The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 12, 1990 - Page 9
All you
need is
Crossed.
W ire
by Mike Wilson
Somewhere in all the boxed-set re-
releases, the Milli Vanilli lip-synchs
!ind the Michelob ads, rock 'n' roll
inusic seems to have been lost to
rampant commercialism. To find real
kock 'n' roll nowadays, you have to
go the local bars and the indie label
record bins to discover bands that
nobody's ever heard of. If you're
lucky, you'll run into a band like
Crossed Wire.
Originally formed in 1986, the
'and has consisted of its current
--ineup - Bud Burcar
(drums/percussion), Cary Marsh
(bass/vocals), Kurt Marschke
(Guitars) and Chris Moore
(vocals/guitars) - since the release
of their first album, In the Hollow,
in 1989. The album was a college
radio success, and since then the
bend has played dates in the
Midwest, on the East Coast and in
*heir hometown of Detroit while be-
ng scouted by major record labels.
Still without a contract, earlier this
year they released a six-song EP,
Spring, an even bigger success on
ite college airwaves than In the
Mollow - yet still no major label
R&M. What's the matter?
"Our problem isn't our music,
it's how we are, our image... we're
hard to sell," says lead singer Moore.
".We're not totally alternative, not
totally commercial." Crossed Wire
has no image and barely an ego -
just some great tunes. "People see
bs for our music, not our show,"
Moore explains. Here is a band that
seems to be above any commercial-
izing, promotion and image-making,
a band almost too good for a major
label. Almost. These guys say they
ijust enjoy playing music and wish
they could do it full time.
Crossed Wire's music is unpre-
ientious, unaffected and just plain
fun - kind of like pre-Sgt. Pepper
Beatles, only without the screaming
teenage fans. Okay, so they're not
the Beatles, but they do manage to
create an original sound out of the
Les petits enfants chantant tres amusants
by Ingrid Truemper
Tomorrow night, 26 boys' voices
will charm the audience at Hill Audi-
torium with their purity and sweet-
ness, as they have entranced audi-
ences the world over.
The Little Singers of Paris, or
Les Petits Chanteurs A la Croix de
Bois, were formed in 1907, when a
group of Parisian students brought
together a few working-class children
in order to revive the almost-forgot-
ten medieval tradition of religious
boys choirs. The Little Singers at-
tained fame in just a few years, and
soon extended the scope of their con-
cert tours to foreign countries, where
they were immensely well-received.
In 1944, the choir was immortalized
in a French motion picture which
described a choir school based on the
boarding school the Little Singers
attend.
The traditions of this school have
remained intact, although its
location has changed several times.
The choir's present home is a castle-
like mansion in the countryside in
Glaignes, France. There, 110 boys
between the ages of nine and 13 are
educated in both musical and non-
musical subjects. The staff of the
school, mostly former Little
Singers, attempts to preserve the
aims of the founders.
The choir's popularity remains
undiminished as well; the Little
Singers have performed in over 100
countries and in 1986 were the first
western boys' choir ever to visit the
Republic of China. They have drawn
rave reviews from newspapers in any
country imaginable.
But what will they sing? The
choir maintains a policy of not an-
nouncing its program until the night
of the show. Its repertoire is evenly
divided between the religious and
secular: Gregorian chants, choirs of
Mozart and Bach and masses in
French balance out secular works by
Schubert, Mozart and Debussy,
French madrigals and international
songs such as the Russian
"Kalinka.'
Since it is the season to be jolly,
several Christmas carols will proba-
bly be performed as well. The
aforementioned works are sung acap-
pella, but works such as the Spar-
rows' and Crowning Masses by
Mozart are performed with an orches-
tra. Regardless of what exactly is on
the program, however, the Little
Singers of Paris promise an evening
of inspiring melodies, unusual
charm and holiday spirit.
THE LITTLE SINGERS OF PARIS
will perform on Thursday at 7 p.m.
in Hill Auditorium. Student rush
tickets will be available the day of
the show in the Burton Tower for
$2.50.
So they're not John, Paul, George and Ringo. Bud, Cary, Kurt and Chris
play rock 'n' roll music, too.
average guitars-bass-drums-vocals
lineup, featuring a distinctive pairing
of sweet vocals and rough guitars.
And they do a great cover of "Don't
Let Me Down." It's too catchy to be
called alternative, yet too original to
be called pop. This is rock 'n' roll
without the sex and drugs. This is
music to put on when you're just
hanging out on a weeknight with
your friends. There's no self-con-
scious schtick and no formula.
"Not too many bands today are
honest with their music," Moore
notes. "We feel our music." And the
feelings are honest and real, from
bittersweet disappointment to out-
right anger. The songs are influenced
by everything from folk to jazz to.
hard core.
Maybe Crossed Wire is so diffi-
cult to categorize that they'll never
be signed by a major label. Then
again, maybe they'll become huge
stars. In either case, they're here
right now for us to enjoy. In an in-
timate club setting, a band like
Crossed Wire just might be the cur-
rent definition of rock 'n' roll music.
CROSSED WIRE will be jamming
this Saturday at the Blind Pig.
Cover is $4, with an extra evil $2
charge for those 19 and 20 year-olds
who can't drink yet.
RECORDS
Continued from page 8
Edie Brickell & the
New Bohemians
Ghost of a Dog
Geffen
Two years ago, when Edie & the
Bohos broke out on the scene with
their last album and the single,
"What I Am," I enjoyed their retro-
early '70s, laid back Dead-cum-Joni
Mitchell jams. I thought their music
was not only creative and pleasing to
hear, but I found Edie's singing to
be sincere and unaffected.
Eventually, I grew tired of their
album, and moved on the other
things, but I always wondered when
they would come back with a new
release. Fortunately, their jazzy
cover of Dylan's "Hard Rain's Gonna
Fall" from that bombastic Vietnam
movie was enough to keep me from
forgetting about them. Then I got
Ghost of a Dog, and beginning with
the percussive intro to the new
single "Mama Help Me," I was so
impressed with their second outing
that as I was doing my work that
night, I must have listened to it five
times through. The same happened
the next few nights, and eventually I
put the old one on to compare the
two. Rubberbands somehow has
transformed into a collection of
dopey pop songs. Ghost of a Dog,
however, is outstanding.
One of the reasons for the differ-
ence is the change of recording at-
mosphere. The songs on the first al-
bum were recorded with Brickell, her
guitarist and bassist and a host of
studio musicians. Ghost was instead
cut with the real Bohemians, and the
improvisational style of their live
shows is well represented on this
record. Some numbers, such as
"Oak Cliff Bra" and "This Eye,"
offer a complete change of pace with
Brickell's voice accompanied solely
by acoustic guitar. The lyrical
obscurities which made her famous
from her first release have reappeared
frequently, but what is behind her is
what excels this album over the last.
The NB's are definitely not one-hit
wonders.
-Andrew J. Cahn
m
11
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