Pretty Slips

Stephen Bishop: Careless ABC Records

Stephen Bishop is in a class probably best fitted under the category of lightweight Paul Simon. A little piece of give amidst take. He is a pretty boy into a smattering of seasoned session musicians, and the reference to the above-mentioned singer-songwriter should probably be qualified in Bishop's case by the subtraction of the singer part. His voice just simply can't handle it, and he's not in the mood to put up with odious comparisons. It's inevitable that it will be implied, though. He again sounds like a watered down stereotyping of his original nemesis.

The situation isn't relieved by the addition of one Art Garfunkel, who also tends to be a little bit pretty to my taste, adding again to those comparisons. And Eric Clapton slips in little slivers of a chilling slide run. But overall it is bland, and predictable, as you would reasonably think from 'On and On'. Or you might not: consider something inane similar to 'Rock and Roll Slave", or "Sinking in an Ocean of Tears", something so silly it makes me want to toss up.

P. O'Dea