The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 14, 1994 - 9 Love evokes, transcends Furs By ANDY DOLAN Love Spit Love may be an unfamil- iar name to some music fans, but the musicians involved are certainly no strangers to the world of eccentric pop music. The band's vocalist, Richard Butler, is instantly recognizable as the former frontman of the seminal '80s cynic-pop band Psychedelic Furs, and guitarist Richard Fortus was once a member of an innovative space-rock outfit called Pale Divine. Their newly combined talents, however, prove their ability to branch away from the well- established sounds of theirpastprojects. Love Spit Love's self-titled debut does contain a few songs that tend to bring back memories of the Furs later work, especially on the album's single, "Am I Wrong." However, much of the album finds Butler and Fortus along with drummer Frank Ferrer exploring quite a bit of new ground. "Dave Jerden produced the album and got some great guitar sounds for us," Butler stated. "It's just so much more dynamic (than the Furs' sound) ... For me, Richard is a lot more versa- tile and dynamic as a player. He's got a totally different feel, working more with acoustic guitars, which I like." "I wanted the album to be diverse," he continued, "but you can't win be- cause if the album's too diverse, people will say that it lacks focus or whatever ... Personally, though, I like the diver- sity and I think it ties the album to- gether." This direction is highlighted in a two of Butler favorite tracks, "Green," and the bizarre "Jigsaw," which fea- tures a warped loop of a marching band. "'Green' definitely wasn't some- thing that the Furs would have done, the timing on it, the way it stops and starts. The Furs would have thought it sounded too much like King Crimson and chucked it out!" Butler joked. Along with these more unconven- tional tunes,the album also contains tracks such as the explosive "Seven- teen,"the ambient, PaleDivine-inspired "Superman"~ and the haunting "Co- deine," all of which feature Butler's uniquely moving lyrical stylings. "I've never been one for politicizing," Butler said. "Instead, I've always been one for writing about personal questions, con- cerning faith and love and what makes life worthwhile." Love Spit Love's first few shows have gone particularly well, and Butler attributes this to his new band's ap- proach to playing live. "The approach before was that if we had a saxophone on the record, we'd get a sax for the live band. With Love Spit Love, we've decided to keep it as a four-piece, be- cause I don't think people go to con- certs to see the record imitated per- fectly. I think they'd rather see four people playing with spirit," Butler ex- plained. As expected, Love Spit Love are already thinking of ways to solidify their sound on their next album. "We'll be doing more folky sounding songs like 'Codeine' as well as some things like 'Jigsaw' and 'Green'," he pre- dicted. "I've been listening to a lot of stuff by Robert Wyatt and his old band, Soft Machine, and if anything's inspir- ing me right now it's that." Of courseit's never easy to think of Richard Butler in a band other than the Psychedelic Furs, and their demise was certainly a great loss. But Love Spit Love's music works as both a reminder of the Furs legacy as well as a new beginning, where different musical di- rections are explored. Fortunately, it succeeds in both ways. LOVE SPIT LOVE perform tonight at St. Andrews Hall with Gigolo Aunts. Tickets are $10, doors open at 6 p.m., 18 & over. Call 961-MELT. r Don't Panic!! If you think you're pregnant... tall us-we listen, we care. Problem Pregnancy Help 769-7283 Any time, any day, 24 hours. Fully confidential. We specialize in helping students. i This is Love Spit Love lead singer Richard Butler, backup dancer in Belinda Carlisle's "Circle in the Sand" video. .Piano man brings his 'Forest'to Hill By MATT CARLSON The piano man is back at it again, and we're not talking about Billy Joel. George Winston, the ecclectic com- poser who has recorded albums based on all four seasons,a few months of the nicate his love of nature through his art of musical composition. I'm just can't wait for George Winston's "Swamp," "Desert" and "Tundra: Winston's Greatest Hits." GEORGE WINSTON will perform his Winter Show tonight at Hill Auditorium. The performance will begin at 8 p.m. Student tickets cost $14.50 and are available at the Michigan Union Ticket Office. Call 763-TKTS for more information. GMAT, GRE, MCAT, & LSAT. If you're taking one of these tests, take KAPLAN first. We teach you exactly what the test covers and show you the test taking strategies you'll need to score your best. Don't compete with a KAPLAN student -- be one! KAPLAN 1 -800-KAP-TEST year and some non-thematic works as well, is back on track with "Forest," an album based around, well, forests. Winston's compositions on "For- est," as well as the pieces of other composers that he plays, actually do have a light and crisp staccato sound to them thatconjuresrich images of walk- ing through forests. From "Tamarack Pines" to "Forbidden Forest" tp Howard Blake's "Walking in the Air," some of the tracks communicate the theme of forests and have a magical quality that could quite possibly transport listeners to a lush, dense wooded area. I$ However, a few of the arrange- ments, such as "Mon Enfant (My Child)," unfortunately sound like pieces that could easily be transferred to an- other of Winston's albums, like "Au- tumn," or "December." Perhaps, we look too deeply into Winston's albums for thematic significance, or perhaps he fails to hold the definite themes together for an entire album. Nonetheless, Winston is an engag- ng composer who can switch easily between the swooping, grand motions of piano brilliance and the sparse, and lightly decorated taps of keys. At the very least, he is a brilliant elevator music composer, and at his best, he is a very interesting artist who can commu- The one and only George Winston brings his magic fingers to Hill tonight. JOIN * wtt ~ilyADVERTISING DISPLAY STAFF Y4 y LISA WRIGHT GREG ROBIN MARY COLES MISTY KITZUL GAIN VALUABLE ADVERTISING SALES EXPERIENCE! BE AN ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE FOR FALL/WINTER TERMS! PICK UP YOUR APPLICATION TODAY! APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10/25/94 STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG * SENIOR STAFF OFFICE * 420 MAYNARD - h w - -- algi-Ir'. sue' m swei -.MI in~in a S *okn -for.r~j~ and al -other -ehia majors ~~~CS First Bostonamjrieraialiesetbak haq artered in .f New Y. rk rCityrd.will be rec4 r ' itig..At h UnIiety f IchiganforthZTchi!lA ocaePrgr- n h is looking for Computer Science majors, Engineers, and all other technical majiors CS First Boston, a major international investment bank, headquartered in New York City, will be recruiting at the University of Michigan for the Technical Associate Program in the Information Services Department. We are looking for Seniors with strong analytical and computer skills who want to further develop and utilize these skills in the financial services industry. CS First Boston uses the latest advances in hardware and software to create systems crucial to our success in the financial marketplace. If you are interested in combining the fast-paced excitement of Wall Street with the stimulating challenge of technology, this program will be of interest to you. We will be recruiting on campus for full time positions on: UAC's Soundstage Welcomes AMOTS UNDER THE PINK TOUR Monday, November 14, 1994 To learn more about the Technical Associate Program, please join us for our Information Session: I I ,,. ," :;' a