ROBERT HILBURN : ROCKIN’ ‘N’ ROLLIN’ WITH AMERICA’S NEW BREED

L isten American.

No, that’s not some superpatriotic instinct.

It’s just an acknowledgement of what’s happening artistically these days in rock.

The success in recent months of bands like Duran Duran, Wham and Frankie Goes to Hollywood underscores the fact that U.S. fans are still enthralled with British rock.

But a growing number of discriminating pop and rock enthusiasts are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the suffocating cloud of trendiness and commercial calculation surrounding so many of these recent imports.

That’s why you’ll be seeing a lot more media attention during 1985 directed at an impressive new breed of U.S. groups--bands that combine the purity of rock’s country and blues roots with clear-eyed ‘80s sensibilities.

This new breed is the second wave in an American rock renaissance that began in the late ‘70s with such ambitious and independent New York outfits as the Ramones and Talking Heads, then expanded quickly to Los Angeles where groups like X, the Blasters and Black Flag mixed hard-edged American rock tradition with strong literary twists.

While Los Angeles may be the chief clearing house for these bands, pockets of intriguing new groups have sprung up in such regional centers as Minneapolis, Austin and Athens, Ga.

The growth of the new breed was dramatized last Sunday when 15 of The Times’ pop contributors voted for their favorite albums of the year. Along with such established figures as Bruce Springsteen, Prince and Tina Turner, the lists included nearly a dozen bands that would fall into this new contingent.

Among the bands from around the country: Athens’ R.E.M., Charlotte’s Let’s Active, Minneapolis’ Replacements and Husker Du, Phoenix’s Meat Puppets, Sacramento’s True West, Boston’s Del Fuegos and New York’s Del-Lords. The L.A. bands on the list: the Minutemen and Los Lobos.

The interesting thing about the growing acclaim for these bands is that English critics, too, have joined the chorus of support. That’s quite a switch from the late ‘70s when almost any U.S. group was dismissed as a collection of shallow posers.

In the Nov. 17 review of new albums by two L.A. bands, Los Lobos and the Long Ryders, New Musical Express critic Mat Snow noted: “Against all odds, it’s been a vintage year for American rock ‘n’ roll. The roll call . . . stretches too far to list here, but Los Lobos and the Long Ryders are two more names to add.”

Here’s what Snow said about Los Lobos’ “How Will the Wolf Survive?” album, which finished third behind the Springsteen and Prince collections on The Times consensus last week:

“The LP climaxes with the title track, a song of rich and gloriously chiming romance extolling the dying breed of loner-troubadour in an increasingly tamed America. Beautiful and resonant, numbers like this have a purity and honesty of feeling that recalls America’s all-time finest (group), The Band.”

Now, let’s look briefly at what writers for leading English pop publications have to say about LPs by some other members of the American New Breed:

R.E.M.’s “Reckoning”--”The 10 songs (on this album) are taken, by and large, at an infectiously brisk pace--after a few listenings you may find yourself cartwheeling across the floor with delight, twitching with anticipation for the killer chorus that sucks you in, ready or not. . . . R.E.M. have used the great American myths to enhance the depth and roots of their music while exposing the empty vessel at the end of Disneyland’s rainbow. This is an album made by Americans, but Americans who are unsure about America. It’s fascinating.” (Ian Pye, Melody Maker.)

The Minutemen’s “Double Nickels on the Dime”--”They take just a minute or two to make each point and each point contains a world of knowledge and experience, each tells us something disturbing or inspiring, but always intimately personal. They do this 45 times in the course of a record. This is phenomenal.” (Richard Grabel, New Musical Express.)

Let’s Active’s “Cypress”--”On this album, the trio bid boldly to join the current mini-boom of American groups not afraid to plunder their shared history and forge from it accessible weirdness more pertinent to these fractured (times). . . . The songs are robust affairs, frequently built on hard-hitting pulse beats around which are deployed subtly evolving chord patterns, alluringly melodic.” (Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker.)

The Gun Club’s “The Las Vegas Story”--”You can be amused, disgusted, fascinated, confused and battered by a Gun Club record, but you’ll never be bored. And these days that’s about the best recommendation you can get. . . . They’re the original good, bad and ugly outlaws transmuted into a snarling blues distortion that stabs deep into the arrogance of American pride and twists the blade with savage bloodlust.” (Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker.)

The Bangles’ “All Over the Place”--”With their massed voices and sharp looks at the boy-meets-girl game, the Bangles uphold the best traditions of the classic girls, without the spector (sic) of a Spector or the shadow of a Morton hanging over them. They are nobody’s puppets, and they are not trying to be just like the boys either.” (Richard Grabel, New Musical Express.)

BAND AID’S RELIEF: Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”--the single featuring guest appearances by some of the biggest names in British rock--has sold more than two million copies in this country, Columbia Records reports. In addition, Vestron video has shipped more than 100,000 copies of a 30-minute video that was made during the recording of the song. The video lists for $9.95. Profits from both the single and video will go to the Ethiopian Famine Fund.

LIVE ACTION: Sammy Hagar will appear at the Forum on Feb. 10. Tickets go on sale Monday. . . . Tickets go on sale Sunday for a second Bryan Adams concert (Feb. 1) at the Hollywood Palladium. . . . Tickets also go on sale Sunday for three Universal Amphitheatre shows: Jean-Luc Ponty, Feb. 14; Rick Nelson and Jerry Lee Lewis, Feb. 15; UB-40, Feb. 16. . . . Lone Justice returns to the Palace on Jan. 18. . . . Jim Carroll will give his first L.A. poetry reading tonight at the Lhasa Club. . . . The Minutemen and the Knitters will be at the Music Machine on Wednesday; Blood on the Saddle headlines there next Saturday. . . . Pete Wilcox headlines an Elvis Presley birthday celebration Tuesday at the Palomino.