse, as

them to fame he's alsowhat 1';8 can to I<eep thern there ThE;

to make an

peers, curb-side realities ar~j rnlxed I'Vlttlthe sorts of U"KJughlS that fioat Inlures batore thosevague and commonunderstaoej, and soaked witl! mysteryFrom Is True," a tribute to thedesperation ot a liie Wltll chame­leons for cerlalnlles

She gal 100is 10 keep /flings

CHEAP TRICK'S"ALLS KNO ONE IS

A E FROI S F

"A III <U....rI!f UP.' THEIR NEW ALBUM fEATURES THE PlAYFULGAME:' PRODUCED BY GEORGE MARTIN, ON EPI( RECORDS

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wa', (Join,lrpl,.·, "111-'(°" that

Would ve had"Carroi!'s tull,tlme

recorci eX.8cutlveMcGrath now

he

the program Carroll met hiS future Wife, alawyer. During the ensuing period of dis­cipline and seclusion. she took him tosee the front lines 01 tt',e new wave inSan Francisco clUbs "People hadencouraged me to do rock and roll for along time. I didn't like the negativity ofpunk, but at least I saw how I could getpast my technical limitations, becauseyOll didn't have to wei:. And afterpublishrng poems all those years andhaving a very esoleilc au,jience. thenrr,Qr;,:-.('j of thiS other dl!lj'c,nce seemednice. The band found long !lalrcalled themselves ArnslmJarnlooked to be . stuck in timo warp" Car-

persuaded them to tuck theirinto berets ("I didn't want 'loOK\vanh~~d to look gas station 8t1E'nd-

" kJl at clubs.

volume of poetry, Living at the Movies,was nominated for a Pulitzer prize.

For Carroll, the New York City metha­done program turned out to be worsethanthejunk,Nolongerateenagerandstili an addict, Carroll relocated in Cali­fornia ''There were certain friends ofmine, like Ann Waldman, WilD werealways trying to gel me off junk. The

trlat were into my trip weremore from the Warhol scene and stuff

were ail very Into sell-destructive themselves. you know? InCalilorTlla, the actuallyencourage you to get all droppedme real slow. I got a 101 of support fromthem That period was the first time in mylife I had a and lived in the countryA IS kinda the reason i

methadone i mean, if twastram ',Alhen t was in fromthe dog was so conscious of it. He'd

up and slarl me' While in

JIlT! Carroll, conI. from pg. 18was the NON·acidictlve stuff, and mari­juana was addictive I only found outlater what a dumb move it was," readsthe passage in the Diaries, written at age13. Thanks to a few teachers in the pri­vate'school he attended on a basketball

Carroll startedabout sports In the school paperreading poets like Frank O·Hara. lifterschool Inspiration and support!tHough the Mark's Project, inciose 10 poets like Wald-man. Allen and John AshberryTed took the lunkie teenagerwith 'lim on a Visit 10 Jack Kerouac in

who part of the Diaries andan asspssment thats becoming

/\tI3 years of age.[Jetter than 89 percentworking " His

"f'\,c,"~"n(,," !n Pan::;

Called to Say" recalls the soulful sOphiS­ticalion of the Temptations, in particularDavid Ruffin. The ambivalence at theheart of the grand romantic ballad."Can'! We Try" (", ..goaway/l wish you'dstay" -- at the affair's end), is unforcedand moving; Pendergrass reveals him­self as a genuine crooner. And there Isalso some tasty "cooking," includingtwo cuts written and produced by Ash­ford & Simpson, On their "Girl YouKnow, balances cock­sure self· satisfaction andpleasure, and thE, smoke

Jim "'eldmanJoe "King" Carrasco and the CrownsStiff SE.EZ28

Don'tliston to album Just put onand start Carrasco theTex-Mex sound of Sir and Samthe Sham: drunk and frenZied 'NiH: llit,

two-step becH. Krls SWI-

sinuous Farfisa sets the tone forrockers like Susan and "Let'sGet as well as the more Mexican"Buena" and "Caca de Vaca." Carras,co's takes It intomotorbike-like overdrive. His vocals,

are a bit tame and thiS LPdoesn't have the range of 1978's Joe

Carrasco with EI MalmoRecords, San AntoniO, TX). But the paceIs just gear-fab frenetic Stuart Cohn W

Jim Carroll, cont, from pg. 44Diaries have a lot to do witt1 it That's an

they lay on you, you know, But Iwant to dwell on it anymore.

BeSides, a !ol of songs have referen-ces to away Irom "

VOice softens, 'I neverthought about all this, you kno'N I

we'd have fans likewe've had from Ir18 start that wouldreally be Into It, but tnat il would staykin;ja cullish, See, the record'sto do pasl what anyone anliCiloaled,the attentionthe album backs

It does, But can be conSidered apartfrom the and tt1e doom freaks,that's the a perfect world Itwould always be possible to pull thehype, the artist and the art apart long

to see each clearly, to pul eachIn Its prooer to the others.But this IS not a world. Jim Carrollis already being dismissed by many as adruggie delinquent gloried for stupid liv­Ing habits and questionable talents.They sense that he's being asked to bethe life of ii. ) party, the new boy toromance and Justification in the slow.seif -Imposed exit. Right now it looks likeCarroll has declined the invitation buta lot of the kamakazies look resolute likethat when they first arrive. "You justgolta see that Junk is just another nine­to-five gig in the end," It reads in theDiaries, "only the hours are a bit moreinclined toward shadows." Currently, atleast. Carroll is otherwise employed. eJ

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