Styx fresh, eager; lady' one
of all-time great rock anthems
As FM programming becomes more and more
commercially oriented, I find myself turning to
the AM airwaves often, in search of that
infuriating but honest crassness that is the
hallmark of a hard-core Top 40 station.
When fitted out with genuinely obnoxious
disc jockeys and insinuating theme jingles that
install the stations' call letters in the pantheon of
broadcasting, the Top 40 station can become the
object of a real love-hate relationship that will'
keep the listener hooked far longer than is
healthy.
dovid wore
The real hooker, of course, is the music. You
can cringe from the lyrics and say many rude
things concerning the recycled chord
progressions, but many of the songs are short and
catchy despite their hackneyed natures, which is
exactly what they were designed to be.
Utter commerciality has its perks, and one of
these is that if executed properly, it does not
hold the faintest trace of boredom during its
allotted three minutes. The auditor is free, even
encouraged, to be properly disgusted by what he
has just heard, but for the moment, he is held in
a sort of hypnotic thrall by the bopping,
choogling beat coming out of the tinny speaker
of the transistor radio.
No escape
We can't escape AM radio; we may as well
acclimatize ourselves to it. Which, by remarkable
coincidence, brings me to a listing of a few of the
more palatable singles releases currently getting
more than their fair share of airplay.
My favorite out of the current crowd is an
impressive straight rocker from a group called
Styx. Entitled "Lady," the song starts out with a
vaguely disquieting pastoral intro, serving as an
odd setting for the first line, "Lady, when you
whip me I'm smiling. . .". With such a killer first
line, one is alerted that this peaceful meandering
will not last for long, and by George, it doesn't.
The song shifts gears and is metamorphosed into
one of the great rock anthems of all time.
Sounding at times like the Hollies,' Grand Funk,
The Who, Uriah Heep. and the Dave Clark Five.
Styx nevertheless manages to sound fresh, eager
and out to make a lot of money off this
record-which I hope they do.
Coming in close for a solid second place is one
of the most underrated female vocalists around
today, Linda Ronstadt, who has managed with
"You're No Good" to score the big commercial
success that has eluded her since her days with
the Stone Poneys. Deserting her first love,
country music, for a more blues-based form, she
proves herself to be as biting a critic of men as
Carly Simon, which is saying a lot in my book.
Brave Scots
My third choice is "Pick Up the Pieces," from
the amazing Average White Band. Why anyone
would even give a cursory listen to pseudo-funky
bogus soul groups like the Ohio Players when
there are acts like these brave bcots to be heard is
beyond me, but there's no accounting for some
people's tastes. "Pick Up the Pieces" is a nice,
tightly-constructed systhesis of brassy soul styles
that is not only musically competent, but also
has an authentic soul ring to it that is missing
from much of the current black "soul" records.
After these three, I have no real favorites, save
possibly Grand Funk's latest essay in exposed
cheek, "Some Kind of Wonderful." I cannot
explain my momentary lapse from sanity except
to lamely offer the excuse that I have been
known to listen to the Guess Who, which must
have affected me in some way.
As I finish this column, a local radio station
which shall remain nameless out of decency on
my part is playing Frankie Valli's latest formula
schlock. With that bleak vista facing me, I'm
going out to buy a record.
Poet's
residency
begins
today
American poet, Galway Kinnell will visit the UNL English
Department today through Friday and read his poetry Thursday,
according to Mordecai Marcus, associate professor of English. ;
In addition to the poetry reading at 3:30 p.m. in Andrews Hall
229, Kinnell will visit classes, work individually with students and
meet with the department's faculty.
Kinnell, who holds degrees from Princeton University and the
University of Rochester, has taught in Europe and Iran.
Marcus said Kinnell writes in the Walt Whitman tradition-"he is
interested, in a spiritual sense, in man's relations to nature."
His published volumes of poetry include Book of Nightmares,
What a Kingdom It Was and Body Rags. His novel, Black Light, was
published in 1966.
Foreign film French thriller
The Union Foreign Film Series returns to
France this week with the showing of Ten Day's
Wonder, a movie thriller from one of France's
leading directors, Claude Chabrol.
Chabrol is recognized as a master ot the
The movie was made in 1971 and stars Orson
Welles (playing another of the sophisticated
villains roles that he patented during the '60s,
with Michel Piccoli and Anthony Perkins.
Showings are at 3, 7 and 9:15 Tuesday,
elegant murder mystery and Ten Day's Wonder is Wednesday and Thursday in the Sheldon Gallery
taken from a work of a novelist whose name Auditorium. Admission is by Foreign Film Series
should be well known in America-Elery Queen, ticket.
Support the
MARCH OF DIMES
THE HOWELL THEATRE
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
LINCOLN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE
by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
February 28, March 1 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Student Single Admission 2.50 Regular Single Admission 3.00
ALL SEATS RESERVED
CALL: 472-2073
OR WRITE: THE HOWELL THEATRE
12th & R STS.
monday, february 24, 1975
daily nebraskan
oj) oJ
i 5 -? y- v 'sr
BIG BOY
SPECIAL
French
Fries
and
Coke
IJ
It's the real thing.
BIG BOY
701 NORTH 27TH
OFFER EXPIRES MARCH 10, 1975
(0)
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Open 8-5. Monday -Saturday
we on MS o
1135 R
432-0111
Coke.
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