ARTS - ---------- The Michigqn Daily Saturday, October 18, 1980 PageS5, -T.AKING LIBER TIES' Elvis' By MARTY LEDERrOAN Okay, if Elvis is, as I suspect, the greatest creator of Poptunes (riffwise, anyway) since John Fogerty was back in the days of greener rivers and sim- pler times, why can't he make it as a popular success, specifically on the radio? A few possible reasons: First of all, it must have been Elvis that Hobbes was thinking of when he described man as short, nasty and brutish. The fellow is simply a bothersome wimp, and a paranoid one at that. Although people do enjoy seeing their problems justified by their heroes' similar experiences, they do not want to hear the constant lamentations of a spiteful, pitiful misogyist. Most casual listeners would rather try to deny their troubles by burying them behind the sheild of their: favorite comic-book hero (i.e. Ted Nugent, Jackson Browne, Jerry Gar- cia; name your fantasy),'than to put up with an ugly, unglamorous pest such as Elvis. You see, he offers no cookbook solutions to his problems; therefore there is no cathartic release for his listeners, only a vicious (if feeble) assault upon just about everything. Elvis Costello is not the stuff from which dreams are made. odds and ends ac louder than mere words (ask Bonnie Bramlett), but I have always thought that music speaks even louder than ac- tion. Which is why I'm surprised that Elvis is so disliked, for he happens to write incredible melodies. His songs are consistently fun, danceable, perky, interesting, and generally impeccable. Which brings us to his latest, Taking Liberties, in which the good, generous people over at Columbia present us with 20 (count 'em) more great Elvis tunes. This is obviously a promotional ploy, right from the outdated company hype on the cover ("In this rockin' new album, Elvis proves himseld the most versatile singer-entertainer of the day.. . ") to the selection of songs, composed almost exclusively of cuts previously released on B-sides, British albums, EP's, etc. At $4.99, Taking Liberties is sweet revenge for those of us that have always envied the fans who had enough money to buy all those ex- pensive imports. The fact that this isn't a cohesive album, per se, isn't a rip-off, as it would be with other artists, for Elvis' songs are so great separately that they don't have to be tied together by anything resembling a "theme". I have no idea what most of these songs "mean" (those friends of mine are still working on Get Happy), but I love Taking Liber- ties all the same. Costello's incredible versatility is fully revealed here, as he touches upon most every conceivable musical form available in the rock idiom, and even one that isn't, Rogers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine".(For those of you too young to remember, they were a Turkish folksinging duo who had a world-wide smash with "valentine" in 1962). Elvis' sheer guts in covering this song (successfully, I might add) shows us that perhaps he has the potential to do far more than he was ever given credit for. On Taking Liberties, that potential is, for the first time, creatively untapped. PARTICULARLY impressive here is Costello's mastery of the ballad. He consistently proves that he can adapt his venom to a drawn-out diatribe, and some of these ballads are among the best songs on the album. Elvis also tries his hand at R and B (Van McCoy's "Getting Mighty Crowded" is evidence that Costello knows his roots, no matter what he thinks of Ray Charles), the British invasion ("Tiny Steps" is, reminiscent of the Turtles or Animals with a touch of Dylanesque organ), and, on perhaps the most enjoyable cut, "Radio Sweetheart", Elvis actually makes good on the challenge of coun- try-rock. This tune so strongly evokes the Gram Parsons inspired Byrds at their best, it's surprising that it wasn't called "Sweetheart of the Radio". And similar success on "Stranger in the House" proves that it's no fluke. Of course, there are also the typical (but unique) rockers, including such paten- ted gems as "Talking in the Dark", "Night Rally", and "I Don't Want to go to Chelsea", the latter perhaps the finest thing Costello has ever put on vinyl. But the important thing here is that Costello is able to carry his genius to other forms' with just as much credibility and spunk as he does on his standard pieces. Id up There has recently been a backlash among critics who complain that Costello is boring them, because his songs "all around the same", which I don't really understand, much less agree wth. Taking Liberties, with its multitude of styles and forms, proves them wrong beyond a doubt. Perhaps what they really mean is that his songs are not very memorable or individually earth-shattering, which might be un- derstandable considering the plethora of tunes that have been thrown at us by Costello in the three short years that he has been with us. Elvis is nothing if not prolific. But even if his lack of originality and staying power did exist (and it doesn't necessarily; I find myself singing these songs to myself constantly, even if I don't remember their names or places), well, so what? Granted, they won't change your life, but they will make it a lot more fun. And what's wrong with that? Two Marthas -with -atr By JIM GARNER Ihe list of bands which seem to have influenced Martha and the Muffins is long, but in some ways the comparisons are circumstantial. For instance, the lead singer of the band is a woman riamed Martha Johnson. I'm sure we are all tired of articles concerning the reemergence of women in rock, but there is more than one song on Metro Music which is reminiscent of the Pretenders. "Paint-by-Number Heart" and "Monotone" both feature a punchy beat and barbed-wire rhythm guitar work, but Johnson lacks the vocal range and dynamism of Chrissie Hyn- de. 4 Other songs, "Revenge (Against the World)" and "Terminal Twilight" have a Gang of Four-style instrumentation, charged-up and scaled-down at the same time. I don't want to push these parallels excessively far, and indeed the Muffins may not even have been well acquainted with these bands when they recorded Metro Music in London in August 1979. The band is Canadian, not British, and has been together since 1976. ; THE MOST definite influence on Martha and the Muffins is Roxy Music, and this goes beyond the surface similarity that both feature excellent sax players. Muffin Andy Haas, I dare say, rivals Andy Mackay of Roxy, if not for technical achievements, at least for the solid integration with and influen- ce on the sound of the band as a whole. As if the coincidences will never end, ,Martha and the Muffins did in fact open for Roxy on their British tour last summer. The songs on Metro Music were writ- ten, in whole or collaboratively, by guitarist Mark Gane and vocalists/keyboardists Martha Johnson and Martha Ladly. This set-up varies the tone but little of the outlook of the songs, primarily that of a bored and beaten city dweller who yearns to break * :free of the life and lovers which trap 'her. The persona, voice of. whatever is 'definitely that of romantic, but it avoids the sticky-sweet, prefabricated roman- ticism which plagues many pop- oriented groups. It emerges in the very first song on the album, "Echo Beach", n essage, and continues almost non-stop until the second from last, with a few tales of nightmares and dead-end love affairs in between. But the urbanite never really does break free. Martha Johnson's voice is so genteel and vulnerable, even on the obligatory "mean'' song, "Revenge (Against the World)", that it seems like she'll always be trapped. As she laments at one point, "I wish that I could be decisive, then I'd understand where life is going for me.". Related to this trapped feeling is a sense of timelessness which the songs convey, through repetition and lackluster bass and drums. In "Saigon", "a place where time does not exist", the tune, although full of catchy hooks, never breaks free of itself or changes in any way. What I would like to think of as "understated" music, especially in respect of the keyboards, toys with out minds a bit, and makes us expectant for more than they players will let us have. The musicians are all quite com- petent. They are so comfortable with each other that they can play in almost any construction with seeming ease, from catchy hooks to droning space- "mood" music to improvisation. Wor- thy of special mention are guitarist Mark Gane and soxophonist Andy Haas. I find Gane's rhythms much more interesting than they keyboards of the two Marthas, and when he gets a chance to solo, he real- ly shines. Haas' saxophone careens and soars through most of the songs, giving the sometimes straight- jacketed music a free-riding soul. I still don't know why I like this album: Usually a "message in the music" format turns me off. But Mar- tha and the Muffins never sound preten- tious in their lyrics or their music; they take their message seriously, but not at the expense of liveliness and fun (wit- ness the best song on the slbum, "Cheesies and Gum"). The band also has some great hooks that are irresistable and choruses that are great sing-a-longs. I never liked to think of myself as a romantic fool, but "Echo Beach" and Metro Music are doing their best to convert me. A SECOND REASON for his un- popularity is that his words are all but indistinguishable. Most people simple refuse to listen to anything without a handy lyric sheet, or a vocalist that sounds like one. Which is really a shame, because Elvis is the wittiest lyicist since the death of Dylan. I know because I have crazy friends who spend all their time deciplering and recording Elvis' words, and the finished product is alwaysgood for weeks of analysis and laughter. But even 'if the lyrics could be uncoded upon first listening, they still might not appeal to the masses, because of their subtle am- biguity. It is a sad fact of life that people would rather listen to straight- forward sexual boasts (see Aerosmith) than to bother with brilliant satire and (relatively) complex metophors. Un- fortunately, Doug Feiger's sexist com- plaints about the frustration that occurs when one does not have a girl to sit on one's face are far more popular than EC's witticisms, which dig deeper into male/female relationships, which are, thank God, more complicated than the Knack is willing to admit, or even realize. Now, I know that action speaks T7e n'vers'ty of M :'ga3 DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND GUEST ARTIST SERIES DRAMA I spring I awakenin~g by Frank Wedekind Ct. 2-25,8pm Oct.26, 2pm In the Power Center Tickets at P.T P. Call 764-0450 MasterCharge and Visa accepted 119 xza as ---7 -- - - - - MY BODY GUA RD 10:00 12:30 3:30 7:00, 9:30 Rated PG 10:00 12:15 3:30 7:00 9:15 12:00 Mid.