I'HE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five Tuesday, August 2, 1977- Tuesday, August L, I ~ I7~ IHEM1C1-IK~AN DAILY PageFive David Keeps, Arts Editor Phone 764-0562 ecords in.rief GILLIAM'S 'JABBERWOCKY' Scum can be fuln By NICOLA BINNS God Save The Queen, Sex Pistols, (Virgin Imports VS 181) THE NEWEST RAGE in Bri- tish Rock and roll is Punk Rock, and at the top of the field are the Sex Pistols, Their biz- zare performances have re- sulted in harrasment from the public and the music industry. For the Queen's Silver Jubi- tee, the Pistols have answered with "God Save the Queen". This single with its radical ly- rics has caused severe contro- versy in Britain. Three major record chains and BBC radio and T.V. have banned the sin- gle. A seven second advert was also refused hyI.TyV., Lon- don's independent video sta- tion. This commercial was to announce the Sex Pistols con- tract with Virgin Records. Yet none of this hurt "God Save the Queen's" ratings on B.B.C.'s music charts. The single entered the charts at ntmber eleven and quickly reached number two. The rat- ings are based largely on the sales reports from the stores that banned the single. That week two of the Pistols were beaten up on separate occa- With the celebrations of the Jubilee in full color "God Save the Queen" is a disgrace to the British bourgeoisie. The Rolling Stone mentions that a Parliament member, Marcus Lipton, said that if Punk Rock was going to de- stroy Britians established in- stitutions "then it ought to be destroyed first." The Sex Pistols have spark- ed a new sensation in music. Many, new groups in London have followed their lead, but none have matched the Pistols' talent for insulting society. Soapy love songs don't make it with the Sex Pistols. "God Save the Queen" is hard core and guts, going for the blood of Britian. Sid Vicious on bass, drives the heavy beat right through Parliament. Johnny Rotten's voice takes the noise out of grating an onion and puts into words, singing as if he has gargled with Drano. (This is a stunt the group may live to perform on stage. Rottens lyrics refer to the Queen as a "moron," the pro- duct of a facist regime. And Pal Cook, on drums, beats the hell' out of Britain's. upper crust. The Pistols soloing follow the New York Dolls in style, and their music tends to have over- tones of the Animals, the Yard- birds and early Stones. Although their music doesn't suit everyone, it sparks a re- turn to the high energy rock and roll that has been lost in the "70's". There is a gather- ing crowd in Ann Arbor as the single is frewiently out of stock. But School Rids Records car- ries "God Save the Queen" and other British Punk Rock sin- gles. They also plan to carry the Sex Pistols first album when it is released on Virgin Records. That release, well worth waiting for, should be out in the coming months, in the meantime God Save the Sex Pistols. Have a flair for artistic writine? tf you are interest- ed in reviewia portry. and musie or writing feature stories about tide drama, dance, nim arts. Contact Arta Editor, c/onThe Michigan Daily. By OWEN GLEIBERMAN 7"HE SUMMER months having been clog- ged by such extended exercises in tedi- um as The Deep and The Other Side of Midnight, the arrival of a film like Jab- berwocky is nothing short of refreshing. The film is a truly original, at times in- spired, comic look at the Middle Ages, and all the death, famine and general yuki- ness that came with it. JABBERWOCKY is the creation of Ter- ry Gilliam (he co-wrote and directed it), who's one other claim to fame is his cre- ation of the animated sequences in "Mon- ty Python's Flying Circus." Jabberwocky will inevitably be compared to (or seen as a cheap rip-off of) Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but aside from sharing the time setting, the two have very lit- tle in common. As off-beat and hilari- ous as the Pythons' mode of humor is, Gilliam has managed to derive his own unique, comic style. Perhaps the most striking aspect of Jabberwocky is that although it is a com- edy, it doesn't abound in belly-laughs the way Holy Grail did. But this is only be- cause the creators of each film' had en- tirely different intents: Whereas Holy Grail was simply a vehicle of Python sketches, Jabberwocky is an examination of ?the muddle behind the myths and leg- ends, exploiting in every frame the pure dinginess of everyday living during that period. IN THIS RESPECT, Jabberwocky bears a striking resemblence to Ken Russell's The Devils. But where Russell shoved the rot at you to the point of making the whole thing unpalatable, Gilliam exploits everything for comedy, and the constant combination of repulsiveness and humor makes Jabberwocky a success. I won't bother to re-tell the whole story, but briefly, Dennis Cooper (Michael Palin, another Pythonite), a cooper's son, is re- nounced by his father on his death bed for having "no understanding of crafts- manship." Through an untypical series of misadventures, Cooper goes on to slay the beast that is ravaging the kingdom, and marry the king's daughter. The plot is extremely secondary, how- over, because Gilliam's sole concern is to portray the muck that it all goes on in. Every character is grotesque and rotting; the town is a virtual chamber of hor- rors. NOW YOU MAY well wonder where the fun comes in watching all this, but the comedy stems simply from the fact that nobody has the slightest idea that they're all living in scum. What the audience finds utterly repulsive and at times even horri- fying, the characters look upon without batting an eyelash. In one scene, the king and his daughter watch watch a series of duels between knights, until they are both totally (but seemingly unknowing- ly) drenched in blood. No one thinks twice as a vendor walks by peddling hot "Rats- on-a-stick." Jabberwocky abounds in many such tasty. tidbits of grotesquerie. In perfect counterpoint to this constant squalor is Dennis Cooper's schoolboy op- timism. Cooper is the one character who isn't utterly repulsive, and as played by Palin, who displays the undaunted cheeri- ness and ear-to-ear grin he brought to his best Python roles, he is the eternal op- timist in a virtual hell of a society. Because Cooper is so likeable, it is all the more horrifying when he gets caught up in the scummy world Gilliam creates. His one true love is obese, ugly, and cares nothing for him, yet he loves her enough to carry around a rancid turnip she threw at him contemptuously as a love momento. Cooper is so utterly normal and inoffen- sive, that he often seems to be from an- other planet. Jabberwocky does, in my mind, have one distinct flaw: Gilliam is so intent on cre- ating his own world, and the film is so singular in this intent, that the constant sickness occasionally becomes redundant. In particular, there -are just too many scenes in which five-odd people scramble around in some pseudo-fight for no ap- parent reason, and the idea that they're just too plain dumb to be doing anything else can at times wear thin. The constant use of close-ups, hand-held camera, and wide-angle lenses serve to put us in the thick of things, however this can result in a feeling of calustrophobia; you want some time to stand back for air. But these are merely the excesses of what amounts to an original and truly funny film, about gore, muck, and how people live in it. JT classics woo fans Lunt 'critical following surgery. GENESEE DEPOT, WIS. (AP) - Actor. Alfred Lunt, one of America's greatest stage stars, was reported in critical con- dition Monday following cancer surgery at a Chicago hospital. "Mr. Lunt is quite ill," George Bugbee said when reached at the Lunt home here, west of Milwaukee. Lunt, and his wife, Lynn Fontanne, achieved stardom in sophisticated comedies on the Broadway and London stage, with vehicles including Arms and the Man, Amphyriton 38 and Pygma- lion, Lunt, 84, was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago July 21 and had cancer surgery eight days ago, a nurse said. He was conscious but has been in critical condition for four or five days, she added. He was in an intensive care unit of the hospital Monday. Bugbee, who was at the country -home Lunt and his wife Lynn Fontanne have had here for more than half a century, said Lune went to the Chicago hospital from home. "There was not a critical episode," Bugbee said. He said Lunt was suffering from various illnesses, but declined to elab- orate, Miss Fontanne, 90, remained at their home lere in Waukesha County, where the Lunts now live year-round. By SUSAN BARRY JAMES TAYLOR seems to be suffering an- other identity crisis. He may not realize it but the gifted, soft-spoken performer of gentle love songs and nostalgic ballads is slowly turning into a mediocre rock and roll star. When JT warmed-up into his opening per- formance of "Sweet Baby James" at Pine Knob last Monday night the result was sheer magic. Taylor, aged nearly ten years since the song was made popular, looking gaunt and a bit scrag- gly, retained the soulful tenderness which made his rendition a timelessly sweet memory. OFFERED A BEER by the rather over-en- thusiastic audience, Taylor shrugged, said "OK," and accepted a can of Strohs to the delighted cheers of the crowd. This small act seemed to win them over and from there Taylor could do no wrong. He then offered a rendition of the oldie "Get Yourself a Job." Although it went over well it was ob- viously not up to the quality of other songs Taylor has recycled such as "Handyman," chief- ly because the success of the latter is due pri- marily to Taylor's mellow stylizing.. When he plays hard rock and- straight old- ies, Taylqris.style tends to fade'and 'his perform- ance is subiued. ntil it resembles that found in the type.ofnsmall time, rock.band that- might play for a high school dance. Only the powe of Taylor's physical presence sets it apart. Likewise -when Taylor was joined by the band "The Section," much of his charm was dissolved with the change of pace. Danny Gootchin's sopho- moric ego, however legendary, does not belong on the stage with Sweet Baby James. Conse- quently the best moments of the concert were when Taylor performed alone. OCCASIONALLY, as on "How Sweet it is" and "Mexico" the full band had a nice effect. But for the most part it was the solos that made the evening worthwhile. The performances of "Carolina In My Mind," "Wandering," "One Man Dog," "Fire and Rain," and "Country Road" were, by themselves, enough to make the concert memorable. Although somewhat reserved at the beginning of the show, Taylor loosened up and got into his performance. He seemed to garner confidence from the enthusiasm of the audience. Encouraged by their applause he returned for four encores and concluded with Carole King's "You'ye Got A Friend." It is difficult to interpret the direction in which his latest music is leading him, but James Taylor proved that, at least in Michigan, his musi- cal contributions are still recognized and a change in style is not necessary to insu-e him a warr1 reception.