Consumer Guide Album

Kurtis Blow: Kurtis Blow [Mercury, 1980]
Ramones fans will claim his first-beat sledgehammer is monotonous; I enjoy its simplicity just like I do the Ramones'. Not as much, I admit--"All I Want in the World (Is to Find That Girl)" would be a retarded change of pace even if Kurtis talked it, and he doesn't. But though it bodes ill for both his rhythms and his politics, the bare competence of his Bachman-Turner Overdrive cover has special charm, and his hit metapun is a true breakthrough. B+