1OA - The Michigan Daily - Monday, December 9, 1996


Beavis and
Butt-Head do
Ann Arbor
Those guys to the right
are pretty dam excited, as
you can see. They are
coming to theaters Dec.
20 In their first big screen
motion picture, "Beavis
and Butt-Head Do
America." And you can
join in the fun because,
heh heh heh, they're cool!
The Daily Arts section is
still giving away passes to
see good old B and B after
the movie opens. How do
you become one of the
lucky fans to catch them
for free? Just stop by the
Daily Arts office on the
second floor of the
Student Publications
Building, 420.Maynard St.,
today after 1 p.m. and tell
us what band's name Butt-
Head regularly sports on
his shirt. Supplies are lim-
Ited, so hurryl

Devoted artists contribute
to uplifting Hanukkah.
disc, 'Festival of Light'

Various Artists
Festival of Light
Six Degrees / Island

I

So, it's day four of Hanukkah and
you haven't lit candles yet? Well, grab
yourself some latkes, spin a dreidel and
get yourself in a Jewish mood by pop-
ping "Festival of Light" into your CD
player. The diverse musical stylings by
artists ranging from The Klezmatics to
Marc Cohn are sure to light up some
religious fervor and may even help you
study for finals.
Although marketed as a Hanukkah
album, with a big Menorah on the CD
cover, "Festival of Light" is more a
well-needed excuse for some good
Jewish music. With only three
songs relating to the holiday,
"Rock of Ages - Ma'oi
Tzur," sung by Marc
Cohn (of "Walkin' in
Memphis" fame),
"Lighting Up the
World," performed
by Israeli guitar sen-
sation David Broza
and Peter Himmelman,
and "I See You" by
Alitsut, the collection is a
beautiful example of the all-
encompassing variety of Jewish music.
As bookends of the 12-track disc,
"Rock of Ages" sets up a mellow mood
while "Lighting Up the World" brings
back a festive mood with rough, raw
vocal power for the end of the album.
With mostly instrumental music on the
album, it takes a bit for the festival
theme to set in. The clarinets on "1902"
by The Mels and John Leventhal sound
luminous and eerie; dreamy accordion
and violins, undulating flutes and an
old-world drum beat on "The Emigrant"
by Flairck make things interesting; and
things get funky for The Covenant's ver-
sion of the Friday
night blessings,
"Kiddush Le-
Shabbat," in
which the plain-v
tive wails of an
old-style Ash-
kenazic cantor
are overdubbed
by synthesized
trip-hop and tech-
no beats.
Whether or not
you've heard the
songs before; it's
easy to hear the
special touches
the performers
bring to this
recording. Folk
standout John
McCutcheon
lends a gentle
hand to the Israeli
folk song "Erev
Shel Shoshanim";
Rebbe Soul
enables listeners The Rutles prove t
to divine the best tops and bott
sacred meaning of as John Lennon rol
the prayer-
"Avinu' even without any words; John
Zom's Masada Strings pluck their way
through an arresting composition, called
"Bikkurim"; Alitsut's "I See You" has a
soulful R&B sensibility even while she
sings about the history of the Jewish peo-
ple, and The Klezmatics and Jane Siberry
round out the album with untraditional
versions of "Dybbuk Shers" and "Shir
Amami."
Even if the record companies were
trying to dupe you into buying an exclu-
sive Hanukkah album, don't worry
about it, just say thank you. This varied
and diverse compilation does what the
title says - it provides a festival, and
lights you up with its musical splendor.
Stephanie Jo Klein

Python whom we all know as Roger the
Shrubber. And in case you haven't fig-
ured it out yet, they're a Beatles parody
group.
The first Rutles album was release
in 1978. At that time of subpar solo
albums, disco and long gas lines, the
Beatles were sorely needed. Eighteen
years later, we've come full circle -
with "Backbeat" that ABC miniseries
and all those blasted Anthologies, the
Beatles just won't die. But if there were
any group of the rock era that deserved
never to die, it would of course be
them, and so the time is ripe for the
Rutles to return.
"Archaeology" is less a parody
album than a tribute. The melodies are
all original, and most of the songs are
stylistic rip-offs rather than parodies of
one song in particular. There are of
course exceptions - "Major
Happy's Up and Coming
Once Upon a Good
Time Band" kicks off
the disc, and segues
neatly into.
.w "Rendezvous." The
former contains the
line "Whatever Major
Happy did for them
it'll do for you" while the
latter features the inter-
change "But we're only trying to
help you with your song! / But 1 don't
want any help!" The disc's closer,
"Back in '64" is perhaps the most
ingenious, contrasting the Beatles' hey.
day and the present with an arrange-
ment reminiscent of (what else?)
"When I'm Sixty-Four."
Many other clever touches abound:
"We've Arrived (and to Prove it We're
Here)" combines a "Back in the
U.S.S.R:'-esque intro with the sponta-
neous laughter and studio chatter of
all the early takes and outtakes of the
various Beatles' Anthologies. "Eine
Kleine Middle Klasse Musik" doesn't
really sound
much like the
Beatles, but it's
funny nonethe-
less. "Joe
Public" pokes
fun at George
Harrison's Far
East mysticism
that occasional-
ly crept into th
Beatle song
book. And
"Shangri-La" is
the most inter-
esting, contain-
ing musical ref-
erences to "A
Day ,in the Life"
(the intro),
"Being For the
Benefit of Mw,,
Kite" (the cho-
ruses and carni-
val-like sound
effects), "Hey
Jude" (the long,
hat they have the drawn-out la-la-
oms in the business la coda), and "I
ls in his grave. Am the Walrus"
.--(the "hoo-ha"s
thrown in every so often). Besides,
who can resist the retro-art CD book-
let featuring a centerfold of a ban*
with pig faces?
Unlike most parodies of rock
music, "Archaeology" is nice because
it doesn't make fun of its target in an
insulting manner. The liner notes con-
tain a special thanks to John, Paul,
George and Ringo, and never is the
listener led to believe that the Rutles
have anything but the utmost admira-
tion for what the Beatles accom,
plished.
Still, because of that, a lot of this

music ends up sounding very, well,
safe. Idle does a decent job, but a far
better album of this -type is Utopia's
1980 release "Deface the Music,"
which, unlike "Archaeology," covers
the early Beatles as well as the late. It
contains some songs that really are
quite good regardless of who they're
trying to sound like. Check it out as
well.
- Mark Feldman

t
t

The Rutles
Archaeology
Virgin

The Rutles are the brainchild of Eric
Idle, the former member of Monty


BOOKS
Continued from Page 9A
inside even before you unwrap it. But
that is where Anshaw's power truly
lies. Playful deception is what keeps
this book moving and it is what will
keep you reading to the very end. The
truth of the matter is that the story isn't
the obvious - our friend Anshaw is
much too gifted a writer to let us off
that easy.
The first experience in the book is

squirrel lying in my backyard.
When Chris is awakens to an empty
space beside her in her bed one morn-
ing, she is also experiencing the
awakening of her soul. Although a
physical search for Taylor ensues, it is
the spritual search that is the focal
point of the whole novel. Depende*
on and feeling unloved by Taylor,
Chris gradually learns that it is not
Taylor that she misses, but her sense
of self that had been lost for so long.
The most powerful aspect of all this is
the use of what seems to be a contra-

m