12A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 9, 2000 RETURN OF STEELY DAN IS FORCE OF NATURE' Rollins and company 'Get Some' new raga I was going to give "Two Against Nature," Steely Dan's first recording of completely new studio material in twenty years an "A," until I stumbled upon an old "Down Beat" article about the band from September of 1975. The article features an interview with Donald Fagen, half of Steely Dan's creative team, in which he calls electronic instruments "one aspect of the End of Art" and then states "it's interesting how rock and roll seems to be able to revive itself period- ically. There's some strange regenerative quality in all that simplicity. You can get away with playing the same thing over and over again and audiences don't mind. In fact, they seem to pre- fer it." The biggest problem with "Two Against Nature" is that it sounds just like vintage Steely Dan, a style of indulgently arranged guitars, keyboards and horns that, 20 years later, is a bit dated and appears to be an attempt by Fagan and Steely Dan's other half, Walter Becker, to assert their own (disdainfully) self-described regenera- tion of simplicity. But audience-prestidigitation aside, the same old Steely Dan is good stuff. I've had friends tell me Grade: B+ that they like Steely Dan but sometimes find their music Steely Dan "too cheesy." Part of this Two Against Nature misconception is probably due to the band's elaborate Giant Records construction of vocals and Reviewed by electronic instruments, a Daily Music Editor symptom of '70s excess John Uhl that, after "Saturday Night Fever" and "Dazed and Confused," our generation finds hard to take serious. Yet by ignoring the fact that tight vocal harmonies and too many synthesizers recall 'orange butterfly collars and Styx, Steely Dan's masterful use of the recording studio should become apparent. Barring a brief period before anyone had ever heard of them, Steely Dan has never existed as a "band," a performing ensemble with a fixed cast of musicians. Their tunes emerge from the heads of Becker and Fagen and the manipulation of hours of music recorded by an assortment of the musicians that the various compositions call for. Some solos are written out and others are impro- vised as needed, and the instrumental raw mate- rial is usually limited to a standard rock band augmented by a small horn section. Similarly the tunes themselves are perversions of standard pop song structures, like (especially) the blues. Only the result is not a cut and paste impression but rather one of an orchestral tapestry woven tight enough to enable an entire piece to revolve around the snap of a single high-hat. The real reason, though, that some may erro- neously find Steely Dan to be sentimental is hid- den in the irony of their lyrics. After a cursory listen to "Almost Gothic" from "Two Against . Nature," one could be inclined to pass it off as a maudlin song-soliloquy from the middle of a Broadway musical and only be half wrong. Fagen's solo voice divulges a gorgeous lovesick melody, complete with sweeping clarinet-led reed accompaniment and a stageside choir to help with the chorus. But listen and notice that this hero's heroine is "severe," "cryptic" and "telling ... mostly lies." It is a twisted romance that is "spell(ed) L-U-V" and stars a girl who is "almost gothic," popular culture's latest embod- iment of bitter isolation. This idea of sarcastically finding beauty in bizarre bordering on ominous places, evidence of 1970s disillusionment, was and still is pure Steely Dan, surfacing throughout "Two Against Nature": glamorization of incest; kidnapping runaway girls; arson; deals with the devil; indif- ference. Perhaps Fagen and Becker have become too good at paring down to the essence of their songs, though. The straight-faced delivery of an unlucky criminal's "got a case of dynamite, I could hold out here all night" against the cool melodic rock of 1976's "Don't Take Me Alive" achieves such an emotional detachment from its singer that most listeners don't recognize that they are being asked to morally judge him. "Two Against Nature" goes even further, elim- inating all frills unnecessary to conveying the music's gist. The solos are uncomplicated but the arrangements are immaculate and serve their purpose. It seems too slick to this listener, how- ever, who misses the days when Steely Dan sounded as cool and instrumentally daring as the satirical implications of their lyrics: The glori- ous guitar jubilation of "Reeling in the Years;" the artistic disco (only time that's not an oxy- moron) of "The Fez;" all of the saxophone solos that defined soulful rock before the eighties turned the instrument into a cliche. Instead, "West of Hollywood," the final track of "Two Against Nature," features Chris Potter's tenor saxophone, (notably of the Dave Holland Quintet) following the giant footsteps of past Steely Dan guests Jerome Richardson, Phil Woods, Wayne Shorter, Tom Scott and Michael Brecker, in a dull solo that simmers monoto- nously with hip licks for nearly four minutes. Although, give Fagen and Becker credit for prefacing the solo with the words "I'm way deep into nothing special." Grade: B- Rollins Band Get Some Go Again Dreamworks Reviewed by Daily Arts Writer David Reamer contrived, and the From the first day he stepped onto the stage with Black Flag, Henry Rollins has thrilled audiences with his gritty voice and discordant lyrics. The man is worshipped by fans of punk and main- stream rock alike, and is known as one of the most passionate musical perform- ers on earth. For the year 2000, the leg- endary musician has also released an album of all new material. "Get Some Go Again" features guest appearances by Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham and MC5's Wayne Kramer, and the members of Mother Superior have replaced the original Rollins Band, but the music is essential- ly the same as it was over a decade ago. Driving guitar riffs still propel lyrics - full of despair and anger, and the band has- n't lost its former intensity. Sadly, the same old sound doesn't quite cut it any- more. Biting lyrics come off as background music, his heyday. Even his attempts at social commentary fall somewhat short, com- prised of complaints about the artificial- ity of Hollywood and the like. The other aspects of "Get Some Go Again" are similarly unoriginal, but not as disappointing as Rollins' contribu- tions. The guitar and bass work supplied by members of Mother Superior s actually quite good, including several scorching solos and funky basslines that are impressive to hear. They do not break any new ground, however, and the result is neither a revitalization of punk nor a criticism of the state of rock and roll, two accomplishments Rollins has achieved in the past. "Get Some Go Again" is not the scathing social commentary that many listeners had hoped for, but it does han a number of redeeming qualities. music is, if not compelling, at least entertaining, and although the lyrics have lost some of their bite, they are still the words of a pissed-off man ashe looks at the world around him. Of course, the biggest and best reason to lis- ten to the album is simple: The Man is back. Even after all these years, Henry Rollins is an imposing presence, and even a bland offering is an offering. * while technically sound, is not anything that can't be found elsewhere. From the man who reinvented punk, one would expect something a bit more original. For the most part, Rollins sounds like he's trying very hard to recreate the bad- ass image that he had prior to his more sentimental releases, including a spo- ken-word album of his own poetry. Lines such as "Talk is talk/Kill is kill" aren't imposing anymore and make Rollins appear to be stretching to find the cutting-edge material he flaunted in Gang screams for 'Boobies' [7 The Dwarves 'Come ,Clean' with new effort The Bloodhound Gang first made a name for them- selves in 1996, with the unlikely radio hit "Fire Water Bunn," and then promptly dropped out of the American musical spotlight. Four years later, the Gang is once again attempting to regain mainstream fame with a new album full of unconventional tracks. With a title like "Hooray for Boobies," it's not hard to imagine what we're all in for, and it's not com- mercial success. Grade: C+ "Hooray for Boobies" is a col- Bloodhound lection of diverse tracks with two underlying themes: sex and ang drugs, not necessarily in that Hooray for Boobies order. Titles ranging from "I Geffen Hope You Die" to "A Lap Dance Reviewed by Is So Much Better When the Daily Arts Writer Stripper Is Crying" give a good David Reamer indication of the material in the album. Soft and hardcore drugs surface in many of the songs, often taking the forefront. Crude sexual references and suggestions of drug use showcase the band's not-so-charming immaturity, and help create an album that cannot be taken seriously. The actual music of "Hooray for Boobies" is an eclectic collection of seemingly random styles and sam- plings. Cheesy European techno-pop beats are com- mon, although certainly not the rule. The aforemen- tioned "Lap Dance" is a country-western narrative, and the album's opening track is a Weezer-like alternative rock song. "Mope" features samples of Metallica, George Michael and Homer Simpson, put together to form a strangely palatable ode to perversion and sub- stance abuse. Vocal styles range from rap to rock to red- neck, making for an unusual listening experience. The results of such a varied collection of styles are not entirely positive. Although the band does manage to show off its range and various talents, the songs do not flow together, and are further broken up by useless intermissions containing vocal clips from random peo- ple outside of the band. While many of the tracks are funny and have some musical merit, the album's lack of continuity causes its replay value to suffer. On the whole, "Hooray for Boobies" is entertaining, at least for the first few listenings: The novelty soon wears off, though, and what is left is a collection of average songs with extremely vulgar lyrics. Catchy beats alone cannot save the album from mediocrity, and sadly, even these are not consistent. But perhaps the album's failure to impress isn't com- pletely the Gang's fault. After all, as the song "Three Point One Four" explains: "It's hard to rhyme a word like vagina." Mule's new 'Life' in studio shines with blues-rock intensity The Dwarves have always been a sort of punk metal stew, but on their last cou- ple albums they've been sounding less and less like a garage band, and that's flustering. Not that it's bad, but when a record like "Blood Guts and Pussy" gave you 15 songs in 14 minutes and sounded like it took maybe 27 minutes to record, the cleaner sound is just a little freaky. It's like "Come Clean" has gotten cross pollinated by Gwar or something. The drunken vio- lent orgy themes Grade: B+ have always been 'The Dwarves a constant but some of the Come Clean vocals, like those Epitaph of "River City" for instance, that Reviewed by are higher pitched Daily Arts Writer and sound a lot Ted Watts like Beefcake from the previous- ly mentioned Halloween-core latex mavens. But that's in keeping in a lot of ways with the Dwarves sound. The trippy part is the more experimental stuff; "Over You" has sound effects and an overall sense that someone from Mr. Bungle structured it. Considering the historic straight ahead fast song structure of the Dwarves, it would be the most surpris- ing part of the album if there wasn't some Peter Frampton-style vocal manip- ulation on "Come Where the Flavor Is" or the metal hop rap (in the way Vincent Price was rapping on "Thriller") in the middle of "Deadly Eye." The music still bounds along at a "Life Before Insanity," Gov't Mule's third studio album since the group farmed out of an impromptu Allman Brothers Band jam session, is a solid rock album marked by the heavy, tasteful layering of Warren Haynes' signature blues guitar, Allen Woody's rumbling bass and Matt Abts' drumming. Fans of the blues, especially in the vein of Mule's earlier efforts and the Allman Brothers, will appreciate that the band has not strayed far from its equation. The Gov't Mule sound is drawn from layer upon layer of Haynes' stellar guitar work. His licks are often heavy, evoking much more sound from one note than the whole of Third Eye Blind could do in a song. It is this technique that gives many of the slower songs on "Life Before Insanity" an added element of soul, which complements the album's honest, back to basics blues songs. Of course, Haynes' guitar can also just kick-ass, proving Mule has not forgotten its roots; first and foremost they are a power trio whose songs hit early and often, like a victorious bar fighter who has taken care of his competition and sped off into the chipper pace, but it doesn't sound like they're just trying to cover up their inad- equacies with speed anymore. There's a certain amount of musicianship to Blag Dahlia and crew that's welcome but unexpected. Horror of horrors, are the Dwarves at long last growing up? Nah. While the sound has evolved substantially for the band, the songs are still traditional from a narrative point of view. Sure, the new ditties now sound different from older stuff and each oth* but there's still the underage girls and the fruitless search for sex by some loser song writer saturating the experience. You can only change a dumb punk so much. Yeah, the record has all the trappings of a Dwarves album; pretty naked women and ugly naked band members. Nothing is revolting in quite the same way as guitari HeWhoCannotBeNamed in nothing b a guitar strap and wrestling mask. But when the band has rarely sounded better, who cares? Grade: A- Gov't Mule Life Before Insanity Capricorn Reviewed by Daily Arts Writer Andrew Ladd night on his Harley-Davidson. The opening "Wander i n g Child" demon- strates this, com- ing on strong after a short period of in term i t tent instrumental work led by Woody's rolling bass-line, which comes to detine the tune. Perhaps the softer side of "Life" best exemplifies the interplay between the music and lyric of Mule's albums. Each ballad is given a dynamic voice, often See MULE, Page 14A 0 CONCERT Hill Auditorium I Mari 11t UpuL i PENN f T Tl A A~ A T'T1 rn f , ^ i :T;