The Michigan Daily - Friday, June 17, 1988 - Page 9
Records

raham Parker
he Mona Lisa's Sister
RCA
It has been three long years since
Graham Parker put out Steady
Nerves, his best LP since the new-
wave glory days of 1979's Squeezing
Out Sparks. Unfortunately the three
year hiatus between LPs was enough
to kill any momentum t h e
"Godfather of Punk" built up and the
elease of The Mona Lisa's Sister
just about ensures that Parker will
remain a cult hero.
The album starts off with a good
innovative tune, "Don't Let It Break
You Down." Other strong songs
include "OK Hieronymus," the
album's hardest rocker, and "Get
Started. Start a Fire," a cool,
meditative song. The album's
tandout track is "Back in Time." A
umping drumbeat and lilting vocals
combine for a poignant song about a
stagnant life and stunted career:
"Then they will call your name/And
give you a mention/In the local boy
makes good section/But all the old
news/Is like print stains/Across your
mind/When you try to go back in
time."
But four strong songs do not
}ake an album. Weak efforts and
half-baked ideas comprise the rest of
The Mona Lisa's Sister. This is the
guy who once proclaimed "Saturday
Night is Dead" and "The Weekend's
Too Short." Now he only says "I
Don't Know." Much of the problem
with The Mona Lisa's Sister may lie
in the production. This is the first
album Parker has produced himself
(along with longtime guitarmate
rinsley Schwarz). The emphasis is
on sparse arrangements and lots of
acoustic guitar. The songs might
have taken better shape under a
different producer. As Leonard Malten
says, "AhhThe Mona Lisa's Sister,
I'd give it a two."
-Fred Leighton
U-Roy
usic Addict
AS Records
U-Roy's 1975 album Dread in a
Babylon, featured the top dj-rap
bronco riding the most difficult,
bucking, Rastafarian rhythms with
ease. U-Roy's latest LP, Music
Addict, proves his slippery dj-raps
are as vibrant as ever, even though
his musical accompaniment is so
damn artificial that you'd think
aturday Night Fever's Robert
tigwood was making a stab at
producing polyester polyrhythms.
Actually, the LP is produced by
the creative dub-master, Prince
Jazzbo. But where are the
instruments?! Swear to god, the only
thing backing U-Roy's butt-
bouncing raps is a robotically stiff
synthesizer. When listening to this
album, I felt like Prince Jazzbo
jsprayed a whole can of rigid, sticky
hairspray on the once free-flowing,
Dreadlocked rhythms of Dread in a
Babylon.

that he could rap his way through degree angles situated every half mile Case of Frank Cash and the Morning
your Econ 401 textbook and make - long and arduous but exciting and Paper."
even it sound sensational. But here mysterious because you never know And this brilliance is brought
again is the problem. Much of Music what's around the bend. In order to into sharp relief by the album's
Addict's lyrics are just as dry, see what's bending Grow and at stripped-down sound, a unique
boring, and unemotional as your what angles and in order to zero in on synthesis of Burnett's raucous C&W
Econ text. Except for the Rasta- the high concept, you have to listen choruses and Beatles-like tunes with
righteous "Jah, Jah Call You," the to the pulsating beat that carries and the futuristic art-rock treatments of
album fails to deal with anything of varies with each curve of intrigue. Peter Gabriel associates David
substance. What will be found is original tunes Rhodes (guitar) and Tony Levin
However, diehard U-Roy fans may with the "umpf!" and energy of - (bass). The result is coolly intriguing
still want to pick up this album. It "boom boom!" - one eloquent breed of pop animal
reveals his talents still firmly intact, - Veronica Woolridge indeed.
although they are not fully utilized. -Michael Fischer
Let's just hope on his next LP U- T-Bone Burnett
Roy utilizes some Dread-serious
lyrics and a band that can challenge The Rkge Anm ThehAmen
him with some crucial-bounce Rasta CBS Records Something AboutiYouS(45r
ridm. -od hakr TheTakn Animal is a Soma Records
-ToddShaer strangely appropriate title for this This single is labelled 'Soma 2,'
new offering from obscure yet which seems to be a subsidiary of
Martin Kierszenbaum acclaimed songwriter/producer T- UK label Moshka, which in turn is
GROW Bone Burnett. Like some kind of a distributed in the UK by The Cartel.
literate beast, the album is a In the US the Shamen are on
Sorry I'm Late, paradoxical composite of the Communion Records, who are
Sweet Marie, thoughtful and the banal, a distributed by Fundamental Music,
Mi Amor; let's progressive approach to the primitive who also distribute The Cartel
Go To Bed and don't forget to whack of bar-room rock. Although domestically. And you wonder why
Get It On Right, you know Burnett's wry, insightful lyrics are records cost so much.
Johnny's Alone and among the most intelligent in pop, The Shamen recently compiled
Sometimes Malt is the LP's very title comes from the their previous singles on t h e
Mean To Me, so I play text of "The Killer Moon" - a song domestic LP Drop; which includes
My Guitar and written by Burnett's own nine-year- "Something About You," a happy
Rock 'N' Roll becomes a old daughter! slice of British (in this case Scottish)
SPart Of Me as I release Although helped out as well by psych-pop that's perfect for a 45
My Feelings Inside and wonder stars such as Bono of U2 (who release. The essential track then is
Why Are You Dancing? while contributes lyrics and searing backup the B-side, "Do What You Will."
My Lover and I wails to "Purple Heart," a tragically The song features an addictive
sGROW n haunting ballad) it's Burnett's own acoustic riff, gooey background
These songs - "Sorry I'm Late," songs that deal out one classic line vocals, and just the right amount of a
"Sweet Marie," etc. - are a after another - from the election- middle eastern sound. Find it now -
simplistic inconsistent whine, but time commentary of "The Wild it might be awhile before the
Parker the instrumental skullduggery of Truth" ("I get the feeling that as soon Shamen release their own version of
borrows from DaVinci vocals, guitars, keyboards, basses, as something appears in the paper it Relics.
drum pads, programming, ceases to be true") to the Twilight -Brian Jarvinen
percussion, and harmonica is Zone-like narrative of "The Strange
Problem number two: Music intriguingly perplexing as local
Addict 's lyrics don't contain enough recording artist Martin Kierszenbaum
of U-Roy's social vision and improvises and toys with various W AI'I IK 1
crystalline Rastafarian ethics, mediums of pop, new wave, soul, V / ~ ejl\A
Anyone who has ever heard U-Roy funk, and folk to produce his own
pistol-whip a rhythm, or ride a album. Listening to Grow is like
glorious melodic arc, will tell you climbing up a mountainside with 90-

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