Canada’s Curtola rates
a syrupy retrospective

Looking back w

OBBY’S BACK; the
world ends with
music; Keith
Richards rocks the Palladi-
um.
Bobby Curtola — 15
Greatest Hits, BMG 1991

In the decade of the heart-
palpitating Bobbys, specifically
during the early 1960s when the
charts were thick with them, there
came a young lad from Thunder
Bay, Ontario, who had a sweet
smile, big greasy hair, a twinkle in
his eye and a cry in his voice.

He went on to swoon frenzied
teen female masses and move
many records.

in classic fairytale rock-to- ches
fashion, Curtola catapulted within
a few short years from entertaining
at local dances to selling more
than three million records
worldwide.

At the height of what came to be
known by some as Curtolamania,
Bobby could draw a crowd of
38,000 to a concert in Vancouver
— a number an act like U2 would
be happy with these days.

The songs — Fortune Teller, |
Cry And Cry, Indian Giver, the
racy Makin’ Love and the rest —
are squeaky-clean, syrup sweet
and may still have the power to
retindle dormant middie-age
libidos.

Otherwise, Mr. Golden Voice,
he whom humility will protect (as
an eager fan put it most poetically
in 1965) rates novelty interest.

Michael Becker
RECORD REVIEW

Various Astists — Until The
End Of The World, Island Re-
cords 1991

Quite simply, this is an alter-
native music fan’s dream sound-
track.

Wim Wenders provides the
vehicle — a movie starring
William Hurt.

The flick could be celluloid
dung, the project has hip merit in
the incandescent new music it
generated alone.

Among the contributors: Talking
Heads, Julee Cruise (back again
with David Lynch and Angelo
Badalamenti), Neneh Cherry, Lou
Reed, R.E.M., Elvis Costello, Nick
Cave and The Bad Seeds, Patti
Smith, Depeche Mode, Jane
Siberry with k.d. lang, T-Bone
Burnett, Daniel Lanois, U2.

Despite the disparate sources, it
meshes remarkably well, with in-
trospective cello snippets sprinkled
throughout the program to create
unified continuity.

ith a 60’s teen star

Readily likable are the wistful
Siberry-lang duet, Nick Cave’s
chip off old Leonard Cohen's
block, Lanais’ Dylan-like cadence
and Patti Smith’s dark incantation.
Keith Richards And The X-
Pensive Winos — Live At The
Hollywood Palladium, Dec. 15,
1988, Virgin Records 1991

Chuck Berry’s dishevelled pro-
geny obviously loves to play live.
His crankier counterpart, Mick the
Mouth, has a history of being hot
and cold over the prospect of
touring. So when the Stones had
some down time prior to the Steel
Wheels reincarnation, Richards
popped off a solid solo album and
backed it with a spot of spectator
sport in California.

The resulting live release is a
putting-out-of-fires of sorts. It exists
because bad bootleg releases of
the concerts were drawing up-
wards of $75 per copy.

The once pensive winos are .
anything but sorrowful. The music
is loose and they sound like
they're having a good time. The
gritty gang of rockers includes
guitarist Waddy Wachtel, sax-man
Bobby Keys, former Patti Labelle
Blue Belles member Sarah Dash
and Neville Brothers brother fvan
Neville.

The songs cover tracks laid

down by Richards sole. His Stones

hit Happy appears, albeit in
pointlessly extended form. Sarah
Dash singing a soul-stirring rendi-
tion of Time Is On My Side ap-
pears as a welcome and unex-
pected nugget.

BOXING DAY MADNESS...

* (one day only)

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