THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Md
Thursday, January 14, 1971
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, January 14, 1971
records
I
Sea
By DANIEL ZWERDLING
The record business is boom-
ing, everybody is purchasing pop
records like mad and the pub-
lishers are flooding the market
with repetitive, imitative tripe
which costs nine cents per disc
to produce and sounds like it.
When some fine records come
out we should feel especially
grateful - like the proverbial
prisoner who kisses his captors
when the torture stops. T h e
first album - Sea Train --
glows in a class by itself. Buy it.
You could also purchase most of
the other five new records be-
low and feel happy that you did.
Sea Train, Capitol 659
Every once in a while a group
appears which features so extra-
ordinary a talent or sounds so
completely unique that it dom-
inates an entire field of music.
The country-folk field, T h e
Band and Crosby, Stills, Nash,
and Young. Now Sea Train will
join them. Someone put togeth-
er four talented musicians, key-
boards, guitar, drums and bass,
and then added Richard Greene,
the phenomenal virtuoso violin-
ist who has starred with Jim
Kweskin, Bill Munroe and The
Greenbrier Boys. Greene plays
with extraordinary technique
and feeling. He uses a wah-wah
pedal, besides.
Sea Train's debut album' is so
solid that one can tell the group
should last for a long time (bar-
ring internal conflicts or acts of
God). Some of the pieces bear
superficial similarities to The
Band - but then, The B a n d
doesn't have Richard Greene
and since most Sea Train num-
bers are written by members of
the group they have a distinc-
tive flavor.
The nicest piece on the album
is a long Song of Job.' a faith-
ful musical narrative of the
Bible tale about God testing
Job's faith. The story ends hap-
pily. More importantly, the Sea
Train version features sensitive
vocals by Lloyd Baskin (he
played in Hair), and wiley violin
squiggles in the parts about Sat-
an. In 'Job', like most of the
other songs, the lead vocal is
supported by close three-and
four-part harmonies - which
are usually sparse, almost never
carrying the major part of the
song like Crosby. Stills, Nash
and Young harmonies.
Richard Greene vets P n in-
struGental ell to himself f0.
B.S.). He starts out sounding
like a train and ends up sound-
ing like Richard Greene.
Sea Train's album drag's just
a bit now and then because it
lacks emotional variety: most
of the songs are solemn and in
slow or moderate tempo. One
can almost sense how nervous
and cautious the groun must be
recording their first album. Now
that they have established thm-
selves as musical stars, they can
relax and enjoy a good laugh.
Sea Train stars at Hill Aud.
this Saturday: anyone who -likes
music and misses it is nuts.
rrain2
ity that you might mistake it
for a guitar. The musicians on
this record play very adequately
-there are few chances for solo
breaks, since Buckley is the §olo
- and Buckley spices up t h e
sounds with an echo amplifier-
not a la Beach Boys, but a la
Miles Davis. {
Janey and Denis. Reprise 6414
This is an exciting album -if
you appreciate a man and wo-
man folk duo in the style of Ian
and Sylvia. Janey Schramm and
Denis Pereca haven't invented a
new style, but they have master-
ed an old one with a superb
blend of voices and expression.
It's difficult to believe t h a t
two voices can be so perfectly
matched. In some songs o n e
can't tell whether Janey is sing-
ing with her own overdub, whe-
ther Denis is singing with his
oyerdub or whether they a r e
singing together. Both h a v e
strong, pure voices without the
cautious excellence
'Blues Song'. In 'Another Day',
Janey and Denis sound genuine-
ly fresh, like two friends swag-
gering a little drunk down a dirt
road, with straw in their mouths
and apples in their pockets. They
enjoy singing. The only flop
on the album is an anti-war
song which lost its charm poli-
tically and musically five years
ago. "His son is off to the war/
Now what's the reason for?"
They should stick to music.
Mashmakhan. Epic 30235
Mashmakhan hail from Mon-
treal, which may make music
afficianados feel kindlier toward
Canada. They have enjoyed
some success around the coun-
try with a single "As Year's Go
By" which unfortunately is one
of the worst cuts on the album.
On the surface, Mashmakhan
sounds like Blood Sweat and
Tears or Ten Wheel Drive or any
one of the myriad jazz-influenc-
ed rock groups, but it's a more
subtle and unpretentious. You
sense real professionalism and
pride in their classical roots: no
one person glows on the album,
but all the instruments blend as
a unit. The guitar solos are al-
ways modest, creative, and never
impose on the rest of the group.
The singer is good, and very
clean and restrained - he does
not warble, or rasp, or slide.
Mashmakhan always knows
when a song is getting dull, and
breaks to a new rhythm or key
change and enlivens it.
Perhaps the best song on the
album is 'Letter from Zambia,'
which starts with a flute solo
backed by African bass drum
and rattle. The group chants in
unison in a solemn dirge, then
midway through the song breaks
into a moving, hipswinging
dance, and finally lets o o s e
Listen closely also to 'Gladwin,'
which features a flute and gut-
tar duet, and some nice singing
in octaves.
,. ,rages
Zoo, Mercury 61300
Everyone in Zoo is French -
they debuted at the Rock 'n Roll
Circus in Paris - but they sing
and play like America's Chicago.
It's another one of those jazz-
rock septets with sax and trum-
pet, not as predictable and pack-
aged as Chicago. and not as
subtle as Mashmakhan. Z o o
makes effective use of discord-
ant, backup chords which clash
witht the singer, generating a
pleasant tension. An outstand-
ing organ-piano player and elec-
tric violinist make this record
better than most similar groups.
Jellyroll. Kapp 3626
More of the same, but with a
driving animal beat which may
make you work up a sweat. The
singer sounds exactly like David
Clayton-Thomas. Jellyroll w ill
never make the top because they
can't avoid cliches: lots of
thumping bass and fuzz guitar,
too much shouting, and don't
they know that the scale has
more than two keys? T h i s
group gets tiresome after two
songs. Flip the needel from cut
to cut and I bet you won't know
the difference.
The place to meet
INTERESTING people
BACH CLUB,
presents
Life and Death Matters
in Bach's Cantata 106
A lecture perform9nce by
FREDERICK STRUUP
assisted by
ABBIE VAN DER WALKER
contralto
HUGH GULLEDGE
tenor
TIM MOUNT
bass
JANE HARDIE
recorder
JOHN FINK
recorder
NANCY CRITELLI
,cello
MR. STROUP
organ
Refreshments Afterwardsl
Thurs., Jon. 14, 8 p.m.
S. Quad West Lounge
EVERYONE WELCOME!
Positively No Musical
Knowledge Needed.
Further Info:
764-7638 or 769-2003
Petitioning
Now Open, For
CINEMA II BOARD
Interviews to be
held Wed., Jan. 20
and Thurs., Jan. 21
in 3516 S.A.B.
Sign up on S.G.C.
Bulletin Board,
S.A.B. Lobby
(ask at desk)
For further information;
761-7403 or 665-0428
BEST STEAK HOUSE
now serving
STEAK,.DINNERS
also
PORK CHOP 1.39
"includes Baked Potato, Salod, & Texas Toast
STEAKBURGER-.79
includes Baked Potato & Texas Toast
217 S. STATE ST.
(NEXT TO STATE THEATRE)
VA
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Tim Buckley. Starsailor, Warner
Bros. 1881
Tim Buckley is one of the few
middle 60's folk singers who has
changed with every album: now
he's so freaky you can scarecly
recognize him. Buckley's latest
a lbum is not, so much a collec-
tion of songs as it is pieces for
electronic instruments and voice.E
There's nothing here you'll be
able to whistle or play for your
friends on a guitar: the pieces
are open-ended tone poems with
free floating chords, imorovisa-
tional rhythms and instrumental
warbles, with Buckley wailing
through it all. He uses effective-
ly the tonality and timing of his
voice as the musical message,
not the words (which you can't
understand anyway). Some-
times -he strips his voice so
completely of any singing qual-
The Michigan Daily, edited and man-
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slightest waverings or rasps, but
with tremendous flexibility
which ranges from a robust,
bluesy sound to a hushed bal-
lad. They use country fifths a
lot, but their voices shift quick-
ly in and out of other harmon-
ics and constantly trade off the
harmony and melody: one bar
it's Janey on top and the next
it's Denis. That makes their
sound full and satisfying, not
vapid like some duos.
If you like Mama Cass, by
the way, but don't need a whole
album full of her, get this re-
cord: Janey's alto sounds re-
markably similar, especially in
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Thurs., Fri., Jan. 14-15
PRETTY POISON
dir. NOEL BLACK (1968)
Eco-freaks -- come see Tony Perkins and
Tuesday Weld try to clean things up by do-
ing-in a chemical plant.
Sat.-Sun.:WOMAN OF THE DUNES
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-Richard Schickel, Life
TURES Presents a BBS Produolon
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OPEN 1 P.M.
ows at 1:20-3:10-5-7-9 P.M.
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