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R E L E A S E S
commentary on parents, school and album of all Renaissance Music.
R E C E N TNE L Tother solid American institutions. Plus Cleobury, the choirs new director,
lots of self-publicizing ("I'm the one shows us a choir that is a highly
Mr. T.-Mr. T.'s Commandment (CBS) and only Mr. T./I'm bad, I'm mean, I'm polished ensemble with voices that are
This year's instructional positive- tough/I play the part/But I have a always in perfect harmony. At times
A L. B U1 MI vibe companion to the Will Powers LP heart/I've got all the right stuff/I'm a the higher voices, which are a bit too
(with a more preteen slant), this is clean upstanding citizen. . ."). If this piercing, do not mesh that well together
(Continued from Page 9) disappointingly not all that bad guy hasn't been doing elementary- with the bass voices, but usually the end
result sounds like a direct cross- musically, so camp value will have to school appearances with Nancy results are quite resonant. For color,
breading of Art Of Noise and Herbie accumulate in coming years. Worth the Reagan yet, this record ought to get the listener will be more satisfied with
Hancock (who owes his recent success investment, though, for its devestating him a date fast. The disc, produced and the Frescobaldi Mass. It is the liveliest
directly to Laswell anyway) but is far back cover art and for songs like "Don't mostly written by Patrick Henderson, work on the album, and provides for the
more novel in execution and done with Talk to Strangers" (which makes can- is superclean funk with mild elements most varied and interesting musical
far more panache. Enjoyable, but I dy-wielding strangers sound like Teddy of scratch and rap (grunty-voiced Mr. listening. N.G.
really can't imagine wanting to dance Pendergrass) and "No Dope No T. probably couldn't actually sing Strauss: Piano Sonata in b minor Opus
to it. BLB. Drugs," plus additional affirmative anyway). Pity the sound is quite 5: Five Piano Pieces. Glenn Gould,
credible-otherwise the moral content pianist (CBS Masterworks)
would make this a scream on par with In his last recording before he died of
the Richard Simmons album. As it a stroke at age 50, pianist Glenn Gould
stands, still the perfect dance-refor- leaves us an all Richard Strauss album
matory soundtrack to chore-time at of piano music, featuring the b minor
juvenile homes. D.H. Sonata, and the Five Piano Pieces.
Spyro Gyra-Acess All Areas (MCA) This album highlights many of the un-
A live "Best of" double set by one of conventional but highly satisfying in-
the seventies most successful fusion terpretive devices for which Gould is so
bands to wade in jazz-pop (read that famous. He wades through the first
FRjazz-pulp). Bandleader and movement of the Sonata at times
saxophonist Jay Beckenstein leads the lacking dynamic restraint with brittle
ensemble through some squeeky clean, yet forcefully powerful tone quality.
lukewarm performances of their light- The Adagio Cantabile is really more of
weight Latino-styled material that is an andante cantabile but it is very
moderately enjoyable for washing the charming with plenty of crisp and
ME N dishes to, but definitely not for the colorful articulations. The finale uses
purist. B.L.B. some very interesting and tonally
Allegri: Meserere, and music by pleasing pedal effects. N. G.
Nanino, Marenzio, Frescobaldi and Recent albums was written by
213 MAIN STREET " ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN " 313-769-6555 Ugolini-King's College Choir, Cam- Daily staffers Byron L. Bull, Neil
bridge, directed by Stephen Cleobury.
This all-male Choir of Kings College Galanter, Dennis Harvey, Rob
in Cambridge presents us with an LaDuke, and Don Pappas.
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10 Weekend/Friday, ctoper 26 1984

B 0 0 K
Clinic. There was no such thing as
medical records on patients, and stan-
dard supplies like stethoscopes, an-
tibiotics, and antisthetics, were rare.
He operated in clinics that were tiny
huts with floors that were sometimes
slippery mixtures of blood and mud.
Clements writes with a clear, lucid
style that is very readable. He does not
simply give us the day to day tragedies
he witnessed. The narrative is relieved
by his delving into El Salvadoran
e y e s r b la m e ,,a r c l u a
history, the nature of government and
rebel armies,. agricultural F
cooperatives, and the stories of in-
Witness to War dividuals he met. For instance, many
By Charles Clements, M.D. guerrillas he meets were teenagers
By whose families were slaughtered by r
Bantam, 268 pages, $15.95 death squads.
One of the most valuable aspects of
By Andy Weine the book is the unique history of
Clements himself, from his army brat(}
A NYONE WHO has an opinion on a upbringing to his Vietnam service to his - -.?
Spolitical issue confronts the wandering the world. As he explains in
questions of commitment and action. periodic flashbacks, he was "the right=¢
What should one do about, say, the stuff gone wrong" - a typically
proposed code of non-academic con- patriotic citizen who had his first
duct? Or about the arms race? Or about liberal activist inklings while taking
foreign intervention, such as in. El part in the bringing of Vietnam war to
Salvador? Cambodia, which Nixon denied and
Charlie Clements is a doctor and publicly lied about.
Vietnam veteran who asked himself the Clements' opposition to the war even-
last question and came up with an an- tually landed him in the Army
swer that attests to his political in- psychiatric hospital. Afterwards, he -
tegrity. He looked at El Salvador and travelled and. worked as a crewman,
asked himself, "Was this another Viet- cook, business consultant, private pilot,
nam, another quagmire in the making? and physics teacher. He became a non-
I believed so, and I further began to violent Quaker, too, and finally a doc-
believe that if I had the courage of my tor. The blending of his unique life with
search for his Salvadoran experiences makes this
convictions, I was obliged to sac o i fine activist reading.
a way to prevent such a tragedy."
His way was to utilize his medical . Of great political value is Clements'
skills in a war-torn zone of El Salvador illumination on the guerrilla army
controlled by revolutionary guerrillas. which is really inseparable with the
In Witness to War, he chronicles his village communities where he mostly
nearly two years of trying work in the worked. Several times he repeats what
troubled zone. It is a highly poignant surely would make Reagan and his Clements: Following his convictions
and enlightening document that reveals foreign policy guerrillas climb their of- "to be more than fighters . . . to be Sometimes
much about El Salvador, Latin fice walls: "In general, the Salvadoran examples to the rest of society." what he cit
American politics, and the human con- insurgents showed little sensitivity to Guerrillas were friendly and helpful ce" in an
dition struggling in near-hopeless cir- outside involvement with their to villagers, "something unthinkable in sabotage th
cumstances. revolution. Vietnam for either.. . GIs or the South were, acco
Clements' work began in early 1982 in As one prominent guerrilla leader Vietnamese Army." Overall, th
the large rebel-held area north of San said, "We don't need Cubans, and we Within Clements' experience, they villagers of
Salvador, the nation's capital. This don't need Nicaraguans . . . You treated POWs very well (usually tur- political syr
area was known by the Salvadoran ar- the reader's
my as a "free-fire zone," where all But not al
targets are legitimate, including It is a boo
civilians. trovery and
Clements describes enough civilian Clements hi
suffering to make you nauseous as you Ann Arbor 1
read agape. The fare imposed by the in- a moving a;
famous government death squads in- continues to
eludes slashed breasts, castration,Cbegan early 1982 in . a at campuses
being skinned alive, white phosphorous "free-fire zone," where all targets are ch groups,
burns (similar to Napalm damage), c iorganizatior
rape, and being hacked to death with legitimate, including civilians. When rea
machetes. Not a pretty picture at all, conscious of
but it's not sensationalism on Clements' Latin Amer
part: it's simply the truth he saw and documents.
helped to alleviate, just of El S
Despite his political sympathies andmicroWo d
humanitarian concerns, he was, not Third World
surprisingly, received there with much The impac
doubt and question. The "gringo doc- beyond ch
tor," as guerrillas and villagers called opinions, th
him, knew little spanish and was and arousi
unacquainted with Salvadoran life and model of Cle
culture. The people stole much of his notreamericanos will not control our ning them over to Red Cross), never Whether y
property and were often very country, and neither will the Soviets ... tortured enemies, worked in farm a world und
inhospitable. Persevering through the This is an authentic revolution, as yours collectives, and helped institutue that exports
bomb-cratered months, though, he was." cooperative government in the villages. abolishes s
gradually "was shown much care and I can see Reaganites from Dallas to However, Clements did not go to the question the
warmth, gratitude and generosity." Wall Street cringing at these words, but country with grand visions of the of us can an
Throughout the book, Clements wait, there's more. Clements often por- guerrillas. He went to see and learn fir- If any of us
vividly describes jungle medicine that trays the 'humanity of the guerrillas, sthand, so his portrayal of them is not other than c
makes M.A.S.H. seem like the Mayo describing, for instance, their desires that of an unquestioning party follower. book can onl
Weekend/Friday,

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