APRIL 1988 Life And Art U_ THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 21 APRIL 1988 * Life And Art U THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 21 MUSIC REVIEWS Aztec Aztec Camera's lost its punch in newest 'Love' y Jennifer Boddy The State News Michigan State U. Roddy Frame must have fallen in love, but he didn't need to share it with the world. And he definitely could have spared us Aztec Camera's latest, touchingly titled Love. How simple, sweet, sentimental, and soggy. The release is evidence that all the ype this love stuff gets is overrated. It doesn't make every day spring unless you're just stupid-it's freezing out there. Even worse than sprouting delu- ions, love can make you sniffle worse han any blizzard. But what it did to singer/songwriter/ itarist Roddy Frame really smarts. Listening to the bitter twinge of his oice crooning shallow optimism to sim- le arrangements (complete with "whoo hoos" and "oh yeahs" filling in the ackground) you get embarrassed for him. And even sicker, every song is a love song-just what the world needs, more love songs. The worst has to be "Every- body Is a Number One." Bouncy, boun- cy, bouncy-though it's comforting to learn "With lips and arms and unity/We overcome our fear/That day will come/ en everybody is a number one." Try those lines on a psychopath-he'll be a changed man. Coming in a close second for cheesi- ness is "How Men Are." For some reason it makes me picture a cloudy closeup of a girl's face that gets distorted into a million starry-eyed tiny faces circling around. Yes, that mushy. "Working in a Goldmine" and "Killer- ont Street" are the best two cuts, with races of stark sincerity in the lyrics and more Aztec Camera-style juxtaposition in the music. Then you have "Somewhere In My Heart," where Frame sounds like John Travolta from Grease. Enough said. "One and One" makes you want to do the hustle. No, not even the hustle-the bump. And this is the same man who wrote "So wipe your eyes of the lies and et them shine their blue/Every whisper hat welcomes/The inconceivable and the birth of the true." Don't ever fall in love. Too bad, because Aztec Camera re- leases like Knife and High Land, Hard Rain were so good you could just sit by yourself with a drink, stare at a step or something and get lost in the music. With Love, however, you're thinking of those posters of the girl with the too-big lack eyes that is soooo cute that reads "love is like a warm puppy." Aztec Camera's Love is like a warm puppy blight. That Petrol Emotion: underground sound In a year that the U.K. was dominated by the silly pop of Rick Astley, Curiosity Killed the Cat and the Thrashing Doves, That Petrol Emotion somehow managed to survive the disco revival and all the other nuances of Thatcherism and triumphed with their uncom- promisingly angry and equally funky Babble. The band is relative- ly quiet about its politics compared to predecessors like the Sex Pistols, the Clash and Easterhouse, but it still tries its best to "agitate, edu- cate, or organize" the masses.. Tom Vanderbilt, The Cardinal, U.of Wiscon- sin, Madison fIREHOSE's 'If'n' an underrated hit Although their latest effort Ifn was released on independent re- cord label SST, fIREHOSE rocks just as hard as the major-label hockey rink rockers. Blending jazz- like unconventional rhythmic pat- terns, lyric twists, humor and pers- piration, they will soon be turning heads that would rather not turn. fIREHOSE is a band that wears blue-collar shirts, writes abstract poetry and highway songs, and has not yet been blinded by a fabulous light show-lots of rock, no glam, a thigh-slappin', foot-stompin', head- thinkin', sad-dreamin' good time. Eric Greiling, The Cardinal, U. of Wis- consin, Madison Until now, beer this real came only from a keg. Draft beer is as real as beer gets. Since it's not heat-pasteurized, heat can't change its rich, smooth, real taste. Miller Genuine Draft is as real as that. It's not heat-pasteurized like most other beers in bottles and cans. Instead, it's cold-filtered so it's as rich and smooth as only real draft beer can be. As real as it gets.