Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 8, 1987
Records
(Continued from Page 7)
"Umbrella," it shows that these
newcomers can be engaging for a
number of reasons.
- Beth Fertig
Plan 9
Anytime , Anyplace,
Anywhere
Pink Dust Records
Plan 9's latest platter, Anytime;
Anyplace ,Anywhere , is an odd
little mouthful. The title track, the
record's best-ut, is a taste of Frank
Sinatra style dinner music. It's
short, it's sweet, and makes you
want to rub elbows and spend the
night clubbing with the '40s jet
set. "Anytime, Anyplace, Any-
where" shares side two with "Op-
ium Night," an interesting, if
somewhat lackluster stab at psych-
edelic dinner music- so pour some
wine, light some incense, and
smoke some opium, but try not to
fall asleep.
Side one is a bit more upbeat
thanks in part to some circus fun-
style keyboards. The album kicks
off with the chirpy psychotic
church organ of "Green Animals"
that swirls into an electric animal
underworld. "(Living in a world of)
Full Counts" is an off-kilter bit of
subdued quirkiness. And "Coloring
in the Dark's" atmospheric sound
transforms itself into a crazed ride
on a merry go round gone beserk.
All parents be forewarned: keep
the children away from Plan 9's
amusement park.
- Danny Plotnick
Karamazov Sister
Six-song cassette
Fleurs du Mal
boards and drummer Johnnie Ging-
rich.
Seifert gives an emotion-packed
delivery on the furious "Dancing
Against You." But the cream of
this crop is "Wisdom of Love,"
which is co-written by Dunham,
where Seifert has a high-pitched
growl like the Airplane-era Grace
Slick and the band takes a some-
what funk groove led by the bass-
ist's twangy fretwork. Karamazov
Sister gets a little experimental on
the second side's "One More,"
where Seifert's half-spoken vocals
and the band's quirky rhythms lend
a dramatic flair.
Karamazov Sister's weaknesses
are nothing that a little more time
and experience can take care of; but
even without the "debut" moniker,
this six song cassette, available at
Schoolkids' Records, is a fine piece
of work. Watch out for these guys.
-Beth Fertig
G.B.H.
Oh No It's G.B.H.
Again!
Combat Core
G.B.H. is back, and their latest
release is a four-song EP called Oh
No It's G.B.H. Again! Side one is
completely ruling. Jock's "I Am
The Hunted"-style guitar playing
shines throughout the hell hoppin'
"Malice In Wonderland" mayhem.
Colin is at his yelping best in
"Lost In The Fog" which also
features some surprise hardcore har-
monica. "Lost In The Fog" has
some "No Survivors"-like pacing.
It's chorus isn't as ruling as the a-
forementioned, but it still rocks.
Side two doesn't match up. It's
all right, but they've done better.
"Get Out Of The City" has a big
guitar sound and big drums, but it
just seems like they should be play-
ing faster. Colin's vocals also seem
to be lost in the mix. "Company of
Wolves" gets bogged down in the
same way. It starts off with a mean
ass guitar intro, but then it fails to
explode as much as it should; it's
good, but G.B.H. can do better.
So there you have it: side one is
as explosive as barbecueing with
kerosene, and side two is like bast-
ing. -Danny Plotnick
Luther Vandross
Give Me the Reason
Epic
Luther, Luther! To paraphrase
the Prez: "Where's the rest of you?"
While Luther is no longer fat,
his album is flat. So while Luther's
singing is as smooth as ever, the 4
songs don't do as much for me. I
miss the orchestral arrangements of
his earlier records, meshing with
Luther's honeyed vocals to create
lush, but never saccharine songs.
Here, the generic, and sometimes
gimmicky instrumental settings
rarely add to the songs. This is
doubly unfortunate because the
songs need the help in most cases. I
liked "See Me" pretty well (a
pleasant, poppy love song) and I
developed a weak spot for the
Wonder-esque slowie, "So Amaz-
ing."
Still, this just isn't stick-to-
your-ribs fare; and just because Lu-
ther is newly svelte doesn't mean
we all want the diet plate, too.
- Jeff Stanzler
Plan 9's latest: a "lackluster stab at psychedelic dinner music."
With this great Iggy Pop revival
coming full circle, it's a good thing
there's a fine debut release by a new
local band to make all that lime-
light now shining on Ann Arbor
worth keeping in focus. This new
release I'm referring to is in the
form of a six-song cassette, and the
swell new talent is Karamazov
Sister.
Karamazov Sister is a hot little
foursome that's new enough to
only have played twice in town, but
good enough to make this cassette
sound truly professional and to the
best advantage of its 8-track pro-
duction facilities. The band can
truly boast a sound of its own.
They're fronted by vocalist Linnea
Seifert, whose striking alto is per-
haps a little too strong for her own
good, but loaded with an energy
matched well by the players' clean
musicianship.
"Private Fear" opens the tape
with a blast, Seifert wailing full
steam ahead about love and de-
ception - the themes of all of
these songs. At times the lyrics,
like Seifert's singing, get a little
heavy, but a dramatic start is al-
ways more promising than a
forgettably wimpy splash, and in
the case of Karamazov Sister the
impact is always memorable and
unusually well performed. The
band's playing throughout is in fine
form: clear, clean guitar lines by
Tomek Chenczke (who has written
all of these songs) carry the tunes
over the flexible rhythm section of
Tom Dunham on bass and key-
Books.
Bordering On
Trouble
by Janet W. Brown and
-Andrew Maguire
Adler & Adler
$24.95 Hardcover
$14.95 Paperback
Anyone who has ever puzzled think-tank, one supposes). It is not
over why Latin Americans harbor because we have never done any-
so much antipathy against the thing for Latin Americans, the
United States will have his eyes book tells us, it is because we have
opened by Bordering On Trouble, a done the wrong things.
new book on Latin American re- The essayists who wrote Border-
sources and politics from the World ing On Trouble -the book is a
Resources Institute (a Washington series of eleven loosely related
I
..!
w.k
I
41
I]
a-
chapters-attack the long-held
notion that what the United States
needs to preserve order in Latin
America is a strong military pre-
sence and governments (democratic
or undemocratic) which will en-
courage industrial growth and
investment from United States
corporations. This attitude, and the
resulting foreign policy, the authors
argue, only make things worse.
Traditional United States policies
towards Latin America have caused
the unrest that we have tried so
strenuously to suppress.
The problem, as much as
anything, is ignorance, combined
with a traditional view of Latin
America as an American fiefdom.
Bordering on Trouble offers some
illumination insights into how
Americans and Latins perceive each
other. "Americans," writes David
DeVoss, author of the chapter
"Mexico City's Limits," "see 'ille-
gal aliens' crossing their border,
while Mexicans see undocumented
workers responding to economic
opportunities in states illegally
stolen from Mexico."
Admittedly, the illegal alien
problem is more a matter of per-
spective than of ignorance, but
still, say the authors, America
simply does not understand Latin
America. Bordering On Trouble
spends over 400 pages studying the
roots of political and resource prob-
lems in the region. President Rea-
gan tries to sum it up in seven
words: "Soviet-Cuban power
play- pure and simple."
Eventually, the authors say, we
will suffer for our ignorance with
increased security problems in the
region. In the book's prescriptive
chapter, "Saying Aye or Nay," the
editors conclude "Nothing is more
important to regional security in
Latin America than assuring farm-
ers secure title to the land that they
work." Keeping the peace in Latin
America will depend on keeping
Latin Americans satisfied. This
may sound like a problem for
Latins to concern themselves with;
however, the authors say the United
States and Latin America are so
interdependent and the United States
so influential in the region, that we
both have the need and the influence
to deal with the problem.
Resource concerns are as press-
ing as political problems and as
much in need of United States
attention. Two of the book's most
dire predictions are the possible silt-
ing up of the Panama Canal, which
would reduce it to a "worthless
ditch" by 1999, and the destruction
of the Amazon rainforest, producer
of 40% of the world's oxygen.
Bordering On Trouble is an
excellent book for those already
versed in United States-Latin Amer-
ican relations, but the fine points
which some of the chapters concern
themselves with (rice growing in
Colombia, for instance) and the
lack of a cohesive structure will
probably cause those seeking an
introduction to the topic to look
elsewhere.
--Edward Kleine
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