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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1976)
tzdnt&t.es 1'197 14 daily ncbrscksn : arts if fitertoIfifnnit . a ! Eai'jf KsSsras&an Fhoto Stephanie Nicks, vocalist ia the Ltest edltiaa f Flsstwccd Rise. :.- Activities include Shakespeare play Howell Theatre and Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery schedules for this week include: Sept. 1- A Midsummer Night's Dream, 8 pjn. Howell Theatre. Sept. 2-Bom Yesterday, 8 pjn., Howell Theatre. Sept. 3-A Midsummer Night's Dream, 8 p.m., Howell Theatre. Sept. 4-Loot, 2 pjn.; Born Yesterday, 8 p.m Howell Theatre. ,: Sept. 5-New Glory 1, colonial and revolutionary flag display, 2-5 pjn., Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. ... Sept. 8-Don Williams pastels, John- Spence photo graphs, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. Freshman general recital, 3:30 pjn., Kimball Recital Hall. Ssngla hte 'Rhfsnnon' hslpsd to reoacs Ff33iwcod Mzc from en obscure pr.Dt Cy Tkragzs R. Wc3 During the summer of 1975 an album simply titled Fleetwood Mac was released, h most markets, the album was virtually ignored, although it did receive air play on1 soma B! stations. Through extendve touring and intensive promotional work by Reprise, the group's label, the album began to sell by inidutumn. Then came the big break as Rhbnnon was released as a urgss. Rhicnnon steadily worked its way to the top of the charts and subsequently other singles from the album were released. Suddenly, Fleetwood Mac had gone from a virtually unknown band to one of the hottest rock acts in the United States. To many casual rock fans, Fleetwood Mac is a new band. Although the band has been in existence since the late 1960s, Fleetwood Mac, in its present form, could be called a new band. Since the band's conception in the '60s there have been no less than 11 members, although membersMp in the group has never exceeded 6 at any time. " Mac began as blues band When the Mac began, it was an English blues band led by Peter Green. Other members during this period included: Mick Fleetwood, percussion; John Mc Vie, bass; Jeremy Spencer, guitar; and Danny Kirwan, guitar. Although the band's main following was in Europe, it scored successes in the U.S. with two blues hitsthe classic Albatross and Black Magic Woman, which later became a huge hit for the Latin rock group Santana. After a number of successful years, Peter Green left the group and Jeremy Spencer gave up his guitar to join the religious cult, The Children of God. These departures could have crippled most other bands permanently. Strangely, Heetwood Mac strengthened itself through the additions of former Chicken Shack vocalist Christine Perfect (who later married group bassist John McVie). Also joining the group was Robert Welch who came from a California rhythm and blues background. With these new arrivals the band shifted between their past English blues style and their current lyrical ballad sound. This new sound began an era in Fleetwood Mac's history when it produced some of its best music, lyrically and instrumentaly. This was because of Christine McVie's softer more appealing vocal style and Bob Welch's tasteful ' guitar style. ' . ' . hi addition, both new members brought to the group songwriting talents which speak for themselves. McVie and Welch have been the most visible and audibly pleasing members of the Mac since they joined the group. Although McVie is still with the group, Dob Welch parted from Fleetwood Mac in January, 1975, to pursue his own projects. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and vocalist Stephanie Nicks were incorporated into the group to fill the void left by Welch. Since Welch's departure he has' formed a group of his own known as Paris. It consists of former Jethro Tufl bassist Glenn Cornick and drummer Hunt Sales. Paris has released two albums. Christine McVie's solo album, The Legendary Christine Perfect Album, also has been released. This album has been available in Europe and was just released in the United States. - &2 Towne 20d2ParisCapitol ST-1 1560. The person who may have become a BobHTclch cult fan during his days with Fleetwood Mac may find his efforts on the new Paris album, Eg Towne 2061, rather bewildering. This is not an attempt to discounts or dishearten Welch fans but to caution them not to expect a reincarnation of the Fleetwood Mac led by Ccb Welch. Upon first listening, it seems Welch has opted to cast aside his Fleetwood Mac image sad try something that seems more challenging and certainly more agresssve. Subsequent listenings substantiate that first impression and impart a presence of Welch's past performances. This dual character can be emphasized by looking at two of the album's songs side by side. The title cut is dominated by Welch's guitar which sets the tempo and rhythm. This is not a typical Welch technique. Usually Vekh uses the guitar to set the mood of the scenario. Ia Dig Towne, as well as in several other instances on the album, he allows the vocals to take center stage complemented by the blended Welch-Sales background vocals. - . Sang carries Mac's tiestiry By contrast, Slave Trader is the song on the album that most obviously takes on a Fleetwood Mac identity. It opens with a guitar performance produced in such a way as to create a live effect. The guitar technique here and the well-conceived background overdubs with Welch and Sales set the stage for Welch's lead vocal style. Here the song holds together due to the cohesiveness of different elements Welch's vocals and guitar playing, Sale's drumming and background singing along with moody, maudlin synthesizer interludes provided by Glenn Cornick. back trades The song seems to carry a soulful, mock Motown sound that might be best suited to Welch's overall style, hi the end, Slave Trader comes up with a sound very much akin to the Fleetwood Mac classic, Hypnotized. Other good songs featured here are Outlaw Game, Janey and the most commercial and best produced cut, Heart of Stone. Some of the production techniques are poor. Bob Hughes, who produced this album, as well as. Mac's Heroes Are Hard to find, allows the vocals to become muddled in several instances. It does lend a live" feel to some of the music, but it does so at the cost of destroying some of the lyrical content. Then again, this production ploy may have been used to cover up some of the weaknesses in Welch's writing. Clearly, the songs contained in Big Towne 2061 are not among the best penned by Welch. ' Album achieves raedbcrcry Taken as a whole, this album achieves mediocrity. Still, there are some exciting moments and several bright spots. Welch's talent remains intact. Sales provides the group with a fine percussion base. Glenn Cornick surprises everyone with his well-performed, simple synthesizer melodies. Simplicity may be the best way to summarize Welch's talents-and extremely tasteful. And the musicians in this group provide him with compatible company. This is not the Paris album likely to cause a stir in the record world. , It might, however, be important to remember that Rome wasn't built in a day. f fTOCOfT CI pjo buy m m m By Gary Jcffers Ve all spend a great deal of time in our lives surround ed by music. the musk we hear conies in many forms, but the greatest percentage of music we, as individuals, own is in the form of records. Ths system of reproducing music on disss or LPs has" gsneraUy become accepted as the feast expensive and most convenient y to enjoy music. . . . " Ths dhs six) is the fastest way to reproduce hi-fii dlty. In diss isanufactunng, ths frequency rerponss cf the dix is dependent upon mechanical factors such as how ths grooves are cut ia the master. Taps manufacture is mors dpsndsct upon electrical factors, such as the responss cf ths Reorder. Speed ia re production comrcrnis sound quality. :ber cf sldenhly. Pecrls are fcuyfcg an c" records and it looks as though ths trend wll cont . y ?--,gB&wjgj8b ...... . ' Improvements ia sound reduction eqazaszt bars made muds mors zcczzzZh to ersryons. . Decrj;? cf increased dnnd, ths record industry hss fccca hit with shcrt:s. - . . Ths vinyl ud to mcuficture records is a petrel rn dcrrnths. V.hcn ths rps shcrts hit ths sutencs industry it sla hit record csnufceturers. At ths 3 f rsylfs (Tom-view SylnY pump, the shortage took the form of increased prices, but prices in the record industry have remained relatively stabls the past few years. It appears that rather than raise prices, the record industry decided it was more fea- to reduce ths quality of the manufactured disc. SIDI Discs of ten years ago are noticeably heavier, thicker and more rigid than today's discs. Consequently, they were much mom durable. Resides making thinner, lighter and more pliable discs, the industry also has cut down on the quality of the vinyl used. - Recycled vinyl has become commonplace in popdar records. Recycling vinyl seerhs like a good idea on peper but it presents seme problems to the record buyer. When .msltirg ths vinyl down an add is added to enable it to Cct fcesly. It is this acid tht is left ia "the recycled record grccve rpon prsccirg. . There are abo other problems encountered when pur chr records thess dsys. Eecsuss of the records' ds- excaxd thicsnsss, they are mors ssnstivs to temperature and they warp czzzu This is why many records corns . . jiothprcbkniith today's records isthztregtrdles cf how wdl yea Uhs cars of them they simply wear out firtcT. I'i audlrhiles put a new record on tepe immed iately after purchase. After as little as one play the hih frequency response of the disc is greatly reduced. Once again this can be attributed to poor quality vinyl. Poor recording in the studio is an insult-to-injury pro blem that plagues the listener. The sad thing is that there is nothing to prevent an incompetent from taking ths controls of a recording studio and turning out a poor re cording. Results of bad recording are hisses and hums. Lzi editing can ruin otherwise good material. The best way a listener can protect himself from poor quality discs now on the market is to take a record bck immediately if it shows obvious defects. Apparently, peo ple have I; en content with poorer quality, otherwise ths industry could not afford to produce thara. RCA b went cfTcnis It should be noted that some companies are producing better discs than others. Among popular records, AIJ produces a consistently good dix tthils RCA is p?rhs ths worst offender. Eecauss discs wear faster than before, record main tenance has become incrcas.-y mors fcpertnt. Systrns such as Dscwaer and Sound Gcird ars rerly avtlhils ar.d ere proven effective zzzX (hit and x. zzi. It makes sense thst if ore rpends S5 to $7 ca a record, he should invest ia a record maintenar.es sysiea. A sys tem of record maintenance can make your records scd better and last longer.