Clean Living

(not to be confused with 'CLE▲N LI▼ING') ... Clean Living opened up for Lou Reed in Lenox, MA, in September of 1973, the first gig of the Rock & Roll Animal Tour, and to have this country-rock act opening for the debut of a band who would fuse punk and heavy metal, well, the plaid cover featuring a sunrise over a farm gives you an idea how out of place the music was that night. The six bandmembers are so non-descript on the back of the album you could replace it with the back cover photo of 1978's Stillwater album I Reserve the Right and not know the difference -- that long hair, blue jeans, and sneaker wardrobe. But Vanguard thought enough of the group to issue this disc in both stereo and quadraphonic -- and musically they deserve it. Few country rockers could pull off the a cappella majesty of Alan B. Rotman's "Jesus Is My Subway Line"; it's a perfect one minute and fifty five seconds, and those vocals swell up behind the medley of Dan Velika's "Waterfall" mixed in with David Carron's "Killers," which follows the spiritual piece and ends the album. Paul Lambert's steel guitar provides a creative counterpart to those incredible voices and it is a far cry from the party atmosphere of "In Heaven There Is No Beer." Produced by Maynard Solomon, the album simply known as Clean Living is overflowing with musical ideas and brimming with talent, missing the mark because there is no one song which could publicize them to the mass market. They cover Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" with bassist Frank Shaw handling the lead vocals, and it comes off like the Grateful Dead by way of Canned Heat, which is cool; there's no denying the ensemble had oodles of talent. Rhythm guitarist Robert "Tex" LaMountain does a respectable job on Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen." He sounds like Meatloaf. Put that in the mix with the instrumental "Congress Alley" and main singer/guitar player Norman Schell doing yet another spiritual number, "Jesus Is My Thing," and you have the band covering all the bases, from gospel to rock to country to blues. Schell and Frank Shaw do a nice duet on "Price I Pay," and despite their being all over the map, the album works better than this band opening for Lou the Rock & Roll Animal. In retrospect, had they combined their Crosby, Stills & Nash leanings with their ability to skillfully do what the Eagles found success with, they might've been huge. Without that focus, this remains an impressive work by consummate musicians which got filed in the vaults somewhere. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide