w w w w w w w w Imw lw lqw lqw w mr WF lw mr qw I MuSC FILM Continued from Page 5 Two bands Rank and File Rank and File (Rhino) The Del Fuegos Stand Up (Slash) The Del Fuegos and Rank and File, two journeyman rock-and-roll quartets, are comparable on several levels. Both bands were founded by brothers - Dan and Warren Zanes for the Fuegos, and Tony and Chip Kinman for Rank and File. Stand Up is the Del Fuegos third album for Los Angeles' Slash records. Rank and File recorded two sturdy albums for Slash; Rank and File is their third effort. Both bands play in the hard-hitting, rootsy style pioneered by The Band and the Stones, updated by Jason and the Scorchers and the Blasters (another Slash group). The two groups even kind of look alike on their album! jacket photographs, which depict the leader affecting a Jaggeresque glare, the other three posing! uneasily behind him. But the similarities end there. The Del Fuegos leave Rank and File miles behind on the the trai to musical salvation. Stand Up is a valuable album. Dan Zanes is a vocalist of the Mick Jagger/ early Van Morrison school of throaty delivery. He writes and sings des- perate, genuine tales of lost love, loneliness, and liquor. "Long Slide (For An Out)" and "I Can't Take This Place" are quality tunes on par with "Don't Run Wild" and "I Still Want You" from their second LP, Boston, Mass. The gin-soaked "He Had A Lot To Drink Today" is a daring attempt, Zanes probably sucked down quite a few himself in the studio to make it sound real, but it comes off a little stupid. Longtime producer/keyboardist Mitchell Froom makes contri- butions on several tracks, especially "Wear It Like A Cape." He provides a balance to Warren Zanes' grind- ing, sometimes overbearing guitar. Although Froom has been accused of mangling efforts by Richard Thompson and Peter Case, his prowess is undeniable on this record (and on Crowded House's recent debut). Stand Up is a fully realized rock and roll album. The Fuegos show their maturity (and integrity, regardless of their beer commer- cials) in knowing when to hold back and when to let loose. They are an honest, hardworking band that leaves an impression. Rank and File , by comparison, maintains the group's amateur status. The mode of operation here is country rock-tinged powerpop. similarities end when the music begins masterful re-make of "Lean on Me," which is superb the first time around, with a bouncy "Candy Girl"-era New Edition beat, and even better in the remix which features a loud crowd shouting "Pump it Up," with booty-shaking force. The rest of the album is filled with lightweight, but entertaining funk. "Promises Promises" stands out because of a silly cartoon-' inspired voice, but all of the cuts are more than good enough for dancing, even the ballad. -John Logie Pseudo Echo Love An Adventure (RCA) Billed as "Australia's No. 1 New Rock Band," Pseudo Echo starts potential listeners off with high hopes. Does the name mean that they're sort of like Echo and the Bunnymen? Will they be the Down Under's next hard-driving INXS? Although they sometimes whet the musical appetite, Pseudo Echo's debut, Love An Adventure, soon proves to be a bland diet. The album opens with "A Beat For You," an appropriate title considering the band's extensive use of strong electronic rhythms. All the tracks are danceable, though often restricted by the beat. The rest of Pseudo Echo's sound is filled in by overabundant synthesizers, and makes for rather ordinary music. The band does come up with some surprises, however. Front-man Brian Canham's potent guitar breaks Through the keyboards to give added texture to some of the songs. The group also adds jazzy horn patches (especially in the title track) and even a little Oriental feel (in "Lonely Without You") for a creative touch. Not bad for a band that still dresses in the clothes that Duran Duran threw away five years ago. Lyrically, Pseudo Echo often sticks to familiar pop ground: relationships, betrayal, loneliness. They do a pretty good job of conveying emotion but hit snags when they try for anything deeper, as in "Living In a Dream," where they make a trite speech on war and then preach escapism. The lyrics to "Listening" are: "Now it's too late/You're not listening." This may prove to be pro - phetic for Pseudo Echo. Their songs are sometimes catchy and danceable, but they lack staying power. In short, their music is only pseudo enjoyable. -Michael Jourdan Patrol, as a program designed to stop street crime by getting neigh- borhood watch groups actively involved. Selected volunteers are brought to the Academy to be trained, and not surprisingly, they are a loveable bunch: sweet-little-old Mrs. Feld- man (Billie Bird) who is tough-as- nails underneath and tired of rotting away in a retirement home; Arnie (Brian Backer, Fast Times at Ridgemont High), a skateboard punk is who being rehabilitated through the Academy; and Hooks (Marion Ramsey), who gets hers into Zed (Bob Goldthwait), a gang member turned police officer who seems to have snorted coke one too many times. While Lassard is off attending the Annual International Police Chiefs' Convention, Captain Harris (G.W. Harris, M*A*S*H), a strict by-the-book officer, doesn't like this C.O.P. program two bits. He wants to get rid of it. Mahoney (Guttenberg), a little aloof but with a heart of gold, sees the positive values of the program. He wants to keep it. The good and the evil then go to war, cartoon style. They reconcile their differences by attacks to the groin, putting glue on the mouthpiece of a bullhorn, substi- tuting mace for deodorant, and then more attacks to the groin. It's silly, and it looks awfully painful. The script makes very little effort to hide the fact there is no storyline and no coherent plot. This is not a ninety-minute movie, but rather a collection of 90 one-minute comedy routines, showcasing the various talents of the cast. Some of the displays are good. Guttenberg has a pleasant, easy- going charm that goes over well. And Michael Winslow, who plays Guttenberg's sidekick, has a re- markable talent for precisely imitating electronic, mechanical and musical sounds. But with all the talent Police Academy 4 has, the film is disjointed in too many places. There is no real sense of continuity or direction. One bit leads to another, and halfway through the film we realize we haven't gotten anywhere. Not really knowing how to end the film, the producers decide upon a big jailbreak, which comes out of nowhere, and having the C.O.P.s pursue them. Not via the automobile, mind you, but rather hot air balloon and airplanes. How Hollywood. What further drags this movie down is a loud performance by Goldthwait, who snivels all over the screen, and a supporting cast which is more or less a roll call of Care Bears. Each has a deep, personal problem and each takes his or her turn on the screen. They tell a joke, solve their problem and then make way for the next one. Maybe that is what makes the Police Academy series work. Beneath the slapstick surface flows a very warm undercurrent. No matter how hard the pies are thrown or the balls are busted, we always sense the light touch. The cast des- perately wants you to like them, and at the same time don't give a damn if you don't. They care the very least of what Siskel and Ebert think. The audience I was with liked the cast very much. I have never heard an audience laugh so hard, for so long, at such silly things. And when the lights went up, and I took a look at the audience, I saw doctors, lawyers and businessmen, en masse, with the seventh-grader. They all laughed. U LOGIE INTERVIEW Continued from Page 8 Cellar) through these rough times and we even indicated that we were going out for bid because we began to hear rumors that they were considering other space. We went out for bid and it was at that point that they announced that they were going to move. D: So did the current design of the basement come about by default, because the U-Cellar pulled out ? C: When the U-Cellar pulled out, that left about 30 percent of the ground level vacant. What we did then was create the possibility for a variety of shops. D: How do you feel the renovatioQ has has changed the Union's role 208 S. First, Ann Arbor 996-8555 This Week at The Blind Pig Apr. 10 Let's Talk About Girls 11 The Urbations 12 Womyn's Night 13 Snake Finger 14 Atomic Cafe 15 Celibate Rifles 16 The Difference Drink Specials Every TUES: $3 Labatts Pitchers WED: $1.50 Margarita Mugs THU: $1 Watermelons in the University community? C: I think we've made a significant impact and change on the environ- ment, predominantly with regard to students and to some degree we've had a positive impact with regard to alumni. When I started in 1980 there was very little activity in the building and there were very few social gathering spots on campus. One of the hottest spots was the Undergraduate Library. D: Do you have future plans to increase the programs and services provided by the Union? C: I think we need to constantly evaluate that. I think we've been on a dead run trying to put a staff together, offering the programs, doing the renovation and I think we're at a point where we have to stop and check, are we still in tune, are they still the appropriate kinds of D:- Un III C: ide cei an oul goi tar tha we the bei rev tall rea Un a v ma wa: Continued from Page 8 Rank and File could learn a thing or two from The Del Fuegos (above). The new guitarist, Jeff Ross, adds a hard-rock attitude, but instead of giving the songs a fiery edge, it sounds out of place. The Kinman's harmonies are pleasing, but they're not the Everly Brothers. On the whole, the band sounds unmoti- vated, uninterested, and uninterest- ing, other than the single, "Black Book" and "RBT." "Oh! That Girl" is a particularly deplorable, sing- songy annoyance featuring an ab- solutely lame heavy-metal guitar solo. "Good Times" and "Unlucky in Love" are about as original as their titles. Rank and File has lost the brash charm of their Slash outings. A much wiser purchase is The Del Fuegos' album, which shows their growth and maturity since their own Slash debut. -Mark Swartz John Lennon Menlove Ave. (Capitol) By their very nature, posthumous recordings require a reduction of critical standards. Mourning fans deserve the rough drafts of works in progress, and re- release of significant live perfor- mances, and to her credit, Yoko Ono supervised the release of Milk and Honey and John Lennon Live in New York City, both of which were welcome additions to the Lennon catalogue. But Menlove Ave. is another sort of creature entirely, an album made up of songs Lennon attempted, disliked, and placed into cold storage. Artists have the right, and probably the obligation to prevent their failures from reaching the public. During his lifetime, Lennon managed to keep these abject stinkers from the public, and had he not been gunned down, the tapes would still be languishing somewhere dark. Unfortunately, Lennon is languishing somewhere dark, and the record is out. The out-takes are mostly from the Phil Spector-produced sessions for Rock and Roll, one of Lennon's lesser endeavors. Lennon sounds tired, and his writing lacks his characteristic sharpness and wit. Perhaps the worst offense is a tepid re-make of Spector's "To Know Him (or in this case 'Her') is to Love Him," which simply doesn't breathe. Only "Steel and Glass" features the merest echo of Lennon's best work. Even mourning, material-crazed fans deserve better than this, and I hope Yoko Ono Lennon will take more care in the future, and prevent future volumes of justly unreleased recordings. John Logie Club Nouveau Life, Love & Pain (Warner Bros.) Everyone got good and sick of Timex Social Club and their mega- hit "Rumors" last year, so when word got out that the lead singer had left the group, and the end was near, a collective sigh of relief was voiced. But Timex pressed on without their ex-lead, and the lead went on to form Club Nouveau. Timex's album proved worthless, not surprisingly, as the whole of their talent is on this record. With the exception of "Jealousy," a sharp, "Rumors"- flavored reply to some of the nasty things Timex members said, Life is a startlingly original and exciting record. The album's centerpiece is a I don't expect people involved in these movements to be especially sympathetic to my complaints. After all, they are fighting for basic human rights, for considerations which I take for granted. They pro- bably feel that there are more im- portant issues at stake than whether a well-meaning member of the "opposition" gets his feelings hurt. I just know that when I hear people generalize about, and criticize "the white community," "men,"~ and "straights," I become concerned, and I suspect that these generalizations can be almost as damaging as their frowned-upon opposites. Moreover, I can't accept a movement opposing the by- products of a sexist society resorting to sexism, or protests prompted by threats of violence threatening violence. These strike me as examples of the wrong methods for the right reasons. Sitting in the midst of the majority, I find myself -able to applaud efforts to end discrimi- nation only when they are willing to include me. I'm not certain whether this is fair or just. My desire for unified, non- discriminatory movements may stem from ignorance, or a mis- placed idealism. Perhaps it is important for me to learn what it feels like to be excluded on the basis of my sex. But it seems to me that the eradication of injustices stemming from differences in race, gender, religion, and sexual preference is very nearly as important for meas it is for mnembers of "minority" groups. I won't ever experience these issues in the same way. I cannot fight discrimination with the same sensitivity and understanding that discrimination's victims can. But it is my hope that I can fight beside them, if I so choose, and that our eventual victory can be achieved together. -qw - - -w- SPR ING F LIN( APRIL10 9:30 a~m. - 9:00 p.m. "Hunan Garden reaps th of fine preparation." from Detroit Free SpecklfringinHunan, Szec " DAILY SPECIALS SUNDAY BU 11:; * BANQUET Only $7.45. Chin FACILITIES Bring your churc MAJOR CREDIT CAN Open Sun.-Thurs. 11 am.-10 p.m., Fri 2905 WASHTENAW " PH (across from K-Mart & Way - 30%C ALPOSTF Limited to In-Stock Items Only 1205 S. Universtiy #761-7 177 ok store 9:3C 9:3C 12:C wwwww w..................................................................................... -mw -mw mw W- qw, qw- qw- 'qw mw P~gl WEEKEND/APRIL,10, 1987' VIKEND/APR1L 10,I 987.