Page Two

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Thursday, January 20, 197:

Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, January 20, 197



records


II -- - - ____________

Traffi
By HERB BOWIE
The low spark of high heeled
boys (Island SW-9306), despite
some reassuring moments, is a
disappointing album. It's not
that it isn't good, but that it
isn't great-and it could have
been. Nearly all its flaws can
be traced to personnel losses
Traffic has suffered since the
original combination of Capaldi,
Wood, Mason and Windwood pro-
duced the group's definitive al-
bums back in '68.
To start off, we can acquit
Rick Grech, former member of
Blind Faith. His bass playing is
faultless throughout the album
and his brief appearance on vi-
1lin is harmless enough.
The replacement of Jim Cap-
aldi on drums by Jim Gordon
was the first mistake. Capaldi
is no virtuoso, but he is a good,
economical drummer in the
great tradition of Ringo Starr
and Charlie Watts. Gordon, on
the other hand, is much too busy.
He's constantly throwing inlicks
that do nothing but get in the
way of the music.
If the arrival of Gordon was
damaging, then the addition of
Rebop on congas was near sui-
cidal. If you want to sound like
a speed freak in high gear about
to blow his engine (like San-
tana), then a congas player is
just what you need. If you're
trying to play quiet, peaceful
music, as is Traffic on this al-
bum, a congas player is -defi-
nitely irritating. Unfortunately,
that obvious fact doesn't stop
Rebop from playingon'nearly
every cut on the album.
The most important personnel
change, was the loss of Dave
Mason. Although 'Mason had al-
most nothing to do with the
sound of the group, he was re-
sponsible for about half its songs.
His departure left the group
with only one proven songwriter,
the team of Winwood and Cap-
aldi, and they just don't seem
able to produce enough material
for the group.
Traffic tried to cope with its
lack of material in two ways,
neither of them very satisfying.
First, it added to Winwood-
Capaldi's meagre output a tune
by Capaldi alone and one by,
Gordon and Grech together. Al-
though these two songs aren't
really bad, they are not up to
the usual high standards of Win-
yood-Capaldi or Mason.
Even after putting the rookies
to work, the group still only had
six songs, which is kind of low
for a rock album. Their only
option was to distend a few songs
with a lot of solos. Whereas the
group once improvised only to
embellish the basic song, they
now tend to leave the song be-
hind in order to jam. All but one
of the cuts suffers as a result.
By now you're probably con-
vinced that Low Spark is one of
the Top Ten Bummers of 1971,
so let me hasten to change that
impression. Steve Winwood and
Chris Wood are two of the most
talented, mature musicians in
rock and, despite the album's
flaws, their artistry shows
through at times. "Hidden Treas-
gpre," at 4:16 the shortest thing
on the record, is nearly classic
Traffic. And the title tune, de-
spite its tedious 12:10 length, is
Program Information 86416
TONIGHT
AT
7 and 9 P.M.

"AN ABSOLUTELY
STUNNING FILM!
A TOPNOTCH
THRILLER!"
*ddn NEW YORK MAGAZINE

s rookies damage a good album
equally good. The other two There's no excitement or vi- and put it on their album, but Roger Glover, Albert Lee,I
Windwood - Capaldi s o n g s are tality here. The music is as release it as a single as well. In Pairce and the London Symph
pretty rewarding also, at least monotonously heavy as Lawrence the hands of The Velvet Under- Orchestra conducted by Malc
until the group .tarts jamming. Welk's is light. True, there's a ground, "Rock and Roll" is not Arnold. This is just The D
Quicksilver is another group little, superfluous improvisation, only a great rocker but perhaps Purple trying to trick people
that's been deprived of some of but in this case that only makes the classic statement about thinking they're daringly ecle
its key members. Both Nicky the songs' basic structures seem rock 'n roll. Detroit's clumsy just because they're thrown
Hopkins, famed keyboards mas- all the more boring, rendition is a travesty. gether some quasi-classical

Ian
ony
olm
eep
into
ctic
to-
ar-

Iv
TONIGHT ONLY
TARGETS
1968, Dir. by Peter Bogdanovich


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4

ter, and John Cipollina, the
group's long-time lead guitarist,
have deserted the group and left
Dino Valenti to write, sing, play
guitar, and pilot the group in

All the above would make this
group just another aspiring
Grand Funk were it not for the
fact that Detroit had the nerve
to only butcher a fantastic song


So, the next time you hear
"Rock and Roll" blaring at you
from the radio, do yourself the
favor of calling the DJ and re-
questing the real thing. It's on
The Velvet Underground's Load-
ed LP and it'll make Detroit
sound like the pretentious pansies
they are.
Gemini Suite (Capitol SMAS-
870) is an album with Jon Lord,
Tony Ashton, Yvonne Elliman,

rangements and some rock im-
provisation and seasoned the
whole thing with a little astrol-
ogy. The result is about what
you would expect from a'group
that's never been noted for its
success in any of the three fields:
a boring, but listenable, album.
Its one strong point is the in-
clusion of not only the names of
every member of the London
Philharmonic, but their astrolo-
gical signs as well! A real bonus.

. . images

J

Friday and Saturday

V,

STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
with Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh,
Kim Hunter and Karl Malden
Directed by Elia Kazan
Screenplay by Tennessee Williams

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shown at
7&9

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Aud. A

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general.
The group's l a t e s t effort,
Quicksilver, is thoroughly un-
distinguished. The songs, mostly
by Valenti, are nice. Valenti's
voice is excellent, but the ar-
rangements are really inept. In-
stead of working out good, basic
arrangements that the listener
can hang on to while the group
improvises, the group just sort
of plays whateyer it feels like.
Especially guilty is the lead gui-
tarist (either Valenti or the un-
identified s e c o n d guitarist),
whose spastic solos seemingly
never c e a s e. This unending,
formless improvisation makes it
hard to distinguish between cuts,
so that the whole record begins
to sound like a single work with
short breaks every so often to
give the guitarist's fingers a
rest.
On Detroit (Paramount PAS-
6010), Mitch Ryder plays with
Detroit. Dave Marsh of Creem
says that this group's sound is
"100 per cent virile, American
rock 'n roll." No way. This
group's sound is the musical
equivalent of shoving a stick in
your pants, and about as con-
vincing.

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DIAL 5-6290
ENDS TONIGHT
"GO SEE $ (DOLLARS)
AND BE HAPPY!"
}----Wanda Hale, N.Y. Daily News
WARREN BEATTY
and
GOLDIE HAWN
in
FRIDAY
Paul Newman in
"Sometimes A Great
Notion"

P




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CLASSICAL & POPULAR
SHEET MUSIC

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The play, The Cage, is written, produced and performed

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