4
Ar ts
Wednesday, May 12, 1982
Page 8
The Michigan Daily
Records
The Fun Boy Three -
'The Fun Boy Three'
(Chrysalis)
If the dissolution of The Specials left
Lynval Golding, Terry Hall, and
Neville Staples stranded high and dry,
then The Fun Boy Three is their post-
card from an exotic, but not at all un-
friendly, outpost.
In fact, they seem to be making do
just- fine with what little they've got;
except for the (very) occasional piano,
guitar, or horn interruption, this record
is composed strictly of rhythm and
vocals, the former augmented by buz-
zing phones and a cricket section, the
latter accented by heavy dipping into
Tarzan-and-Jane Africana, Gregorian
chants, doo-wop shtick, and big band
crooning.
Of course, life isn't all fun and games,
even for our island partyers; The Fun
Boy Three feel obliged to continue
reminding us of the generally shitty
state of the world. But "The Lunatics
Have Taken Over the Asylum," and
others of its kind on this album, cap-
ture all the gloomy impact of The
Specials' coda, "Ghost Tow," without a
correspondingly bleak musical
aesthetic.
Yes, the Fun Boy Three seem to be
enjoying a quite bizarre but inviting
vacation. The Fun Boy Three is the next
best thing to being there.
--Mark Dighton
Richard Lynch gets the credit for playing the part of Cromwell of Aragon, an
evil leader who wishes to take over the world.
'Sword:' A tired look
at an obvious plot
I
By Richard Campbell
S OMEWHERE OUT in Hollywood
lives a starving writer with a good
script. It's got well-thought out charac-
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ters and a simple plot that allows those
characters to grow, but the snappy
dialogue and intelligent scenario en-
sure the property's success.
Also in Hollywood, is a producer who
has a lot of money. He has just kicked
the starving writer out of his office
becauseheis negotiating for the making
of, in his eyes, a much better script.
What's more popular among the 14- to
22-year-old group than Dungeon's and
Dragons? thinks this producer. I'll
make a D&D movie.
Which brings us to The Sword and the
Sorcerer.
This film has an evil villain, a power-
ful demon, a damsel in distress, and a
smiling hero. No dragons, but lots of
dungeons. Not exactly what the star-
vingwriter would have in mind.
Instead of the possibility of
enlightening an audience, the producer
has opted to entertain one.
And failed.
The Sword and the Sorcerer blatantly
tries for the same happy-go-lucky spirit
that Raiders of the Lost Ark captured
last year. The hero of the film, Talon, is
energetically played by Lee Horsley
and to his credit he almost makes the
film bearable. Horsley has a strong
screen presence (translated: he can
smile good) but it is not strong enough
to make Sword work.
The film is a hodge-podge of other
films' gimmicks. The music and the
cocky hero are taken from Raiders, the
vivid colors and sweaty fight scenes are
from Heavy Metal, and the fictional
medieval settings look like the worst
from "Star Trek." Sword ends up with
See SWORD, Page 9
0
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