i
l

These days when your dollars are shrinking
To eat at the League is good thinking;
The food is first rate
And the atmosphere's great
And it helps keep your budget from sinking.
R.S. SP
g g ST
* _ Se
TheMchigan M
22
Next to Hill Auditorium Yo
Located in the heart of the campus. tic
it is the heart of the cajmpus on

M

Lunch 11:30to 1:15
Dinner 5:00 to 7:15
ECIAL LOW PRICES FOR
UDENTS
nd your League Limerick to:
anager. Michigan League
7 South Ingalls
u will receive 2 free dinner
kets if your limerick is used in
e of our ads.

ARTS

Page 6

Tuesday, January 26, 1982


TUESDAY LUNCH-DISCUSSION
January 26, 12 Noon
"VIETNAM, CHINA AND CAMBODIA:
THREE YEARS AFTER WAR"
Speaker: DR. JOHN WHITMORE,
Program Officer, Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies
At The INTERNATIONAL CENTER For Additional information,.
603 E. Madison Street please call 662-5529
Lunch $1.00'
Co-sponsored by: The Ecumeatca Campus Center, The International Center,
Church Women United InAnn Arbor.
SHE BROUGHiT ME'
PRIZE WINNING
ONE-ACT PLAYV
by ELLEN LINNELL PROSSER. PROGRESS
JAN. 28, 29, 30 at 8--JAN. 31 at 3
U/M faculty-moderated discussions
after evening performances only.
CANTERBURY LOFT, 332S. State (upstairs)
665-0606

The J. Geils Band-"Freeze-
Frame" (EMI-America)
Before you dismiss this review and
the album that it's about with an,
"Oh . .. I hate this'album! They play it
twice an hour on the radio, and I'm get-
ting sick of it,'' do yourself a favor.
Think back to the first time you heard
either the opening bars of "Center-
fold," or the catchy camera-shutter
sound effects at the -beginning of
"Freeze-Frame," stopped what you
were doing, and actually said to your-
self, probably out loud, "Hey, this is a
great song." Well, believe me, you were
right. Both those songs are great, and
the album itself, entitled Freeze-
Frame, is just as good.
This album is significant because,
since their overambitious but vastly
underrated Monkey Island, the J. Geils
Band has been in search ofa particular,
musical niche. Before Monkey Island,
they did straight Stax and R&B covers,
as well as originals which might as well
have been covers for all the musical
progress (or lack thereof) they made.
Since Monkey Island, they've released
Sanctuary, an OK album of their own
brand of R&B accented with a touch of
pseudo-disco, as well as Love Stinks, a
pretty good album with a great title, but
which was too cynical for its own.good.
But on their latest album, Freeze-
Frame, the J. Geils Band takes all the
above elements, mediocre in their
original contexts, combines them with
the best playing they've ever done, ad-
ds some killer guest horn players and
backup singers, tops it off with
keyboardist Seth Justman's many con-
tributions, and makes it work; Freeze-
Frame is an excellent album of varied.
straightahead, no BS rock and roll.
There are the singles, "Centerfold"
(catch the video if you can), and


"Freeze-Frame," both, as I said, simply
great songs; the teenage delinquent an-
them, "Rage In The Cage"; the sizzling
(pun intended) "Flamethrower," an
extremely catchy dance tune; the
murky but contagious "River Blin-
dness"; and their tribute to the regular
working stiffs of the world, "'Piss On
The Wall."
When the J. Geils Band looks back on
this album in the future, however, they
all should say a silent prayer of thanks
for Seth Justman. Justman produced
and arranged this album, and also
wrote most of the songs. He is the glue
that holds this album together. His
playing is excellent (see the synthesizer
break in the middle of
"Flamethrower"), the production is
some of the best I've heard in years, the
string and horn arrangements are im-
pressive but not overpowering, and the
writing is just plain terrific. All in all,
Justman did one hell of a job.
But then, it doesn't hurt to have the
band playing this well either. Peter
Wolf is now more of a singer than the
screamer he used to be, J. Geils' guitar
lines have never been as mean, Magic
Dick gets sounds out of a harmonica the
way no one else can, and the rhythm
section of bassist Danny Klein and
drummer Stephen Bladd is one of the
best around.
Though they used to be called the
American Rolling Stones (and Freeze-
Frame puts Tattoo You to shame, by
the way), the J. Geils Band has finally
found their place. And remember, when
you're at one of the Geils' shows next
week,. or when you hear something
from Freeze-Frame on the radio for the
eighth time that day, or when you catch
yourself whistling the ending otrm
"Centerfold," remember that you're
dealing with some high quality
material. Some rery high quality
material..

came to a killer climax on The Third'
Reich 'n' Roll, and in all fairness (I
guess), new areas had to be explored.
Or maybe they needed cash to support
their filmmaking. No matter; the
problem is that no other artist, not John
Lydon or Gang of Four, has demon-
strated so compellingly that rock 'n'
roll has brainwashed the youth of the
world.
Those reservations out of the way,
I'm glad to say that Mark of the Mole is
a snappy little disk (hotcha!). Like the
two albums which preceded it, Mole is a
demented little movie for your ears
which features "Hole Workers At The
Mercies Of Nature" and "Hole-
Workers Vs. Man And Machine."
Kicker of it is hearing Der President
Ronnie's voice and realizing that this
ain't no fun an' games. Also, dig the
multi-layered puns of the album's title
and "underground music."
-Bill Brown
Roger Troutman-'The Many
Facets of Roger'- (Warner
Brothers)
This album does indeed reveal the
many facets of Roger, Roger Trout-
man that is. Troutman is the leader of
Zapp, one of the groups in George Clin-
ton's Parliament stable. On Zapp's first
album, they followed the tradition of

The Michigan Daily.
Clinton's hard-hitting funk with a
promise of more to come. The Many
Facets of Roger fulfills that promise in
a variety of ways.
On this album, Roger presents the 4
finest pure funk with "So Ruff, So
Tuff." It's impossible to listen to this
without bouncing your head and' tap-
ping your toes. The driving bass and
percussion combine with Troutman's
scintillating synthesizer to produce one
of the hottest singles of the year.

The rest of the LP exposes other
areas in Roger's remarkable reper-
toire. He looks back to perform a funk
filled rendition of "I Heard it Through
the Grapevine" that gives Gladys
Knight and Marvin Gaye a run for their
money. There are also some interesting
experimehts with jazz guitar on "Maxx
Axe" and "A Chunk of Sugar."
Troutman even pays tribute to the
blues on "Blue." In case there is any
question of Troutman's ability to get
mellow, he has included "Do It Roger,"
a pleasing but repetitive piece.
The worst thing about the album is
it's cover, which shows Troutman
making an assortment of weird faces.
Otierwise, there is a lot of gkod music
inside.
-Elizabeth James

a

Pian ist Nagel n early
flawless in recital

S

By Robert Maki
IN AN ALL-BACH recital Sunday,
pianist Louis Nagel, member of the
University of Michigan School of Music
faculty, gave nearly flawless readings
of the three scheduled works; the
"Partita in B-flat, S. 825," the "Toccata
in D, S. 912," and t.he "Partita in E
minor, S. 830."
Starting with the "Partita in B-flat,"
Nagel exhibited his abilities Fonvin-
cingly. His handling of uncertain spots,
such as the long trill in the Sarabande
and the constant hand crossing of thea
Gigue, confirmed that he is in com-
mand of his instrument. The first
movement contained the only wrong
note of the entire program. The
melodies and accompaniments were in
fine balance, the lines clear and played
with a singing tone, and the performan-
ce was overall very musical.
In this light, the choice of the "Toc-
cata" as next piece makes one wonder
why, having such obvious musical sen-
se, Nagel.put it on the program. Con-
trary to popular belief, all Bach's music
is not great, and this piece attests to
that. For a toccata, except for the fugue
at the end, it is not a very flashy piece.
To top it off, it had already been played
twice this year by School of Music
faculty pianists.

In the last work, the "E minor Par-
tita," Nagel continued performing with
technical brilliance. A little of the
musical embellishments, however,
were lacking. One sensed this in the
courante of the "Partita,'" in which the
left hand has almost con'stant eighth
notes, -and was played almost
mechanically. This may have been due
to tiredness, because Nagel was ap-
parently fighting a cold.
His use of the pedal was difficult to
overlool; it was used too much. It was
used on the low chords in the "Toc-
cata," making it sound more like
Chopin than Bach. It was left down at
the end of that piece, making it found as
if it ended on a major seventh chord,
something which cannot be excused
especially since he avoided it in a
similar situation at the end of the "E
minor Partita." He had a tendency to
pull the pedal up slowly at ends of
movements, causing the strings to
buzz. Somehow it did not have the same
charm as the "click" of quills that a
harpsichord woutd have had.
Overall, it was a successful piano
perforniance, but these works were not
written for piano. There no loger
seems to be any excuse to present har-
psichord music on piano with the in-
creased frequency of harpsichord per-
formances. One hopes that the ac-
tivities planned for the tricentennial of
Bach's birth in 1985 wi4l arouse suf-
ficient interest in what the composer
actually wrote to dissuade public per-
formances on piano, allowing the talent
of musicians such as Nagel to be direc-
ted toward true piano literature.

.. the Joffrey Ballet of the West.
- Denver Post

;
,
..
>
;y
,'

Monday, Jan. 25
Diaghilev Tribute
Scheherazade
La Boutique Fantasque (excerpts)
Spectre de la Rose
Rite of'Spring
Tuesday, Jan. 26
Mostly Copland Evening
Seascape
Bolero
Billy the Kid
Gallops and Kisses
Wednesday, Jan. 27
All Guidi Evening
In Autumn
"Fantasia Para un Gentilhombre
Carnival D'Aix


California's
OAKLAND BALLET
COMPANY
Mon.-Wed.,.Jan. 25-27 at 8:00