ARTS
T14.Michigan Daily Monday, September 23, 1985 page 7
Twins' bore withimcltson
By Richard Williams
SOME OF YOU may remember
that your new wave lovin'
Sevewer went all the way to little ole'
Akron, Ohio (tire capital of the world
no less) to see my demi-gods, New
Order, live in early August and I
reported all the lowlights (most not of
New Order's doing). At that show it
was-confirmed that my beloved Coc-
teau Twins were finally going to do
their U.S. tour after months of
sleculation (albeit a veritable mini-
tottr, encompassing only five dates)
id (that their only Midwest date was
Wotake place in nasty Columbus, Ohio,
forduspect reasons that I will explain
later on.
,After my semi-traumatic experien-
cesrin Akron, would I be stupid enough
totventure eight hours round trip in a
shitty old car that leaks oil so bad that
you end up smelling like Mr. Good-
wrench just to see a band (that I do
loke, though) play for an hour in a
packed club? You bet.
The club where they were playing is
called The Newport and I have to ad-
mit it is quite nice. It is similar to St.
Andrew's Hall but a little bit bigger.
But the interior was too art-deco. It
kjnd of ruined the original, classical
architecture. We sat through some
boring band from Columbus and ex-
pounded on our different theories
aWut why The Cocteau Twins would
pray loathesome Columbus instead of,
Clicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto
*r others.
om my sources the word is that
CObim bus buys m ore 4AD (The Coc-
teau Twins label) band's records
than any place else in the U.S. per
capita and that the Cocteaus have a
very good friend in Columbus. Hard to
bkli'eve, huh?
Maybe not. I have a hunch this
friend works for Schoolkid's Records
orColumbus and simply did whatever
1e could in town to sell people 4AD
Pands. Nice guy, and if I was in the
sprne situation I would probably try to
do the same thing. Still, I was mad at
the Cocteaus for this move. I mean
Det oit is hardly a new wavin' mecca,
'6Rooms,
d1? iver View'
exceedingly
stale
By Lauren Schreiber
HE DIRECTOR and cast of 6
Rms Rv Vu were faced with the
difficult task this past weekend of
producing a 13-year-old show which,
for the most part, felt 13-years-old.
Not that the script was stale, but the
prbduction was. At times, it felt as
though one was watching the play
during its 13th year of continuous per-
formance.
The story concerns Anne Miller
Nm na Alter) and Paul Friedman
(Alex Krueger), both sent by their
spouses to look for an inexpensive,
six-room apartment. Accidently
locked in a prospective apartment by
the superintendent Eddie (John
PIfnick), Anne and Paul find ther -
selvves intrigued by each other. Both
are married, have children, and have
become restless and bored with their
present lives. That evening they plan
meet for a picnic in the vacant
artment. The rest of the play is
spent pursuing a relationship and the
results of that relationship.
Unfortunately, the leading male,
who should have been charming and
sophisticated, seemed more like a
wliiny adolescent boy with a high
schol crush, almost begging Anne to
haye an affair. Alex Krueger's
delivery was forced and unnatural; he
never got past being an actor on a
fu'ld' hardly something the audience
uld get involved with.
Donna Alter as the female lead
See SLOW, Page 8
PHONATHON
CALLERS
NEEDED
but Columbus, Ohio? Jesus Christ,
give me a break.
So anyway, bitchin' aside and all, it
was time for the show. Before they
came on, they played some recorded
Billy Holiday just to prove they were
sophisticated. They strolled ex-
pressionlessly on stage and started
"The Spangle-Maker" with the ac-
companiment of taped drums and
other sounds. It sounded great. It was
perfect. But then they always sound
perfect. They have one of the best
studio perfect sounds of anyone. A
lush, layered, almost classical tone
that transcends categorizing.
Their always carefully maintained
studio sound is immaculate, but it
doesn't work when translated to a live
setting. It had no (zero) personality
and it was simply boring. Man, I
Hello . . . is that right?
The Daily?
The Michigan Daily?
Carries Bloom County-...
THE BLOOM COUNTY?
N 9
Now in
really wanted to like it down in my
soul, 'cause Elisabeth Fraser sure
can sing. Her style is so in-
dividualistic it's beyond description,
but she has no idea how to carry her-
self on stage. She stands in front of the
mike, arms at her side, back straight
and hardly moves. If you though Gary
Numan was a robot...but it is simply a
result of the fact that-she is as shy as
all hell.
Half of the time it looked like
Elisabeth was having an anxiety at-
tack. She is a caricature of a naive 12-
year-old girl whose " parents had
pushed her into a singing contest even
though she begged not to. I truly felt
sorry for her while I watched her bat-
tle her fear of being an object, the cen-
ter of attention while she played with
her fingers, letting out a sincere but
uneasy smile every once in a while.
The only spoken words to come out of
her mouth after most songs was a shy
and simple "Thank you." Man.
Her husband Robin Guthrie on
guitar and bassist Simon Raymonde
didn't lend any help. Robin was too
worried about playing every note per-
fectly and he spent most of the time
looking down at his guitar. Simon was
pretty much plagued by the same
malaise although he genuinely ap-
peared more enthusiastic and
am iable.
The whole show was this way. The
band perfectly plodded through their
epics, always faithful to the record
and to Ivo. The only time they broke
out was during "Rococo" and a
coupla new songs but it couldn't
change the course of events.
The gig was laid to rest during the
encore when Robin rewound the reel
to reel and they actually proceeded to
play two songs that they had played
earlier exactly the same way. UN-
BELIEVABLE! This, from a band
with about 40 songs to choose from.
What a sad ending and what an insult
to the audience.
Of course, most of the audience was
simply charmed by Elisabeth who
won them over by her innocence and
the cuteness factor. There's got to be
more than this.
And I wish there was. Because I like
LIKE the Cocteaus a hell of a lot. But
pure and simple some bands can tran-
slate their power from the record to
the stage and others can not. If the
Cocteaus are smart they'll spend the
remainder of their musical days holed
up in the studio.
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