Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Friday, September 13, 1968
Pxge Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, September 1 3, 1968
records
Pink Byrds root root whoopee
yes
cinema
'Therese, Isabelle': Odd couple
;,mss , .
By LITTLE SUZY FUNN
Roots Expert
Whenever a rock album is really new and good, it has some-
thing to do with roots. It either goes back to them completely and
adds a little polish and maybe some new instrumentation (like the
blues band bunch) or it jumps back 10 years and takes everything
and shuffles it all up and puts it together its own way (like the
first Beatles' stuff.)
Most - rock has been considering black music as its roots ever
since the British revival. (Exception: the Loving Spoonful, especial-
ly onHums.) But recently, thanks nostly to Dylan and the Byrds
the Country Western half of rock is getting pulled up and worked
over in some good new sides.
The Byrds are the group that's probably best qualified to
bring the mountains back to rock. Roger (nee Jim) McGuinn is
an ex-folkie (you can see him playing guitar on the cover of The
hiad Mitchell Trio Live at The Bitter End.) The bassist, Chris
Hiliman; is an ex-cowboy, and, more important, used to play man-
dolin for C&W groups before he was with the Byrds. Kevin Kelly,
the drums, is good. And the new guy (who's left the group since the
album was cut) 'ram Parsons, is a veteran of the International
Submarine Band,'a C&W bunch. 'The Byrds used to be sort of
tied down by Dave Crosby (he was the sort of embarrassing one,
'who used to jump up and down and giggle and screw up their
live performances). But McGuinn threw him out and picked up
Parsons and that's nice, too.f
The Byrds have always been such a total sound, such a group,<
that it's hard to talk about them in terms of changes: They stay
the same through it all. You hear the Stones do "Ruby Tuesday"
and then "Street Fighting Man" and you're not sure it's the same
-people. But the Byrds change all their people (only two of the
original five remain) and do different stuff and its still unmis-
.takeably them: their group personality is much stronger than
differences-in specific material.
So, after fooling around with C&W for a long time (hear any
of -Hillman's songs on the early albums) they really get into it
on their new album Sweetheart of the Rodeo (Columbia CS 9670).
They went down to Nashville and picked up some session men for
steel guitar and fiddle (one of them, Jaydee Marness, had been
doing some of their personal appearances in L.A.) and came up
wit h a pure C&W sound that is still the Byrds. They're back to
their roots and they do it great. The whole album is a demon--
stration of the power of C&W through the power of the Byrds.
They do what they want to-there isn't any distance between the
concept and the performance and it's all right there.
The only places they fall down are on the first two cuts. They
turn in their usual unimpressive version of a Dylan song (not
counting Mr. Tambourine Man) on "You Ain't Going Nowhere"
(although this is a notch above "My Back Pages" or "The Times
They Are A-Changing"). On the second cut, "I Am a Pilgrim,"
you're reminded for a minute of some of their other long, mono-
tonous bad cuts (remember "Mind Garden?") But once again, it's
better. They don't get quite as lost in it.
° The rest of the album is just sweet music. No flaws. Perfect
Byrds. Listen to it.
Crackers, or The Hawks, or Band, or whoever they are, go
back to the roots in Music From Big Pink (Capitol SKAO 2955)
and take the other way-they mix them all up and put them back
together and come up with something that's pretty unsettling and
all their own. (The reports of their association with Dylan have
been greatly exaggerated-they played with him on one tour, in
Europe, and some members have backed him up on a few albums.)
They're much, much harder to get into than the Byrds, be-
cause they're a newer thing and because they're not as clean and
they're not as communicative. It's already a cliche about them that
the more you listen the more you like them ("Hey, I bought the
album and at first I thought it stunk but now-wow!") But I'm
stillskeptical even after five or six times through.
SThere's -a. tendency in the rock scene to make difficulty a
virtue for no good reason. When Dr. John the Night Tripper came
out people were saying the same kinds of things about it that
they're about Big Pink now. And Dr. John really wasn't so hot-he
was just a lot of stuff thrown together that didn't work.
A lot of people seem to get wrapped up in an illusion of texture
that's very hard to avoid after a few listenings to Big Pink. The
imusic is very complex and builds up a lot of tension between the
high v6cals and the piano and everything else. When you first
hear the album it's hard to put everything together in your mind.
But because everyone has told you to listen to it a lot before
you decide, you do. And that's where you have to watch out for the
illusion to come In.
There's a certain nice feeling that you get when you're very
familiar with a song that you're listening to, especially rock songs.
You get so you can anticipate all the little changes in the record
and you set yourself up to make the right responses to them. And
you put everything together in your mind so-it sounds right just
because it comes when you expect it to. So, in Big Pink, you can
get used to the way the vocals don't work with the rest of the music
and it can sound right to you so you think it's "texture" and it's
all right.
This isn't to say that Big Pink doesn't have texture or that it
isn't good. Some of the cuts-Dylan's "The Weight" is the best-
use the texture really well. But with much of the rest of the album
its just an illusion.
There seems to be a distance on this album between what the
group was trying to do and what they came out with. Something
that could never find on a Byrds album. With the Byrds every-
thing is precise even when it's dischordant: you know they're
doing what they wanted. With the Band on Big Pink everything
is tentative, searching for something it doesn't quite find. When it
does find it, like in "The Weight," it's fine, too. But when it doesn't
make it, like in most of the rest of the album, it sort of disinte-
grates. The.music is a bit too loose,, too ready to fall apart at the
seams. Only the quality of the material and the individual talents
of the group save it.
Even though second albums are usually not so hot for a group
with a new sound, it's just possible that these guys could, pull
themselves together and turi out a good thing. They've got the
.
By HENRY GRIX
stuff-they only need to work it+
will turn out all right.
out some more. I trust
everything
Hang'ponHn
By THOMAS R. COPI But no matter how much one
In the past few years, Clint enjoys the strong, silent sinis-.
Eastwood has starred in three ter character Eastwood plays, it
is readily evident that he i
Westerns, all of which were isredyeven th h is
Westrnsallof wich ere unable to carry on entire film
quite good in their own way. on his own.
One of the things about these So many of the scenes in
movies that made them better Hang 'Em High were copied
than just average shoot-'em-ups after the other movies that it
was the facility of the director only served to heighten the dis-
in developing his characters. appointment when they didn't
Also, in each case, a rather add up to the same excitement
average plot was made interest- and interest of the other movies.
ing by the addition of a few Clint Eastwood, it seems, is
novel twists. All three of the indestructible. He can march
films-A Fistful of Dollars, For endlessly across deserts, survive
a Few Dollars More; and The brutal beatings, get shot in the
Good,, the Bad and the Ugly, back, and always, but always,
were' shot on location in Italy- bounce back to sling his gun
The photography was good and again. He survived at least one
the editing sharp - which kept of these things in each of the
the action fast (or at least previous films. But Hang 'Em
smooth). High stretches this superman
Of all the various things facet of our hero well past the
which made the three previous point of belief: not only does he
Clint Eastwood movies good, his survive all the above tortures,
latest, Hang 'Em High, adopts but in the opening scene, he is
only one: Clint Eastwood. lynched and left hanging-and
"I really thing The Fox was
more disgusting," I heard a
woman say as she filed through
the crowd waiting to see the
second revelation of Therese
and Isabelle.
The lady's remark would have
undoubtedly disappointed Rad-
ley Metzger, the producer-direc-
tor of Therese and Isabelle (and
I, A Woman and Carmen Baby),
whose latest skin flick promises
to make "The Fox look like a
milk fed puppy."
On the other hand, Metzger
probably doesn't care what peo-
ple say about his movies as long
as they pay to get in.
The Campus Theatre drew a
large, mostly male, mostly-
quaddie audience last night.
And undoubtedly the audience
got what it paid for: a lurid
peek between the sheets lesbians
sleep in.
Metzger must have sagac-
iously understood that The Fox
was the wave of the immediate
S'EHigh'
still lives. This is never explain-
ed, and somehow tends to harm
the credibility of the whole film.
In order to more effectively
pursue the men who lynched
him, Eastwood becomes a Fed-
eral Marshal. But he is under
strict instructions to bring the
men in to face trial, instead of
dishing out to them their own
brand of justice.
And this is what the movie is
basically all about-explaining
the difference between being
hung in the village square after
a court trial and being lynched
on the prairie.
One of the signs of a good di-
rector is that he is able to have
his story make his point - he
doesn't have to resort to moral-
izing in the dialogue. But after
a while, director Ted Post makes
Hang 'Em High begin to sound
like a lecture in legal ethics, not
exactly the sort of thing which
contributes toward making a
Western movie exciting.
future to tease and please the
evergrowing number of "art"
theatre-goers. He p r o p e r 1 y
blends shock, sex, and purple-
prose dialogue in an artful pab-
lum that is visually breathtak-
ing and intellectually repulsive.
Therese (Essy Persson, of 1,
A Woman fame) is a lonely
adolescent, who is jolted out of
her mother's bed when mommy
finds a replacement. Stepfather
shoves Therese into the ascetic
surroundings of a 13th century
girls' boarding school on the
outskirts of Paris.
There, Miss Persson encount-
ers Isabelle (Anna Gaol), a
mysterious and lovely pioduct
of a broken home, who freezes
when Therese pries innocently
into her sexual history. But Isa-
belle bears an unsubtle resemb-
lance to Therese's mother.
Metzger takes it from there:
the inevitable masturbation
scene (accompanied by heavy
breathing), homosexual necking
in the chapel C'I stormed her
mouth like abeleagured city"),
languorous nights in Isabelle's
dorm room ("She was receiv-
ing the little male organ.")
Unfortunately most of the
3020 Washtenaw. Ph. 434-1782
Between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor
IN COLD
BLOOD
Wrinenfor the screen anddirected by
Richard Brooks
A Columbia Pictures Release In Ponovisian
"IRRESISTIBLEI"-L1F
t Ifu
film is pathetic. The only thing.
that develops in the girls' rela-
tionship as they go along is
their carnal knowledge of each
other. Metzger's cameras prefer
to spend their time examining
bodies than exploring minds. He
chooses two starlets, obviously
in their twenties, who have
nothing to recommend them for
the delicate acting job required,
except ample bosoms. They
neither look nor act like h i g h
school girls, under their heavy
masks of make-up.
Although much of the photo-
graphy is reminiscent of Truf-
faut, the unsympathetic and
lewd dissection of the lives of
the helpless, perverted girls is
the work of no master.
If Metzger had produced
pornography in an earnest ef-
fort to understand a social dis-
ease, his work could possibly be
excused. But he undoubtedly
calculated what he was doing.
Lesbians are good box-office
draws.
4
_ _ _ _
SEE
FORMER U. OF M. ALL AMERICAN
SEPTEMBER 14, 7:30 P.M.
AT THE ANN ARBOR HIGH SCHOOL
Sponsored by Huron Valley Youth for Christ
#A SIZZLER FROM FRANCE,
Therese
and Isabelle' will be the most
talked-about movie arounid."
S-WINS RADIO
i4/I
* BBADLE M GEC.IR
9,
1537:11ULY X.E GE
~STGEEO FOR TRE AUOENCES j
(t
GUILD HOUSE
802 Monroe
Friday, Sept. 13
Noon Luncheon 25c
JAMES LESCH, Academic Affairs:
,"Issues in Higher Education"
.: .::r
MISSED US??
O r anl group
to meet here
The eighth annual conference
on Organ Music will be held here
Sept. 22-24.
Around 75 teachers and stu-
dents of organ. are expected to
attend the conference, which is
being sponsored by the music
school and the extension service.
MIXER
ALL
CAMPUS
WEST QUAD
Friday, Sept. 13
Auditions for UAC Musket
CAMELOl
THURSDAY thru SATURDAY
SEPT. 12-14
BASEMENT OF UNION
All necessary information aboi
late sign-ups at Musket Offic
UAC wing-2nd floor of Unio
THURSDAY and FRIDAY
KING
- _AND
COUNTRY,
Dir. Joseph Losey, 1964
Private Hamp (Tom Courtney) volunteered for
active duty in the WW I British army because "the
wife and her mother dared me." After three years of
service in France, Hamp deserts. He is caught, court-
rmartialed, and condemned to death by officers intent
on making an example of him.
The defending officer in the court-martial, Cap-
tain Hargreaves (Dirk Bogarde) is at first antago-
nistic toward Hamp, but during the trial he realizes
that Hamp had reacted in a human way to an in-
human situation.
When the firing squad's volley fails to kill Hamp,
Hargreaves, in the final bit of irony, is forced to
personally conclude the execution.
Ut
e, 7:00 & 9:05 ARCHITECTURE
)n 662-8871 I AUDITORIUM
NOTICE:
qSE TO ZORBA LAST WEEK, THE Vth FORUM HAS MADE
M BACK AGAIN BEFORE HE RETIRES. YES, THE OLD
S BEING WITHDRAWN FROM CIRCULATION LATER
AST CHANCE TO SEE
THE GREEK
1L
BA THE GREEK
tDECIDED MUST-SEE!
nthony Quinn's Zorba possesses all the energies
nd urges of the great ones of history and myth."
-s-Bosley Crowther, NewYork Times
Od uproarious Bacchanalian bash."
--Time Magazine
starring ESSY PERSSON (1. A Woman') as Therese
NATIONAL a~N5RAL CORPORATION
NOW
SHOWING
NATIONAL GENERAL CORPORATION
FOX EASTERN THEATRES
FO0K VLL a-76-130t
375 No. MAPLE RD. "769.1300
Mon.-Fri.-7:00-9:00
Sat.-Sun.-1:45-3:30
5:15-7:00-9:00
Conference events will be in Girls 92 Gus
Hill Aud except for an opening Grl 9 eGMs -
recital, the 18 Chorales of Bach, Free . . 0c
to be given by 'Prof. Marilyn
Mason of the music school in FEATURING
the Chapel of Concordia College,
4090 Geddes Road. She will be OPUS SIX
assisted by the Chamber Choir,
with Thomas Hilbish, conductor. '
Peace-Freedom
Garskof for Congress
Planning Meeting
Meet Candidate
Fridays Sept. 1,3x,
Union Room 3R, 3:00
New Politics Party
Sponsored by Friends of CNP
CINEMA II
PRESENTS
"REQUIEM
CA~D A
A
BECAUSE OF THE STAGGERING RESPON
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS TO BRING HI
MAN IS BEING RETIRED-THE MOVIE I-
THIS MONTH-THIS MAY BE
YOUR L)
ZORBA
i
TONITE!! 11:00 P.M. ONLY
THE DIRECTOR OF "ROSEMARY'SBABY"
BRINGS BACK TO THE SCREEN
Tickets on Sale at 7:00 P.M.-Show at 11:00 P.M.
"A
tour-dee
sex and
ROMAN POLANSKF'S suspense!"
ACADEMY
AWARDS
ANTHONY QUINN
ALAN BATES
Irgk it-rrAA
"'ZOl
IS A
A
ra
"A gran
:,
Vu mm 0TT-
i
I
I. - I