ARTS
The Michigan Daily Wednesday, December 4, 1991 Page 5
The King RecordsT u , ;yy N S r
Dinosaur Jr. EP of unreleased and live tracks, the
is d e a d , k v+ F Pk e tF$r 4 51*_n ': S
IS -:I Whatever's Cool With Me perfect Christmas gift for us Dino-
r sy w x ~ aft xr, \ a~y :SiJe heads who are hungry for a fix until
o t . It has been suggested in these the next full-length album.
n ot U n cle b55 , very pages that Bob Mould is God. The title track is a blast. Sloppy
,w If so, then J Mascis is the Son, indie guitars Clatter and lurch into trip-
rock's own "Christ of apathy." hammer drums, while Mascis hap-
Amherst, MA's number one wiped- pily watches it all roar by. His
-elAa'V, out kid has been performing musical strained "I don't know what the
miracles since Dino Jr.'s 1985 debut, hell I'm doing but who cares?" vo-
by Annette Petruso i -Dinosaur, through 1990's Green cal delivery is right on the money.
: WL S ..1._,,* ., , ";?' *,.$ a w. D inosau 1"AflI ' 1 -,V._ . .
The southern Illinois-based band
Uncle Tupelo has this reputation
problem. Everyone but everyone
compares Tupelo to two Minneapo-
lis exports. The favorite is Husker
DO. "I just got sick of it recently,"
says drummer Mike Heidorn.
"Yeah, it's been up there a lot ... I
don't see too much comparison
myself, personally, but I guess it's
there ... It's pretty flattering and
all that stuff."
Soul Asylum is also a common
comparison, though Heidorn dis-
agrees with it. "No. That's a flat
out no, I guess. I don't know where
it comes from. It's this Midwest
thing, Minneapolis, Illinois. It's
nice, though. It's cool. I guess. It's
hard. People have to describe it
somehow ... They have to compare
it, and I guess those are the things
they come up with," he says.
The Husker thing isn't obvious
to me, but part-time vocalist/
bassist Jeff Tweedy's singing on
"Gun," the first track of Uncle
Tupelo's second album, Still Feel
Gone, is kind of reminiscent of Soul
Asylum's Dave Pirner, as is the gui-
tar part. Heidorn liked my idea that
"I feel so lonely, baby, I feel so lonely, I feel so lonely, I could die ...
Uncle Tupelo is more comparable to
Jerry Lee Lewis, in that the both
artists explore the possiblities of
combining country and rock. But in
Tupelo's case, the rock is on the al-
ternative side.
Just check out the harsh rocker
"D. Boon," Tweedy's tribute to the
dead Minuteman. "I think what he
meant by that songs was the fact
that this D. Boon guy - (someone)
he never really met, ever in his life,
lived about three thousand miles
away - had made a mark on this
guy's life here in Illinois so much
that he had to do something about
it," explains Heidorn.
"I think Jeff was kind of into the
feeling that ... part of (D. Boon) is
part of me now," Heidorn contin-
ues. "I know he says that in the
song. It's like he's amazed that
somebody over there could do that
to somebody over here. And he'd
like to do that to other people ...
There's something about (Boon).
He's god, I guess."
And I thought Bob Mould was.
Anyway, Uncle Tupelo may not af-
fect people as much as Mould or
Boon yet, but the excellent Still
Feel Gone captures strong images
of the band's part of the midwest.
Much of the despair and harshness
of life that fellow Midwesterner
John Mellencamp also describes is
summed by Uncle Tupelo, but with
a dollop of country. The band's mu-
sic, then, is not quite rockabilly, but
something more pure, yet sadly bru-
tal. Main vocalist/guitarist Jay
Ferrar's songs, especially, have a
country tinge to them, extending to
his phrasing, tone and accent.
"(The Midwest) probably makes
the music what it is, although I
don't know how much different it
would be, say, if we were from New
York. I don't know what elements
actually show -up in the music.
'Cause I know that, if ... it's good in
Illinois, if things are good for you
in your life, that it could be the
See TUPELO, Page 7
CHANNEL Z
We love Luci, and you will too
after you watch Pavarotti in the
Park tonight (8 p.m., Channel 56).
Everyone's favorite tenor will cele-
brate his 30-year career in Hyde
Park, London, where the great one
will sing "O Paradiso," "Cielo e
Mar" and "Vesti la Giubba," ac-
companied by the Philharmonia
Orchestra and a 120-voice choir. The
Italian Stallion's performance
should fill your dreams with
Nonna's gnocchi.
who what where when
"Andy, where's my 15 min-
utes?" David Bowie pathetically
whined on Tin Machine's debut al-
bum. Well, Dave, we hate to break it
to you, but your 15 minutes (OK,
half-hour) expired somewhere in
between Ziggy Stardust and that
movie with the Muppets. Your
Dial-A-Hit Tour last year was al-
most as lame as the Stones signing a
six-year record deal. And despite all
the penis hoopla, Tin Machine II
sucked. But if you dig out the glit-
tery dresses and the make-up for
tonight's Tin Machine show at
Clubland, maybe we'll check you
out. Tickets are $18.50 in advance at
TicketMaster (p.e.s.c.), with a spe-
cial discount for people who used to
watch The Soupy Sales Show.
Do you want $100?
Audition for Starbound, U of M's
annual talent competition on Dec. 4,
5,&W.
Sign up at UAC, 2105 Union, or
call 763-1107 for info
LIVE JAZZ
Tuesday & Wednesday " 10-12
In The Underground
ER I DRINK SPECIALS
HO COV!
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