Classical Music Sha Na Na Is Here

WHO did write the Book of Love? The Monotones first asked this penetrating question in 1958, and no one has yet come up with the answer. Today Sha Na Na is asking the very same question on its first album. Sha Na Na Is Here.

Ever since about 1962, rock music had been in a steady decline until it-seemed that the original rock in roll, as we knew it and loved it. had disappeared forever but for a few moments of nostalgia on WRKO or on some one's record player. Then came the first signs that a revival was on its way-Elvis Presley had three hits in a single year. Paul Anka appeared on the charts at the end of 1969 with a tune about happiness. Rick Nelson grew his hair and made a hit out of "She Belongs to Me." and the Every Brothers started making it big on television shows. Dion reappeared, but he copped out and sang about issues. Now Sha Na Na. the care of the revival, has put out an album to further feed the flames of greasy hysteria.

Sha Na Na's ten musicians mostly students at Columbia, reject the new spirit of profit-making to which today's other rock groups have succumbed. For your basic album cost, you receive 14 tracks, a fold-out section of old newspaper articles on Alan Freed Spectaculars and rock 'n' roll riots, and pictures of the group in flashy gold suits, engineer boots, and tee shirts with the cigarettes rolled up in the sleeves. Everything is authentic, right down to the grease.

The first song on. This Side is named, appropriately enough, "Remember Then." originally done by the Earls. Like most of the songs, it is about love, teenage love and it is representative of many of the pre-1960 songs in another way-the great backup voices. What today's rock songs lack more than anything else is catchy backup, and "Remember Then" makes that failing obvious. There's a surging "Re-mem-mem. re-mem-mem-member" in a pleasing bass voice at the outset. Later, the repetitions of "oop shoop, shang a lang a ding dong" nicely complement that basic line.

Sha Na Na has picked one of its best selections as the first song, realizing the psychological benefits of a good start. And one of the reasons that it can be considered such a good trick is that Sha Na Na has succeeded in closely imitating the Eals. That is the object. When Jay and the Americans record an old time, they try to give it that Jay and the American sound. This invariably worsens the original.

When you have a classic, it is foolish to revise it. In redoing the Mona Lisa, an artist does not attempt to improve on it, he tries to duplicate. Who would try to rewrite War and Peace? The Jay and the Americans of literature? No. If such a literary group existed, it would have the sense to reproduce the book simply as is.

"Remember Then" is well reproduced. "Book of Love," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Young Love," and "Silhouettes" also stand out on this album because they sound very much like the originals. Only "Teen Angel" and "A Teenager in Love" suffer noticeably in this respect, and it is great testimony to the vocal flexibility of Sha Na Na that most of the songs sound as good as when they were first done on American Bandstand.

"Little Darlin' " the great song by the Diamonds, is a perfect example of Sha Na Na's percussion talents. The piano and the clicking noises. whether they be castanets or something else, are superbly handled. The listener is thereby reminded that today's rock can't match that of the '50's in terms of beat. The simple, repetitive nature of the beat talks directly to us. It is heavy, in a light way.

THE "Book of Love" is another outstanding selection. Sha Na Na's musicians work extremely well together on this great song, and when they tell about each chapter of this very special book, you could swear it's the Monotones themselves. At the end is a rasping "yea," the second best bit of backup in the album. The top backup anywhere is in "Little Girl of Mine," where again one hears a terrifically deep "yea" reneatem throughout the song. It couldn't be better.

"Teen Angel" could be much better. Some of the great lines in rock 'n' roll are in this song, and it is tragic to see Mark Dinning's finest effort tainted. Perhaps the greatest lyrics in the song are the following:

Just sweet sixteen and Now you're gone,

They've taken you away.

I'll never kiss your lips again,

They buried you today.

Not only does lead guitar Robbie Leonard make for an inadequate Mark Dinning, but after one line he interjects two subtle sobs. These indicate a despicable mockery, out of character with Sha Na Na, but perhaps Robbie was honestly moved by the story and could not avoid sobbing. In addition, pauses in between some lines were too long, and the chord which Dinning muffled at the end of the original is a clean piano chord in the Sha Na Na version. Teen Angel must be rolling over in her grave.

Beat and backup are two areas which old rock excels, and the third is lyrics. Consider this unique poetry from "Heartbreak Hotel" :

The bell hop's tears keep flowing,

The desk clerk's dressed in black,

They've been so long on Lonely Street,

They will never go back.

And whereas today, most of what you hear in rock is about war, poverty, and other social problems, the music of the '50's was about love. We, as listeners, have a right to demand that we get more lyrics of love in our music. From "Chantilly Lace" we get these poignant lines:

Chantilly lace and a pretty face

And a pony tail hangin' down,

Wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk

Makes the world go round.

There are two quick, nostalgic talks by Alan Freed, "Mr. Payola," included on the record. A Freed endorsement of such a production is as essential as the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on a baby carriage.

IT WOULD be hard to deny that rock 'n' roll is not on the way back. In Russia, the teenagers are now listening to versions of "Shake, Rattle, and Roll," recorded in 1954 by Bill Haley and the Comets. Sha Na Na has thrilled audiences at Woodstock, the Electric Circus, and at places as aloof as Yale. The time is ripe for revolution, time to make true Danny and the Juniors' statement in song that "rock 'n' roll is here to stay; it will never die."

Perhaps we can best understand this renaissance by thinking over the experiences of Elliot Cahn, the group's musical director from Chappaqua, N.Y., which borders Mr. Kisco. Elliot was introduced to rock 'n' roll by his older brother and quickly became the prime patron of a local malt shop. He listened intently to the juke box for hours and watched the neighborhood toughs guzzle birch beer and carve their initials on the booths. At night, he would lie in his bed as rock hits echoed through his mind and visions of fan clubs danced in his head. "Someday," Elliot's heart said, "I too will be a rock and roll star."