Page 8-The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, April 17, 1990

RECORDS
Continued from page 5
get a life - to go for yours, now,
before it's too late. But despite this
insistent stance, he produces some of
the best "soul" to be released in
years and years.
-Forrest Green III
Thin White Rope
Sack Full of Silver
Frontier
Some people say that region de-
termines a band's sound.
In the case of Thin White Rope's
latest, Sack Full of Silver, this may
well be true. The Doors' influence
on this group's sound is rather obvi-
ous on most of the tracks on this al-
bum.
According to the cover, this pro-
duction is a mixture of a little old
with a lot of new. Localmembers of
the "Swinging Danglers" (the band's
fan club) will recognize such long-
.standing hits as "Yoo Doo Right"
and "The Napkin Song." The former
is a tune with a driving beat and lim-
ited lyrics, and the latter has imagi-
native lyrics and a limited beat.
They eventually get the two ele-
ments right with their promoted
tracks, "Hidden Lands," "Diesel-
man" and "On the Floe." "Hidden
Lands" seems to fit the cover's warn-
ing that some of the song lyrics are
warped by a "hidden magnet."

Well, Ray Manzarek hasn't hit Ann Arbor yet but Thin White Rope has
taken over his role of promoting a post-Morrison Doors sound anyway.

"On the Floe" and "Dieselman"
carry a little more substance within
the magnet warp, describing lone-
someness in different forms. "Floe"
carries forth this pseudo-Western feel
and involves a forlorn bar scene,
while "Dieselman" has a sort of Buf-
falo Springfield/Sub Pop musical
style, touching on the thoughts of a.
madman as he talks to a dial tone on
a public phone.
There are more hidden gems lo-
cated on Sack Full of Silver. The ti-
tle track conveys a sort of Indiana
Jones forewarning not to go into the
jungle. The intense description is
reminiscent of Salman Rushdie's
style, describing how the Cessna

propellor reflection reverses in the
sun and how "the fallen sons" end up
dead in the canopy with chocolate on
their faces.
The last two songs on the first
side, "Americana" and "The Ghost,"
rank high on the list of good songs,
the former being a strong depiction
of the singer having been cheated out
of a home for $18, sung to a very
Doors-style beat, and the latter a
hobo's lament sung to the tune of
"Amazing Grace." These would have
been just as good selections for
cover promotion as any of the three
the label chose.
"Triangle" is probably one of the
more disturbing songs on the album,

REVIEW
Continued from page 5
few lapses into abject silliness, both
choruses, the Fairies and the Lords,
were good. The Lords' facial expres-
sions in particular were quite aston-
ishing.
Perhaps the only truly suffering
part of Iolanthe was the stage set. It
was bleak and unbelievable, with
leafless trees and brown ground; only
the fairies' costumes added color.
Unless UMGASS was going for a
Beckett-ly bleak fairyland, they failed
rather miserably in making the Arca-
dian countryside look like a pleasent
place to be. Parliament was much
better, especially with the added dec-
oration of Private Willis and his
guardhouse.
Luckily for Iolanthe, the cos-
tume designers did a wonderful job
of coloring the stage, and the bril-
liant costumes allowed the audience
to forget that it was winter in the
Lake district. The plot and the sing-
ing were engrossing enough to su-
persede the environment, producing
what was a very funny, almost (dare
I say it) touching and beautifully op-
eratic evening.
-Beth Colquitt
Kitaro defies easy
description
If you think of "New Age Music"
from its Pat Benatar "Hell is For
Children" feel to the way the singer
"moves the pain from the heart to
the arms" with a cigar. Nonetheless,
the song made it big for the band in
the Soviet Union, or so the cover
says. -Ben Angel

as ocean wave recordings to listen to
while soaking in the tub, Sunday
night's Kitaro performance would
have changed your mind. Kitaro, a
Japanese sound artist best known for
his work with synthesizers, tends to
get filed in the "New Age" section,
although "global" or "universal" are
the descriptions he prefers.
"Music that works with the body
rhythms and tends to be healthy and
relaxing" is how Earth Wisdom Mu-
sic owner Minda Hart defines new
age music. That may suggest the
sonic equivalent of prunes and carrot
juice, but the fare offered Sunday
night during KOJIKI: A Story in
Concert was much more exciting.
Kitaro's latest music seems closer to
classical than anything else, but the
only category where it is certain to
fit is the one where emotionally
moving, basic human music is kept.
The first half of the two-hour
show was a live rendition of Kitaro's
latest album, Kojiki. Listeners were
alerted to the show's start by a
recording of Tibetan monks' chant-
ing that blended with, then overpow-
ered, the chattering in Hill Audito-
rium. Next a pouring rain drenched
the house with sound and thunder
rumbled through the seats and up the
spines of the audience.
Kitaro and the six Western musi-
cians accompanying him on a vast
array of instruments including elec-
tronic.keyboards, violin, guitars, tra-
ditional Japanese and Western drums,
castanets, thumb piano, harp, gong,
cowbells and synthesizer, proceeded
to portray the classic Japanese legend
of creation. The story comes from
the oldest book in Japan, the Kojiki
or Record of Ancient Matters.

Concertgoers who didn't study
beforehand or purchase a $20 pro-
gram telling the plot in English and
Japanese probably learned a little
history. The only written guide pro-
vided was a brochure that advertised
an audio equipment maker who
sponsored the tour. But the intensel
dramatic, lavishly textured sounW
conjured its own images of primor-
dial forests, heartbreaking romance,
gallant horseback-riders and a mud-
stained, half-naked heroine and hero
trudging, out of a jungle after a tax-
ing ordeal.
"Kojiki" themes of "Birth of a
Land," "Love," "Imagination" and
others often combined, creating a
feeling of a movie soundtrack with
an unusual number of climaxes. Ki-
taro is so adept at manibulating the
deepest hopes, fears and longings of
human beings, it's frightening to
think what might happen if he were
to apply his talents to evil ends. So
far, the net effect is tilted toward pu-
rity and elegance.
Kitaro didn't forget his old fans
and played themes from his Silk
Road and Light of the Spirit albums'
including "The Field," the song for
which he was nominated for a
Grammy award.
Like his music, Kitaro's audience
defied categorization. The Sunday
night performance drew a group
ranging from undergraduate to post-
retirement, wingtips to Birken-
stocks, pageboys to dreadlocks. One
common thread: the audience alter.
nated sitting and standing for ova-
tions so many times, they all might
as well have been in church for
Easter Mass.
-Joanne Higashi



T H E

M I C H I G

A CL4A

1

9

Seniors-Please come to
Wrap-Up Party for the1
Senior Pledge Program!
Sunday, April 22nd,
8p.m. to 1a.m.
University Club in Michigan Unior
Music by "The Difference"
Refreshments and beverages avai
Admission is FREE for all seniors
pledged.
Be sure to bring your invitation a
student I.D. for admission.
$5 cover charge for all others j
who wish to attend.
Questions? Call 998-6050
The University Club is a private club for U-M stud
alumni and their invited guests. Only members of
age may purchase alcohol. I.D. required.

A N T R A D I 0T I N
~SSACT
9 0
the
1990
9 ~*
w ho
nd
ilable 3&
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ipn
ents, faculty, staff,
legal drinking

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
School of Social Work
Presents
The Twelth Annual
Winkelman Memorial Lecture Series BARGAINMATINEE $3.50MON.-FRI.TO 6PM
GERO TICIMPE ATIES:FIRST SHOW ONLY SATL SUN. & HOLIDAYS
CONT. SHOWS OAUY LAE SHows Fill. a SAT.
GERONTIC IMPERATIVES:TIMES SHOWN ARE FOR TODAY ONLY
DANGER AND OPPORTUNITY THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY II
12:202:254:357:159:20
fa7,grkANGEL TOWN
12:20E2:30 4:50 7:25 9:35
CRAZY PEOPLE
12:45 2:50 5:05 7:25 9:35 --
CRY-BABY 13
12:10 2:40 4:40 7:40 9:30
THE FIRST POWER
12:50 3:00 5:157:309:40
I LOVE YOU TO DEATH
12:25 2:55 4:55 7:20 9:25 . ",sn
ERNEST GOES TO JAIL -
12:35 3:10 5:10 7:30 5:25
IMPULSE 0
2:25 9:45
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS rri1
OLIVIA P. MAYNARD 12:55 3:10 5:10 7:35 9:40
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (M
Director 12:0012:302:354:30 5007:1587:459:20
PRETTY WOMAN E
Office of Services to the Aging 12:152:30 4:45 7:209:45
for'the State of Michigan 24LE5 FOOT
HOUSE PARTY
Wednesday, April 18, 1990 at 4:00 p.m. 3:05 9:50 R O
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER 0
Horace H. Rackham Amphitheatre, 4th floor 1:154:0057:10 9:50-
DRIVING MISS DAISY
915 East Washington, Ann Arbor1202:04573590



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Resource Cente

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MEI ORIENT EXPRESS
ZIP-OFF DAY PACK
Backpack Converts
to Luggage

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Travel arrangementsfor Trekking,
Rafting, Sea Kayaking, Canoeing,
Bicycling, Horsepacking,
Fly Fishing, anywhere in the world

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