-0 4 Page 12 - The Michigan Daily -Tuesday, December 12,1989 RECORDS Continued from page 11 former features ex-Triumph guitar master Rik Emmett with an acoustic guitar solo that serves to accentuate the integrity of the song, especially as it fades into an electric solo that flows without biting. This is a song that deserves the attention to detail afforded by extra production. The same is true of "The Crossroads," a song about lost love found asking whether it's worth going through the pain again. The lyrics are comple- mented well by the music; over a nice flowing rhythmic line, Mitchell sings "If you come back to town, I'll be standing at the crossroads, of hell and heaven, of pain and plea- sure." Keyboards are used to accentu- ate the music, not dominate it, rely- ing instead on the strength of the words to propel the song. The rest of the songs on the al- bum are for the most part good songs, but you would figure that with three years to work on an al- bum, they could create magic. The title track "Rocklandwonderland" has its moments, but the lyrics are thin. Maybe it is just hard to write a song about an outdoor amphitheatre? "Moodstreet" is also lyrically weak, banally discussing how you lose ;yourself in thought while driving. :What saves this song is the music, revolving around a flowing bass line that drives the song, and the back up vocals delivered by bass player Peter Fredette, who simply has a great singing voice. His is the distinctive -high end in contrast to Mitchell's relatively stable mid-range, and helps the overall quality of the album. The low point of the album ,comes in the first single, "Rock N Roll Duty." This is for the most part an attempt to pacify his fans from the Max Webster days who would rather hear him singing about drinking beer than about his own in- trospection. The song is acceptable for a while, but then the clich6s hit you, and you're reaching for the skip button on the disc player. Rockland sounds like an album that took three years to complete. The production is impeccable. But some of the songs sound as though they were written the same day as recording, though they lack the spark of spontaneity. You would expect more depth after three years' thought, but hey, this is Kim Mitchell. -Tom Robinson Indigo Girls Strange Fire Epic More of the same, more of the same, and yes, even more of the same, but when the artist is Indigo Girls, more of the same is more than welcome. With their second album, Strange Fire, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray establish themselves among other newcomers such as Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega, and Melissa Ethridge, through the re- merging presence of acoustic guitar and attention to lyric that have re- cently popularized folk music. Strange Fire, which consists of previously released material from the past few years, accomplishes the simple, raw, untouched feel of a live performance. "Make it Easier" and the title cut from this, their second album, continue to follow in Indigo Girls' traditional style, featuring harmonies the likes of which haven't been heard since Simon left Gar- funkel. The Athens, GA natives also add their own touch to the classic Youngbloods' tune "Get Together" (as in "Come on people now/ Smile on your brother/ Everybody get to- gether/ Try to love one another right now..." Yeah, that one). Here the duo recalls the beautiful rhythms and harmonies that characterized the '60s with a powerful a cappella segment that stays with the listener through- out the album. With "Walk Away" and "Left Me a Fool," the band's simple, understated approach authen- ticates the painful memories of lost love and broken promises. "Hey Je- sus," the most powerful song on the album, deals with a woman and her thoughts of a past relationship as well as reflections on her own life, and is reminiscent of George Harri- son's "My Sweet Lord" in its painful realizations, yet optimistic resolve. Strange Fire shows the versatility and emotion achieved through simple guitar chords and powerful lyrics that guarantee Indigo Girls' future success. -Scott Kirkwood Rock instead of rockets PAGANEL brings popular music to Soviet Union BY ROBERT C. CASAD FROM a tiny office in Moscow State University, the gargantuan Stalin-Gothic temple of socialist academics, a student group called PAGANEL is quietly working to unite the cultural underground of East and West. Named for the undauntable, enlightened scientist- hero of Jules Verne's The Children of Captain Grant, PAGANEL exists officially as a student cultural organi- zation affiliated with COMSOMOL, the student com- munist party organization. "In the beginning (during the Brezhnev era), PA- GANEL was only a student entertainment club," said Co-Founder Felix Starovoytov. "Now we are indepen- dent of the ideological organization of COMSOMOL, able to exist under new conditions with new principles of business-like economic accountability and self-fi- nancing, able to pay wages, make loans and raise money to finance our projects." Cultural Programs Director Azamat Iseboyev has- tened to add that PAGANEL is deliberately apolitical. "We have socialists and capitalists," said Iseboyev, the versatile lead guitarist of a popular local band. "We are committed only to pluralism." Despite the limitations of revenues in rubles, a so- called "inconvertible" currency, PAGANEL is able to provide food, lodgings, transportation, publicity, per- formance space, and modest cultural amenities for artists from abroad who visit the Soviet Union. Achieving re- ciprocal arrangements for Soviet artists is the goal of "Surface to Surface," a proposed independent cultural exchange initiative. "Surface to Surface" focuses on rock music events, a vast and largely untapped market in the Eastern bloc as well as a forum for what Iseboyev calls "the interna- tional language of youth." PAGANEL sponsored a pro- totype tour of the Soviet underground by rock bands from Finland, Denmark, and Iceland in September of this year. Advance work is underway now for a spring tour by a returning Irish group, and PAGANEL hopes this will lead to contact with potential partners in the "Surface to Surface" initiative. Other cultural products are planned, although very much on the drawing board, including records, posters, and a monthly magazine called Free University based on inputs from student affiliates around the world. Organized under the auspices of the Moscow State Geography Department, PAGANEL's interaction with the European Organization of Young Geographers helped solidify a vision of what Press Secretary Oleg Pshenishny calls "new culture" struggling simultane- ously to emerge from beneath Eastern and Western soci- eties. The "Surface to Surface" initiative is intended to contribute to the evolution of this new culture. A I COL VIN Continued from page 9 My favorite quote of hers draws some light to the scope of her lyrics, as she explains, "I'm drawn to the expansiveness, the cruelty and the beauty of the elements, it lets me know there are bigger things than my pain." It almost makes you feel that Shawn Colvin will always be on some street corner, singing this story or that story, or the other. SHAWN COLVIN plays tonight at the Ark at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8.25, $7.25 for members and students. Ai A tower at Moscow State University, headquarters for PAGANEL, looms in the fog. Joe Tiboni, WCBN DJ and former owner of the late Joe's Star Lounge, is attempting to organize a benefit performance for the "Surface to Surface" project. Although the details are not yet settled, the hope is to create seed money to finance an ongoing Ann Arbor area affiliate of PAGANEL. It is also hoped that a Soviet group can be brought to Ann Arbor to play at Earth Day festivities in April, 1990. INTRODUCTORY SYSTEM NAD 7020e U3~D ~M4A's Regular ,I' I! ' +y I p , , i, ! ' ,,, '; I; iI :' ar , ; . I, I, ' 10 I° AT SHERATON LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT.-AT SHERATON LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT.-AT SHERATON LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT.-AT SHERATON LITTLE THINGS MEAN r~ r M OH 0 wo- rz x D D 0 d''r _ f O 'a . D Af Q OH M (A O& _ .7 z . Z O- -Z U)O ,' D Ik-I Th hrtnLogngtiefSalys iA Z 0 Bec tSoeieSotenClfri' Thsebol o Shwihu naeratnoLng gtlife of S tanley's blue iPacific. Yeajut aThebeah. he un U The incomparable hospitality Seao ogB ah~- a. . 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