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Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)
February 2, 1989
MASTERS' NEW LP LIVES UP TO REPUTATION
Author: LARRY HOYT

Masters of Reality (Def American Records)

The Masters of Reality have a reputation for taking chances, and their debut album, released to record stores nationally last week, lives up to that reputation.

Stylistically, their new bluesier music, and absence of their former wall-of-synthesizers sound, will surprise many of the group's longtime Syracuse fans.

But one reason the Masters are the first local group in seven years to reach national status is their ability to develop creatively, to experiment musically, and to continue to surprise.

Where the group in recent years had established its substantial local reputation through performances of gothic rock that was angry and hypnotic, the material on their album is less strident and more varied.

Where the Masters' image once combined the theatrical rock of Alice Cooper with the gloom of Black Sabbath, the Masters now have moved closer to the "folk-rock-blues" eclecticism popularized by 1960s supergroup Cream.

The album's first single, "The Blue Garden," is a mini-rock opera filled with references to broken spells, lightning and angels that "smile in the red morning light" -- classic images recalling the religious symbols and science-fiction myths of the Masters' earlier work.

The rising vocal chorus that ends this song is a masterful piece of production, reminiscent of the Beatles' studio wizardy on "I Am the Walrus" and "Day in the Life," but distinctive enough to be totally their own.

Vocalist/songwriter Chris Goss, whose lyrics once seethed with fire and brimstone, has toned down his outward fury as he sings of turmoils more internal. On "Candy Song," obsession is decried as a price that's high, but excused because "the candy's sweet."

Goss' writing here -- "Crawling out of my skin/I'm down on my luck" -- recalls the power of traditional blues images.

The song "John Brown" contains strong, morbid lyrics -- "John Brown/bring him down/pull his body to the ground . . . left him up for long enough" -- set to a folk melody similar to the medieval peasant dance "Ring Around the Rosie," where the "ashes, ashes, all fall down."

"Magical Spell" is a slow honky-tonk burlesque that sounds like Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Woman" at 2/3 speed, with "Gettin' High" a more uptempo number that could have been covered by Canned Heat.

The bluesy "Eyes of Texas" has the dynamic of an earthquake, starting with slow rhythmic tremors that erupt in an avalanche of guitars and drums. "Lookin' to Get Rite" is a blues-raga, featuring a resonant acoustic guitar that could easily have been replaced by an Indian sitar had this song been recorded in the late 1960s.

"Kill the King," a more elaborate tune, begins with a piano and acoustic-guitar passage that explodes with electric guitars and drums. This song, like "The Blue Garden," has a more complex structure, and is one of the album's best tracks.

The strongest song on the album, "Domino," deals with paranoia, but it's not afraid to rock. Tim Harrington's electric guitar on this number recalls Jimi Hendrix's metal crunch, and Vinnie Ludovico's drums sound like they're physically inside the stereo speakers. "Domino" will appeal to fans of Z.Z. Top, Judas Priest, Hendrix and Cream.

The Masters' eclectic album, distributed nationally by Geffen Records, is an exceptional debut record, comparable in its ambitions to the Doors' first album or "Fresh Cream."

Now that the Masters' record is in the stores and on the radio, only time (and the record-buying public) will tell how far this adventurous Syracuse group travels in their musical voyage.

Kings of Basement Rock, The Penetrators (Fred Records)

"A good evening, Syracuse. We're called the Penetrators. We're oh so happy to be in your lovely city tonight."

This greeting, by vocalist Jack Lipton, at the beginning of the song "Gotta Have Her," is a sample of the Penetrators' tongue-in-cheek musical kitsch. At the time "Gotta Have Her" was recorded in a DeWitt basement in August 1976, the Penetrators were a fledgling Syracuse area basement-punk band.

Judging from the lyrics to the group's original songs, one of the few things that could make the members of this band happy was playing music in the basement.

"Gotta Have Her" is the opening track of a 12-song album, recently released on Fred Records, and billed as a collection of "rare gems from the vault, 1976-78."

Much of this album will interest only hardcore garage-basement aficionados. But three original songs -- "Gotta Have Her," "Teen-age Lifestyle" and "Rock 'n' Roll Face" -- plus the Penetrators' cover of "It's My Life" are basement-rock classics.

Typical lyrics from "Rock 'n' Roll Face" and "Teen-age Lifestyle" -- "I've had it up to here, but that's OK/ I live in a place where I have no say" -- are authentic manifestos of teen rebellion. Despite its raw production, "It's My Life" is as sincere and effective a protest against conformity as the original by the Animals.

According to bandmember Eliot "Spike" Kagen -- now an electrical engineer in Boston -- there's talk that the band, which hasn't played together since 1980, may play again. But if they do, it won't be a reunion. "The band never offically broke up," accoding to Kagen. "We just never booked another gig."

"Kings of Basement Rock" is available at several area record stores, including Desertshore, Spectrum Records, and The Music Center on James Street..

THE LOST HORIZON, the rock nightclub at Erie Boulevard and Thompson Road, has been mentioned on MTV several times in recent days.

Kurt Loder, the music channel's newsman, has pointed out in the hourly "Music News" feature that the four-piece, hard-rocking Bullet Boys will play at the "Lost Horizon in Syracuse, New York, as part of a national club tour." The Bullet Boys play at the Horizon tonite.

The previously announced appearance at the Horizon by national recording act Jane's Addiction on March 7 is "off," according to club owner Greg Italiano, but the club has scheduled a most interesting replacement act, The Replacements, who are set to play March 18.

FOR THE RECORD: As reported in this column two weeks ago, the director originally scheduled to shoot the Masters of Reality's video of "The Blue Garden" was Rick Manelo, director of L.L. Cool J's "Goin' Back to Cali." On Tuesday, one band member commented, "Things didn't work out" with Manelo, so director Jean Pellerin shot the clip instead. Pellerin is the director of the Def Leppard videos from the "Hysteria" album.

A 10-MINUTE CLIP from Pagan Love's video "Shiver and -art" will be cablecast on Cooke CableVision public-access Channel 7 on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7:30 p.m.

New videos by local acts Cold Shot and Austin Jimmy Murphy will be presented on the new cable show, Syracuse Video Showcase, which repeats Wednesdays at 9 p.m.