Shuman
Mort Shuman. Mort Shuman.
Philips (PHS 700-005). Brooklyn-born
songwriter Mort Shuman has written
for singers like Dion and the Belmonts,
Elvis Pres.ley, Manfred Mann and Janis
Joplin. He is now in France and
writing marvelous songs.
Shuman's style is similar to Jacques
Brel's-cynical. He has re-recorded Tiis
album into English, but it loses
nothing in the translation. The song's
lyrics are just as cutting and sobering.
"Mister Lee" is about Robert E.
Lee and his love for the South before
he's defeated and left floating face up
in a swamp. "Brooklyn by the Sea"
looks back at Shuman's Jewish
Heritage. The destruction of Europe
by World War ll's bombing and
fighting is examined in 'The Western
Shore." "It Can Happen " and "Black
Beaudelaire" are equally good.
Larry Goober
Made in Japan, Deep Purple,
Wa rner Brothers; and Bill Withers Live
at Carnegie Hall, Bill Withers, Sussex.
The overwhelming number of
"live" and in concert albums in recent
months has, for the most part, been a
great disappointment.
Most of them are unfortunately
badly-reproduced and lack polish. Nor
do they make up for this lack in
spontaneity, which is the whole idea
behind the "live concept." Instead,
they come across as shoddy efforts at
production, with little or no
i
Simple,
straight-forward,
classic -out of step
with today's
throwaway culture.
Refillable cartridge,
ballpoint or fiber tip
marker in basic tan
or navy blue.
$1.98: not bad for a pen
you may use the
rest of your life.
$1.98
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songs of cynicism
interest-Greatest Hits albums without
shine.
A case in point is Deep Purple's
latest, Made in Japan. A tinny
unimpressive work, it occupies four
dismal sides with longish lukewarm
renditions of old, gold
favorites-everything from Highway
Star" to "Smoke on the Water."
Nor is their concert deportment
exciting. They plod their way through
the concert with minimal interest. It's
difficult to see how the audience
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
stayed awake at the concert-and they
saw it "live".
On the other end of the "in
concert" spectrum, however is Bill
Withers' In Concert at Carnegie Hall. A
truly interesting album which
combines patter with platters, and
manages to keep them in good order.
The recording quality is good, as is
Withers' performance.
The most interesting part of the
album is Withers' interaction with the
audience, as he leads in to numbers
which draw enthusiastic, appreciative
response. His transition between
numbers like "Use Me" and
"Grandma's Hands" make the
two-record set a vibrant, shockingly
good piece of work.
Jim Gray
The Art of Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Atlantic Years. Rahsaan Roland
Kirk. Atlantic (SD 2-303). The best
way to describe Rahsaan Roland Kirk'
is a quote from the album jacket of
this two-record set. "Rahsaan Roland
Kirk plays tenor sax, stritch, manzello,
B Flat and E Flat clarinets, flute, balck
puzzle flute, black mystery pipes,
harmonium, piccolo, English horn,
flexafone, clavietta, whistle, bass
drum, thunder-sheet, sock cymbal,
bells, music box, palms, tympani, gong
and applies the use of bird sounds.
The man is confusing, impulsive,
irratic, but most of all, extremely
talented.
Kirk was one of jazz's first
avant-garde musicians, and neverreached
the acceptance that later jazzmen did.
But musically his influence on the
avant-garde jazz scene is extremely
important
The collection housed in the
Atlantic package consists of previously
released recordings by Kirk, but since
jazz musicians (contrary to pop
musicians) rarely have hit singles, it's
not a package of Greatest Hits.
To fully appreciate Kirk, one has to
see him perform with three sixes
stuffed into his bulging mouth, playing
all of them at once, because Kirk is a
theatrical showman as ''well as a jazz
musician. But if you can't see him, this
double album offers the next best
thing.. .seeing him with your ears.
LK
Pershing to host
The Guess Who
Canadian rock group, The Guess
Who, will appear in a Fillmore style
concert at Pershing Auditorium
Thursday, May 17 at 8 p.m. The
group includes Burton Cummings
on piano and vocals, Bill Wallace on
bass, Don McDougall on guitar,
Garry Peterson on drums and Kurt
Winter on guitar. The Guess Who's
latest album is Artificial Paradise.
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f riday, may 4, 1973
daily nebraskan
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