Paoe 10 - The Michiaan Daily - Friday. June 8 1984

44

Simple Minds
matures into a
SIMPLE MINDS hougtub nh
\ "into what they are today in stringe
y Larry Dean territoriality. Lillywhite puts guitaris
Charles Burchill right up front in the
IMPLE THINGS are often the et mix, and lets him let it rip; the result is
- ns I LE ,TGar nsht, aameticulous web of acoustic and elec
" '- SIMPLE MINIDS koe nlfbta rnltr trio guitara wrapping up everything -
ME D West Coast wonder band opines on No Time
Like Now, their second LP, simple and when Burchill shows his chops
p things get so complicated. theres lots of teeth to be seen.
thigs w omld ate a d y But nobody gets the shaft here. All
Thia would be a good way of thmuiininSplMndbakr
describing Simple Minds, the Scottish the limelight Lillywhite casts for them
quintet making an appearance tonight te ntly ehing anc
CASSETTE at the Michigan Theatre. From austere Consistently enthralling and
beginnings on their first record, Life In Michael MacNeil populates the tunes or
A Day, to the full-fledged. aural ihe ain with dives 01
lushness of New Golden Dream (81-82- Sparkle , the Rai with a diversity of
83-8), ad ths yer's ariaion, noises, tones, riffs, and effects; like a
83-84), and this year's variation, great painter, he truly makes good use
Sparkle in the Rain, lead vocalist Jim a ter ha Dru mer Me
Kerr and crew have mutated and of all the colors at hand. Drummer Mel
AtM ptle+MtNOsoned, honed and rehoned their sound Gaynor enjoys the ritual Lillywhite
until it at last is theirs and theirs alone. boom, playing with fierceness and
Those familiar with music only via pin s w it erk o es, i-
the ever-chintzy car radio might know
Simple Minds from their summer 1983 cluding a nice fretless sound on ""C"
hit, "Promised You A Miracle., Moon Cry Like A Baby," some
FuedibythPpromiseouAtMrale."w ooobligatory funk riffing, and just general
Fuelled by the promise that radio was efotsspaig
going to be more receptive to new effortless ply about Sparkle in the
k ... "4 musiclkbandsusuchbas SSimple Minds
music, bands such as Simple Minds, Rain because this is the support tour for
Modern English, Culture Club, and that LP, which is natch, their most
crossover artists like Prince suddenly recent. While it's a continuation of the
found themselves on usually-stagnant work on New Gold Dream, it's a dif-
FM album-oriented-radio stations. The ferent kind of album, much more
h b d ferentnkindofalbumhmuchmore

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SIMPLE MINDS

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IN CONCERT TONIGHT
AT THE MICHIGAN THEATER 8 P.M.
Look for Special Coupon of the Showi

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airplay, no matter now Drier ano
restrictive, helped boost listenership
for our heroes.
After minor radiowave bliss, Prism
Productions and other faithful
promoters feel sure that Simple Minds
can fill the archaic architecture of the
Michigan with both glorious music and
avid fans; this preview is a noble call-
s*arms for the latter, since the former
Simple Minds have, as mentioned
above, developed a sound uniquely
beknownest. Vocalist Jim Kerr has a
big, throaty voice that he uses as if it
were another instrument in the band -
which it is: a combination of sup-
pressed angst and passion, it slithers
through the songs, punctuating them
with emotional umphs and occasional
instances of romantic, libidinous
croonery, like a rarefied Bryan Ferry.
Musicianship has come to full-bloom
on Sparkle in the Rain. The greatest
noticeable difference is the focus on
guitars, due, in part, to the enlistment
of axemaster Steve Lillywhite as
producer, famous for developing U2,
Big Country, XTC, and Peter Gabriel

mature than anything they've done
previously, and packed with wonderful
songs - "Up On the Catwalk," "Book
of Brilliant Things," "White Hot Day,"
and "The Kick Inside of Me" being
some of the best. Plus there is a nifty
cover of Lou Reed's "Street Hassle."
It's been a slow, steady climb since
Life In A Day (which the bandmembers
dismiss as a "rushed" LP), but Simple
Minds have found a direction and it
sounds - blow those trumpets, it's un-
derstatement time - good. They play
consistently sagacious and engrossing
music with a groove, and their show
tonight should rock the rafters.
Opening will be continental-pals
China Crisis, from Liverpool, England,
who profess an urgent need to be
gregarious. The pair-up seems obvious,
but I'm putting my money on the
headliners, and closing with this bit of
spirited advice: come prepared to let
tongues droop and bodies "gyrate!
Shake off the ghosts beforehand, or just
sit back and let Simple Minds do it. Af-
ter all, they promised you a...
Curtain elevates at8 p.m.

Q ¢S

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Clever devils pull it
off with scary humor "

(Continued fromPage8(
Fu"; Phoebe Cates, who made a splash
in Fast Times At Ridgemont High, ap-
pears as Kate, Billy's aspirant
girlfriend; and Mr. and Mrs. Futter-
man - the obliquely hyper-American
neighbors - are played by Dick Miller
and Jackie Joseph, respectively.
Joseph played the human heroine,
Audrey, in Corman's Kitsch classic Lit-
tle Shop of Horrors, and Miller has ap-
peared in a number of films (many of
them Dante's) since his initial role as
Walter Paisley, the psychotic beatnik

sculptor in Corman's Bucket of Blood,
another tragicomic exploitation
classic.
Gremlins is being hyped as a block-
buster, and most likely, that will be
true. It has all the ingredients to make
this another double-whammy summer
for Spielberg with this and the new In-
diana Jones film. But the most impor-
tant thing is that Gremlins stands on its
own, apart from Spielberg and
Organization, as a fun few hours of
escapist mayhem. For sheer
exhuberence, it can't be beat.