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November 19, 1975 - Image 5

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Publication:
Michigan Daily, 1975-11-19

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Wm
Wednesday, November 19, 1975

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Five

SidE ONE

"'"i i"

Zappa s late
By ROB MEACHUM
FRANK ZAPPA and the Mothers of Invention have produced
two recent recordings that not only highlight the diversity
of the group, but also demonstrate that the band is realizing
its full potential.
One Size Fits All (DS 2216) and Bongo Fury (DS 2234) were
both recorded last spring and released within weeks of each
other-Fury is a live album recorded in Austin, Texas, and
One Size was recorded partially live and partially in a studio.
The albums prove that Zappa operates best in an atmosphere of
spontaneity.
Zappa has been around since the early sixties, founding
the Mothers of Invention in 1965. Since then, he has been known
as a talented rock/jazz/classical composer as well as the leader
of the Mothers. There aren't too many groups around that are
capable, as the Mothers are, of changing tempo numerous
times during a song.

,st -no oss a
AS A GUITARIST, Zappa is one of the best-that fact is
brought home hardest on two cuts: "Po-Jama People" on One
Size and "Muffin Man" on Bongo Fury. There is an incredible
stinging guitar solo on the former, and "Muffin Man" features
Zappa at his best.
As a writer and composer, Zappa has lost none of the flair
for craziness that thrust him into the national spotlighton such
albums as Freak Out and Absolutely Free. On "Evelyn, A
Modified Dog," Zappa writes:
Evelyn, a dog, having undergone
Further modification
Pondered the significance of short-person behavior
In pedal-depresed panchromatic resonance
And other highly ambient domains ...
Arf, she said

"a U-M SCHOOL OF MUSIC presents
f z Boheme
zaessN3-8 p.m.-$.
But the best cut on the two albums is "Advance Romance" Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
on Fury, written by Zappa and featuring Napoleon Murphy JOSEF BLATT, conductor
Brock on vocals, Zappa on guitar, and Captain Beefheart on RALPH HERBERTstagedirector
harp. RLNHEBRsaedrco
Box Office: Nov. 19-12:30-6 p.m.
Brock, who also plays the sax on both albums, appearedB1
with The Mothers on Apostrophe and played with Zappa on his 763-1085 Nov. 20-23-12:30-8 p.m.
tour last spring. His vocals are on key and strong-almost even
believable, compared with Beefheart's raspy, almost obnoxious SPECIAL ADMISSION to working rehearsals of
vocals. La Boheme is being allowed to UM students
ZAPPA AND The Mothers have proved again that they have with valid ID's. $1.00 tickets avail. (balcony).
lost none of their talents, and, in fact, are still producing quality Wednesday, November 19-7 P.M.
records-something that too few bands with talent are doing
these days. Whether it be jazz, rock, or even a parody of TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE BOX OFFICE TODAY
classical, the Mothers can do it, and do it well.

Ronstadt goes commercial

with

'Prisoner

in

disguise'

THIRD BIG WEEK
SHOWS TODAY at
Ta nTE1-3-5-7-9, OPEN 12:45
Wed. All seats $1.00 tit 5:00
Mahogar1-the wcman e ery woman wants to be-
and eery man wants to ha

By STEPHEN SELBST learned rock and roll by listen-
ing to old Carpenters' platters.
IT'S HARD to form a single ? Her "Heat Wave" lacks the
judgment of Prisoner in Dis- funk of the Martha and the Van-
guise, Linda Ronstadt's new al- dellas original; Ronstadt's ver-
bum, because it's so uneven. In- sion is relentlessly upbeat. It
dividually there are some ex- sounds antiseptic and safe, a
cellent selections, but there aregodrcdfrasitgae
some poor ones, too; In general, good record for a sixth grade
Prisoer lcks ohernce. sockhop.
Prisoner lacks coherence. Ronstadt's forte has always
Besides the wide variations in been ballads, all the way back
the quality of the cuts, the other to her days with the Stone Pon-
major flaw is overproduction. eys. Prisoner in Disguise has
Producer Peter Asher opted for a couple such lovely tunes on
a heavy-handed, layered ap- it, and on these numbers, she
proach, and too often the ar- does a fine job.
rangements don't work. On Jimmy Cliff's Jamaican
The background tracks should anthem, "Many Rivers to
enhance the tune, not over-; Cross," she wisely avoids try-
whelm it, a distinction that was Cng hewsegya itry-
seemingly ignored on Prisonering her own reggae terpre-
Particnlarly when the anranger. tation and just sings it straight.
rents contain strings, their use The cut works because she re-
ins cntaiy rstrin eir u cognizes her limitations, and,
is virtually unrestrained. ,.,nrc,... ia~.b h t thrather

C rumb's m'Music'Z
explores cosmos I
By KEVIN COUNIHAN shift the attention back to Bar-
tok whose "Sonata for Two
CMPOSER George Crumb is Pianos and Percussion" prompt-
a phenomenon in contem- ed Crumb to write the piece.
porary music. In terms of com-
mercial success (if there is such LABELED by the composer
a thing in new music) he is as a "cosmic drama," the work
surely the most popular, usually is symmetrically divided into
outselling the more established five movements of which the
names of the post-World War IT first, third, and fifth movements
generation, Ii k e Stockhausen act to unify the thematic ele-
and Berio, and can claim the ment of timelessness and etern-
distinction .of having parts of ityWiete.he omnn
his "Black Angels" for electric While the three, dominant
string quartet used as back- movements of Music for a Sum-
ground music for the Exorcist. mer Evening are unified by ex-
Crumb's acceptance outside plosions of piano chords, rapid,
academic circles is a significant ostinato patterns, and subtle in-
and revealing feature of his terjection of percussion, each
music. Among the first and most retains marked individuality.
notable to have transcended the The opening movement, "Noc-
strict, formal serialism of the turnal Sounds (The Awakening)"
1950's, Crumb has consistently establishes both the mood and
focused his attention on estab- timbral quality of the piece, with
ishing a haunting and cryptic its tense crescendos, relieved
mood in his works. only by outbursts from the per-
IN A REAL sense, Crumb's cussion battery.
>opularity may be largely attri- "THE ADVENT" (third move-
)uted to his re-introduction of ment) demands of the pianists
program music into the contem- to sing a Far Eastern ritual!
porary repertoire. His latest chant into their instruments,
piece, Music for a Summer Eve- accentuating both the mystery:
ing, (Makrokosmos III) (None- and reverberation of the move-!
such H-71311), for two amplified, ment.
ianos and percussion, is a so- Crumb's most beautiful and
histicated expansion of past stylistic effort is saved for the
techniques and produces a work final movement, "Music of the
f continually interesting sonic Starry Night." Sustained tone
nd dramatic effects. clusters augmented by sleigh
Music for a Summer Evening bells and vibraphone are inter-
ompletes the t h i r d set of rupted by quotations of Bach.
'rumb's "Makrokosmos" series Music for a Summer Evening
hich were designed to pay tri- is a successful addition to its
ute to Bartok (composer of two counterparts, but one in-
'Mikrokosmos") a n d Debussy evitably wonders h o w much
Crumb's "Makrokosmos II," as longer Crumb., will explore the
et unreleased by Columbia, is potentials of t h e amplified
atterned after Debussy's "24 piano. Unlike his new composi-
reludes"). tion, further contributions may
Makrokosmos III appears to 'not prove to be as timeless.
It's a better movie than'Blazing Saddles'
or Young Frankenstein'. -oing Stone
9W WW
t4 ( ~ 0O1a--

Dolly Parton's "I Will Always
Love You," Ronstadt stays close
to the stark emotion - laden ly-
rics and brings the song's heart-
rending simplicity to the sur-
face, making the cut work over
the syrupy accompaniment.
Neil Young's "Love is a
Rose" demonstrates her feel
for pure bluegrass. Handling the
rhythm and the phrasing just
right, she mixes perfectly with
the banjo, the fiddle, and a nice
harmonica to produce a fine,
upbeat number.
Her jail song, "The Sweetest
Gift," is a successful experi-
ment. Going with a relatively
spare instrumentation, the cut
deliberately tries to sound old
fashioned, and because the fid-
dle and the mandolin are good,
just the right tone is achieved.
It sounds like something from
the hills, but not like an L. A.
producer's idea of what the hills
are all about.
IF ONLY the quality of the al-
bum's good cuts had been main-
tained, this albumwould have
been a gem. But besides the
overproduction, there are sim-
ply too many average and me-
diocre selections on this re-
lease.
On the first side, her rendi-
tion of James Taylor's "Hey
Mister, That's Me Up On The
Jukebox" suffers from a lack of
focus, and it's overproduced to
boot. It just doesn't sound like
Ronstadt even believes the
words she sings. This cut is so
much padding.
Similarly, there are two John
David Souther songs on Priso-

ner, and the album probably
would have been stronger if
only one had been included.
After a couple of playings, both
the Souther songs sounded
alike to me; I couldn't distin-
guish between them.
It's , a pity that Ronstadt
chose to put out such a con-
servative album after Heart
Like A Wheel. She broadened
her aundience with that release.
She didn't have to include so
many inferior selections on
Prisoner in Disguise.
John Adams, second Presi-
dent of the United States, lived
longer than any other Presi-
dent, dying on July 4, 1826, a
few months before his 91st birth-
day.
George Washington, f i r s t
President of the Pnited States,
made his only journey away
from the continent in 1751 when
he accompanied his half-broth-
er, Lawrence, who was serious-
lv ill with tuberculosis, ta Bar-
bados for his health.
WEST SIDE
BOOK SHOP
FINE USED and RARE BOOKS
at REASONABLE PRICES
LIBRARIES PURCHASED
f
113 W. Liberty
Mon.-Sat.: 11:00-6:00
Thurs: and Fri. Nites to 9:00
995-1891

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P&'aNounlX PK,gsES EfltS
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Pa wsolo inColo
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THE RESULT is some incred-t
ibly mushy cuts; they're aurale
candy, they're Lawrence Welk
music. They'll make your ears
hurt after a few hearings.
Prisoner in Disguise is a for-r
mula pastiche, a stylistic repeate
of Heart Like a Wheel. Prisoner
contains one inept rocker, and
a smattering of ballads and
country-style songs by other
well-known writers. It was de-
signed to sell heavily, and has.
When Prisoner is bad, it's as
trite and banal as anything in,
popularmusic. The single from
this album "Heat Wave," is a
sorry example of this. "HeatI
Wave," like "You're No Good" 4
before it, shows why Linda
Ronstadt shouldn't try to rock.I
IT SOUNDS like Ronstadt'

wors snmner s rengi ratner
than wander out of her field of
experience.
SEVERAL of the selections
show Ronstadt's skill at han-
dling country and bluegrass
music, and these are the strong-
est selections on Prisoner. On
- --- ----
Have a flair for
artistic writinq?
I youare irest-
poetrv, and music
or writing feature
stories a bo ut the
drama, dance, film
arts-aContact Arts
E d i tor c/o The
Michigan Daily,

,, si!yHELD OVER
H ',G 'N" 5th Smash Week
TODAY at 1-3-5-7-9:05
r P 6 62OPEN ot 12:45
Wed. All seats $1.00 til 5:00
HIS CIA CODE NAME IS CONDOR.
IN THE NEXT.SEVENTY-TWO HOURS ALMOST EVERYONE
HE TRUSTS WILL TRY TO KILL HIM,
DINO DE LAURENTIIS PRESENTS
ROBERT REDFORD/FAYE DUNAWAY
CLIFF ROBERTSON / MAX VON SYDOW
IN A STANLEY SCHNEIDER PRODUCTION
A SYDNEY POL.LACK FILM

-

-:U

.fi* '

JOHN H OU SE MA N /.usc . OAVID GRUSIN/w.Aso T-t wovUSoIorm*
BrJAMESGRADY scee~aNt&ePTLORENZOSEMPLE.JR.ANDDAVID RAYFIEL
'nODuCEo a' STANLEY SCHNEIDER o,.Cev SYDNEY POLLACK / PANAVISION
|ETACE TECHNICOLOR*/A PARAMOUNT RELEASE
I a...i' A trA .....
STARTS TODAY
SHOWS TODAY at
2:00 & 7:00 Only
OPEN at 1:45
All seats $1.00 til 5:00
PLEASE NOTE-This is a full-length (4 hour) adaptation
of the O'Neill Classic. It should be seen in its entirety.
"A film of extraordinary beauty and power."
-Time Magazine
"A moving, unforgettable experience. A great movie."
-Newsweek Magazine

GENNADY ROZHDESTVENSKY

VIKTORIA POSTNIKOVA

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Seventy Years Young
THE STOCKHOLM PHILHARMONIC brings a 70-year heritage of musical
excellence, as it performs in Ann Arbor next week. The orchestra has always played
under the world's great conductors, and this concert is no exception-Gennady Rozh-
destvensky is on the podium, and Viktoria Postnikova is piano soloist, both remem-
bered for their stunning appearances here two years ago with the Leningrad Phil-
harmonic.
PROGRAM:
KARL-BIRGER BLOMDAHL: Symphony No. 3
PROKOFIEFF: Piano Concerto No. 3
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5
Concert next MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, in HILL AUDITORIUM at 8:30;
tickets from $3.50 to $8.50.

THE ELY LANDAU ORGANIZATION. INC. AND
CINE VISION LTEE PRESENT
LEE MARVIN FREDRK MARCH

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