Ringo Starr May Not Have

On First Listening, Joni Mitchell's 'court And Spark,' The First Truly Great Pop Album Of 1974, Sounds Surprisingly Light; By The Third Or Fourth Listening, It Reveals Its Underlying Tensions.

Barry White Seemed So Filled With Self-parody At First That It Was Easy To Dismiss Him. But It Is Becoming Increasingly Obvious With Every Additional Release That He Is A Very Talented Man.

Bob Dylan Has Always Sealed His Decisions With The Unexplainable. His Motives For Withholding The Release Of The Magnificent 'basement Tapes' Will Be As Forever Obscure As Brian Wilson's Reasons For The Destruction Of The Tapes For 'smile.'

Aretha Franklin's 'let Me In Your Life' Is One Of The Few Recent R&b Albums That Places The Emphasis Entirely And Deservedly On A Voice. Many R&b Producers Have Been Making Records On Which The Singer Is Outshined By The Song, The Arrangement And The Sound.

James Taylor May Be An All-american Boy But He Isn't Horatio Alger, And The Lionizing Of Many Rock Stars By The Rock Press Has As Much To Do With Old Fashioned Rags-to-riches Stories As Does The Straight Culture's Deification Of Its Idols.