Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, September 19, 1968
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY
music
Procol Harum and a
few words about rock
Homecoming '68:
Dionne and Cosby
By LITTLE SHERRI FUNN
Kids Expert
I used to like going with
some friends to one of the
small places where there would
be a light show of sorts, some
relaxed people not too con-
cerned with their image, and,
most important, a loud band."
A good, loud band.
We would sit on the carpeted
steps and sing/scream/jump to
the music, letting the band
know if we dug them and ex-
pecting in return the best
they had to offer. We respond-
ed as honest people to what
we knew to be honest music,
and we -demanded that the
band do the same.
Result: creative, joyous music
and the community cigarette.
Audience and band getting to-
gether and creating something
new between them, which, after
all, should be the ultimate goal
of live rock performances.
Point of Information: A
band is as good as its audi-
ence.
But now, although the small
places are still here and pay-
ing rent, the old spirit is gone,
and with it I fear, some of the
momentum that has caused the
last two years to be so in-
credibly productive rockwise
Point of Information Two:
Monday night SRC and Procol
Harum played at the Fifth Di-
mension. Let's wait a minute'
before we talk about the groups
and spend some time on the
audience.
Overweight junior .high girls
in Nehru blouses and ill-fitting
mini-skirts. Sophomore boys
shocking the hell out of the
old man .with sideburns. Cali-
fornia girls with creases in their
striped pants. And zero, none,
No reaction whatsoever to any-
thing that went on onstage.
Now I don't hate obnoxious
kids, God knows, but I do ob-
Dionne Warwick and Bill Cos-
by will provide the big Homecom-
ing, concert this year.
But not together. For the first
time, Homecoming will present
two major concerts, adding a
And after the football game a
reception will be held in honor
of Dr. Hazel Losh, recently re-
tired astronomy professor and tra-
ditional football supporter.
*
Thursday night performance to Universities Activities Center
the traditional Saturday night af- workers add that "the increased
fair. . seating capacity of the new Events
Miss Warwick will be in concert Bldg., reaching upwards of 13,000
Thursday, Oct. 24, t h e opening seats, has m a d e it possible to
day of Homecoming. Cosby will draw the big name entertainers
appear Saturday, Oct. 26. Both who are scheduled to appear on
concerts will be held in the new campus this fall."
University Events Bldg.{
Uniersty vens Bdg.Entries for the Homecoming
Homecoming will also offer a ' Enrest re doecoming
Friday night budget special in the 1Queen contest are due Oct. 4 at
good old Intramural Bldg. Two UAS headquarters in the League.
local groups, The Fox and The Any housing unit, sorority or
Byzantine Empire, will play for fraternity may enter a candidate
the price of $.50 a head. The first round of judging will
The weekend will of course in- be held Oct. 9. Semi-finals will
lude the traditional parade, a be held Oct. 15. The queen and
Homecoming Queen contest, Sat- her court will be chosen at final
urday morning contests a n d selection Oct. 23.
games, and the football game be- Tne queen will be crowned on
tween t h e Michigan Wolverines Tnursday, Oct. 23 at the Events
and the Minnesota Gophers for Bldg. concert.
the much-coveted Little Brown
Jug.
Homecoming '68 will also fea-
ture an expanded Alumni Rela-
tions program. Fraternities a n d
sororities will hold open housesA
Saturday morning f o r returningDIAL8-6416
alumni. - "A SIZZLER
-I FROM FRANCE--
-Daily-Eric PergeauxI
Brooker, Fisher, and Trower 1, Audience 0
ject to what they're doing, to
rock.
They sit on the floor like
cattle, looking impassively at
the band. An occasional lass'
enamored with her torso sways
softly back and forth and a
shaggy kid might nod his head
but that's all the Image allows
these days. No dancing. No re-
sponse. No. reply.,
They clap a little after every
song whether they liked it or
not, whether it moved them or
not, whether it meant anything
to them or not. Stupid zombies.
Result: the band gets by on
quite a bit less than creative,
joyous music and nobody cares.
There is no rapport between
audience and band, almost as
if both are in a vacuum. Every-
body smokes his own ciga-
rette.
The last time kids got out-
ide of the music like that was
n the pre-Beatle '60s and we
were rewarded with pound for
pound, disc for disc; some of
the worst tripe ever put on,
wax. And if the present trend
of sitting and detachment con-
tinues, (and I trust it shall),
bad rock will happen again.
(We've always had bad rock
and always will. It's just when
it sells so many millions of
albums that I get angry.)
Good rock is music that gets
into you, music that cuts across
records
338 golden Clapton seconds
the lines of some of the things
that you've been bothered with
lately, and makes you happy,
sad and want to move. It is
movement. No movement, no
rock. Movement, rock.
To the groups now.kSRC usedJ
to be called the Scot Richard
Case and they're a local group
with a recently released Capitol
album under their collective
belts.
SRC is a prime example of
a young, immature group
searching desperately for a
sound they can call their own.
Aside from their shoddy vocal
work and an occasional choppy
lead guitar, their sound isn't
that bad, it's just that they
make you say, "So what?"
They need a dominant per-
sonality, a guiding light of
some sort, a raison d'etre if
they are to succeed musically.
At present they sound like
they're going off in half a
dozen directions, none of them
rela ted.
But they are young, and ta-
lented in an unpolished sort of
manner, and they might make
it yet. They did one really nice
song called "Exile" which is also
on their album, although there
it was mixed atrociously.
Procol Harum was the feat-
ured act, of course and I can-
not say enoughs about this
grossly underrated, extremely
talented group.
First if all, they reproduce
their sound very well on stage,
making it all fit in as well as
it does on their two superb al-
bums. Their repertoire con-
sisted of some album cuts, the
best of which was "Shine on
Brightly," title tune of their
new A & M album, and an
amazing version of the classic
"Goin' Down Slow."
The stupid audience greeted
"Shine on Brightly" with as
much enthusiasm as they ex-
pended on SRC's worst effort.
As musicians, Procol Harum
is so competent and at ease
with its material that I was re-
minded of a group of old re-
laxed session men recording a
time-worn rock song in the con
fines of a studio. But they're
too deep for that.
Gary Brooker of the murky
voice and keyboard provides a
focal point for the group. Only
once before (Grace on "White
Rabbit") have I ever heard a
more perfect union between
words and voice quality.
Sitting quietly at the Ham-
mond is Matthew Fisher, weav-
ing the basic textures of sound
for the group. Everybody else
peeks out behind the organ
work occasionally, but Matthew
is always there. Robin Trower
is on lead and he's, one of the
top three rock guitarists I've
ever heard live, along with
Robbie Krieger and Jerry Gar-
cia. Trower brings the drama
to Procol Harum by' cutting
across the keyboards' sweetness
with his raging guitar. The
Amboy Duakes might scream
out their lead, but Trower's is
pure rage.
B. J. Wilson on drums is a
very "right's musician and com-
plements the group well. The
bass player is adequate, but I
don't know who he was.
As a whole, Procol Iarum
leaves no tipges around the ed-
ges of theit sound. They make
everything they do count heav-
ily for them. In spite of the
emotions and subjects their'
music deals with, they remain
tasteful, a rarity these days.
I must mention Keith Reid,
Procol Harum's lyricist and the
only composer who learned Bob
Dylan's lesson of Highway 61
and Blonde on Blonde.
They are a murky, half-light
group. Murky, half-light. Listen
to their stuff at 3:00 in the
morning.
Sonny Bono has been known
to cook his famous spaghetti
dinner for guys who drop in
at his and Cher's lovely sub-
urban home outside L.A. Save
some for us, eh, Sonny?
The thing that bugs Don and
the Goodtimes the most is
being compared to Paul Revere
and the Raiders. Not good
enough for you, Don?
Ralph of the fab Happen-
ings, hopes to play Hamlet
someday. Forget it Ralph-you
stink.
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By W. REXFORD BENOIT
Really, if you've got any
bread to spend for music you
should walk up to the MC5 and
put it in their hands, because
they're pretty good and work-
ed hard to get that way.
Even though they often bru-
talize the ears.
Or if that idea doesn't do
anything to you, you could go
to the record store instead and
buy "An Anthology of British
Blues."
Of you could study or go to
the movies, or go to sleep.
Or embrace life.
But if you bought "Antholo-
gy" you would probably enjoy
338 golden seconds of Eric
Clapton playing the way he
played before the Free Press
immortalized him as the "cre-
ative genius" of the Cream.
Mick Jagger plays harp be-
hind Claptoh and that rates an
historical footnote. And it's
edifying to know that Jagger
was playing music before Baby
Jane Holzer, Tom Wolfe's
woman of the year about 30
years ago in the early '60's, said
his fat lips really turned her
on.
You would probably also en-
joy John Mayall's Bluesbreak-
ers playing two Mayall origin-
als, particularly if you're tired
of heavy music and you think
the Vanilla Fudge sounds like
a funeral band.
The other people on "An-
thology" are just other people.
They play solidly; but aren't
very inventive.
Mayall's piano player really
knows how to do it, and the
bassist behind Clapton's three
solos plays like he listened to
Chuck Berry a lot. You all re-
member Chuck Berry, don't
you? Ask for his new record
next time you go to the store.
It's timely and beautiful.
So, if 40 violins and a brass
section in rock make you want
to baroque, return to the simple
days whon, blues were blues
with John ayall, Eric Clapton
and a kid named Jagger on
"Anthology" produced 'by the
Immediate recording company.
* * *
Part of reviewing records for
The Daily is that you get to
keep what you write about. So
with that in mind,. I volun-
teered to listen to singer Gor-
don Alexander's "Gordon's
Buster."
Gordon's gimmick is that he
sings each syllable of all the
lyrics one syllable to a beat.
The result is dope-rock for
cocktail lounges, or dope-rock
for people who like to march,
take your choice.
Where else but on Columbia
records could you hear songs
like "Thinking in Indian Again"
(catch the internal rhythme?),
and lyrics like "That is Miss
Mary from the library/She's
go my mind circling/I look at
'her my heart turns inward/
Gossamer crystal bell rings."?
A huge paragraph in the
notes titled "Credit where credit
is due" tells us who "helped
bring a Gordon Alexander
from St. Louis, Mo., to a wide
audience."
There are "show biz helpers"
like Tiny Tim,' and "down-
homers" like "Jo, Mary Lynn,
Tish, Chris, Ron, Desiree, How-
ard, and Rick . . ."-49 names
in all.'
Gordon's autobiography is
also in the notes. It says cryp-
tically that he was born "Dec.
10, 1941, St. Louis, Mo.; Died:
Dec. 15, 1962, St. Louis, Mo.;
Born: Dec. 16, 1962, St. Louis,
Mo."
IVant tot ethoSandpopers!.
They 're coming with
The' Bob Hope, Shw
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21
8:30 P.M.
University Events Building
Ticket price $3.00
Ticket Sales in the lobby of the SA..
pnd at the door on performance night
Presented by Michigan Fraternities
and Sororities
I
T- -iw -I F-1
SHOWS AT 1:30 & 7:30
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT
In new seen spIendor..The most magntkent ief are ever!
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IN PERSON
BELAFONTE
BLOCK SALES
September 18 and 19
GENERAL SALES
September 20-25
Lobby SAB
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
..-8:30 P.M... .
University Special Events
Building
my
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The -hanging was the best shoW in town.
But they made two mistakes. They hung
the wrong man and they didn't finish the job.
U
Phone 434-0130
Friday and Saturday
Eves. and All Day
Sunday
$250
2 miles south of Washtenow
on Carpenter Rd.
All Other
Performances.
$200
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THE MICHIGAN BANDS
Take Great Pride in Presenting
JOHNNY CARSON,
IN PERSON
with
Doc Severinson and Orchestra
Marilyn Maye
Bud and Cece Dance Team
in 2 Shows at 7:00 and 10:00 P.M.
A LEONARD FREEMAN PRODUCTION coa, ng E:EaE
INGER STEVENS-PAT MINGLE as Judge Fenton
2nd WEEK!
frogram
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Dial
jTAE
SHOWS AT
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5:05-7:10
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A k- L~ - '~7 , - uT~-7v - - 'ill1
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