THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, February 3, 1970 i THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, February 8, 1970 music Buckley, Hill Aud: Irreconcilable duo By BERT STRATTON Worn-out is the appropriate word to describe how the aud- ience falt last night when Tim Buckley walked off the H ill Aud. stage. It was a feeling something like the one you get after you've stayed up through the entire late, late show on TV, and you're about to ask "was it really worth it?" Was it really worth it to ar- rive at Hill by 8:30, to sit through an hour long perform- ance by a Detroit rock band - a band that is unquestionably one of the worst groups that's ever played, and then, (at last), to hear Tim Buckley do a dis- appointing hour set? Number one misery was the terrible sound system, which made all Buckley's vocals sound like they had been diffused through a wet rag. The big projection amps that are usually used in Hill concerts were miss- ing. I wonder if the people in the rear heard anything at all. Deduction Hill Aud. and Tim Buckley don't mix. Buckley's music is reflective, relying heav- ily on subtle changes, nuances, and sound effects. It's not ro- bust, and it can't begin to fill a place as large as Hill. Buckley in a coffeehouse would be ideal, but it's also a dream, because his popularity coupled with the physical reali- ties of a coffeehouse would never permit it. The solution to the problem is to go into a dark room, lie down, and put on a Tim Buck- ley record, like "Happy Sad," and feel the eerie immediacy of his music. Sure he isn't "live," in the flesh, before your very eyes, but his records do put him a lot closer to the listener than any concert hall stage can. Be- sides which, on record the bas- soons and gongs, and all the other accessories can be mixed and balanced professionally. As for what happened last night, everything and everybody seemed so remote. A good part of the audience was slouched down in their chairs, complete- ly out of it, a couple people were they were the only people in frustratingly trying to nod their <> heads to the beat of the music, but there wasn't any "real" beat, and the majority of the Organizational Meeting on Scholarship Revocation The University is ready to revoke scholarships of people busted in the bookstcre sit-in. Help fight repression. COME TONIGHT 9:00-1st floor SAB WEDNESDAY NIGHT STUDENT NIGHT AT THE AMAD 2800 JACKSON ROAD ENTERTAINMENT BEGINS AT 8 P.M. --- PRESENTING "THE GUILD" and FOLKSINGER JOE DICK WINGFIELD 4 " I people were probably thinking about what they were going to order at PJ's after the concert. As for Buckley, he appeared to be far beyond the point where significant audience-performer rapport is established. It all had a lot to do with the fact that he only played one song that was familiar to the audience, "Gyp- sy Woman", which he did as an encore. For almost the entirety of his set, he and his back-up band (composed of bass and lead guitar, trumpet, and drums) did a parody on what is commonly called frsaking-out. What they were doing was put- ting everybody on. They re- velled in the knowledge t h a t the auditorium who knew what was 'going on. The wierd stores that Buckley told interspersed between solos, were actually pret- ty funny. There was something else that was good too. Specifically the times when Lee Underwood, the lead guitarist, and Buckley trad- ed off riffs. Underwood is ex- tremely t a 1e n t e d at getting around on guitar, especially at playing way up on the finger- board and then running the notes down the scale, balancing off Buckley's lead. Buckly sung his lungs out, screeching resilient high notes and practically biting off the mike on his bellowing bass