The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, July 22, 1980--Page 9
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By
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Eyed Spy
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roll-as-we-k
combining
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arrangem
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turns musi
They prove
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challenging
and dancea
without a b
8-Eyed Spy: Worth the effort
MARKCOLMAN he nlyfamiiar(tomet ongwasapproach to music ai
MARK COLEMAN The only familiar (to me) song was ban jungle rhythms. Bassist George rooted in traditional
ig on your politics, Eight the cover of CaptainBeefheart's "Did- Scott delivered the driving impetus, Twin brothers Larry an
is either the most original dy Wah Diddy", a solidly performed behind the whacked-out ensemble tertwine twanging gt
me down the pike in quite a choice which lends Eight Eyed Spy playing while drummer Jim Sclavunos spacey solos for a'
a subversive force that some much-needed perspective. Like sets it all off with wildly enthusiastic guitar sound with other
he very fabric of rock and Beefheart before them, the Spies are bashing, trashing any expectation of a fs. The Same Band u
know-it. Actually, it is both; forming a broad based musical coalition beat with sporadic crashes and random approach to rhythm tha
tumultuously tight rhythm that abides by no standards save its rolls. build experimentation
wrapped in barb-wire own. For all its abrupt changes and oc- Eight Eyed Spy rock with a sense of sounding hooks and re
ents with the bellicose casional lapses into disequilibrium, this paceand timing entirely their own-but like "Everybody's 0.1
'young Lydia Lunch, the Spy music is tightly structured and they do rock. Now, naturally, a lot of result that sounds like s
cal conventions inside out., executed. They may well be making up people at Rick's American Cafe didn't from another planet. Th
that any old way you choose the rules as they go along, but Eight know quite what to make of this band's in jazzy progressions rz
nd roll can be musically Eyed Spy blend a wide array of flavors spicy sonic stew, let alone Lydia Lun- their collective wad
g, emotionally unsettling, and textures into a remarkably ch's torrential non-chalence. The discordant glory a la Eil
ible at the same time-even cohesive whole that is palatable more opening act, Ann Arbor's The Same So while the Same Ba
ackbeat. often than not. Band nrnvided a similariy amn - ditinim ,h,.. ti.fvina lief
bit more firmly
song structures.
nd Ben Miller in-
Uitar riffs with
Television-style
r-worldly sax rif-
tilizes a sneaky
at allows them to
into traditional-
frainsron songs
K." for an end
low-burning pop
hey build energy
ather than shoot
in a blaze of
ght Eyed Spy.
nd provide more
uuaue, satisrying ustening than the
Spies, their more disciplined approach
is nowhere near as purely entertaining
or exhilarating. I won't say that Eight
Eyed Spy are destined to be the Next
Big Thing but they effected me in a way
that few other bands have. I'm not sur-
prised that a lot of people liked the
Same Band better; their more down-to-
earth approach is a lot easier to take
while still retaining a good deal of rigor.
But for all their brutal, sometimes ugly
moments, Eight Eyed Spy come across
with all the classic power of the music
they are seeking to re-define. "We're
just a rock and roll band" said Pat Ir-
win after the gig. Truer words could not
have been snoken
From the start of Sunday's show
there was the expected charge of an-
ticipation in the air, the electricity that
any out-of-town visitors seem to
generate. But all the advance publicity
in the world couldn't have prepared the
audience for the cardiac arrest-level in-
tensity of Eight Eyed Spy. In a word,
this band is aggressive: Spurting short,
fast bursts of flailing rhythm and
multiple layers of sax and guitar.
melody into three minute long climaxes
that end as abruptly as they begin.
I DIDN'T CATCH the titles of most of
the tightly structured collages that pass
as songs." A lot of that has to do with
Lydia's blood-curdling style; a.
whining, mindless blare of blank asser-
tion, seductive croaks and off-mike
muttering. I have no idea what she was
shouting about but she meant every
word of it.
Appearing TONIGHT at
SECOND CHANCE
VANTAGE POINT
Eight Eyed Spy
Guitarists Michael Palmgarden and
Pat Irwin are an exhaustive source of
melodic metal riffs and sonic diversion,
providing everything from chunky funk
lines to reverbing surf-sound solosto
unadultrated feed back. Irwin's sax
work was wonderfully economic, shat-
tering the electronic drone with sheets
of squawking indolence, or echoing
Lydia's world-weary moans with a
lilting melody on "Lazy in Love".
THE RHYTHM section encased this
dramatic divergence in a rumblingly
assured, ever-shifting onslaught of ur-
Michigan Rep '80
OPENS NEXT WEEK:
OF THEE ISING
and
LA RONDE
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