Friday, January 29, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Friday, January 29, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAiLY Dawn's (oCk Tree Times': A light on the rock horizon I Satie and Ives Delta SiFmaDelta Dental Fraternity EASY PICK-ItP By CARL HERSTEIN A recent release on t!e B0L11 label has risen like a light on the musical horizon, and the group which performs this current hit single is appropriately called "Dawn." The song "Knock Three Times on the Ceiling if you Want me, Twice on the Pipe is the Ans- wer is No", is well on its way to becoming a landmark in Rock Music, due to both the distinction of its musical style and the scopne of its theme as expressed in its free-form lyrics. The song is a pointed comm n- tary on modern society, in of;;or- ating insight into problems o communication, alienation and current sexual mores. The muic reinforces each of these seoa _t. themes and gives them a coherent framework as well. For examp as the groups leaid singe: int:e. in a voice pulsing with latente - uality, the words "Knock three times", we hear the lone paind( thr)b of the drums, uniting not merely the theme of alienation \hich runs th roughout. but also te poignant cry of the young adolscent, experiencing frustra- tion of his nascnet sexual drives. We have musical punctuation of liquid, lyrical lphrasing, while still sticking strictlv to a bubblegum The symbolic sound and con- an extent, that the ereat ache of alienated youth of love. becomes our own. Th lyris e stripped down to setials, so that a few sho lines expose thedilemma of an enti: socity. No stale rhe- toric or the need for communica- ion er, but rather an indelible ima e of the longing for dialogue: "Knock thre times on the ceiling if you wnt me ...' Modern man, alone in his prefab apartment, pleading for freedom from his ab- ject alienation, yet painfully aware of the possibility of nothing more than a mechanized response: "Twice on the pipe if the answer is no." The lyrical structure is unen- cumbered with any forced pattern, but rather changes from rhyme to free verse with unabashed spon- taneity. In contrast to the hack- neyed phrasing of most recent rock lyrics use of a new technique, the non-rhyme, is perfected. Count the many times I say you How in my silence I adore you ... Obviously, this development owes much to folk and country styles: to an extent at least equal to the influence Simon and Garfunkle seem to have shown in these lines. Yet, the touch of the sensual is retained: I can hear thebmusic playing I can see your body swaying,.. The romantic impu1se, though cooly restrained, remains, behind the yearning strains of bass guitar. Perhaps much of the ideological attractiveness of the song is its dialectical relevence. A stratified society is signified by the hierar- chical apartment house, separating man from man. One floor below me You don't even know me I love you. But in the dialectics of Dawn, synthesis-the classless Nirvana-- may come if we tap the wellsprings of our consciousness. Knock three times And I'll meet you in the hall- way... It is not mere chance then, that this group is known as Dawn. The promise shown in their earlier work "Candida," as well as their optimistic viewpoint ("We can make it together/ I promise life will be sweeter/ cause it says so in my dreams") shines through. But as in all great art, the chal- lenge passes now to the beholder. Here, it is the call to meet in that hallway of the spirit. by radiating the light of the new day. This calls for more than a mere pat response if we are i o prevent a ray of hope from becoming a mere pipe dream, (Con ;rflued from F',;uc :2 and the Prelude to the 3rd Act are any indication, it deserves better exposure. The flip side offers Janacek's "Lachian Dances," about which the composer writes, "a song of praise to my homeland . , . I send this music out into the world, full of hushing notes, full, of laughing, twittering, and written in the late 1800's, the thoughtful melodies." The work dances were not performed for has a curious history. Although twenty years, and the proofs of a piano version made by Jana- cek in 1928 waited another two decades for publication. He had nothing to be ashamed of, cer- tainly. The six dances are lav- ishly orchestrated in the tradi- tion of Brahms and-Dvorak's ef- forts in the realm of folk dances, and manage to be live- ly and pleasant despite the ma- e rial. somewhat more ban:al than that used by his predeces- sors. Last and least is a re-re-re- lease of three Tschaikovsky bai- let suites in their intrepid per- formances by Ormandy and nis Philadelphians. This is one of a series of two-record sets on Columbia devoted to popular works of sundry composers. I am able to listen to Tschaikovsky only in the concert hall, where .it truly possible to appreciate his genius in orchestration. On records, the enormous sound is gone, and one is left with his melodies, which are not to my taste. Presumably the album would make a nice gift for somneone who has no others by Tschai- kovsky. After this one, he won't need any others. "OPEN" TG "LIVE BAN D" FRI., JAN. 29 6-9 p m. 1502 HILL STREET Model 124 h, 1_i;htwe " hf rf/aNe d'ih , 7' 1' For the student body: '~Genuine SAuthentic ~'Navy PEA COATS $25 Suzes 3 4 to 46 CHECKMATE State Street at Liberty r P + U1 61uItllnMk - WORMINOMMONEWPO"' - _ 4 ' J rLrlRSCO£a YOU NEVER I iEARI IT SO GOOD il-l Ann Arb 618 S. Main I IJIJYS or-East Lansing Phone 769-470( hrouaq Quality Eouipment" "Quality Sound T U' group to play in N.Y. Daily Classifieds Get Res The University of Michigan Contemporary Directions En- semble has been chosen by the Walter W. Naumberg Founda- tion to perform in New York City's Town Hall on April 20, according to Prof. Leslie Bas- sett, chairman of the U-M music composition department. Prof. Hodkinson is currently on leave and is serving as Com- poser-in-Residence for the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. He is participating in a project sponsored by the Ford Foundation to place composers in selected American cities for two-year periods so that they can become involved in musical groups. Now in its nird year of a four-year Rockefeller Founda- tion project, the U-M's Contem- porary Directions Ensemble was invited by the Naumberg Foun- dation to participate with other inresidence chamber groups in a competition to determine w\ hich one would play two per- formances in New York this spring. In an unp ecedented decision, the Foundation chose both the U-M Ensemble and the Contemporary Group of the Univ rsity of Washington. Each will present a program of American contemporary music. The Naumberg Foundation has given awards to contempor- ary American composers for a number of years and also spon- sors free concerts in Central Park, New York City. 11 0Seven I I =d I I i + Use Daily Classifieds + Daily-Terry MeCar by THE VARIETY SHOW pictured ai nve is only one of the booths and displays at the World's Fair, sponsored by the International Students Association. The Fair opens tomorrow and runs through Saturday at East Quad. -L , ' : ;; ar t . > <: . N, 'o- i } n . a { . i o tiey '^ ' mo pappA, And They Iz SOONER THAN YA THINK (FEBRUARY 6, HILL AUD.) DEMETRIO'S INTRODUCES: the a 1121 s. university:daily 10am-3am OW Tnt CONTINENTAL TYROEN By DUN HAMS $24 & $28 I