ARTS
Saturday, June 1, 1985
I
The Michigan Daily
Page 6
Records
Red 7 - Red 7 not really know and not really care.
(MCA) - Beth Fertigy,
If Camus were to write a new Alison Moyet - Alf
wave/rock album that was heavily in- (Columbia)
fluenced by Yes and Genesis, it would Moyet has been treated by various
sound something like the self-titled press and prole groupies as the Great
debut album by Red 7. Of course, the White Hope of female soul, a legend
great French writer had a con- founded by her short track record as
siderably better sense of poetry - he singer for Yaz, a British synthdance
would never title a song, "Let Me Use aingero z a Br thde
You." He would merely imply it. conglomeration of two or three yearn
Red 7 tries too hard and ends up bk.
being only superficially artsy. The s Vocally riding the crest of cooly
has eenproucedby ikeigirresistible dance tunes like Yazas one
album has been produced by Mike big hit, "Situation," Moyet was
Rutherford, which explains the clearly a real singer, one with
pseudo-Genesis feel. Their career has pera realuskndoneith
also been boosted by the mere fact perhaps more husk and conviction
"Hertbat"hasap-than the variable atppfn
that their songHeartbeat has ap- noodlings of her band could
peared on Miami Vice - opening the withstand. Yazoo died the usual death
doors to FM radio airplay. Then again, of one-Yr-two shots, but somehow talk
Don Knotts was on Fantasy Island of Moyet held up; she became a
last week,.fMythl u;sebcm
tel self-absorbed , Red 7's growing cult expectation, the hoped-
Comletly elfaborbd, ed sfor surrogate Aretha for new wave
lyrics are like screaming egos; the sifrnes
ramblings of a six-year-old who has ALF IS her debut LP and it's a
not yet learned the true meaning of moderately big deal - in Britain
another human being. These guys Moyet has been doing very well, and
might just as well be shouting, "give doubtlessly CBS hopes the same will
me my bottle." The problem is, they happen here. Hey, they've already
seem to think it's arty or cool to be scored with Sade's cocktail swoon, so
this simplistic; but it just comes out sco with Saes cktl wo o Red 7 prove on their self-titled de
totally vacant. "Relentless" sums why not with this? Well, why not. Alf here are the band members ina U2-
this up pretty well: Idare to look for disfgl renough for Peggy Fleming to grow in my hand.
passge n deeptve lght waningdo figure eights on its surface, beatytogwinmhad
passaee in deceptnouhght, i e to yield about a half-dozen As for Moyet, The Voice, well, she's
a soul to move my sex and eyes. potential dancefloor hits. silky and sulky in the right places,
And it's all right, all right. It's just that so little of it is par- sandpapery in others; but you can't
The little ego behind these songs ticularly interesting. The majority of really be great in a just-fair setting.
throws a tantrum by the end of the Alf is a polished-glass update of the Moyet winds up being just a shade or
album, singing in a rather clipped mid/late-'70s star-vehicle LP a la two more soulful than Boy George,
style, I can't think much anymore, Linda Ronstadt: a variety of im- whom she in fact resembles a great
Ican't talk much anymore, Ican't, maculate settings for a Personality, deal vocally - her alto husk is hardly
Ican't much anymore. the settings themselves largely more than a shadow's overlap away
Unfortunately, Red 7 is well-gear devoid of personality in deference, from Boy G's ironed-out girlish tenor.
There are some good bits here, like
for commercial success - or at least the closing chill-out "Where Hides But most of Alf is the sturdy stuff of
radio play. They sound so much like Sleep," and the motivating first cut complacency at its least intriguing. If
so many other successful groups that "Love Resurrection," despite the lat- Moyet is a major talent (and I'm not
they lack any originality. You'll ter's cloddish sex prose: a warm in- convinced), this is a debut most
probably hear them on your local
radio station one day and say, "who is jection is all Ineed to calm the pain definitely on the minor side.
this again, it's - no, it's not.. ." and . . . teach me to harvest, I want you - Dennis Harvey
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Minneapolis bandseeks
niche with eclectic sound
By John Logie
E VERY SO often a city in
America explodes musically. A
band or performer from the city
breaks into the bigtime, and others
ride that act's coattails, sometimes
even surpassing it. Then the city
develops a reputation for good
music. This spurs the local arts, and
also affords them opportunities
that might not otherwise arise.
In New York and Los Angeles the
music business is so firmly rooted
that explosions of this type never oc-
cur, but in other places musical ex-
plosions actually change the face of
the city involved. The Motown sound
was a part of Detroit, and the city
still mourns the loss of the record
company. The sound of Philadelphia
soul' had the nation's focus at one
point. Recently ears turned to
Athens, Georgia which has produced
R.E.M. among others. While Athens
is by no means through providing
the free world with excellent new
bands, it has competition from the
north.
Minneapolis, Minnesota, is now
the music capital of the Golden Gop-
her state. Minneapolis natives
currently making excellent music
include Prince and the Revolution,
Morris Day, The Replacements, and
Husker Du.
While it may seem odd to recom-
mend a band on the basis of its:
geographical location, I will do so
for Ground Zero, who play at the
Blind Pig Monday night. Seeing a
band because you like other bands
from the region is often a successful
gamble. Most of the crowd at the
Guadalcanal Diary show was there
because they thought the band was
from Athens (actually they're from
Marietta). That crowd got a great
show, albeit a show different from
what they probably expected.
But geography isn't the only thing
Ground Zero has to recommend
them, they've also got Bob Mould.
Bob is a member of Husker Du, and
he likes Ground Zero so much that
he produces their records. Mould
has named Ground Zero his favorite
Minneapolis band, and from a man
who has produced such terrific
music this is quite a compliment.
Ground Zero features a three-man
line-up, with Taras Ostroushko on
guitar, assisted by Jamie Ronni and
Dave Evanhouse. Their music
mixes jazz, folk, country-western
and punk, often drawing com-
parisons to the Meatpuppets and the
Minutemen musically. Lyrically the
band is said to have a childlike in-
nocence, evidenced by their cover of
the "Peanuts" theme. They have
also been compared to Mad
magazine, and with songstitled like
"Borscht," "Porno Store Exit," and
"Burned Out Bob" it's easy to see
why.
This is Ground Zero's first major
tour, so if they break it, you can say
you knew them when .... The
opening act will start around 10
p.m.; cover will be $3 at the door.
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