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 ?' P&'aNounlX PK,gsES EfltS Mahl rn : ::rr h?': j: :?y : .V .>r::{ ? A .: } Pa wsolo inColo A Pa~nio)m PiCtu' }:{ : r 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 'i { f > , 1 . 'f s* r x .. , " "H o e r 3 . r 2 j ,.. 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 . ' r .: