Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, April 9, 1972 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, April 9, 1972 I records Hendrix disc: A flawed gem A 'musical party' at the Ark By MIKE HARPER Warner/Reprise has released athird Hendrix album post- humously; a flawed gem en- titled Hendrix in the West (Re- prise MS 2049). Unlike the mas- terful studio works of The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge, this entire album was recorded live and therein may lie some of its faults. This l.p. would shine for almost - any artist; but for Hendrix, it's wishy-washy at best. The album features eight songs, recorded at San Diego, Berkeley and/or the Isle of Wight; three feature Hendrix with Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, the other five with Mitchell and Billy Cox. Side one starts off with an introduction -"Let's have a welcome for Billy Cox . . . Mitch Mitchell... and THE man with THE guitar, Jimi H e n d r i x" (appropriate enough) and then we get two and one-half minutes of tuning up and sick feedback entitled "The Queen." This whole con- coction (?) dies into "Sgt. Pep- per's Lonely Hearts Club Band" which is performed so loosely that it sounds as if Hendrix for- got what he was playing and just decided to fake it. The words and music are in con- stant struggle with one another: the song is easily and best for- votten. Rolling Stone reported that, Hendrix "chewed gum throughout" his appearance at the Isle of Wight; his apparent boredom shows in these two pre- viously-mentioned cuts. After the two Isle of Wight numbers, comes the best song on the album: Hendrix playing and singing "Little Wing" so beautifully you'll want to cry - and perhaps you will. Each sa- cred note cascades, and his voice is so clear and knowing, that it cannot be denied. It's a shame the song ends so quickly, as Hendrix leaves it harshly with a short wah-wah solo and final chord, to the sound of falling rain from Mitchell's cymbals. This song, and the other two re- TV, Movies Tonight: Ulysses-6:00 (7) Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River - 7:30 (2) Modesty Blaise - 9:00 (7) Longest Hundred Miles - 11:20 (9) The Chinese Ring - 11:30 (2) Monday: Rapture -9:00 (7) To Each His Own - 11:15 (9) Carribbean - 11:30 (2) Tuesday: In Broad Daylight -- 8:30 (7) Terror by Night-- 11.:30 (2) An American in Paris - 11:30 (50) Glory Brigade -- 11:30 (9) Wednesday: Night Train to Munich -11:30 (2) Oh, Men! Oh, Women! - 11:30 (9) Cry of the Hunted - 11:30 (50) Thursday: Pendulum --9:00 (2) Tom Brown"s School Days - 11:30 (2) Too Much, Too Soon - 11:30 (9) Three Bites of the Apple -- 11:30 (50) Friday: Hour of the Gun - 8:30 (4) Cabinet of Dr. Caligari -- 8:30 (56) Omar Khayyam - 11:30 (2) Spirit of St. Louis -- 11:30 (9) Tribute to a Bad Man - 11:30 (50) Spider Woman -- 1:30 (2) Saturday: Two on a Bench - 8:30 (7) The Harness - 9:00 (4) Lieutenant Wore Skirts - 11:20 (9) Gigot -- 11:30 (7) Damn the Defiant - 11:30 (2) corded along with it at San Diego are the three best cuts on the album. The final cut on side one is an at-first-glance horrendous thir-' teen minute version of Hendrix' bluesy "Red House" - but it's not all that bad actually. Al- though Hendrix sounds as if he is playing as-many-notes-as-he can-in-a-minute, he is playing. He sounds nice and loose, yet tight enough to be satisfying in a technical sense. In the num- ber's 'driving moments, Hendrix plays catch-up guitar, as he struggles to keep up with the music - a struggle he takes on oh so well. Side two is much more rock- and-roll oriented as Hendrix re- turns to the "classics." Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is performed with excessive guitar and some new life. Hendrix' own "Lover Man" is a remake of his Monterey version of "Rock Me Baby": the new words hurt much more than they help. Then Hendrix completes the rock cy- cle with bis jazzy interpretation of Carl Perkins' oldie. "Blue Suede Shoes": the song becomes an imaginative well-arranged tune, easily balancing out the weaknesses of this side's first two cuts. Last up, are eight glorious minutes of "Voodo Chile." Al- though some moments lack lus- tre. "Chile" grows on and with you. Recorded in San Diego, the song explodes note by note: driving the listener hypnotically onward. Ultra-violent in every sense, the music swells cere- moniously, exposing the evil and uncertainty hidden within each note. The evil fails to disappear as the guitar slashes echo out- leaving all mysteriously unsatis- fied. The music, overall, is good but it lacks the Hendrix brilliance that one gets so accustomed to after listening to his earlier al- bums. The album's main prob- lems stem from the poor live performance of Billy Cox and the oftentimes erratic work of Mitch Mitchell; although Noel Redding sounds fine throughout his work on the album. Natur- ally, a great deal of Hendrix' meticulous studio techniques are missing. If you're a Hendrix dis- ciple, you'll want this album for old time's sake if .nothing more; "Little Wing" is worth the price of the album in itself. But if you're just getting around to discovering Hendrix' musical genius, well . . . buy any .of the earlier Warner/Reprise works and BELIEVE. By DIANE LEVICK Remember back in kinder- garten how you sat enraptured while your teacher read fairy tales and folklore to you during story hour? Had you gone to the Ark's an- nual ceilidh (musical party) this weekend, you probably would have had as much fun. The "party" was hosted by five folk- singer-storytellers: David Jones, Barry O'Neill, Roger Renwick, Marshall Dodge, and Michael Cooney. Taking turns, they introduced an unusual performing format to a cramped and overcrowded, but enthusiastic audience. Each performer offered a song or story, which often set a theme for the next. Renwick, for in- stance, began Friday night with a song about a pregnant girl de- serted by the sailor to blame. Cooney followed it up with a song "where the girl gets off a little better." There was no set program, then, as individual folksingers usually plan for the Ark. The five threaded their way through themes and inspired each other to think up new ones. Cooney started a battle theme with a tune about the Irish brigade fighting for the Union during the U.S. Civil War. He used a six-string guitar accom- paniment for this song, though he played 12-string, concertina, banjo, and sang a capella oth- selections during the evening. Jones, whose native land is England, sang a mournful Brit- ish versus French battle song a capella. The audience and the other performers joined in with some pleasant harmony. O'Neill continued the theme with an Irish ode to Napoleon Bonaparte -the Irish once thought Napo- leon might help them rid their island of the British. Although themes were fol- lowed, the songs often varied in mood from, one to the next. Sometimes the audience reacted accordingly, but occasionally after a joking mood, they - and the singers - couldn't get back into a sad, serious vein to listen to a lament. One of the highlights of the ceilidh on the lighter side was Marshall Dodge's stories, deliv- ered in various accents. One of several in a Maine dialect told of "Virgil Bliss: the dirtiest man in the state of Maine and how he managed to get hitched up with Hettie." Apparently Virgil's secret was to always approach Hettie downwind, so as not to offend her with his smell. Dodge's "dogs and horseflesh" story seemed to go over just. as well with the audience, if not better. Dodge told it "in the spirit of American vaudeville, like on an old Edison record." He even vocalized record scratches as sound effects. The story, not the music, was definitely the focus of the ceil- idh: Many of the songs were sung a capella, and most of the accompaniments on guitar were simple, soft strums or mainly pattern picking. Practically ev- ery song told a story, whether it was a love ballad or whaling tale. As for the audience, it seemed to respond very well to the em- phasis on the songs' story lines instead of the performers' mu- sical virtuosity. It warmed up quickly at the beginning of the evening and remained so. Al- though there wasn't much clap- ping or stomping, there was plenty of singing along and good humor. A sure sign of the ceilidh's success was the large crowd that remained for the third set. Nor- mally, a much smaller number stays on so late, but Friday quite a few stayed past 1 a.m. Tonight the Ark will again de- part from its usual format and offer a Woody Guthrie benefit. Marjorie Guthrie, Woody's wife, will fly in to help raise money for a fund she initiated to com- bat Huntington's Chorea - the nerve disease Woody died from. Bob White, Pam Ostergren, and Barry O'Neill will perform. Doors open at 8:30 p.m., and ad- mission is $1.50. EUROPE $165 ROUND TRIP NYC/Luxembourg/NYC Youth fore to age 30 National Bank of Ypsilanti Travel Bureau 611 W. Cross St., Ypsi 483-8556 i __ ___. _ . , _,. _ x:.._ _ __.^_.m . _ _ images . MONDAY NIGHT ONLY! Dziga Vertov's MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA Dir. DZIGA VERTOV, 1928 Revolution in form and content See the classic work of -the rediscovered hero of the cinema's po- litical left. PLUS- "'VI U OF M FOLKLORE SOCIETY presents Son House, Mance Lipscomb, Robert Pete Williams Stars of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, and possibly three of the greatest blues singers alive today. April.15 Power Center 8:00 P.M. ALL SEATS RESERVED-$3.00 Tickets available today and every day at the Michigan Union ticket office from 11 A.M.-2 P.M. only. FOR INFO CALL 761-6945 Don't miss 'A Life Well Spent': "A portrait of the musical route of Mance Lipscombe" Sunday April 9, 9 pm, at Cinema I in Angell Hall. I Daily-Jim Wallace ---------- I MUSIC: IRIS BELL Rock 'n' Roll Woman with STEVE ELSE and DEREK PIERSON COME IN AND GET DOWN Sunday 8:30-12:30 Friday 10:00-1:30 Wednesday 10:00-1 :30 Saturday 11:30-1:45 Thursday 10:00-1:30 102 S. First St., Ann Arbor I The Ann Arbor Inter-Church Blood Donors Association will open a clinic tomorrow in the social hall at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1400 W. Stadium. Appoint- ments for 1 to 7 p.m. may be made by calling Washtenaw Coun- ty Red Cross Center, 971-5300. For The Student Body: LEVI'S Corduroy. Bells Twelve Colors CHECKMATE State Street at Liberty REST PICTURE OF THE YEAR! -National Boadof Review 'I Turn on. Turn on to spring. Turn on to music. Turn on to WCBN-FM. Turn on to 89.5. Turn on. Turn on. Tune in. SHOWCASE FOUR! hen ri k i bsen r~r A DOLL'S HOUSE FRIEZE ARENA THEATRE Thurs.-Sat., April 13-15 Curtain 8 P.M. Box Office Opens Daily at 2:00 I THE WORLD'S BEST, PLAYS FOR THE FIRST TIME AT A U.S. UNIVERSITY 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15 CRISLER ARENA Tickets now on sale-First Come, First Served Students $1 General Public $2 Ij F I .. ATHLETIC TICKET OFFICE, Hoover and South State Streets 8:30 A.M. TO 5 P.M. DAILY 8:30 A.M. TO NOON SATURDAY II -I _ -- - -- -- - - - - -- - ---- - - - - - - - - - - - --- -- w -- - - I-am" FRIDAY-SATURDAY, APRIL 14-15; SPEND THE NIGHT & DAY WITH.. HASSIDIM! WHERE? The Hassidim will be at Shalom House, 1429 Hill Street in Ann Arbor, from 7 p.m. Friday until 9 p.m. Saturday. MEALS . . . provided at a few bucks a head-but you must make reservations. CALL 663-4129 it IKI , iCs I a breath-taking collection of exciting new 14K gold-filled Omega watches withrthe elegant look and nobility of precious gold. With unsurpassed craftsmanship, classic design, and the quality that says "Omega", these high-fashion watches are available in a graceful round dial, or for antique charm, see the Omega man's watch in a dramatic elliptical shape with Roman numerals. All conveniently fitted to your wrist with handsome, self-sizing mesh bracelets. U J~dTTX~I~l1 UAC-DAYSTAR Presents the final concert of semester on day classes end April 21 Fri. 1.50-3.00-4.50 reserved seats on sale now Mon.-Fri. 12-6 p.m. Michigan Union. Also at Salvation Rec- ords on Maynard St... . O Omega left - 14K gold-filled case.......$135 Also available with stick markers right - 14K white or yellow gold-filled case ..$125 Also available with full numerals You know you'll want to this concert, so get a seat early. make killer I s .vs N LN ' - - ..