ARTS Page 8: The Michigan Daily Friday, April 6, 1990 0 Talkin' all that jazz by Nabeel Zuberi The Blue Nile A&M records If there is such a thing as a critics' darling, then surely The Blue Nile is it. When their debut record, A Walk A cross the Rooftops, was released in 1985, large mobs of critics quickly put them on an altar and began to worship. And rightly so. Rooftops, with its wonderfully rich texture and original sound, certainly was a gem. The U.S. public, however, didn't share the critics' enthusiasm, despite a slew of glowing press reports of the band's merits. Nonetheless, the pressure mounted for a follow-up. Although Nile has fnally released Hats, an it appears that they've outdone them- selves. Made up of three Scots, The Blue Nile has a unique sound - laid- back, yet extremely emotional. Singer Paul Buchanan sounds like the type that wasn't meant to sing, yet his voice conveys the total honesty that all truly great music has. The other members, Robert Bell and Paul Moore, create a liquid backdrop of swirling, orchestral synths and just enough rhythm to keep the songs afloat and keep the attention on Buchanan. Although fHats features less experimental sounds than on earlier songs like "Automobile Noise," the record is by many measures an improvement See RECORDS, page 9 T HE Dirty Dozen Brass band are a polyglot of African-American musical languages, a melding of historical moments: 1902. New Orleans. Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton sits at the pi- ano in a sporting house in the red light district. He's tired after a hard day's pool hustling and a long night's pimping. A rhythmic whim causes him to play a four- beat ground beat rather than two. Many years later, he claims this was the moment he invented jazz. 1923. Clarksdale, Mississippi. Delta bluesman Robert Johnson sells his soul to the devil, standing at the crossroads. 1941. New York City. Cab Calloway calls the things Dizzy Gillespie does with his trumpet "Chinese Music." Dizzy and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker are per- suaded by Thelonious Monk to play their squiggles at Minton's Playhouse. Chinese music be- comes "bebop." 1949. Los Angeles. Ornette Coleman gets fired from Pee Wee Crayton's rhythm and blues band for constantly playing the "wrong notes." Ormette goes on to record Free Jazz many years later. 1954. Memphis. Oedipally- complexed truck driver Elvis Pres- ley walks into Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service on Union Avenue to cut a song for his Mom's birthday. Weir's Last Wave returns If you missed Dead Poets Society in the movie theaters or on video, you missed an outstanding film. Peter Weir directed that story about a group of boarding school students and the teacher who awakened them from an academic stupor. This weekend Cinema Guild will present The Last Wave, a Peter Weir film that has been out of distribution for several years. Richard Chamberlain' (Sho gun, The Thorn Birds) stars as an 'Australian lawyer who must defend a group of Aborigines charged with murder. The lawyer's mysterious nightmares tie into the case and motivate Weir's film version of the Apocalypse. A great part of The Last Wave's intensity and mystery springs from the beauty of Austrailia. Though most of the film's action takes place in Sydney, the opening sequences, shot in the mountainous countryside, capture the paradoxical serenity and fear embodied in nature. Weir, who wrote and directed the film, is principally concerned with Australia itself, its peoples and their conflicts throughout history. When one o f the lawyer's clients comes to dinner, his wife embarrassedly confesses, "I'm a fourth generation Austrailian, and I've never met an Aborigine." Chamberlain, a corporate tax solicitor not usually confronted with tribal magic, is drawn deeper and deeper into an ancient world he doesn't understand. Black and white join together to explore the supernatural forces in the world around them. Though Weir shot The Last Wave in 1977, certain stylisic motifs are still evident in his more recent films, including Dead Poets Society and Witness. Weir's films have a sense of darkness even in the most optimistic: scenes. The Last Wave is inundated with foreboding of evil, in the water that flows in every scene and the Biblical and tribal symbols splashed liberally thoughout the movie. Weir has chosen a highly stylistic type of cinematography, with lots of meticulous compositions and camera angles. The Last Wave follows in the tradition of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Brazil. Though not set in the future, Wave has something about it that cannot be grasped or easily understood in one viewing. But Weir's love for his native land becomes evident through this screen of mystery, and it is interesting to see how he has progressed in the past 13 years. The film plays tomorrow night at 7 and 9 p.m. in MLB 3. -Wendy S hankers 0 Eight men and some big instruments: that's what The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is all a bout. They take their rig htful place in the history of jazz. 1956. New Orleans. This is Fats Domino! is released. 1967. Cincinatti. James Brown decides to make his drums and bass fatter and records "Cold Sweat." People start to bandy around the word "funk" . 1970. Detroit. Marvin Gaye asks America what's going on. 1971. Los Angeles. Sly Stone tells America that there's a riot go- ing on and thanks Africa for talk.- ing to him. 1990. Ann Arbor. Crescent City's Dirty Dozen Brass Band wows the punters at the Blind Pig with its mixture of jazz, funk, R&B and the avant-garde from their Voodoo and New Orleans albums. And the possibility of one nation under a groove becomes slightly greater. See DIR TY, page 9 4~ ,'te~ ' Moa~'air ad4a,~ e9~ ft~ 4'~oa~r a*'a',tYa't~y c9~ eTEN~, U~ YotJ~ / OUACK>Q I OCL'() '~'44A1~ 4 ~EAT DA'( ~g ~ (~OO' (-ANT ~UE.vS ThEr~ i~-A'~' fHe 'SAMe MU~4c ME~ ThE.Y FI$'( )t~J jE~4I~*5 ~%JI I ( The UM Club of New York and the Student Alumni Council pie Computer Is student representatives lie 1990-'91 school year Hel prmote the power possessed by a Macintosh... KOEN THE APPIE TEAM Earn cash while sharing your knowledge and increasing awareness about the Macintosh at the The Macintosh can perform beyond the call ofteMcnohfrlasompsnain, to 9 word processor. Students and faCulty are using ftue.M Ths user an thr a dre eager to lear Apl StuentRep Ann Arbor, MI 48104 A tas te of the Apple U 0