Dr. Feelgood Starcastle Journey At Ford Auditorium, March 10

WABX-FM presented this all-CBS package at Ford Auditorium March 10th and drew a largo, responsive audience for an evening of progressive rock in three movements. The first, featuring the straight-ahead blues-band rock of the British foursome called Dr. Feelgood, proved the most interesting, while the second -spotlighting the Yes-styled midwestern band Starcastle- and the third, showcasing the mini-supergroup Journey and its hard-driving, emotionally barren progressive sound -provided the standard type of boring fare heard at most big rock concerts these days.

While Journey pounded relentlessly with Neil Schon's intense, ego-tripping macho guitar leads and Greg Rollie's throbbing organ swells, and Starcastle floated around in inner space pretending to be in the cosmos, only Dr. Feelgood truly tripped the emotional lever with its clean, elemental British blues approach and its repertoire of classic rock and roll (Huey Smith's "Don't Ya Just Know It," the Robins' "Riot in Cell Block No. 9"), blues ("Boom Boom Boom Boom," "Rollin' & Tumblin' "), and personal ("I'm the Man," "She Doesn't Rock," "Watch It") material.

Lead singer, Lee Brilleaux, also a fine harmonica player, shouts and wails with fantastic intensity while guitarist Wilko Johnson struts and swaggers around the stage in a carefully mannered takeoff on his early guitar idol, Detroit's own Wayne Kramer. The rhythm section is adequate to the demands placed on it by the front men, and the overall effect is to recreate the energy and vitality-and the musical commitment-of the early English blues-rock set, viz. John Mayall's Blues Breakers, the Animals, the early Rod Stewart, without the sickening rich-boy pop-star bullshit which has smothered the rock scene for seven or eight years already.

Virtuosos they're not, and they have some developing to do before they can get much higher on the ladder of pop success (Journey, on the other hand, should be over the top within six months or so)-but Dr. Feelgood is not especially interested in much more than getting the chance to perform and record their own gritty music for people who dig it, and that's certainly a refreshing treat in this, our Bicentennial year. Good luck, Doctor.

- John Sinclair