Page 6--Thursday, June 19, 1980--The Michigan Daily
omteArts
Parker's reputation no rumour
The Up Escalator
Graham Parker
By MARK DIGHTON
There are few things in the rock and
roll world you can count on. Graham
Parker is one of them. Sure, some of his
songs have been better than others and
some of his albums have been better
than others, but he's never done
anything you could call bad. And now
that he's at a high point with the suc-
cess of his last album, Squeezing Out
Sparks, you can come to his new album,
The Up Escalator with justifiably high
expectations . . . and not go away
disappointed.
Right from the start you know this
has to be a solid album. The first cut,
"No Holding Back," is by no means the
best song on the album, but at first
hearing it's hard to believe that it's not
the best song ever.
"DEVIL'S SIDEWALK," which
follows, is even better, though..
Likewise with "Stupefaction," which
follows "Sidewalk." Before long, all
comparisons are lost in an overload of
rock and roll energy. Incidentally, The
Up Escalator can also be a great party
game. Just see if any of your friends
can walk across the room while it's
plaing without breaking into dance. If
they can-toss 'em out; you don't want
friends like that.
The Up Escalator is not just empty-
headed boogie music, though. Parker
has continued to embody a venerable
rock and roll tradition-insightful
rebellion. Back in the good old days
when rock and roll maybe meant
something, it was quite normal for rock
and roll to rail uncontrollably against
society. Then somewhere along the way
it became complacent, compromised.
Parker returns that outsider's fury to
his music, though in this age his attacks
seem more levelled against our peers
that have succumbed too early to the
temptations of a too too comfortable
world, rather than an easy target like
the Establishment.
Graham Parker and the Rumour
"The sun is burning.
It never changes.
The people look up with
nothing in their eyeballs.
They stare at billboards as if
for guidance.
There's something wrong
here I can't put my finger
on.
Same thing
Same way
Every day-
Stupefaction!"
Parker doesn't fall prey to the easy
mistake of blaming this complacency
on "them," either. He realizes that the
enticements of the path of least
resistance are before us all constantly,
and they are temptations to which we
all yield to some degree or another in
order to survive. Parker's only saying
that maybe we've compromised our-
selves a bit too much. He's ready to
admit, though, that "I see the attrac-
tion/of the same thing-same
way-everyday-Stupefaction." He's
even kind enough to leave us with a ray
of hope: "We're going to get clear out of
this someday," though I'm not as con-
vinced.
Needless to say, the playing on The
Up Escalator is every bit as fautless as
the content. As the Rumour proved on
their last album, Frogs Sprouts Clogs
and Krauts, they are a rock and roll
force to be reckoned with even
separated from Parker's vocal and
lyrical power. With the help of Nicky
Hopkins (standby Rolling Stone) on
piano, Danny Federici (of Bruce
Springsteen's E Street Band) on organ,
and Bruce himself on back-up vocals on
"The Endless Night," you can safely
anticipate perfection. In short, they've
developed what is in many ways the
quintessential rock and roll
sound-steady rhythm, forceful but not
offensive guitar, and gospel organ
behind a gravelly rhythm and blues
shouter.
Some may think that this review has
taken on an embarrassingly adulatory
tone-especially for a critic-but don't
expect any apologies. All I know is that
by the end of The Up Escalator I was
thrilledvand exhausted. My emotions
had been given the same arduous
workout that my feet had received.
There's nothing arty or trendy about
Graham Parker and the Rumour, but
there is something so undeniably right
about their music that it's as
exhausting as it is (at least for Parker)
inexhaustible. You better know by the
end of the album that Parker is not
boasting when he says,
"I had the power
and Iknew it.
Had the energy
but outgrew it."
I
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New institute report says world
entering
LONDON (AP)-Both the U
States and the Soviet Union have
ched their attention from detei
developing their military force, ar
world is "entering a period of
danger," thie International Institu
Strategic Studies said today.
"The invasion of Afghanistan se
to mark the end of the East-Westc
te that had begun a decade earlier
London-based think tank said
authoritative "Strategic Survey
'period of real danger'
nited 1979, an annual analysis of trends in in- London time, was described in a news
swit- ternational security and conflict. conference yesterday.
ste to DIRECTOR CHRISTOPH Bertram, a
nd the West German, told a news conference The institute, founded in 1958 by a
f real yesterday there is a change in both group of Britons, provides independent
ite for Soviet and American attitudes. information on military forces and
"There is new mood, a new consensus security developments. Its inter-
emed in the United States toward a more national staff produces two reports an-
deten- assertive pursuit of American interests nually: the "Military Balance," which
"the and a greater belief in the utility of focuses on armed forces and arsenals,
in its military force," he said. and the "Strategic Survey" on global
y" for "We are entering a period where security.
there is a real danger that local crises
in the Third World will be passed under The latest report said the Soviet
the matrix of East-West competition. Union's attitude toward the West may
There is concern in the United States change when Soviet President Leonid
that not to take up these challenges Brezhnev dies.
would be seen as weakness," Bertram
said. "A POST-BREZHNEV leadership,
THE REPORT, released at midnight once installed, would have experience
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The Ann Arbor Film Cooperative Presents at the Michigan Theatre:
Thursday, June 19
THE SEARCHERS
(John Ford, 1956) 1, 3:30, 7 & 9:30, Michigan Theatre
Quite frankly, one of the greatest films ever made. Stunning in its imagery,
scope and depth of expression, this is a movie in which "the entire American
experience is summed up in one character." On its simplest level, the story of a
man's search for a niece kidnapped by Indians, The Searchers has that clear yet
intangible quality which characterizes an artist's masterpieces. "How can I hate
John Wayne's politics, yet love him tenderly in The Searchers?-Jean-Luc
Godard. 'The dialogue is like poetry ... so subtle, so magnificent! I see it once
or tmice a year.'"-Martin Scorsese. "So many superlatives going for it-John
Wayne's best performance . . . a study in dramatic framing and composition.
High on my favorite film list."-Steven Spielberg. With Jeffrey Hunter, Vera
Miles, Ward Bond. Presented in conjunction with Schoolkids Records. 35 mm.
Admission: $2.00. Matinees $1.50.
Tomorrow: Francois Truffout's THE WILD CHILD and
Werner Herzog's EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL at MLB.
neither of Western strength during
World War II nor of pre-war Russian
weakness. It might feel that neither the
detente nor the defense policies of the
Brezhnev era had given the Soviet
Union her rightful place in the world,"
the report said.
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soft and hard* contact lenses $210.00
includes exam, fiting, dispensing, follow-up visits,
starter kits, and 6 mon.th checkup.
* incrludcs a second pair of hard lenses
Dr. Paul C. Uslan, Optometrist
545 Church Stree
769-1222 by appointment
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