HIGH GEAR

AUGUST 1970

Page 20

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LEWIS FUREY: THE HUMOURS OF

WHERE on Akron radio can you hear announcements about MCC/Akron and KGLF?

WHERE On Akron radio can you hear Olivia Records?

WHO is it that doctors said would never walk,

but she does?

WHO is it that gives you the rock music to help you make it through the night?

Mama Fitz

2:30 am to 7:00 am SUN., Mon., Wed., Thurs. WAUP Radio 88.1 FM

READ HER STORY NEXT MONTH IN HIGH GEAR.

"A Night On The Town," Rod Stewart (Warner Bros. Records). This album is being reviewed because it includes a lengthy musical tribute to the gay man, a fact that was deliberately ignored by reviewers in Phograph and Scene. Rod Stewart is the first "straight" rock musician to sing of gay love directly and honestly. The story behind "The Killing of Georgie Part 1 and II" is true, according to Rod Stewart in an exlusive intervie with the London Gay News.

It goes like this: At a young age in Denver Georgie accepts his gayness and tells his dad who predictably blames himself and tries to figure out what he did wrong. Georgie soon after moves to New York City where he becomes a popular hot shot, mingling in both straight and social circles. One night Georgie is returning from a night at the theatre and is mercilessly murdered by a New Jersey street gang.

Stewart's sorrow over the loss of his friend runs deep and by the end of the narration, Rod wails in a repeatted, haunting. refrain, "Oh Georgie, stay. Don't go away." Most of Stewart's songs clearly allude to women. Ironically, this depiction of love for a gay man surpasses significantly the intensity of emotion and romanticism of the other selections. Laid back on an acoustic-electric guitar combination and rapid tempoed chorus, "The Killing of Georgie" is destined to be a classic.

The remainder of the album is quaintly split into a "slow" side and a "fast" side. The "fast" side of the LP is rock and roll in the best of the Chuck Berry tradition. Stewart shows a firm grasp of basics and delivers them in a stomping, euphoric manner All the selections are replete with extravagant horns

and mid-sixties guitar and pe cussion arrangements. Nothing artsy, just straight ahead roc n' roll.

The ballads are interesting predominantly rhythm and blue affected, they follow in th Miracles-Temptations tradition Even a Cat Stevens composition sounds like David Ruffin. The album, as a whole, isn't a land mark, by any means, but "The Killing of Georgie" and the fact that unlike other rock personal ities, Stewart freely talked about many aspects of homosexuality in an extensive interview with British gay newspaper is. Those two actions in themselves are significant:

"Georgie, boy, was gay guess, Nothing more, nothing less. The kindest guy I eve knew." Rod Stewart

By FRANK SAVAGE "The Humors Of," Lewis Furey (A and M Records)

"The Humors Of" will take its place in the annals of rock history as Stage 4 of the Lou Reed/Velvet Underground, David Bowie, Patti Smith genre of mind-fuck music. Much like Patti Smith, Furey owes a great deal to the eclectic groundwork laid by Lou Reed and David Bowie. "The Humors Of" is resplendent with discor. dant guitar arrangements, gen. der blurs and a psycho-psychic flavor that will appeal only to cult audiences.

Furey's last effort, "Lewis Furey" left several memorable: cuts. "Hustler's Tango," literally a rock tango paean to male hustling, the S and M laced assault "Clean Up Time" and a collection of several gently. bitter ballads. The album was surely Furey's "Loaded/Ziggy Stardust."

The Humors Of, while stiti largely commendable, suffer