Wainwright aces'Final Exam'
By MICHAEL BAADKE
D URING LOUDON Wainwright
III's performance in Manchester-
last December he played five spectacu-
lar new songs which, at that time, were
not available on record. Well, fate and
the music industry have both been kind,
and those five songs (along with six
others of the same quality) can now be
heard on Wainwright's seventh and
finest LP, Final Exam.
Final Exam
Loudon Wainwright III
Arista AB 4173
in contemporary music; his melodies
are varied in style and eminently
listenable, and his lyrics have been
lauded several times over for their
originality.,
The songs of Loudon Wainwright III
exhibit a tremendous amount of insight
into the more absurd aspects of life, as
he combines sardonic humor with
down-to-earth intelligence in his lyrics.
On Final Exam, for instance, he tackles
such diverse subjects as fear of flying
("I'm just afraid of crashing," he in-
sists), the onset of middle age and, of
course, final exams.
THE TITLE CUT opens side one of
the new album, and Wainwright offers
the panic-stricken student advice which
might be applied to any aspect of life:
Rack your brains, bite your ns
Nobody ',* gonna love somebody who fails
The pressure is on and so is the heat
You're under the gun, feel free to cheat
Came on, feel free to cheat
Cheat like they do at West Point
On this tune (as throughout most of
the LP), Wainwright is supported by
Slow Train, a very tight band which
contributes both instrumental and
vocal backing. The arrangement on the
song "Final Exam" is electric rock, a
fairly new field for Wainwright, but one
to which he adapts readily.
A similar arrangement is found on
"Watch Me Rock I'm Over Thirty," an
incredibly funny song in which Wain-
wright dubs himself "a rock and roll
star" and sets out to prove, through the
most inane of similes, that he can even
out-rock "You young men in your twen-
ties and your teens." He belts out the
vocals with a convincing rock sneer,
and the music is indeed straight-up
rock and roll.
THE INTENTIONALLY arcane
sense of humor which Wainwright
exhibits on Final Exam is similar to
that which characterizes his better-
known songs, among them "Dead
Skunk" and "Rufus Is A Tit Man."
There's an introspective element to the -
new LP which makes it all that much
more interesting, yet the tunes are cer-
tainly accessable to any listener,
whether one is familar with Wain-
wright's previous efforts or not.
Each song on Final Exam deserves
acknowledgement; among the best are
"Golfin' Blues," "Fear With Flying"
and "The Heckler." Wainwright's
talent as a composer truly shines on the
latter tune, as he evinces a variety of
emotions with a moving melody and a
devastating lyric. One simultaneously
feels sympathy for the heckled perfor-
mer and anger at the obnoxious per-
sonality of the heckler, yet throughout
it all, there's that touch of Wainwright
humor which makes you smile.
As a musician, Wainwright appears
to have every necessary vestige of
talent at his disposal. He is an accom-
plished performer on both acoustic
guitar and banjo, having begun his
career as a folk artist. (His later
albums have been decidely more rock
oriented, although he continues to per-
form some folk-blues tunes). As a com-
poser, he is among the most innovative
John .Denver Daily Photo by PETER S
I.
Country-pop performer John Denver played to a large and enthusiastic audience
last night at Crisler Arena. a e
I
RF 0electrifies fervent crowd
By TIM YAGLE
RIDING HIGH with their new
album, You Can Tune a Piano
But You Can't Tuna Fish, REO Speed-
wagon triumphantly returned to
Detroit Thursday night to give a nearly
sold-out Cobo Arena the kind of show it
had been waiting for.
The Chicago-based Hounds got things
off to a good start with some decent
xheavy rock 'n' roll. This five-man bun-
dle of energy needed a lot of stage room
to work with so leader Steve Hunter, a
pre-med graduate from Northwestern,
could strut around if he wanted to. One
Hof their tunes, their theme song, "Drug
Land Weekend," was dedicated to
everyone who likes-to party. That's the
kind of band they are. This group could
go places. With just a little more polish
on their act, they can really be
unleashed.
The rockin' British quartet The
Babys came next and opened with a
good shorty drum solo which broke into
the hit from their first LP "Lookin' For
Love."
Then they played a decent version of
the title cut from their latest LP
"Broken Heart."
THE BABYS don't really have a
spectualar stage show. They just walk
LP good for parties
out and play. Bassist-lead vocalist John
Waite walks around the stage like he
thinks he's Rod Stewart.
Then said, "Here's something you
may have heard" and went into "Isn't
It Time," although this tune wasn't per-
formed very well. Some instruments
were too loud and some weren't loud
enough. There was also a constantly
whining feedback which didn't help
any.
They let the drummer go nuts with a
great rhythmic solo during which a
blinking strobe light shined right on
him. The crowd loved it.
The Babys finished their set with a
well-played "Money" (old Beatles), the
rocking "Mecico" and "Do You Wan-
na," which involved some crowd par-
ticipation-both vocal and physical,
rushing the stage by authoritative in-
vitation.
THEN IT WAS time for the main
act-REO Speedwagon. Their fa'ns
were already pressing each other
against the stage as the band, sporting
a new bassist with an awkward stage
manner, broke into a new song, "Say
You Love Me, Or Say Goodnight."
Other than the great music, one of the
things that stood out about their show
was the bad lighting, specifically
spotlighting. There was always a light
on lad vocalist-guitarist Kevin Cronin,
but hardly ever on the very loose lead
guitarist (and what a great one he is)
Gary Richrath. Whenever it was solo
time for him, he would saunter down-
stage and fascinate his fans, but the
yellow light behind and above him har-
dly illuminated him. You couldn't
really see him working wonders on his
guitar, which seemed like it was a part
of him. I
"Roll With The Changes," the single
from You Can Tune a Piano followed
and was played fairly well.
This went non-stop with one of REO
Speedwagon's biggest hits, "Keep
Pushin'," which set the crowd afire, but
the guitar sounds got lost in each other,
and Richrath's solo wasn't audible
enough. Then Richrath played a virtual
reproduction of his smashing "Gary's
Guitar Solo" from their live LP, You
Get What You Pay For. "157 Riverside
Park" and an exuberant "Riding' The
Storm Out" preceded the encore,
"Golden Country."
Get ready for
SUMMER and the
MIXED LEAGUE
BOWLING
Wednesday night
50C per game.
SIGN UP at the
Union Lanes
CINEMA I
Sunday, April 16
THE CLOWNS
Director-FEDERICO FELL INI (1971)
Fellini flamboyantly explores his fascination with circus clowns. On
one level, THE CLOWNS is a nostalgic look at a disappearing art; on
another, it is an allegory where the world is a circus and we are its
clowns. Includes a surrealistic clown funeral complete with proces-
sion, fire brigade, and a tribute of trumpets, proving that, ironically,
clowns and clowning are really dead. With Pierre Etaix, Anita Ekberg.
French and Italian with English subtitles.
7&9 p.m.A ANGELL HALL -AUDA $1.50
TUESDAY: Rohmer's CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON
Nor
IF
By ANNE SHARP
ETS GET it straight right now:
despite their moniker, which im-
mediately suggests safety pins and
bondage pants, the Good Rats are not, I
repeat, not, a punk band. Far from it.
Although lead singer Peppi Marchello's
low-comedy lyrics may appeal to the
From Rats to Riches
The Good Rats
Passport PB 9825
Residential College set, their new
album, From Rats to Riches, will make
perfect background music for a South
Quad kegger.
In a land that had been known for its mobiles
Now it's Kiss and Seger who are its big wheels
ifwanna be one too
sings Peppi in "Taking It to Detroit,"
which indeed sounds eerily like a Gene
Simmons fire-and-brimstrone number.
'Musically, the Good Rats sound a lot
like Kiss, although the resemblance en-
ds there. Marchello, who wrote all the
songs and sings them in a wonderful,
raspy beer voice with a funny vibratoo,
clown. His lyrics suggest the wiseguy
who sat in the back row in junior high,
doing amazing things with looseleaf
paper.
. "Coo Coo Coo Blues," a combination
of barroom blues and three-chord rock,
oozes camraderie, cynical humor and
the musical atmosphere of a Robert
Crumb cartoon, as conveyed in Mar-
chello's whimsical delivery:
She said, "My name is Dean and before we go
on let me guess your name"
Bill means tall, and Joe means cute
Fred means cool, and Tom is smart, who
oe you? .
Since your face could stop a clock, I'll call
you Coo Coo Coo
CAMPUS BIK
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