Plain and Fancy: Masters Of The Airwaves - Masters Of The Airwaves (1974 us, fine glam tight steel rock)

Although Rock has always been powered by the mysterious energy of human charisma, one still has to ask where the Stones Satisfaction would have been without a fuzztone, or how Eric Clapton could have possibly survived without the wah-wah. These men, the innovators, were eventually recognized not merely for the in- novation, itself, but for the talent which enabled them to utilize these otherwise gimmicks in a most original and stunning way.

Welcome now one Jimmy Berick, a California kid who grew up on Clapton and Beck and who, like thousands of kids, played everything he could get his hands on. Berick, a wild-eyed introvert, formed a hot local group, but preferred to experiment and make tapes in his Sacramento garage. By accident, through a friend of a friend, the tapes came to the attention of Epic A&R man Michael Sunday who was impressed when friends described Berick's following and the strange contraption in his garage. (Berick had perfected a flying wedge of twin chrome- plated double-neck steel guitars with thirty-two resonating strings. The assemblage, which Berick plays with steel bar slides in each hand is channeled through a variety of sound accessories driven by a wall of Marshall amplifiers). But what impressed Sunday even more was that heavy metal could survive and blossom in the traditionally laid-back Bay area.

The Jimmy Berick Group was signed in November 1973 by Epic, and they started to expand into San Francisco clubs. But they were coldly received. As group friend-and-guiding-light Richard Kipsgard put it, "we come in through the back door. We were filling Bay area clubs, but nobody wanted to admit that a metal band could do that. The only answer, as we saw it, was to be as tight as possible."

Late 1973, Hollywood aristocrat Kim Fowley and friend Mars Bonfire saw the group. Mars, who had written the classic Born To Be Wild, was blown out and suggested the name MASTERS OF THE AIRWAVES. It was a compliment. Berick, lead singer John Flak (who was already tired of being compared to Robert Plant) and bassists Randy Rand and David Rodo accepted.

Their first Epic album, Masters of The Airwaves, sports a variety of styles with songs whose topics range from alien landings to Hollywood bitch celebrities to Texas highways. Still, the basic thunder is unmistakable. It is safe to predict that the Masters' first national tour will leave behind a wake of garage bands. All sporting newly chromed pedal mega- steel guitars.

Liner Notes