The Michigan Daily-Thursday. April 10. 1980-Paae 7: J. GEILS AT COBO This ain't nothin' but a party! By MARK COLEMAN There is no accounting for popular aste. Judging from the response they received in Detroit earlier this week, the J, Geils Band is the biggest thing to hit Detroit since the invention of the wheel, or at least the tire. This respec- table though not massively renowned outfit have built a solid reputation as a hard working, satisfying if not scin- tillating blues based boogie band. Nothing too elaborate or cerebral: just a guaranteed get-down-and-jam good *ime with enough bluesy dirt to make the music urgent, but not so much as to make it threatening. Boozy fun with a touch of desperate urgency. But, fun, first and foremost. When you want to party in Detroit, chances are J. Geils Band is what you'll party to. These guys get quite a bit of local airplay. maybe as much as the Stones or the Who. But it's through live per- formances that J. Geils have built their reputation as the ultimate party band, a reputation that begins and ends in Detroit. This Boston-based outfit broke through to national prominence full scale in 1972 with their first live 1p. Full House breathed a rush of hot- blooded hedonism into the soberly stagnant radio waves. It rekindled the spontaneous flame of loose r-and-b- tinged rock and roll that had waned, unnoticed in backstreet bars and clubs. Full House was recorded, you guessed wt, in front of a wildly enthusiastic Detroit audience., SINCE THEN, J, Geils and company have released a string of consistent, if not extremely adventurous, albums and toured steadily enough to keep their grass roots constituency clamoring for more. One could say time. and style, have passed J. Geils by. But don't say it around Detroit if you value your hide. J. Geils Band sold out not just one, but three successive nights at Cobo Arena-a pretty remarkable feat any way you look at it. Sure, they've had some hits, but three sold-out nights? Any group that can inspire 36,000-plus people to part with ten bucks has to have something special, an intangible appeal that isn't perfectly transferred to records., After seeing the third J. Geils show, on Monday night, that appeal still escapes me. The ingredients are all there: tight, well executed playing, a well balanced selection of old and new material, a diverse but not ob- trusive stage presentation, and a crowd so psyched that the apocalypse would have come as a disappointment. But the end result was as bland as over- simmered soup that only hints at its original flavor, flirting with one's ex- pectations instead of fulfilling them. AS UNFETTERED and casual as they sound at times, J. Geils Band is tightly structured, almost to the point of constriction. Those carelessly phrased guitar solos, offhand harmonica riffing, even Peter Wolf's shouts, grunts and sighs of encouragement are carefully placed and precisely delivered. Without much deviation either way, the group does little more than play Just Like On The Album. And when Wolf cries "alright DEE-troit, are you havin' a good time?" the crowd responds in conditioned frenzy. The band is more than competent, and probably well- equipped to push their music closer toward the edge of excitement, but they stop far short of taking any real risks. J. Geils don't take risks because they don't need to-not in Detroit anyway. The crowd seemed to know every song by heart and it didn't much matter that J. Geils' (the person) guitar seemed unusually dissonant and overstated or that Magic Dick's inspired harp dynamics were reduced to a screechy approximation in the mix. These folks came to hear the tunes that liven up their radio every day, and they heard them all, from "Love Stinks" to "Lookin' for a Love." But that's all they heard: no trace of innovation or derivation from a well-worn (three live lp's worth) path. Even the classic har- monica improvisation "Whammer Jammer" was delivered verbatim from the recording. That's the heart of the problem: J. Geils achieved such a level of success (probably unexpected) that they never had to develop as a band. Oh, they throw in a synthesizer treacle here and there, even a discofied break of plastic funk on "Sanctuary", but . it's.: the greasy authenticity and obliviousness of their blues roots that set them apart in the first place. The most rewarding moment on Monday was their cover of "In the Night Time, an unadulterated throwback, a howling good time stomp with no trendy strings attached and, in- cidentally, one I've never heard them perform before. As for the stage show, well, at the risk of sounding jaded, if you've seen one lead singer lowered on stage in a throne you've seen them all. THE AUDIENCE did not share my disappointment with the performance. J. Geils received one of the most ec- static, overwhelmingly positive responses I've ever witnessed. And while they don't quite live up to the claims of some of their ardent ad- mirers, they deliver the expected goods quite adequetely and play off the crowd artfully. It would be too easy to con- clude with a diatribe concerning the Detroit FM radio monopoly and how their program directors manipulate mass taste through rigid programming, to the point of ensuring a band like J. Geils unqualified success, but it's a moot point. The stations are convinced that they play what the people want to hear, and the people are happy to take anything resembling rock and roll that they can get. The J. Geils fans are left satisfactorially delerious and the more demanding listeners wouldn't be caught dead at Cobo Arena anyway. The tragedy is that everybody misses out. But I will say this: any band that plays for an hour and five minutes, then milks the crowd for three or four encores isn't playing to the fans expectations but preying on them. There's no accounting for popular taste, but there stre ought to be. Nikki and the Corvettes Remember the Shangri-las? How about the Crystals and the Ronnettes? Now we've got Nikki and the Corvettes, Ann Arbor's latest entry in the new wave sweepstakes, shown here wowing 'em at the Star Bar Tuesday. Also appearing with the Corvettes were up-and-comers the Volume Whores (!) and Gary Pryka and the Scales. 2r POETRY READING with Thomas Fitzsimmons and Gozo Yoshimasu READING FROM THEIR WORKS Thursday, April 10-7:30 pm no admission charge REFRESHMENTS GUILD HOUSE, 802 Monroe NOON LUNCHEON HOMEMADE SOUP AND SANDWICH 754 Friday, April 11, Sarah Robertson Bentley: "The Work-able Ethic" GUILD HOUSE, 802 Monroe RE CO RD S "IN I ' . _ J By MARK DIGHTON It's about time I After releasing XTC's least interesting album to date (though still ahead of the pack), Drums and Wires, the international arm of Virgin Records has finally decided to release their previous state-of-the-art *P's White Music and Go 2 (in chronological order). Until recently, Go 2 was my favorite album by this British fringe-pop group. Now I find myself drawn more and more to their first, White Music. It cer- tainly is a jagged album, especially if you're only familiar with Drums and Wires, but it is also just as certainly their most energetic and positive other ten tunes of eccentric enthusiasm and irrepressibly intelligent humor found on this album, and you can't really complain. True, their literary wit hadn't developed to its present stage at the time of White Music, but with in- cisive lines like "It's gone eleen and thr bar is shut I'm sitting waiting like a realgoodmu t I watch TV with an actor's rage Like a new town animal in a/furnished cage" you can't really go wrong. What is really unique about White Music, especially since XTC have not been able to duplicate it since, is the rampant nervous energy of this album. questionable. It is a statement on both having fun and thinking about life from a fully mature group who obviously know how to do both. The social awareness of White Music appears on Go 2 as fully developed social commentary. They can criticize the conformity and falsity of discos while still celebrating the pure release potential of dancing in "Meccanic Dan- cing" and then turn around and decry the tight life-roles offered to women in "Battery Brides." THE FULLY orchestrated sound of Go 2 is something XTC also have not been able to match since. . . and probably won't be able to equal in the future due to the loss of virtuoso keyboardist Barry Andrews. But on Go 2, this full frontal sound hits like a wave, ferocious in its relentless poun- ding. The pace never really lets up, but is only further accentuated by its un- derstated presence on slower tracks like "Battery Brides." You may remember this song as the surprising tour-de-force of XTC's recent ap- pearance at The Michigan Theater with the Police. (If you didn't recognize it, you can always tell the tour-de-force by the fact that the "we-just-wanna- boogie-all-night" fans always boo the loudest during these demanding and spmetimes difficult pieces.) True, some songs on this album are better than others, but separating the two is sort of like finishing the whipped cream on top of a Mountain High sun- dae and thinking that you only have two scoops of Carob Mint Ice Cream dren- ched in hot carob sauce left! Sure, songs like "Meccanik Dancing," "Buz- zcity Talking," "Beattown," and "Are You Receiving Me?" are unbeatable, but that doesn't mean that I've ever been able to sit still through "The Rhythm," "Crowded Room," or "Jum- ping in Gomorrah." What is most im- portant about this album is that it is nearly faultless. The pacing is perfect, the arrangements are full and com- plete, the playing is creative, and the songs themselves are demanding, engaging, and witty. If you hurry, you could snatch up these albums now, years before everybody realizes just how ahead of (or maybeoutside of) their time this band is. Already you can see how other bands have begun to pick up their in- fluences. So far, Blondie have only been smart enough to copy their cover art, but they could learn a few things musically from these boys, too.. You could find yourself an instant rock and roll historian in a few years once every band on the face of the Earth has begun to copy XTC. The first tea brough to England in the 17th century was used as a medicine and sold for several pounds sterling per pound. ANN ARBOR CIVIC THEATRE presents: "THE CRUCIBLE" by ARTHUR MILLER at Lydia Mendelssohn April 9-12 CURTAIN 8:00 pm "k THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (Pollack; 1969)"1 JANE FONDA plays a spunky loser who gives survival one last shot by trying to win a seedy dance-hall marathon. This drama of bleak survival won Gig Youngon Oscar. MICHAEL SARRAZIN, BRUCE DERN, SUSANNAH YORK. 7:00 & 9:30 $1.50 Fridan,, ALL THdE PRESIDENT'S MEN At Old A&D ~~~~~1 ~~~~r"WE HELP YOU CINEMA GUILD SURVIVE IFE N creation. As opposed to the padded or- chestration of Go 2, White Music puts the instruments right out in front of the mix in direct conflict positions. All four instruments chatter nervously about seemingly contradictory topics, but somehow manage to get their collective message across. The excitement of the event is quite unmistakable. THERE ARE some distinct failures on this album, though. "This is Pop" was later transformed into one of the best singles of the decade but the ver- sion on White Music sounds rushed and noncommital. The arrangement is weak, the ending is anticlimactic, and the rhythm drags. It is only the other- wise sterling quality of this album that makes these minor faults stand out in *such bold relief, however. This song, even in this flawed state, would shine on any other album. Next to the non-stop gems on this album, though, it is found to be rather wanting. You shouldn't be without the single version of "This Is Pop?" anyway (under any circumstan- ces), so its inclusion on this album is no big loss. "I'm Bugged" is also a minor loser in my book. It is just too mechanistic, for- ced and humorless to be comfortable on White Music. BUT STACK-these two up against the Almost all of the tunes have been pushed in pace and complexity to the breaking point. After they've rushed through a quick pop tune of switchblade rhythms, hairpin guitar solos, and unavoidable harmonies like "Spinning Top," all you want to do is sit there stunned for a moment and catch your breath. Too soon, though, they return with "Neon Shuffle" and all the energy you thought they'd just spent. IT SPEAKS well for the intelligence of this band that they didn't turn their only cover song so far, Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," into the meaninglessly irreverent send-up that most new wave bands would have made of it. (Check out the Dickies' am- phetamine-induced version of "Knights in White Satin.") Instead of just speeding it up to make a joke out of it, XTC have added a funky bass and exaggerated vocals and harmonica to create a legitimate, thoughtful inter- pretation of a song that deserves their respect. Just because I happen to be really hot on White Music at this point doesn't mean that Go 2 should be looked at as anything less than the truly revolutionary pop album that it is. Unlike its predecessor, it contains no songs that are even so much as OO 1 ~AjVEf?SITY 5MUSICAL % SOCIETY presen trf Sbirl ins CANTERBURY LOFT presents THE FESTIVAL OF SOUTH AFRICAN CULTURE April 10-19, 1980 M2udayApl 4 m M MAstAfm I