- .- I Blues at Rick's JIj Adiljan EaiU Gary Primach, blues harmonica player extraordinaire, plays at Rick's tonight. R T S Doors open at 9 p.m. Call 996-2747 for Wednesday more information. May 17,1995 You gotta ly Ted Watts 'aily Arts Writer Faith No More is that hard to de- cribe hard-edged band that stormed to the scene with the hit single "Epic" d followed up that success with the isturbingly good album "Angel Dust," r which they toured like the world was oming to an end. But after headlining te Phoenix Festival in the UK in July of 993, the band disappeared from the ublic eye until the release of the single Digging the Grave" from their new al- um "King For a Day, Fool for a Life- me" two months ago. Bassist Bill Gould recounted the lost Pe: "We tried writing songs with our ld guitar player (Jim Martin) for two or tree months, which didn't happen, so , ve got rid of our guitar player. We >oked for a new guitar player, which aok about four months, we found a gui- ir player (Trey Spruance), rehearsed vith him for about four months, re- orded a record with him, which took bout three and a half months, that guitar layer left the group and we waited for $ record to be manufactured and found nother guitar player (Dean Menta), have Faith which took another three months, so in total that's about a year and a half." That lengthy span of polyguitary co- incided with the creation of the new sounding "King For a Day...," an album rife with distinctly different sonics than No More the band's previous output. Gould de- nied that the new sound is really a new direction, however. "I think there's a lot of things about this group that weren't coming out on our other records, one thing being us as a live band... Hope- fully with "King For a Day..." you get a little more of what we really are like live put on the record." "We had a new producer (Andy Wallace) for the first time, that had a lot to do with the sound," added Gould. "And as far as writing goes, we definitely tried to keep it simple. Short, you know, two and a half minutes some of them. Just get to the point, not to be as flowery as on "Angel Dust." I think it was a good record, but when you play something for a long time, you know what you don't want to do." And Faith No More certainly knows about playing music for along time, hav- ing toured for longer than a year with vir- tually no rest in support of "Angel Dust." Their current touring plans are no differ- ent. "We're going to tour for at least a year. That's the minimum. I know we're booked up all the way through Christmas right now. Our next time off, for about a week, will be in August. We tour pretty constantly... We've realized that when we put out a record, this is what comes with it." Interimguitarist Trey Spruance (a.k.a. Scummy fromMr. Bungle)did not realize that such a grueling touring schedule ac- companied an album and he quit when he found out. However,Gould explained that there really is no choice of not touring for Faith No More. "We're the kind of band that basically has to tourbecause basically radio and the print media are so conserva- tive and we don't fit into any specific cat- egory.Wehave tomakeupforthat by tour- I Faith No More: A metal band unafraid of short hair. ing a lot." cently. A new guitarist, a new sound and Not that audiences mind. FNM has newly shorter haiion several band mem- an extremely good reputation as a live bers. band, due in large part to the crazed "Roddy's losing his hair so he keeps it voice and engaging stage presence of short," laughed a-newly close-cropped singer Mike Patton. Combined with the Gould. "I never had long hair as akid and considerable talent of Gould, I've always hated heavy metal and hard keyboardist Roddy Bottum and drum- rock music. Andit became ironic thatI was mer Mike Bordin, Faith No More has in a rock band and had long hair... But, to earned the respect and dollars of many in tell you the truth, after what we've gone the music listening public. But the band through with our guitar player, I don't want has gone through many changes re- to have anything to do withit." RECORDS aiaystarts off 102nd Ma Festival y Brian Wise piece lies in the orchestration, which was tery of prior sections. Oboe and trumpet aity Arts Writer too heavy-handed for the dynamic range principles added excellent solos to the In its familiar surroundings, the Met- and tessitura of Galway's flute. The vivid blend of color and contrast. opolitan Opera Orchestra follows a splashy percussion effects and trumpet Perhaps too much restraint was evi- imple rule: it is to be heard and not seen. fanfares would have been more suited to dent in Gershwin's "An American in course, it is only to be heard within perhaps a piano or brass concerto. Paris," yet it was adequately jazzy and context of an opera pit, which usually Galway returned after intermission not the least bit sloppy. Gershwin's ride eans being inconspicuously attendant along with principle flutist, Michael in a Parisian taxicab avoided any musical o the singers on-stage. Parloff, for Franz Doppler's "Andante potholes, and provided plenty of el- Yet under James Levine's tenure as and Rondo for Two Flutes and Orches- egance and joie de vivre for the festive irector, the orchestra has devoted al- tra, Op. 25." Galway transcribed this occasion. ost as much time to playing on the con- piece for orchestra himself, and the light, ert stage as in opera productions. In re- breezy A Major recalled the vocal style ent years, it has made its first recordings of Bellini's operatic duets. Both soloists gave a devoted reading, with much poise and purity of tone. Assuming his popular image as the Metropolitan jolly bearded Irishman, Galway returned Opera Orchestra to the stage with three crowd-pleasing . encores. "Londondarry Air," "Danny Hill Auditorium Boy" and "Flight of the Bumblebee" May 12, 1995 were provided along with some jovial chitchat with the audience. f symphonic works, taking on alife of its There was always a certain sense of wn as an independent performing en- understatement in the MET's playing emble. On its first cross-country tour of throughout the evening, which worked he United States, the MET Orchestra wonders in the "Firebird Suite" by topped at Hill Auditorium for two per- Stravinsky. The "Infernal Dance of King ances at the annual Ann Arbor May Kashchei" and the Finale were particu- estival. larly exuberant following the muted mys- Galway is a flautist supreme. The orchestra's genius as an accom- anist - or at least an equal collaborator was demonstrated by the skilled bal- nce and interaction with flutist James alway Friday night. Given the some- T i k Y u r r g a t hat unforgiving scoring of Lowell * Free Pregnancy Test iebermann's "Concerto for Flute and " Information about pregnanc K-mart f rchestra," in which the wind textures and options WASHTENA Cleary ften crowded the stage for the virtuosic . COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL college 4 flute writing, this was certainly an ccomplishment. Pregnancy Counseling Center s PACKARD The Concerto, composed for Galway Women Helping Women Ypsilanti in 1992, speaks in a highly romantic lan- (313) 434-3088 (24 hours) s___ school guage, both ebullient and agitated, lyric 295 8 (k 4 Y , ( k f s and serene. The main difficulty with this 2950 Packard, Ypsilanti, MI (1 Block East of Golfside) Thurston Moore Psychic Hears DGC Solo albums are generally the refuge of rich, bloated rock stars out to bleed the last dollar from their pathetically devoted fans. So it's a bit of a shock when "alter- native" artists like Deee-Lite's DJ Towa .Tei, the Breeders' Kim Deal and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore come out with solo efforts. Maybe Moore is trying to get a little extra change with this effort (as well as promote his group's headlining stint on Lollapalooza), but "Psychic Hearts" is a surprisingly down-to-earth, refresh-. ing collection of songs from a man who's been in the ihusic biz long enough to release some amazing albums like "Daydream Nation" and "Sister" as well as some less-than-stellar works like last year's "Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star." The parallels between "Jet Set" and "Psychic Hearts" are definately there. Both albums feautre a stripped-down approach typical of Sonic Youth's usual noisefests, and both albums focus on songs rather than sonic style. But "Psy- chic Hearts" succeeds where "Jet Set" failed, simply because the songs are stronger and more varied. They're still raw, but more (Moore?) effort seems to SEE REcoRs, PAGE 15 EYE EXAMS AND EYE GLASSES STUDENT D ISCOUNTS PbLO RALPH LAUREN GIORGIO ARMANI GUJESS* CALVIN KLEIN °9 e y e w e a r g - - , 32 Bl.' .cer *g