Mick Ronson: Slaughter On 10th Avenue (RCA APL 1-0353)

ANOTHER MAINMAN artiste bites the dust. Not to pass the buck — Ronson has to be entirely responsible for the failure of this album, insofar as he produced it, arranged it, conducted it, mixed it, and wrote it (mostly) himself — but how long has it been since Mainman (a management company which represents such 70's Mutants as Wayne County, Ava Cherry, and the main mainman man, David Bowie) came up with a decent LP? Bowie's Ziggy Stardust was the last one that really had any real air of quality about it, although about half of Alladin Sane was also pretty good, thanks mostly due to some outstanding rock 'n roll guitar by Bowie's right-hand man, Mick Ronson. It was his performance on that album, as well as his great work on the three previous Bowie albums (Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory and Ziggy) that made Slaughter On 10th Avenue a record which I, for one, looked forward to hearing.