Daily News from New York, New York • 253

DAILY City Lights 23 Sunday. October 6, 1985 1 Jlll i 1 u'iw-) Vfv'T-wy-Miwi i witm nm By ANNE M. RASO No, You Can Never Be Too Rich, Roger imammmm many categories of music. Over the years, he has gone from jazz to blues, then to soul, to country, to novelties, to ballads, to country again. And now, to something else.

The reason is that Charles sees America as a huge musical melting pot and himself as its historian. "If a song jangles my nerves," Charles says, "I want to share it. I want to sing to everybody." There is nothing he can't sing, and few things that he has not tried. He has tackled everything from "Indian Love Call" to "Ma (He's Making Eyes at and "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" to a featured spot on the all-star "We Are the World" famine relief album and "America, the Beautiful," which he sang at the last Republican convention and at the Reagan inauguration. It wasn't politics, he says.

"I sang for money. The Democrats asked me to sing it, too, but they didn't say they would pay me." A few years ago, he sang in South Africa, a fact that still rankles black nationalists and others. "He just doesn't like anybody telling him where he can play," his Los Angeles publicist says. Charles doesn't like talking about it, except to say he hates apartheid and that he would not appear in South Africa today. He doesn't blow audiences away any more, but he still dazzles them and dares them to stay with him as he dips into his deep bag of songs.

He can still sing the choir out of a storefront church and good ol boys out of a honky-tonk, and he is still a seminal influence with an astonishing track record. "Well, that's nice to hear," Charles says, "but what I'd really like is for a library someplace to make a little room for me. Sort of something to remember me by." Singles t. MONEY FOR NOTHING, by Dire Straits (Warner Bros Last Week: 5 2 PART-TIME LOVER, by Stevie Wonder (Tamla'Motown) 2) 3. TAKE ON ME, by AH-A (Warner Bros 4 4.

MIAMI VICE THEME, by Jan Hammer (MCA) 3 5 CHERISH, by Kool The Gang (Polygram) (1) 6. DANCING IN THE STREET, by Mick Jagger David Bowie (EMI-America) 6 7. HEAD OVER HEELS, by Tears For Fears (MercuryPolygram) (7) 8. FREEDOM, by WHAM! (Columbia) 9. SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU, by Whitney Houston (Arista) 10 10.

DARE ME, by The Pointer Sisters (RCA) Bated on unit-sales Information supplied by the following N.Y. area retailers: Record Explosion; The Record Hunter; Tower Records. 1. YOU ARE MY LADY, by Freddi Jackson (Capitol) 5 -2. PART-TIME LOVER, by Stevie Wonder (TamlaMotown) 1 3.

SILVER SHADOW, by Atlantic Star 4 ALL OF ME FOR ALL OF YOU, by 9 9 (RCA) 10 5 OH SHEILA, by Ready For The World (MCA) 9 6. SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU by Whitney Houston (Arista) 6 7. CHERISH, by Kool The Gang (Polygram) 3 8. MIAMI VICE THEME, by Jan Hammer (2) 9. FREEDOM, by WHAM! (Columbia) 10.

DARE ME, by The Pointer Sisters (RCA) Based on unit-sales information supplied by the following N.Y. area retailers: Record Explosion; The Record Hunter. 1. DRESS YOU UP (Remix), by Madonna (SireWarner Bros.) (1J 2 SHOUT (Remix), by Tears For Fears (Mercury) 7 3 0ARE ME, by The Pointer (RCA) 6 4 IF YOU LOVE SOMEBODY SET THEM FREE (Ramix), by Sting 4J 5. TRAPPED, by Colonel Abrams (MCA) 5 6 SAY I'M YOUR NUMBER ONE, by Princess (Next Plateau) 3 7 DANCING IN THE STREET (Remix), by Mick Jagger David Bowie (EMI-America) 12 8.

THE SHOW, by Doug E. Fresh The Get Fresh Crew (Reality) 8 9. OBJECT OF MY 0ESIRE, by Starpoint (Elektra) 10. OH SHEILA, by Ready For The World (MCA) Based on unit-sales information supplied by the following N.Y. area retailers: Record Explosion; The Kecord Hunter; Tower Records.

OGER DALTREY'S work outside The Who has not exactly mesmerized folks. With the exception of 1975's "Ride a Rock Horse," Daltry's solo LPs have been, at best, semisuccessful. But it's a different case with "Under a Raging Moon," which has spawned the hit single "After the Fire (penned by Pete Townshend), marking the end of the singer's post-Who slump. "When The Who split, it destroyed me for three years," says Daltrey. "It was a nightmare.

It was like getting divorced from three different people! It was my life for 25 years. I was in The Who from the time I got out of school, and suddenly it wasn't there any more." Oddly enough, the person who got Daltrey back on his feet was Bryan Adams. "I was going through a period where I almost had the whole album together, but I started to have doubts. I thought, 'Do I want to do this "Well, I went to see Bryan and it was like watching myself 20 years ago. He made me want to get back on stage." good choice for the first funky, listenable and the album's best cut.

Mainly, though, Eddie the Singer could use some of Eddie the Comedian's personality. David Hinckley MARSHALL CRENSHAW "Downtown" (Warner Brothers) The guy does everything right. He keeps his songs brief and crisp, like rock 'n' roll should be. He has got a twanging guitar. He has a nice touch for irony: "I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)." So why isn't this record more fun to listen to? Maybe it doesn't have that single sensational cut that elevates all the others.

Maybe he's just close enough to the '50s and '60s that it's better to listen to the originals. Any ideas? D.H. THE ROCHES "Another World" (Warner Brothers) This album may not please some of their hardest core fans, who prefer lean, timeless quirky music to contemporary quirky music. For the rest of us, it okay that they have svnthesizers and an '80s- sounding rhythm section because the harmonies are still there, right out front. Case in point: a slightly skewed and very pretty version of DALTREY: remember me.

Now, you're probably wondering why Daltrey just doesn't sit back and enjoy the megabucks he's earned during his career as lead singer of The Who. "We made an awful lot of money," he says, "but The Who lost an awful lot, too. I suppose I'm a millionaire, but, I mean, can anyone really retire these days without being extremely That old Rascal, Felix Cavaliere, one of the '60s'top American pop songwriters and keyboardists, is currently producing a Stamford, band called Fury. The group recently showcased at The Bottom Line to a packed house of both fans and record wor.iACK: solid "Come Softly to Me." "Face Down at Folk City" could become a Roches classic, and "Weeded Out" is an exceptional song. And if fans of the quirky need something to call their own, they can head right for "Gimme a Slice." D.H.

BILLY CHINNOCK "Rock Roll Cowboy" (CBS) V2 "Restless Hearts" is a real nice rocker, with a pumping piano and all that. But most of the rest is undistinguished ballads. "Livin' on the Edge of Heartbreak" and "Rock Roll Cowboy" are great titles, but no better than okay songs. D.H. BOBBY WOMACK "So Many Rivers" (MCA) '2 A solid songwriter and singer, a solid album.

"Got to Be With You Tonight," for instance, has the classic soul sound, while "Only Survivor" is a little lighter, in the Lionel Richie vein. He speeds up the pace a little on Curtis Mavfield's VSMX-. i L- "-if, nn inn i rami iWirrl company executives. Check out the group's independent single (on the New York Music label), "Keep On as well as the much-rotated video to accompany it Twisted Sister is currently at home on Long Island recording a new LP, due out in late fall. Don't even think the disc will be similar to the double-platinum "Stay Hungry" these boys are throwing in a few odd twists that are sure to surprise their diehard fans One fotog at the recent MTV ceremony at Radio City griped that he missed the best shot of the evening Paul Young and Bryan Adams alone in the men's room doing just what you'd think they'd be doing! Yes, it's true even stars have to go to the bathroom.

old "Gypsy Woman," with good results. D.H.' PLACIDO DOMINGO "Save Your Nights for Me" (CBS) Some snicker at the notion that singing opera and singing pop require two different kinds of voices, and that it may be hard for a trained opera singer to sound good at pop. This album proves it is, particularly "Maria." The voice is beautiful; it's just not quite what pop needs. PAUL KAPLAN "King of Hearts" Hummingbird) Half a very good album by a New York folksinger who calls to mind the smooth sounds of, say, Peter, Paul and Mary. After a strong first side, however Feeling his material falters.

D.H. ONE LINERS: ROBEY (Silver Blue). Model turned singer. At her best moments ('The Right she approaches Madonna. HOT RIZE, "Traditional Ties" (Sugar Hill) -kVz.

A quality "modern" bluegrass band with a penchant for nice harmony gospel tunes like "Hear Jerusalem Moan" and "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning." ROMANTICS, "Rhythm Romance" (Nemperor) V2. Light, good-natured pop that's easy to imagine on the radio, but lacks the substance to stay with you. D.H. EDDIE MURPHY "How Could It Be" (Columbia) V2 Doggoned if when Eddie Murphy sings for real, he doesn't actually sound like Stevie Wonder. Isn't life funny? Now at first you think that's because Wonder wrote two of the cuts here, "Do and "Everything's Coming Up Roses," and also produced the latter.

But no. Murphy has the same kind of voice on all the cuts. Only trouble is, it's not as distinctive as Wonder's in fact, it's not very distinctive at all nor does he have Wonder's writing gift. It's interesting that several of his songs have a social-awareness tilt God Is Color but it's also unavoidable that they need editing (particularly Me, Us, "Parly All the Time" was a EDDIE: sounds like. rigjgrd.