ARTS Friday, February 8, 1985 The Michigan Daily Page 5 Video festival creates an accessible art form By Bob King I Video, video, look what it becomes. From its early, dicotomous existence, harboring nothing between professional network glitter and pathetic VCR epics of junior's first drool, video's realm is currently flowing inward to the bourgeois realm of artistry. We see, Records Flash and the Pan-Early Morning Wake-Up Call (Epic) Remember polyester? Remember gold chains? Flash and the Pan's new album Early Morning Wake-Up Call takes us back to the heyday of leisure suits and the Hustle. Actually, Flash is a perfectly competent band with a sound thoroughly grounded in the '70's. There would be nothing wrong with that, except that the band's sounds aren't particularly inspired. In fact, they're only occasionally amusing. The title cut's breezy lyrics are an ef- fective satire on the music industry: You make the charts/And all the hangers-on/were always hanging on. Unfortunately, that's the only good thing about the song. Like all the albums up-tempo tunes (and that's) most of them). Wake-Up Call suffers from a heavy rhythm section com- plemented by thudding drums and a blunt synthesizer. The first side of the album has a one- pitch, party sound that can be fun, but usually isn't. The only surprise is "Barking at the Moon," a less conven- tional song with a jazzy chord change at the, chorus. The song sounds like Steely Dan with a rougher edge and a bitterly sardonic view of love. The second side shows Flash at their best. The pace slows down and the arrangements are tighter. The songs deal with faithless lovers (What else is new?) and life on the road. "On the Road,"in fact, is one of their better songs. "Look at that Woman Go" is one of the album's best songs, due mostly to its sparse arrangement and even spar- ser lyrics "Sunday morning. /Crazed head. /Empty bottles/dry the bed." The song builds the perfect sinister mood in yet another tale of soured love. We've heard it all before, but the band's style can keep us interested for one more listening. -A rona Pearlstein The Kinks-Word of Mouth (Arista) J Shocking, isn't it, that the Kinks could possibly be so good after so long-after their various long doldrum periods, af- ter the big sell-out. Word of Mouth is far from a return to the high-tide days of Arthur or even "Do You Remember Walter?", but it extends the sell-out process into the realm of near-sublime professionalism. The title song and "Do It Again" manage to, straddle saleably BIG, FM- rock riffs within a loveably intelligent melodic context, no doubt much due to lead doughboy Ray Davies' always ex- quisite vocals. "Good Day" is a classically resigned poptune with a litling chorus, funny ajd sad and smart and all that. Dave Davies's "Livin' on a Thin Line" is nearly as piognant as a farewell-Britannica ode. "Massive Reducation," "Sold Me Out" and "Guilty" ably prop up the FM rock clothesline and will serve their purpose should a Kinks tour emerge. Despite an unconscionable amount of temporal and monetary temptation to surrender entirely to the FM-clone scene, the Kinks have held onto some blues/rock credibility, and the Ray/Dave production is ace. Too arch to ever be truly a populist band-they regard their audience with too much frank curiousity for that-the Kinks Survive as brilliant mimics of the stadium/FM need who can (thankfully) never quite appear dumb enough to look like the mean it. They've been, on- and-off, so enormously enjoyable for so long that the failure of Word of Mouth to sink from sheer baggage weight is almost more pleasing and significant then the music itself. --Dennis Harvey therefore it grows. three day show began what looks like a by the exponentially greater facilities required to show videos on the big guilty. Ann Arbor, it appears, has turned out successful tradition. of the professional screen, but also cash prizes and air- Another change in this year's tobe one of the video's brighter buds. The goal of Festival Founder and To solve the ever-present problem of travel to Ann Arbor for the finalists. Festival will be the categories of com- Last year's National Student Video Director Alec Friedman, who, not co- funding, Friedman went straight to the The three-day Festival was viewed petition. Last year's open format ser- Festival, the first student festival on incidentally, is also the Executive corporate sources that are involved in by over 1000 people last spring, in spite ved as sort of a test sample of styles this orb, generated nation-wide atten- producer of the U. of M.'s Media video's blossoming, gaining sponsor- of conflicts with the University's final produced. "There were no categories," tion and received 101 entries from 25 Resource Center, Michigan Media, was ships from Sony Broadcast, Allied Film exam period. This year, Friedman has Friedman explains, "we just had to states. Featuring an excellent panel of to generate publicity for student video & Video, CBS-Fox Video, and General moved the Video-Fest forward to Mar- open things up and see what would hap- judges, including PBS producer and 5- producers through the inception of a Electric. Their support not only ch 29 and 30 to allow more students to pen." What happened was the NSVF time Emmie winner David Connell, the "student Emmies," one not dominated provided the hyper-expensive projector attend, and those attending not to feel See LOCAL, Page 6 The first time seems like, the worst time, but it's the one time NEW MUSIC FOR THE NEW YEAR TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX Presents AN INTERSCOPE COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTION A BOB CLARK FILM TIMOTHY HUTTON TURK 182 ROBERT URICH KIM CATTRALL ROBERT CULP DARREN McGAVIN and PETER BOYLE Director of Photography REGINALD H. MORRIS, C.S.C., Executive Producers PETER SAMUELSON and ROBERT CORT Produced by TED FIELD and RENE DUPONT Screenplay by JAMES GREGORY KINGSTON and DENIS HAMILL & JOHN HAMILL Story by JAMES GREGORY KINGSTON Directed by BOB CLARK PANAVISION' rxNS ELT STEAREO® 12 &aev ~Aloac 1C~'0G~treolo Are StroontN GoooordhfDre GSpeuat orPG -13 M a e forA e IndpTo, f frClorren Once3 <1385 TWENTETH Same Maea May Be inapproprte for Young CMow- ~ CENTURY FOX ' \N.:\f C .WU '. 4amti' KiO ihWnnvk..a..vwv'a w . :.ifii3e.4 ',li2.W.law'vx. 'tawSla£11Y: " ' 4 '$if u ld.WxW .