Garfunkel, 11
EBy MICHAEL BAADKE
VERY FEW years, composer-
arranger Jimmy Webb gets together
with some prominent male vocalist,
and the two produce an album of
Webb's tunes. 'Previous collaborations
have been with Richard Harris and
Glen Campbell; this year it's Art Gar-
funkel, and the result is Garfunkel's
Watermark
Art Garfunkel
Colunbia JC 34975
latest LP, Watermark. Ten of the
twelve tunes on this album were written
by Webb, and he plays the piano on
most cuts.
Webb is well-respected in the
songwriting field, having produced a
number of fine compositions; among
his best are "The Moon Is A Harsh
AP Photo Mistress" and "Where's The
Playground, Susie," neither of which
are on the new Garfunkle album.
xiannini, Webb's major shortcoming is that he
ur Usual predominantly writes romantic
's world ballads; the melodies are beautiful, but
the "I love you, you don't love me" syn-
drome tends to drag after awhile.
This is where Garfunkel comes in.
His penchant for meticulous artistry
makes this collection quite enjoyable,
and at times even awesome. Since he's
been recording for twenty-one years, it
is not surprising that Garfunkel has
learned almost all there is about vocal
arrangements and harmonization. All
the songs on Watermark exhibit Gar-
funkel's handiwork; lush, clear vocals
in often intricate interweavings.
THE SIDE ONE opener, "Crying In
My Sleep," is probably the best exam-
ple of this. It's the finest Webb com-
position on the LP, as the lyrics deal in
specifics rather than in generalizations.
Garfunkel uses some over-dubbing in
the vocals, harmonizing both the lead
and background vocals, in addition to
some internal background vocals by,
other singers. The whole process soun-
ds quite complicated (and it undoub-
tedly is), but the result is an
arrestingly clear arrangement.
Webb's contribution is not to be
discounted here; the song succeeds in
part due to his masterful lyrical work.
It chronicles the activities of the
Three Beauties?
Director Lina Wertmuller chats with Candice Bergen and Giancarlo G
the stars of her first English language film "The End of the World in Ou
Bed in a Night Full of Rain." The three are in New York for the film
premiere.
'Ladies Man'
an eloquei
By DAVID VICTOR
L EONARD COHEN is an unrivaled
master of words. One needn't
know he was the author of two major
novels, the first, The Favorite Game,
making him a culthero of the Sixties,
and the second, Beautiful Lovers, mak-
ing him the spokesman of a radiant
apocalypse in highbrow literary cir-
cles. One needn't know he is an author
of eight volumes of poetry. One only
need hear his latest album, The Death
and equal, if not exceed, a
lyrics since Bob Dylan's "I
The Wind." But unlike Dyl
this album is musical a
meaningful.
This satisfaction of the ear
mind, so often missing in
earlier albums, is brought ab
composer Phil Spector. Tagg
"father of the wall-of-sound
makes his touch quite evid
music behind the words. Unli
guitar one has come to expec
Death of A Ladies' Man ist
the rich instrumental conc
Spector, the lush music integr
woven into each song.
lmost any
Blowin' In
an's discs,
s well as
as well as
n Cohen's
bout by co-
ged as the
," Spector
ent in the
ke the folk
t of Cohen,
backed by
eptions of
rally inter-
ALL THE SONGS are unified in a sys-
tematic attempt to understand love ex-
ploited in a changing society. The al-
bum's opening cut, "True Love Leaves
No Traces," shows Cohen's mastery of
poetic imagery at its finest. Children
come and go "Like arrows with no tar-
get / Like shackles made of snow." A
lover's hand rest on the singer's chest,
"As a falling leaf may rest / A moment
on the air." Even the refrain trembles
with poetic significance when the
traces of love are "lost in our embraces
/ Like stars against the sun."
The reflections of a long-lost love on
this first cut prepare the listener readi-
ly for the next cut, "Iodine." In this
song, a couple is in the process of break-
ing up. Throughout, Cohen's deep,
rough voice shakes on the verge of tears
pleading for someone to stay. She does
not stay for love, but only because of
pity and compassion that burned like
iodine. His love, lust, the whole "mas-
querade of trust was iodine / And
everywhere the flare of iodine."
In the next cut, "Paper Thin Hotel,"
the despair of loss is replaced by the
satisfaction of discovery. The cheated
lover hears his lover making love to
another man through the thin walls of a
hotel. He pretends he is not hurt, but the
bitterness of Cohen's voice belies the
supposed "burden liften from my soul"
until his true feelings actually come
through. "I can't wait to tell you to your
face / And I can't wait for you to take
my place," Cohen almost curses, and
soon concludes the song in the same re-
viling tone: "It's written on the walls of
this hotel / You go to heaven once
you've been to hell."
A POIGNANT EXAMPLE of how in-
tegral Spector's music is to Cohen's
lyrics can be seen in the dry humor of
the next cut, "Memories." Here the
background music becomes almost
symphonic. Full and rich in texture, the
sweeping chords mock the false
romance of the soldier on leave. It
makes the cheap love of the flirtatious
tease at a high school gym dance all the
more disgusting with her taunting:
"They're many parts of me to touch,
you have your choice, but no you cannot
at elegy
see ... my naked body." Finally, it sets
in an almost unbearably wry irony the
climactic Hollywood setting where,
amidst falling streamers and balloons,
She says, you've got a minute left to fallin love
In solemn moments such as this
I've put my trust.
The second side opens with a song al-
most entirely carried by the music. "I
Left A Woman Waiting" is the only bad
cut on the album, as Cohen's lyrics
plummet to triteness. The intertwining
musical lines are by far more exciting
than the apparent boredom.he shows in
virtually reciting the words.
Perhaps having realized what a
failure the previous number was, Cohen
and Spector follow with their best song
on the LP, "Don't Go Home With Your
Hard-On." Simultaneously the most
memorable piece of music and the most
intense example of lyrical expression,
the song is further enhanced by the
vocal contributions of Bob Dylan and
Allen Ginsberg. The music is an ener-
getic throwback to the folk rock of the
early sixties replete with Dylanesque
crooning at each line's end (after all,
Cohen had the real thing backing him
up). The lyrics are riddled with puns
and sardonic cut-downs at the excuses
for sexual exploitation.
The album closes with the title cut; it
'shows the confusion inherent in the
changing sexual roles of America in the
'70's and, in short, sums up the theme of
the whole album. The woman who finds
"The man she wanted all her life was
hanging by a thread" is soon crushed
by his outdated advances since "his
style was obsolete." Seeing it all, Cohen
croons.
So the great affair is over
but whoever would have guessed
it would leave us all so vacant
and so deeply unimpressed
WHILE THEY URGE us to be unim-
pressed with what they describe, the
way that Cohen and Spector do the urg-
ing is certainly impressive. Almost
without flaws, Death of A Ladies' Man
is the merging of poetry and rock-lyrics
and instrumentation at their finest.
The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, February 1, 1978-Page 5
'ebb mix well
narrator, who has just felt the sting of a The remainder of the tunes also
severed romance: features some prominent musicians,
Went out to loosen up the car many of whom have worked with: Gar-
Somehow I wound up at the Rainbow Bar funkel before. Pete Carr handles pmost
I had a scotchn'soda on the run of the guitar work, with Joe Osborn on
The song idea is an established bass. String arrangements by Jimmie
one-he's covering up his bitter- Haskell and David Campbell are well-
ness-but Webb puts a new life into the tempered, complienting, rather than
concept. overpowering the tunes. David Crosby
and Leah Kunkel provide some of the
ws, background vocals, along with the
Oklahoma Baptist University Chorale.
(Garfunkel seems to pick up on a new
choir every time he records an album).
The major criticism of Garfunkel has
always been that his recordings are too
"sweet", and this criticism, to some
degree, is true for Watermark. He
might have chosen a more diverse
collection of songs, but the choice of
material isn't that detrimental. It
would be interesting to hear Garfunkel
branch out into something a little more
down-to-earth (say, some Paul Simon
Some of the less noble Webb com- compositions), but for now, Watermark
Someof te lss nbleWebbcom will do quite nicely.
positions are still quite listenable,
primarily due to the different musical
settings they are placed in. One tune,
"Wooden Planes", just bombs out all Busby Berkley's
together, but the rest have a number of
good qualities. "Marionette" has a GOLD DIGGERS
lively acoustic guitar accompaniment,
and some amusing musical toy-shop ef- 5
fects. The rather morbid title also At a lavish summer hotel Mrs.
features some pleasant guitar work and Prentiss, rich but not cheap, wishes
an intricate vibes arrangement. to keep the costs of her annual
THE BIGGEST SURPRISE on te charity show as low as possible.
LP is the cut "(What a) Wonderful However, Berkley takes over and
is e euthe results are surprising. With
World", which features lead vocals by DICK POWELL.
the team of Paul Simon, Garfunkel and DIKP EU
James Taylor. This 1959 hit has been Thurs: THE LONG GOODBYE
reworked here with considerable effort,
and the result is immensely pleasing.
Already released as a single, the tune CINEMA GUILD
relies on the vocals (and rightfully so), TONIGHT at?3 9:05
although it is enhanced by Simon on OLD ARCH. AUD.
guitar, and Ralph McDonald on per- $1.50
cussion.
'
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Look for the familiar Rhino
just off the diag
Death of A Ladies Man
Leonard Cohen
Warne Hrsm3 125
of A Ladies' Man.
The lyrics of Cohen's new album sur-
pass anything out on the market today
Schlock fills up pre-prime time
By NINA SHISHKOFF
T HE TIME SLOT BETWEEN 7:00
and 7:30, right before prime time
begins and the networks take over, is
generally given to local stations as an
outlet for their creativity. A few years
ago, this expression of creativity could
be summed up very briefly: game
shows, wildlife series, and reruns of I
Love Lucy.
Have times changed? I Love Lucy is
still here; I Love Lucy will probably
outlast all of us. there are recently
deceased shows like Emergency and The
Mary Tyler Moore Show. There are'also
syndicated shows like Hee Haw, which
fail in network prime time but flourish
when placed opposite less popular
shows like, say, the nightly news.
Every now and then a variety series
appears in syndication, like The Bobby
Vinton Show, or the current Sha Na Na.
These seem right at home in the 7:30
time slot, because the host and guests
are often the same people who appear
on the game shows the other channels
carry./A nice exception is The Muppet
Show, every Friday on channel four,
which stars those clever creations of
Jim Henson. Where else can you listen
to a frog sing a love song, or watch
Rudolf Nureyev dance an old Fred
Astaire number?
IF HEE HAW represents the worst in
humor, the syndicated "documentary"
shows are television journalism at its
most cavernous depths. Pseudo-
documentaries like In Search Of ...
carry disclaimers before each episode,
explaining that the show's purpose is
not to be objective, but "merely to offer
some possible explanations for the
LORI CHRISTMASTREE
fiber
CYNTHIA WEBB
clay
phenomena that follow."
They then explain what Stonehenge
really is, and why the government is
covering up evidence of UFOs. When
Havoc Struck, a new entry on Tuesdays
purports to examine the great disasters
of all time-how they happened, and
why, and what we can do to avoid them
in the future. The tacit rationale seems
to be that disasters offer numerous op-
portunities to show mangled bodies and
wreckage.
Old movie buffs may turn on That's
Hollywood to see the old greats, but
shouldn't be too surprised if they end up
staring at the latest turkeys. The
spotlighting of scenes from old classics
like A Night At The Opera and High
Noon only camouflages the real intent
of the series: to get free advertising for
the latest box office hopefuls.
You might ask what's in store for the
future of the tenuous pre-prime time
spot. That's hard Jto predict, but
perhaps a description of a recent pilot
for a new series will give one an idea.
Hee Haw Honeys, a spin-off from Hee
Haw (it had to happen sometime),
manages to make its predecessor ab-
solutely classy by comparison. In this
show, which combines corn, CB radios
and gorgeous girls, the first guest star
was Billy Carter. Enough said.
DA ILY E AR LY BIRD MAT IN EES -- A dults $1.25
DISCOUNT IS FOR SHOWS STARTING BEFORE 1:30
MON. thru SAT. 10 A.M. til 1:3b P.M. SUN. & HOLS. 12 Noon til 1:30 P.M.
ONE OF THE BEST
Richard Dreyfuusss 415
Marsha Mason 6:30
P Quinn Cummings 9:00
ATI 10:15
...._ _1 2 :4 5
~rwri3:45
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/ t'> !177 fiKI iM '.,. N(
February
1-26
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