0 Page 18- The Michigan Daily -Monday, September 18, 1989 l, RECORDS Continued from page 1.3 soulful high that I haven't heard since the days of "Controversy." Once again, it becomes believable. You can feel it. This is a song that truly deserves the Prince credo ofNew Power Soul. So what is the overall judgement? It's hard to say. "Trust," "Batdance," "Partyman," and "Lemon Crush". are all destined to become Prince classics. With this al- bum, he's proven to the world that reaching the top of the charts is no mean feat. Although there is a sense of stagnation here, mostly by way of synthesized music, the work prevails. And in the overall context of Prince's work, Batman will hold up, by virtue of its unpredictable content. But the album's carrying a title, underneath the bat insignia. It says "Sold." It could be read "Marked down." -Forrest Green Steve Jones Fire and Gasoline MCA One need look no further than the credits on the back sleeve to know exactly what ex- Sex Pistol Steve Jones' new release sounds like. The album is graced by such mega-celebs as Ian Astbury, Axl Rose, and Nikki Sixx. What that translates into is that whatever, dare I say, inventiveness that Steve Jones might have had with the Pistols has now given way to formulaic "hard" rock.' You've heard this album too many times already.1 The lyrics consist of nothing more than clich6s strung together in an amazingly sophomoric manner. He tries to tackle the issue of televangelists in "God in . Louisiana" with phenomenally bad results: "On the i 40th floor of Heaven/ In the executive penthouse suite/ Sat the manager and creator/ Of the planets and galax- ies/ With a map of Louisiana in his hand/ Saying look what they've done to my name." But please don't get the idea that this is a socially relevant album. The vast majority of wax is devoted to Jones boasting about his libido without the goods to back it up. x Most of Jones' flaccid guitar leads are recycled Jimmy Page bastardizations of blues riffs played with an annoyingly frequent use of the tremelo. His bravado is delivered in a guttural snarl reminiscent of Lemmy Kilmeister of Motorhead, which wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't combined with the harmonic range and melodic sensibility of David Lee Roth. Jones' support on the record is provided by the equally limp Terry Nails on bass and Mickey Curry on drums. In accor- dance with late '80s production values, the bass is buried deep in the mix making the album soundincred- i ibly hollow; the drums are so heavily miked that they i sound synthesized. What is truly remarkable about the :" drumming, though, is that Mickey Curry's technique is actually a regression from Ringo Starr's cumbersome 4 thumping. Even the presence of heavyweights Axl, Nikki, and Ian Astbury can't rescue this record from to- tal mediocrity. .r In the song "Get Ready," Steve Jones declares, "total control is my one desire." He has certainly achieved it - dominance through sterilization. Fire ' and Gasoline is so clean, so low energy that it's not only harmless, it's antiseptic. If you peer one centime- 3 ter below its rebellious, macho facade, you'll find mu- d sic so flaccid that no one would be threatened. -Peter Shapiro qq Read Dait4j C~weiied5 Ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones takes the unimaginative path and Nikki Sixx in his new release, Fire and Gasoline. to offensiveness with the help of Ian Astbury, Axl Rose, Tuesday Nites are College Nites at JEDIBLESI RS Kick Off College Nites and Celebrate our 4th Anniversary tuesday the 19th with two rocking bands: HEART Continued from Page 15 By the end, she is Randolph University's only voice of reason, speaking out in the school newspaper for integration and equal rights. This, of course, gets her expelled, but she doesn't seem to worry about that. Sheedy's portrayal of Maggie is one-dimensional. Her southern accent is stilted (though not as bad as the exaggerated mouthing performed by Cates, who manages to wreck the only interesting role in the film) and her cute astounded expressions only go so far. Still, Director Martin Davidson has put in a few intriguing touches. The songs, like Elvis Presley per- COOKIE Continued from page 15 you, it is. Orion has had this film on the shelf for over a year now, waiting for the right time to re- lease it. The movie does benefit though from a few of its performances, namely Emily Lloyd's. This English actress, known for her highly acclaimed performance in Wish You Were Here, takes great pains to prove that she can play the role of a Brooklyn-born Mafia princess. At times, however, she works too hard, and in the end, her talent is almost lost in the mess. To her credit, Lloyd does show the ability to take on a part that is, to say the least, foreign to her. She will next be seen in In Country, in which she plays a Southern girl experiencing the effects of the Vietnam war. Dianne Wiest (Parenthood, .w Hannah and Her Sisters), exhibit- ing a certain instinct for comedy, is appealing as Cookie's mom. Unfortunately, Wiest also falls; into the trap of pouring her Italian shtick on a little too strong. Hollywood has gone overboard Z with its endless flow of Mafia comedies. It seems almost certain that a new one will appear every + few months. And something tells me they will still keep coming. However, Seidelman's installment proves that any originality that was once present in this genre has vanished. After Cookie, one can only hope that we have finally' seen the last of it. forming Carl Perkins's "Blue Suedi Shoes," are almost all written by Black artists and performed b} whites. By revolving scenes around these performances, Davidson illus- trates that in 1957 Blacks had influx ence, but still few rights. The film, though, hal Mississippi Burning disease; it'd about civil rights, but features n4 Black stars. Unlike Mississippi Burning, however, this film doesn't make a strong enough statement tq overcome that weakness. 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