10=' The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 5, 1997

RECORDS
Continued from Page 8
Slobberbone
Crow Pot Pie
DooLitle Records
From the very first lyric, delivered in
akunmistakable drawl, "I been drinkin'
/ as if you couldn't tell," it's sad but true
that, coupled with the high-steppin',.

twangy guitar behind it, the record can
be encapsulated right there.
Which is not to say that there's nothing
of value to be found here. Fans of the
Bottlerockets will find similarities
between the vocal style of that band's
frontman Brian Henneman and
Slobberbone lead vocalist Brent Best, as
well as a musical kinship via
Slobberbone's hillbilly-inflected but
crackling guitars. Unfortunately, Best
lacks both Henneman's wry, self-depre-
cating humor and gruff sensitivity.

Lyrically, Best concerns himself with
describing the experiences of a - well,
a redneck. Yeah, that's a loaded term
and a stereotype but Best does little to
resist such pigeonholing. Several songs
dwell on either alcohol or lost lovers;
often both. More than one describes in
painstaking detail the interior of a trail-
er home. Suffice it to say that Best isn't
the most highbrow lyric writer around:
Witness lines like "Yeah, I'm pretty sad
/ I guess I suck" or "I'm drinkin' a beer
/ ... and watchin' the dog pee on the
car." But he does know graphic
imagery, as in: "Caught behind a cattle
truck / and all you smell is shit." At
times he veers beyond vulgarity into
truly offensive territory, as in the dis-
turbingly violent chorus of "Shoot You
Dead," in which he warns a spurned
lover: "I got myself a gun / and I'm
gonna shoot you dead."
Slobberbone does attempt to show a
sensitive side on quieter songs like "I Can
Tell Your Love Is Waning" and "16
Days." Unfortunately, when they do so,
they often don't know when to quit: these
tunes plod along and clock in at more
than six and 10 minutes, respectively.
All in all, this record is no more than
an unremarkable slab of chugging hill-
billy rawk. The word here: Don't waste
your money which could be spent on a
truly first-rate record in the same genre,
like the Bottlerockets' "The Brooklyn
Side" or Blue Mountain's "Dog Days.'
- Anders Smith-Lindall
Baby Fox
A Normal Family
Roadrunner Records
Slow and steady, like the ticking of a
clock, Baby Fox's style is that of sheer

minimalism. Their quiet and simplistic
beats, fused with jazz, reggae, disco and
hip-hop, will warm the listener's heart
with the gladness of a dawning in the
age of "pump up the volume" music.
Hailing from London, Baby Fox's
members, Christine Ann Leach, Alex
Gray and Dwight, have broken all the
molds with their dub-influenced, debut
album, "A Normal Family."
"A Normal Family" is a collection of
13 slow-burning grooves, backed by the
soothing voice of Christine and the two
boy foxes' creepy rhymes.
The album begins with the sound of
regurgitation and a Buddhist temple
atmosphere on "Jonny Lipshake." This
song proceeds through samples of
children laughing and the fright-
ening, distorted lyrics, "Son of
mystic miracle star, I slow-
motion my VCR. I hammer
hopping bird. I lipshake." At this
point, the madness stops, and is
immediately replaced by the soul-
singing of Christine, whose song
leads the listener to safety.
On the second track,
Baby Fox pays its
musical dues to Lee
Perry by covering
his 1976 classic,
"Curly1o c k s."
This song per-
tains to the some-
times harsh cir-
cumstances of
interracial
fr i e n d s h i p s
among chil-
dren. Christine
couldn't sing it
better than,
"Curlylocks,
now that you're
a dreadlock, my
Daddy says I
shouldn't play

with you."
The rest of the songs create a contrast
of light and dark, good and evil, creat-
ing a space somewhere in between. At
times a jungle beat will be dropped, at
others, the sounds of farm animals, but
"A Normal Family" never strays too far
from the original idea of keeping it a'
minimum.
One of the best tracks, "Alien Way,"
deals with people's fear of immigration,
although the way that Baby Fox pre-
sents it will remind the listener of an
MCI commercial. After hearing this
song, you might just want to call home,
or better yet, call "A Normal Family,"
like Baby Fox.
- Brian M. Kemp

The genius behind a good perfor-
mance of a jazz standard is the ability
to make a prosaic and uninteresting
song lyrical and listenable by virtue of
the performer's interpretation.
Listening to the Louis Armstrong and
Ella Fitzgerald version of "Porgy and
Bess" will lead one to believe that it's
an entirely different score than the
hammy and pathetic musical theater
version.
On "Long Ago & Far Away" Rolling
Stones drummer Charlie Watts tries his
hand at the interpretations of several
classics of Tin Pan Alley with little, Jf
any, success.
To his credit, Watts selects some of
the more obscure tunes of the Alley
cannon, like "More Than You Knovk"
"I Get Along Without You Very Well"
and "I've Got A Crush On You."
These are mixed in with things that
are more familiar such as "In The Still
Of The Night" and "In A Sentimental*'
Mood."
The real flaw in "Long Ago & Far
Away" is that nearly every tune is given
the exact same treatment. There is no
attempt to find the nature and force of
each song. Instead each piece is played
with saccharin string accompaniment
and the mooing tenor vocals of Bernai-d
Fowler.
The beginning of "More Than You
Know" is totally indistinguishable
from the intro to "In A Sentimental
Mood", even though the two are radi-
cally different in temperament and
content.
Watts' band offers only a little sub-
stantive contribution to the enseM-
ble's texture on "Long Ago & Fair
Away," in favor of Fowler's moans
overtop of the orchestra. It is consis-
tently bad, all the way through. First
"Voodoo Lounge" and now this. What*
next?
-James Miller
the dead

TI es are the wacky guys of Slobberbone.

Depeche Mode returns from1

The New Challenge
of Higher Education
LECTURE & PANEL DISCUSSION
FEBRUARY 6, 1997
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
RACKHAM AMPHITHEATRE
A RECEPTION WILL FOLLOW IN
THE ASSEMBLY HALL
This University of Michigan event is co-sponsored by:
" Office of the President, " Academic Outreach,
" Center for Learning through Community Service.

Los Angeles Times
Only eight months after Depeche
Mode's singer David Gahan injected a
near-fatal mixture of heroin and
cocaine at a hotel in West Hollywood,
the English band is back with a new sin-
gle and an album on the way.
It's more than even the most opti-
mistic fans of the veteran group could
have ever imagined.
Even Gahan's bandmates feared that
the synth-pop trio had reached the end
of the line, after selling more than 25
million albums worldwide.
"Oh, definitely," said Andy Fletcher,
who was home in London when he and
bandmate Martin Gore heard the
reports about Gahan from Los Angeles.
"When we got the news, we just
thought there was absolutely no way

that he'd be able to get it together."
Less than a year before his overdose,
Gahan had slit his wrists in a suicide
attempt. But now, the singer is said to
be clean and sober, and the group's new
single, "Barrel of a Gun," hit stores yes-
terday from Reprise Records. It already
is closing in on the Top 10 in Billboard
magazine's list of the hottest songs on
modern rock radio. The album, "Ultra,"
arrives April 15.
"It's an absolutejy amazing transfor-
mation," Fletcher says of Gahan's
recovery. "He's solved a lot of his prob-
lems and his life is really looking up at
the moment."
"He's a completely different person,"
adds Gore, who writes all the band's
material.
But don't look for the band at your
local arena or amphitheater before next
year.
"Dave's not physically strong enough
to tour yet," says Fletcher of the singer,

This program can be
seen live on UMTV the
:campus cable tv system,
Channel 26

EMMEMMOW


who wasn't available to be interviewed.
"It would be a major mistake to go on

Prof essors


the road, where you're away from your
safety net and away from the people
you love.",'*
Instead, Depeche Mode will watch
from the sidelines to see how its latest
batch of techno songs will fare with a
U.S. audience that is much more
accepting of this type of music than it
was when the group debuted more than
15 years ago.
"When we first came to Americain
1982, it was like we were a circus act"
Gore recalls. "We've been carrying the
flag for electronic music for a long
time."
"If you play a style of music that is
supposed to be out of fashion and then
a lot of other groups come 'round to, it,
of course you're proud," Fletcher sad,
"This was our whole thing in the '89s,
but it was odd to a lot of media andto
radio (programmers) because they did-
n't see it as proper music "

Pro essions

9
t
to
.
.'

Wells Fargo makes the transition from school to work simple. You're already acclimated
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So join a trailblazer as successful and dynamic as yourself. Explore the vast frontier of career
opportunities that Wells Fargo has to offer. We will be on campus for the following:

BA/MBA INFORMATION
RECEPTION
Tuesday, February 11th
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Michigan Room

BA
INTERVIEWS
Friday, February 14th
8:30am - 4:45pm
Career Center

~* ....
as, IO$as

9 SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

I

Stop by the Career Center today to schedule an appointment with our Representatives.



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