disco talk

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33447, 31 January 1974, Page 4

disco talk

The Pointer Sisters. Blue Thumb L 34965. The Pointer Sisters, after having been successful session vocalists on the United States west coast for many years, have produced a very impressive first album. It is a jazz-oriented disc and the four girls produce a sound that is totally successful and dynamic. Using the voice as an instrument is difficult at the best of times but the Pointer Sisters manage to create, with their voices, wah wah pedal steel guitar, bass, and something like a cross between tenor sax and clarinet as well as some of the best fast close harmony vocal work since Lambert, Hendriks and Ross in the late 19505. In some songs they could almost be four Ella Fitzgeralds working together at top speed but with perfect cohesion and timing. The album begins with a track that could easily become a hit single, "Yes we Can Can,” by the veteran songwriter, A. Toussaint. It is a fast, free-wheeling example of pure vocal skill —both in technique and arrangement. The songs that follow, some fast and vaguely bawdy, others slower and more subdued, are all perfect vehicles for the unusual and very exciting talent of the Pointer Sisters. —M.S.

Cheech and Chong. Los Cochinos. Ode Records. L 34980. Cheech and Chong’s first release in New Zealand, last year, was described as less funny than a bus time-table. Well, things have improved. "Los Cochinos” is funnier than a bus time-table — about two sections funnier. Ibis album must hold the record for the number of times the word “man” (as in “can ya dig it, man”) crops up, since it occurs no less than 263 times. In expanded form—" Hey man” (as in “Hey man, lets get some burgers”) — takes second place, occuring on 50 friendly occasions, while the minor placings are filled by “right on” (with 10 appearances), "far out” (7), "on wow” (5), and "rip-off” and "hassle,” sixth equal with four. Although these expressions are not in themselves funny they certainly add atmosphere to the record and help to pass the time between the laughs, which are more difficult to count. A single—“ Basketball Jones”—has been taken off this album. It is not funny but the music—played by George Harrison, Klaus Voorman, Jim Keltner, Nicky Hopkins, Carole King, Billy Preston and others—is first-class. It would have been nice to hear more of that. And now a word about the humour. Boring. —Mike Lombard