Tuesday, December 10, 1974 THE MIS HIGAN DAILY Page Five Tuesday, December 10, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five Records in review THE ELECTRIC Light Orchestra has produced a new concept album titled, Eldorado. Thematically, the LP centers around thoughts of failure and disillusionment, and the fantasy of with- drawal to a death-like plateau - Eldorado. Although the jacket claims it is a "symphony," it is not; it is a collection of eight songs, beginning and ending with an or- chestral theme that resembles classical romanticism. At places in between, there are snatches of baroque. Unlike other rock groups that have attempted to cast modern pop music into a classical idiom, the seven-man Light Orches- tra supplies its string arrangements itself, through two cellos and a violin (and with a lot of double tracking). Maybe for this reason, the strings come through more often as an integral part of the arrangement. They blend along with some well delivered melody to produce a number of good bands. In spite of sticky sentimentality at times, this is a good LP, and we can expect to hear a lot of it. -Ron Langdon Linda Ronstadt is the best damn female singer in the world and she proves it with her new album Heart Like a Wheel (Capi- tal ST- 11358). Only problem is that perhaps nobody knows it. She doesn't flood the top 40 market with her music, the only song that was halfway success- ful was "Different Drum", re- corded with the late Stone Pon- eys. But that lack of notoriety does not diminish the fact that Linda Ronstadt, blessed with the voice of an angel, is the best around. On her latest release, she sings in her familiar country style about a familiar country theme, love; good love, bad love, no love, the wrong love. Songs like "Faithless Love", Paul Anka's "It Doesn't Mat- ter Any More" James Taylor's "You Can Close Your Eyes" are all done with the same style, inda Ronstadt and grace. , On the Anna McGarrigle-written title song, Ronstadt teams with Maria Muldaur for one of the album finest moments. But the best is first - the very first cut "You're No Good"- a song that is too soulful for a country label. With a George Har- rison-like solo guitar combined with a great orchestrated back- ground, this 3:19 track is worth the whole album. If a group as good as Eagles would want to play back-up for Linda Ronstadt, it's about time somebody recognized the plain truth . . . ain't nobody better. -Chuck Bloom A . TF YOU'RE looking for an average white band, Average White Band (Atlantic SD 7308) won't fill the bill. If you are instead seeking an average soul band, perhaps AWB will. Most well known for the temporary loss of its bassist due to drug overdose, AWB plays some rather uninspired rhythm and blues numbers. Relying on the traditional formula of strong bass and percussion with occasional guitar and piano fills, the band places heavy emphasis on lead vocals and often shaky backing harmonies. The overall effect is one of hollowness, instead of the intended funki- ness,- the obvious attempt at duplicating the work of the O'Jays and Isley Brothers (the latter composed one of the better tunes, "Work to Do," contained on the album) fails. One gets the vague notion that if the musicians in AWB latched onto a better arranger and producer, and perhaps added a bit more instrumentation, things could be more than just aver- age. -Bob Taub B. J. Thomas, Dionne Warwick, Bert Bacharach, and Spec- ter Records were at one time a winning combination. Anythingt Bacharach wrote and Thomas and Warwick sang turned into Specter gold. But the Specter label has long since disappeared from the center of any vinyl disc. Warwicke has added an "e" to her name, Thomas has re-discovered his homeland of Texas, and Bacharach is not the magician he once was. But United Artists Records bought the Specter tapes and have re-released them in a convenient package, The Very Best of Dionne Warwicke (United Artists UA-LA 337-G) and The Very Best of B. J. Thomas (United Artists UA-LA 338-G). The albums are what they claim to be, the "very best" of Dancers present ~'Sistice' concerts The dance department of the School of Music this week will present a series of three con- certs called Solstice: A Dance Celebration, which promises ex- citing, inexpensive entertain- rient. The series opens with two performances of Dance Sand-' wich, an informal concert of the work of six independent chore- ographers. The program stress- es a non-traditional approach to the concert structure. All the participants collaborated to produce a sequence of dances that flow into one another even- ly. Some of the pieces are with- out accompaniment. The dances which are set to music have b'rckgrounds ranging f r o m Chick Corea's jazz to Javanese, Gamelan to Frank Zappa's whatever. Thematically, the program maintains a strong sense of the absurd. Choreographers Sue Feld- stain, Ruth Hurwitz, Andrea Katz, Debra Levine, Paula Ra-' vitz, and Barbara Smith will employ a talented team of nine dancers. Dance Sandwich hits the boards in the Barbour Stu- dio, Barbour Gymnasium, at 9 p.m. tonight and tomorrow night. Admission charge is a donation. The second concert in the series, Zuzu II, is a synthesis of theater and dance. There will be one performance at 8 p.m. on Thursday, December 12 at Schorling Auditorium in the School of Education. Again, the admission charge is a donation. The Young Choreographers Concert is the final segment of the series. There will be two performances, Friday, Decem- ber 13, and Saturday, Decem- ber 14 at 8 p.m. in Schloring Auditorium. Admission is free. The Solstice concert series will provide the University community an opportunity to witness talented dancers of the '70s at '20s prices, and to un- tangle psyches in the midst of finals madness. Daly Photo by KAREN KASMAUSKf A°) ° o , r'fi'r '>gull eday A u1 K AIR Sa Nearly 20,0)0 concert p jammed the Cow PaLce i Francisco where the d Deep Purple and the L Light Orchestra ware ing. Chaos reigned b concert, including fire assorted flving o1i 5. sparklers. Before Dee came on stage a hurn rocket was thrown on at that point the rOad s ed the crowd "uncr from the band, if anv1a that happens one more t , the group will ~.t Things ted do and the showwet o)a ned. A large replica r Starr, dressed in a uniform and poised ;...id; a rocket ship and King oa been placed on top ofthe tol Records tower i- wood. All the tr p- erected to launch the rale3' of Ringo's new albm d Vienna. Carlos S tnna- ed that he has decd his band Santns quoted as saying "'1 ti> ate end of this yer, it- 'b h d' (4; tih s up a r a '''; iio atino for . «.s i ..1 I '"''r "'o tf "vs o I th roe fM. ~ :', y u F" -C huck Bloom t 21 1954 FEDERICO FELLINI'S LA STRADA (at 7) A waif (Giulietta Masina) is sold to a circus strongman (Anthony Quinn) but falls in love with a clown (Richard Basehart). An allegory of the conflict between the soul, body and mind. A EDWARD G. ROBINSON in A SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER N,, I ) (CI t,, 4 4,7 ,.~ 44, - ' _> _.lol y.a 4 -4 i ~ 1 44 4.\ 4L is 4 144, I ,' '; ty S 71 fi YAM ppow It t out (at 9) A very funny Runyonese comedy about a pro- hibition beer runner who tries to go straight but finds a corpse in his home. / Cinema Guild $1.50 FOR BOTH SHOWS OLD ARCH. AU D. TI, Photographic equipment can be a trap. 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