The Michigan Daily-Saturday, May 8, 1982-Page 9 That's the way it is for Lou Grant LOS ANGELES (AP)- Ed Asner, who plays the gruff newspaper editor with the golden heart on TV's "Lou Grant," said Friday he bitterly regrets the series' cancellation but not his blunt political activism. "The ideal would have been for me to totally contain my life away from the show, my utterances away from the show," Asner said in a telephone inter- view from Denver, where he was atten- ding a film. festival. "Unfortunately, timing does not always permit silences when we wish them. "For that reason I greatly regret that my speaking out should have helped dampen the acceptance of the show ... but I wouldn't have changed a thing." CBS announced Thursday that "Lou Grant" won't be back next fall. The network at first simply deleted it from autumn. listings, then attributed the cancellation to poor ratings in the program's fifth season. Asner, 52, president of the Screen Ac- tors Guild, said Feb. 15 that he was supporting efforts to send medical aid to war-ravaged El Salvador through leftist guerrillas. "Lou Grant" was rated 21st nationally that week, but plunged to 56th the following week, followed by rankings of 58th, 53rd, 41st, 37th and 41st. The show also lost a sponsor, Kim- berly-Clark, after Asner announced his opposition to El Salvador's right-wing government supported by the U.S. government. "I'm a little angry, a little bitter," he said of the cancellation. "But by breaking my silence perhaps I en- couraged a few more people to break So lo theirs. It's time for the quiescent '70s to Tribi be over." Wald The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the Los could be Angeles Federation for Progress have because announced a protest Monday night over executive the cancellation at CBS Television City' said Thur in Hollywood. But CB They claim CBS dropped the Bud Gran program because of Asner's political d Gra views. do with th "We would have hoped that we would "It was never return to a time when an actor to make b Records AP Photo ng for now. Ed Asner, seated, played Lou Grant, the crusty but loveable city editor at the fictional Los Angeles une. Others in the critically acclaimed cast included second row, Mason Williams, Nancy Marchand, Robert en, and Linda Kelsey. Third row Darryl Anderson, Allen Williams, and Jack Bannon. threatened with not working of his political views," ACLU director Ramona Ripston sday. BS Entertainment president t said politics had nothing to e show's cancellation. the toughest decision we had because the show is a jewel in our craft," Grant told the newspaper Daily Variety on Thursday. ". . . The fact is, its audience level deteriorated badly in the last few months. Politics had nothing to do with it; the ratings were the problem." Asner, elected president of the Screen Actors Guild last year, has feuded publicly with actor Charlton Heston and other SAG conservatives over what Heston terms inappropriate politicization of the union. Asner conceded that ratings have dropped, but said that was due to lack of promotion, pre-emptions by other programming, positioning against "cliff-hanger" Monday night football games and specials, and a drift by viewers to cable television. Soft Cell -'Non-stop Erotic Cabaret' Depeche Mode 'Speak and Spell' (Sire) I always like some stuff on both of these albums, and sometimes I even like them in their entirely, but I'm not so sure I want to go out on a limb for either one of them. Especially after repeated listening, Depeche Mode seem too limited and Soft Cell too flawed to warrant unqualified seals of approval. The strange thing is to think back to when Soft Cell and Depeche Mode had similar sounds. "Memorabilia" for Soft Cell and "New Life" for Depechs Mode seemed to promise much more than either band would later deliver in these early bits of densely layered and am- bigiously charged pieces of dance- oriented electro-pop. Since then, their paths have diverged - Depeche Mode assuming the screw- all disco-pop danceability of The Human League and Soft Cell opting for the neo-baroque mood-mongering of. Orchestral Manoeuvres. Although there are undeniable moments of melodramatic passion and poetic grace on Soft Cell's Non-stop Erotic Cabaret, the majority of it seems soured by an attempt to excuse the throw-away technology of their medium with overly grand and overly obvious "statements." And in the end, the duo doth protest too much anyway, only proving in their attempt to be relevant that they are far more estranged from the human race than we ever would have guessed. It seems that the only way Soft Cell can approach humanity is with a smug cynicism that borders on out-and-out misanthropy. So, minus the notable ex- ceptions ("Tainted Love," "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye," and "Bedsitter") even the most impressively or- chestrated tunes may leave a bitter af- tertaste. That said, it's hard to say whether Depeche Mode's particular brand of tasteless fluff is an improvement or not. Certainly, like a fine sweet, its lack of substantive value doesn't really detract from its momentary pleasures, but too much of it in one sitting will undoub- tedly leave you . hungering for somethingmore. Unfortunately, they just seem to ladk the stomach to take their electronics as feverishly hard as bands like DAY. So in- stead, they get a tinny, bottomless sound that simply adds to the overall cartoonish quality of their music. But, then again, like the best Nancy strips, Depeche Mode are the most delightful at their most ridiculously inance. In the end, it all comes down to which you'd rather read - the funnies or a sleazy sex-scandal tabloid. Frankly, I'm partial to a bit of both, but I'm cer- tainly not going to go around telling everybody else about it. -Mark Dighton Spandu Ballet -'Diamond' (Chrysalis) As far as I'm concerned, you can sand side two of this disc flat and use it as a serving tray. But don't you dare. fool around with side one - it's about twenty minutes of the most actively powerful stuff around. It's hard to believe any! band silly (maybe even stupid) enough to produce pieces of pomp as freeze-dried an "In- nocence and Science" and "Missionary" could also be behind one- of the most impressive dance sounds of the day. Granted, they did seem to stumble onto the brashly brassy dance attack of "Chant No. 1" by accident, and have since held onto it with the conviction of drowning men. However, I find enough variation in the themes and enough personality in the hooks on side one to think that they might really be capable * of writing songs. And the big King- Crimson-meets-Brasil-'66 finish makes me think they might also have some of the necessary sense of humor about what they do. Then I turn over the record and get disproven on both counts. Oh well, half a great record in better than no great record at all. -M.D.