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Citizen Wayne Kramer: an impartial review |
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Reviews
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Monday, 06 February 2006 11:53 |
Citizen Wayne Kramer: an impartial review
By John Sinclair
Citizen Wayne
Produced by David Was & Wayne Kramer
Epitaph 86488
Wayne Kramer has been out here a long time without gaining the popularity, recognition, and--yes--financial rewards he so richly deserves. Any fool can see that, yet the great guitarist and widely influential musical force continues to struggle to get some props from radio programmers, the record-buying public and the official recorders of rock & roll history.
Citizen Wayne may not solve this particular problem--for one thing, it's perhaps too intelligent to penetrate the pop mainstream today--but the new Wayne Kramer album is most certainly the artistic capstone of the former MC-5 guitarist's illustrious career.
Conceived as an "auto-mythological" work--a form shaped to sum up the artist's life in song--and realized with the twisted assistance of composer/producer David Was, Citizen Wayne delivers a beautifully coherent presentation in music & verse of the real-life protagonist's rough and rocky progress through the second half of the 20th century.
The music drives, twists, powers and rolls under and around Kramer's kaleidoscopic electric guitar and electronically altered voice, pulsing out from the drums of Brock Avery and prodded by the many instrumental voices of David Was and the custom-made bass parts fashioned by Kramer himself.
The songs, half of them masterfully crafted by Wayne and Was, another five by Kramer and one with Mick Farren, move the story line along in epic fashion, treating the key themes and events of the artist's personal odyssey through post-war America with care and compassion yet with immense musical power and invention.
"Citizen Wayne is punk rock for grown-ups," Michael Simmons says, suggesting that Kramer's music here is rough, driven, angry and splendidly aggressive, but full of intelligence, wit and rhythmic force as well--something mature music lovers can enjoy for its musical weight and thrust as well as its resonant summation of life experiences shared to various extent by an entire generation of Americans now in their 40's and 50 s.
From the opening cut, "Stranger in the House," Citizen Wayne powers its way from early suburban teen alienation and rejection of middle American lifeways in the early 1960s, through Kramer's hard-biting account of his revolutionary years with the MC-5 and the White Panther Party ("Back When Dogs Could Talk"), the 5's legendary 1968 performance at the Democratic Convention/Festival of Life in Chicago ("Down On the Ground"), the dog days after the break-up of the 5 when the guitarist turned to dope and crime ("No Easy Way Out"), his trial and 2-1/2-year incarceration on a cocaine beef in the 70s ("Count Time"), and his first "come-back" attempt in a band called Gang War with the late Johnny Thunders (here dubbed "Junky the laughing clown"), chronicled in the bitterly perceptive "Snatched Defeat" (from the jaws of victory).
Interspersed among these personal narratives are several pertinent social commentaries: the wry, Was-drenched satire, "Revolution in Apt. 29"; "Shining Mr. Lincoln's Shoes," a lament for working people "since the Union lost its clout"; "Dope for Democracy," a musical indictment of the CIA's central role in the international narcotics trade; and "You Don't Know My Name", a brutal, class-conscious look at contemporary pop culture.
The program closes with a slinky paean to the power of artistic commitment called "Doing The Work" ("It saved me, really") and an instrumental "Farewell to Whiskey" which leaves us alone with Wayne and his guitar.
Kramer's first two albums for Epitaph Records, The Hard Stuff and Dangerous Madness, drew rave reviews around the world but racked up little airplay and modest sales figures despite relentless touring and the unflagging support of his label.
On Citizen Wayne the guitarist decided early on to make as personal a musical statement as he could and take his chances with the record-buying public. Choosing David Was as his collaborator--Wayne recorded and toured with the original Was (Not Was) configuration--is revealed here as a stroke of genius. Together they've created something entirely unique, an expressive work of rock & roll art for the ages.
Wayne Kramer's now painted his masterpiece, and only time will tell where it will ultimately hang. Once you've heard it, Citizen Wayne should find a prominent place in your mind, heart and viscera for a long time to come.
Caveat Emptor: As manager of the MC-5 during 1967-69, this writer was intimately involved in the first stage of Wayne Kramer's musical career; since we renewed our friendship in the 70s and 80s, after both of us had served time in prison, I've marveled at his sustained power and steady growth as a guitarist and composer. Last year we collaborated on an album, Full Circle, for Alive Records, and continue to perform together whenever circumstances permit.
--New Orleans
June 6, 1997
(c) 1997, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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