BONGWATER

The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition - Thursday, September 6, 1990 --,Page 19

Continued from page 16
vendor/player is gone, though. The
lucid sewing room dream probably
looks more like Kenny Scharf's
closet as viewed on a black and
:4hite Zenith with poor reception
than like the psilocybin vision of
Scharf's closet that graces the back
of Bongwater's debut EP, Breaking
No New Ground. The Psychedelic
'Sewing Room is "where crazy colors
turn to gloom," where Patty Duke
suffers a personality crisis until
she's offed by Patty McCormack,
. where just as Mr. Wilson is pulling
into his driveway with a peace-
offering gift for Dennis, he runs the
°'poor lad over. Meanwhile, Mag-
{nuson relates a semi-religious
disillusionment dream which ends
with everybody crying.
It is this despair that is so
"sobering, like in "He Loved the
Weather," where "He" doesn't like
the good sunny weather, but enjoys
RECORDS
Continued from page 16
"As Tears Go By" (Faithfull's 1964
hit), it reminds us that Jagger and
Richards once had talent.
In its 70 minute entirety, Blazing
a:Away is a gruelling, intense, but
'ultimately cathartic listening
9experience.
-Nabeel Zuberi
The Lilac Time
Paradise Circus
CFontana Records
If one had to choose a single
word with which to' describe
Paradise Circus, it would have to
& be "cute." This is the type of sappy
stuff that one would be embarassed
to play in front of friends, lest they
think you come from the Planet of
the Smaltzy Love Tunes. But even if
one is skeptical from the start,
Circus can win over even the most
cynical among us. Drawing from
" American "roots" music and the
ever-popular three minute pop
format, The Lilac Time create some
really good songs-even if they are
too sugary.
. One can imagine that the band
look some Ecstasy, drank some
herbal tea, read a few Browning
4 poems, did a little gardening,
b watched an episode of Love
American Style and then sat down
to write the songs for Paradise
Circus. Maybe that's art exag-
geration, but songs like "The Girl
.Who Waved at Trains," "Father
Mother Wife and Child," and "Lost

the hellish urban climate of a
Manhattan perpetually shrouded in
smog: "The smog makes the sunsets
so beautiful." "He" has given up. He
loves the ugliness, the hideous
climate of these last days. When will
we wake up and end this insanity?
But there's also so much joy in
Too Much Sleep-like the feel-good
sing this song together (see what
happens) anthemantra of the year,
"The Drum." Covered from the band
Slapp Happy, the beating of "The
Drum" has Bongwater frolicking on
the crabgrass and clover which cover
the ruins of everything that was bad
but was, of course, destroyed in the
apocalypse. The gleeful irony of the
drum machine-propelled "Talent Is a
Vampire" should surely be a song to
which modern Romans can dance
away while the ozone layer burns
away. Ann in three voices forms the
bookends to this piece, as she creates

a trialogue between three groupies-
obviously Bimini Toubiafore wanna-
bes.
"Sleeping is like living like it
starts so slow/ Like you're 20 years
old before you pick up the tempo,"
sing Kramer and Magnuson on the
title track. Twenty years old, finally
picking up the tempo. Twenty, or
on the cusp of 20, or perhaps just
past, or, who knows? Perhaps even
three times 20. That's you, the
Daily reader, especially if you don't
have it all figured out yet. If you
don't think you have the tempo, let
Kramer, Magnuson and the drum
machine help. I prophesy that if you
groove with the virtues of Too
Much Sleep, in E.G. White's
peculiar lingo, the end of your
tempo-less days will be nearly ended.
Too Much Sleep, in the right hands,
could very well be the I Ching of our
generation.

NEED

THESE?


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Girl in the Midnight Sun" (sic)
reveal an extremely euphoric state of
mind.
The arrangements highlight
Stephen Duffy's voice (often
overdubbed in triplicate), and heavy
bluegrass influence prevails, al-
though it's not like theseguys are
Alabama-they're more like what
would happen if the Cowboy
Junkies were locked in a room with
an obscure late '60s pop group. Side
one is generally upbeat and happy,
with songs like "American Eyes"
bouncing along as if the world really
was a perfect place. Side two features
more interesing fare, such as the
serious "Work For the Weekend" and
two short instrumentals.
Even if The Lilac Time sound
too pretty and sweet for an industrial
world, the songs are well-crafted and
extremely catchy. All in all, this is
the kind of stuff that's good in small
doses-too much at one time could
give you cavities.
-Mike Molitor
New Order
World in Motion 12"
Qwest
Though North America has
trouble appreciating a sport that
doesn't rely on mindless statistics,
constant interruptions for com-
mercials, and blonde bimbettes
cheering on its neanderthal prac-
titioners, nine-tenths of the world
still has the sense to realize that
football (bastard version: "soccer") is
the most graceful, poetic way that
22 men can use a grass pitch.

New Order, like football, was
born in the industrial north of
England, and it's only fitting that
the greatest dance band in this or any
parallel universe should record the
official song that accompanied
England's World Cup effort in Italy
this summer.
Like England's dedicated fans
(who bravely took on the fascisti of
the Sicilian riot squads), the
house/techno groove of "World in
Motion" kicks proverbial ass.
Despite being herded and prodded
like cattle for a month, England
supporters sang this song and
followed their team loyally until it
was robbed by the ruthlessly
efficient, boringly technical and
extremely lucky West Germans in a
penalty kick situation in the semi-
finals.
"World in Motion" is a love song
to football: a paean to its skills and
potential for art and self-expression.
Bernard sings of dribbling, the thrill
of the goal, and the sweet sweep of a
free-kick. He's later accompanied by
sampled England fans on the
terraces, commentary from England's
1966 World Cup win, the team itself
in chorus, and a rather naff but cute
rap by Liverpool winger John
Barnes.
God knows that with ten years of
Margaret Thatcher, and even more of
fascist capitalist American economic
and cultural imperialism/ colo-
nialism, England has very little to
cheer about, so this record is a
joyous breath of life. Hallelujah!
Music to riot to!
-Nabeel Zuberi

FIND

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