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 _ _ _- - - _. i 1'* I Read and Use Daily Classifieds RUSHING? ! i1 Mart Crowley's ...iS not a musical. ACms Certe'rh mS Peceu'on, AN 4 GerxesR&e Tonight's Shows at 7 & 9 A REGISTER TODAY A T: your favorite dorm fishbowl panhel offiCe (sab) union lobby We'll be happy to answer your questions Call 769-6367 SIRLOIN-1.53: t I F LET-i.59* Daily Classifieds Get Results the Ann arbor film cooperative presents: the Beatles in liM. Ine4 *' '.:, '' ^,.. yellow submari tonight only thursday, jan. 14 angell hall-auditorium a 7:00 and 9:30 4 -Daily-Jim Judiis 75c 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- agec: by students at the University of Mienigan. News phone: 764-0552. Second Class postage paid at Ann Arbor. Mcb- igan. 420 Maynard St.. Ann Arbor Michigan 48104. Published daily Tues- day through Sunday morning Univer- sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by carrier. $10 by mat Summer Session published Tuesday through Saturday morning. Subscrip-" !on rates: $5. by carrier. $5 by mail 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 Classifieds 764-0557 Clossifieds For the student body: - Genuine' * Authentic # Navy PEA COATS $25 Sizes 34 to 46 CHECKMATE State Street at liberty I' . 1 691L-D r 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 2 f 764-0557 Classifieds 764-0557 Classifieds 764-0557 Classifieds 764-0557 Classifieds 764-0557 CLASSIFI EDS PRODUCE! 662-8871 75c ARCH ITECTURE AUDITORIUM 1f I Missed "Harvey"?-Don't Miss THIS SPECIAL STUDENT DISCOUNT! I A "YOU MUST SEE STATE COLUMBIA PIC theatre JACKf Dia l 662-6264 _"+ Si at State i' Lerty ~Sho THIS FILM[" -Richard Schickel, Life TURES Presents a BBS Produolon NICHOLSON _ 121A, ei F OPEN 1 P.M. ows at 1:20-3:10-5-7-9 P.M. R; ,114TRITT in 1 1®i 1nU BU fl3WI f r IPlAM T SA AN-11 / i 1 OM M l a S I