Arts
The Michigan Daily
Tuesday, July 21, 1981
Page 9
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono-'Season of Glass' (Gef-
fen)-What can you say about a record
like this? You can't exactly put it down
for being melancholy. It's really much
less of a musical record than it is a
memorial statement; besides the cover
(which bears the blood-smeared
glasses of her late husband), almost
every song refers to John Lennon at
least indirectly.
One thing you can say is that it's all
very sad. The first side is pretty much
straightforward singer-songwriter
stuff, almost folksy at times. To my
mind, though, the second side-with its
oddly disjointed-funk sound and strange
vocal quirks-is much more effective.
It is here that Yoko Ono seems to con-
nect much more genuinely with some
real anger, fear, sorrow, and confusion.
BUT I GUESS the whole thing is ef-
fective in so far as it will keep you
depressed about John Lennon's death
as long as it is playing. With lyrics
like
"Let me take my pants
off.. .
No, no, no,
Don't do it, Ican't do it.
I'm seeing broken glass when we
do it. "
it can hardly be anything but jarring.
All I can say is that I'm glad Yoko is
working this through now rather than
going into seclusion for years and then
going through this. We're at a point
where we can still identify with her
sorrow, where her pain is still
frighteningly real in our minds. But I
will continue to hope that someday she
is able to return to the inspired dance
frenzy of "Kiss Kiss Kiss" and
"Walking on Thin Ice."
-Mark Dighton
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk-Computer World' (War-
ner Brothers)-Okay, I might as well
admit right up front that I'm at least a
bit pissed at these guys. I mean, how
many times are they going to keep
doing this record over again?! This
release seems almost identical in con-
tent, tone, and instrumentation to its
recent predecessors-The Man-
machine, and Trans-Europe Express.
Sure, T-E Express was a
lyrics are still one step above moronic
(and that's being kind) and the music is
still almost ludicrously simple. (At
least, as simple as music this
technically complex can conceivably
be.)
But my advice to you is to just have
fun with it . . . I hope that Kraftwerk
won't find that sentiment contemptible.
I have a feeling that behind those cold,
automated facades there lies a warm
Holly and Italians
fill2 z
Holly and the Italians-'The Right to
be Italian' (Virgin-Epic)-Good taste
can really do you in sometimes. Holly
and the Italians are just that close to
making a tribute to the American
lifestyle as outrageously to the point as
Joan Jett's Bad Reputation, but they,
don't quite make it. They've got loads of
cute lines and punky hooks, but it all
seems confused by their desire to be a
little too polished in a mainstream sort
of way. The sound of Right to be Italian
is just tooooo serious and reserved for
the songs.
As a result of that post-punk produc-
tion dilemma, The Italians come off
sounding like Pat Benatar as often as
Teardrop Explodes, neither of which is
appropriate to their style. At their best,
they echo Generation X, but they still
can't seem to rid themselves of those
nasty heavy metal undercurrents. The
only unadulterated material on this
record is some real tasty updated girl
group paeans like "Just for Tonight,"
but these are sadly few and far bet-
ween.
'JUST YOUNG' is a good example of
just how torturously conflicted this
album can be. It starts off as a
relatively funky dance cut with a
rhythm that hooks into you im-
mediately. The vocals enter, mildly
(but not annoyingly) referring to
Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. But
by the time you reach the chorus only
moments later, the whole thing's
degenerated into heavy-metal Pat-
Benatar city. There are just enough
good moments along the way to keep
you from giving up hope, but not enough
to make you want to go through this
travailing experience again soon.
If Holy and her Italians had gone fur-
ther in either direction, this could have
been a much better album. It could
have been a very respectable album of
mainstream hook-laden rock and
roll . . . or it could have tossed caution
and decorum to the wind and done a
completely glorious send-
up/celebration of what it means to be
American. It's really sad that we'll
probably have to wait for Joan to come
along and do justice to lines like
"I wanna walk down my old
street,
I wanna go to 7-11,
a cola slurpee would taste real
neat."
Holly Vincent may wear a leather
jacket, but she better not let Joan Jett
catch her acting tough. Round Joan's
neighborhood they use lightweights like
Holly to mop up the table after break-
fast.
-Mark Dighton
ground-breaking effort, but now Kraf-
twerk seem to be hanging around to
make sure that all that ground they
broke is smashed into little bits. All of
the artists that were influenced by that
album have long since expanded on its
style-David Bowie, Giorgio Moroder,
the Silicon Teens, Yellow Magic Or-
chestra-everyone but Kraftwerk. It
seems to have become a formula for
them.
AND AS FAR as that goes, it's not a
bad formula. I guess no philosophical
qualms could keep this from being an
infectiously enjoyable record. They're
still obsessed with wimpy, cerebral
electronics that manage to be dan-
ceable without stooping to anything as
base and obvious as being "funky."
(Witness their new hit disco single off
this disc, "Pocket Calculator.") Their
Join
Ne BaiQ
5 News Staff.
diode somewhere that loves to see
people enjoy these silly techno-pop
curios.
Maybe we'll get some clues to their
reactions to our unnecessarily
emotional enjoyment of their music
when they appear at Nitro's (in
Detroit) this Saturday.
-Mark Dighton
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