Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Saturday, October 10, 1970
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY
records
Twice the sides, hal the energy
By FARGO BERMAN This is one of the better al- tion of what we usually concep- Aliotta Haynes Music (Am-
The Byrds-(Untitled), (Co- bums on the market today, but tualize as separate art forms; pex A 10108) presents Ted and
unbia G 30127). This is the it definitely ain't got the full the album is essentially a Mod- Mitch Alotta and Skip Haynes
dynamism of the original Byrds. ish "Reader's Digest meta- playing adeptly in the early 60's
*1
P
-Daily-Thomas R. Copi
A goody and a few more baddies
By ANN L. MATTES
Deep Purple has the kind of
sound you hear all the time on
the underground stations b u t
never recognize. The music, a
combination of hard/acid rock
is loud and unmelodic. However,
the rhythms are catchy, as in
all good rock, and the crafts-
manship of the musicians shows
through the constantly chang-
ing sounds.
The group consists of f i v e
members, two Ians, Ritchie,
Roger 4nd Jon. The album, en-
titled Deep Purple in Rock, is
entirely their production.
"Who plays what" was not
considered important enough to
appear on the cover, but as far
as I can judge there are a cou-
ple of electric guitars (bass in-
cluded), drums and an organ.
The group does a lot of hard
jamming, which is somewhat
superior to their rather simplis-
tic melodies.
To give you some idea of the
content of the lyrics, I h a v e
randomly selected the shortest
poem on the inside cover..
Sweet Child in Time you'll
see the line
The line that's drawn between
the good and the bad
See the blind man shooting at
the world
Bullets flying taking toll,
If you've -been bad, Lord I
bet you have
And you've not been hit by
flying lead
You'd better close your eyes
and bow your head
And wait for the ricochet.
As you may have guessed by
now, there isn't a hell of a lot
you can say about the messages
in these songs. They only pro-
vide a meshwork for the driv-
ing rhythms. After a few hear-
ings, the words don't make that
much difference. Like all good
rock, the sound is communica-
ble and eventually fatal. Thi
album contains that unsophis-
ticated something in rock that
all listeners may catch, so be-
ware if you're trying to culti-
vate your musical taste.
"In the fifth century, a
scourge rolled across Eastern
Europe, destroying all that
stood in its path. A screaming,
invincible w a v e of destrue-
tion, it left in its wake half
the civilized world in shock
and bleeding submission. It
was a sword and a flame. It
was the name t h a t became
synonymous with an unstem-
mable tide of conquest. AT-
TILA!"
The return of this wonder on
Epic records has produced sim-
ilar results.
The new album with its du-
bious title is a screaming wave
of destruction. Listening to it
more than one side at a time
creates a sense of discomfort
b o t h physically and mentally.
It's the t y p e of record you
should buy only to p 1 a y for
friends who drop by at an un-
wanted moment.
Without a doubt the record
could make an excellent Head-
ache No. 96 for Excedrin
Not that the musicianship is
poor. Billy Joel and Jon Small
provide more volume than the
Moody Blues and BS&T com-
bined. Joel plays a Hammond
organ that he rewired to bypass
the tone cabinet so that it feeds
directly into the amplifiers. The
effect offers an unusual souce
Sh t IG 11 9PM
DIAL 5-6290
Shows of 1. 3. 5 7. 9 P.M.
of expression, but the constant
use is just overwhelming.
Although "Attila" lacks a sen-
sitivity to the listener's endur-
ance level, I wouldn't be at all
surprised if they eventually dis-
cover the right formula. Their
potential remains for future al-
bums.
I would suspect that G I e i
Yarbrough is j u s t about old
enough to celebrate a Jubilee
album. And one thing about it,
he hasn't changed a bit. His
voice still has t h a t timorous
quality that also sounds as if he
were singing from his motorized
exercycle. Even the songs have-
n't changed. He continues to
warble the "Honey Wind Blows"
and "Baby, the Rain Must Fall,"
as if we still might run out and
buy the album for that anti-
quated version.
Despite th gangrene that has
set in on most of his songs, I
must admit that he doesn't do
a bad version of Phil Ochs "The
Crucifixion." However, I think
Phil didn't do such a bad job
himself.
I saw Glen Yarbrough in con-
cert when I happened to be in
the unlikely city of Indianapo-
lis. Of course, the tickets were
complimentary or else he would
have had two fewer people in
the audience. For some reason,
I didn't mind his performance
live. He really worked hard at
organizing his message. There
were blue lights flashing at just
the right time and Rod McKuen
poetry to fill in the 'spaces.
He seemed to like what he
was doing, and the audience re-
acted to his friendship. Every-
one went away from the con-
cert rather melancholic f r o m
the hint of sadness that per-
vades many of his songs.
However, as I see the album
sitting in my living room, I am
tempted to say I picked it up
free at the Daily as part of a
review. As in the case of his
concert, I wouldn't offer a n y
remuneration for his efforts.
Compton and Batteau In
California offers a folk-rock
album that ranges in style from
Buddy Holly to Bob Dylan. At
different times eleven instru-
metalists contribute to the
m e 1 o d i c and uncomplicated
sound.
Robin Batteau on violin deli-
cately weaves a fabric that is
characteristically his own, John
Compton's vocals are sensitive
and tnough out of tune to make
them compelling.
While all of the songs are
original, images that capture a
lyrical past continuously appear
in the songs. Occasionally sev-
eral chords that recall the
Byrds f 1 o a t in or a slightly
southern accent that sounds
like Arlo Guthrie.
Several of the songs contain
narratives that are not j u s t
poetry but melancholic ballads
that reflect what e a c h of us
consider the lifestyle of Cali-
fornia to be. That is, a fervent
love of nature and people cou-
pled by a feeling that life can
hold even more if we strive to
improve every man's condition,
DIAL 8-6416
Doors Open Continuous
at 12:45 from 1 P.M
1HEGREJTCI0HE.
sometimes at the sacrifice of
our own comforts:
I had a house with a long,
long staircase
Gardens of grace and cham-
bers with fine lace, -
Acres of woodland watered
with sweet rain.
And acres of cocaine raised on
the highway.
Now it's gone and as I sit on
this sunken porch
As aguest of the Grotto Farm
Weakened house, better days
on hand
Never fearing any harm
It's peaceful a n d I say it's
bliss.
Whether a group reaches a
state of general acclaim depends
on a lot more than good music.
Compton and Batteau have as
much to offer as many popular
groups. I suppose publicity will
be the necessary next ingredi-
ent. Tell your friends.
Byrds e Sure sunds familiar,
though pretty loose for them.
Side one has such memorable
goodies as "Mr. Tambourine
Man," "Mr. Spaceman," and
"Positively 4th Street."
The Byrds were always an
astoundingly unified group, re-
corded or live, and they usually
sang in what may roughly be
described as a mournful, modi-
fied Country style. But before
David Crosby left, allegedly over
his refusal to tour South Africa
with the group because of that
country's policy of apartheid,
the sallow vocals packed in a
deep intensity, and the rich,
superlative flux and tightness,
particularly of guitars, made the
Byrd's music unique.
Here on both live (sides one
and two) and studio (sides three
and four) albums there is often
a feeling of rote performance-
the Byrd's have endured a com-
plete turnover of personnel, ex-
cepting Roger McGuinn who
changed his first name from
Jim, and are still a high quality
group.
"Hungry Planet" is a fine
memory of McGuinn's almost
understated cloying vocals, but
this depth is too often in absen-
tia on this album.
Side two of the concert album,
totally devoted to an extended
and essentially instrumental
version of "Eight Miles High,"
is an exercise of dissipation.
There are some scattered
moments of fine getting it to-
gether, but also several stretches
reminiscent of countless ball-
room jams by countless, face-
less groups, even though the
Byrds have more to offer in this
vein. The track includes a leng-
thy solo on electric bass which
is proficient but never quite
manages to justify itself.
Groups nowadays are con-
stantly searching for a name
which typifies their music. De-
wey Martin and Medicine Ball
(UNI 73088) has succeeded: a
hard pill to swallow as Martin's
voice searches for the perfect
second rate imitation of Leslie
West, and at times Ray Charles,
Joe Cocker, McCartney.
The music is a bit more con-
sistent, but then it only tries to
be consistently nebulous.
True love went into the crea-
tion of Percussion For Lovers
(UNI 73085). I always wondered
what all those mystic mood,
great movie theme, and 817
string pastiches were aiming for
outside of cold lucre.
Now we are given a record we
can place on the turntable as
an excuse for something or the
other and it is almost totally
forgettable-but the subliminal
irritation from this finely honed
freak show of uninspiring per-
cusses of 38 instruments is just
enough so you seek an escape
BUT at the same time just this
side of that fine line which
gives a body the tug to get up
and flip it off-besides it shows
off the stereo nicely, good sepa-
ration and all.
I was in a bad mood when I
put the album on, but after so
many pretentious rock and folk
fiascos, what a delight! An ef-
fort with pretentions to nothing
special at all. And integrity has
not been sacrificed to the usual
romantic syrupy melodies; songs
with the word "love" are just
used as a flimsy excuse of a
starting point to take off from
and then diddle around; these
pieces are uniquely in touch
with the unsung musical mil-
quetoast majority,
Wess has pulled off a unifica-
morphosized to pseudo-musical
sounds which communicate the
Odyssean search for the mean-
ing of mediocrity.
It seems I have been down
on UNI records, that is Universal
City Records - division of MCA
Inc. Especially after seeing their
dust covers saying "more hits
more often" and proudly dis-
playing some of the company's
finer signed talents, like Neil
Diamond and the fantabulous
Strawberry Alarm Clock. Yet,
hearing the first cut, "Medi-
cated Goo" of Mud on Mudd.
(UNI 73089) I was reminded of
Spooky Tooth's first album
which was in fact terrible, but
led to an incredibly fine second
effort.
The first cut apparently just
showed the group's wisdom in
picking up on a song written
by the members of Traffic. But
"Satisfied Mind" was coming up
on side two and seemed an
astute choice.
Their total mangling of this
song was followed by a purpose-
less rendition of "Why Don't
We Do It In The Road?"
Why don't some record com-
panies learn?
folk manner, not carrying off
"Fire and Rain" as well as its
writer James Taylor.
That is to be expected, but
their interpretation is almost
coldly mechanical which is quite
a feat.
This is a true song, as I havej
heard the story, of a girl who
was forcibly kept from seeing
Taylor while he was in an in-
sane asylum (to which he had
voluntarily committed himself)
and as a result she took her life:
"Susan the plans they made up
an end to you."
Here it is stuck into a tradi-
tional melancholy folk styling
and loses all original feeling.
"Uppers and Downers," is an
anti-drug. number except 'of
course: "Cigarettes they're bad
for you too/But marijuana's
fine."
Despite any good motivations
for this song, and if you have
the misfortune to hear it the
motivations will appear dubious,
the in-joke cultishness, featur-
ing the nuoveau classic burp at
the end, is nauseating. The rest
is run-of-the-mill threadbare
folk music.
Tues. R.F.D. BOYS
Next Week:
BILLY VANAUER
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