Wednesday, november 16, 1977
page 12
daily nebraskan
arts Bt ftti&
Motors' sound
In Foghat vein
ByJeffTaebel
Regardless of what you may have heard, The Motors
are not another revolutionary rock band from Detroit.
They are from London and have not yet revealed any
political affiliations.
The Motors consist of Nick Garvey and Bram
Tchaikovsky on guitars, Andy McMaster on bass and
Ricky daughter on drums, and vocals handled by all of
them. Garvey and McMaster originally played together in
Ducks Deluxe, a popular band on the London pub circuit
that had less than resounding success with its two albums.
music review
After the Ducks split up in the fall of 1975 they went
their separate ways, with Garvey forming a Chuck Berry
styled rock band and McMaster writing songs for a
publishing company. The two got back together early this
year along with Tchaikovsky and Slaughter to form The
Motors.
From the beginning, Garvey. and McMaster saw to it
that the group's repertoire would be devoted mostly to
basic "high energy" rock. Their self-titled debut album
shows they intend to stick to their plan.
Tight harmonies
The album is characterized by powerful rock songs
with hum-able melodies and tight harmonies. The band's
sound is in the vein of Foghat and Aerosmith, but The
Motors have it over these two bands, and others like them,
in a number of ways.
The Motors seem to be more concerned with the
strength of their songs than most hard rock groups. A
band often will base its tunes on a half-developed riff
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Photo courtesy of Doug Smith
The Motors debut LP shows the group is more concerned with the strength of its songs than most rockers.
which supports shouted and atonal vocals. All of this leads .
up to an obligatory extended solo which is supposed to
justify the song.
In the case of The Motors, however, the guitarists take
short, economical solos, but their purpose is more to
move the songs along rather than to save them.
Power chords
By far the most exciting tunes on the album are "Danc
ing the Night Away" and "Emergency." "Dancing the
Night Away" has a powerful beginning and a catchy in
strumental hook to keep the listener coming back to the
song, which eventually culminates in a frenzy of power
chords and fun.
"Emergency" is a minor key rocker which moves along
at a breakneck pace, complete with sound effects and a
strong chorus.
Other bright spots on the album include "Phoney
Heaven," "Brinb in the Morning Light" and "Freeze,"
which contains an outstanding guitar solo by Garvey.
There are a couple of throwaways on the album, how
ever. "Cold Love" is the lone slow number on the record
and The Motors do not seem to work well in this context.
"Whisky and Wine" also fails because of its vague struc
ture and repetitive melody.
Yet, despite its occasional flaws and rough edges, The
Motors' debut LP is a solid work from a band which
seems destined to make itself well knpwn to hard rock
enthusiasts.
Ancient game hack and forth on popularity chart
By Jim Williams
Things in the trendy game world have changed since a
year ago, when you could hardly walk through gift
shops without falling over $200 backgammon sets.
The best most stores can do this year is a few card
board and plastic Milton Bradley sets-fine for playing the
game but hardly chic-jammed on shelves in the toy
department, although Ardan has some presentable ones
for $15.95.
Backgammon probably can survive the current slump,
though. Games vaguely resembling it date back 5,000
years to the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer. Egyp
tian pharoahs, Indian wise men, Romans and knights
plaved similar board-and -dice games.
The word "backgammon" first appeared in 1645.
It may be derived from Welsh words meaning "small
battle" or Middle English ones meaning "back game"
meaning either that you can be forced to go back and
start over if you make a poor move, or simply that many
chess boards have the game's playfield on the back.
Backgammon's next improvement was American, in
the 1920s, when an unknown player invented the doub
ling cube used by gamblers to increase the stakes.
The ancient game had no widely-recognized rules,
though, untfl 1931, when the New York Racquet and
Tennis Club formed a committee to make them. These
rules, with a few changes, are those used today.
The game uses a board divided in half by the bar, with
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24 triangular points along the sides. Two players each
place 15 markers in a specified pattern on the points.
By rolling a pair of dice, a player moves his markers along
the points until all are across the bar in his home board.
Then he removes them from the board as fast as the dice
allow. The first player to bear off all his markers in this
way wins the game.
A player may not move his markers to a point occu
pied by two or more of his opponents. If the point is held
by only one marker, though, he may hit it. The opponent
must move the hit marker back to the bar and start over
with it.
Although the basic rules are fairly simple, backgammon
strategy is complicated because it involves a mixture of
skill in choosing the best move and luck in rolling the
dice.
"It's somewhat of a mathematical game," said UNL
backgammon enthusiast Alex Chauche. "But no matter
how good you are, you still have to rely on the dice to
win."
Chauche, who said he usually plays backgammon about
30 times a week, said an average game takes five to 20
minutes to play.
Tom Lee, a Love Hall resident and a frequent back
gammon opponent of Chauche, also said the game's
mixture of luck and skill is appealing.
"It's a mental challenge, trying to figure the best way
to play, he said. "It's also a good character-builder,
because you can play perfectly, get one bad roll, and
lose. Anything can happen."
Seniors' recitals .
Three UNL School of Music seniors, a pianist, trumpe
ter and violinist, will perform in free public recitals at
3:30 pjn. today.
Deborah Renee Dillon and Delanc Miller will perform
m the choral room of Westbrook Music bldg. Dillon will
Ray Picccs on thc Piano; "Sonata in F-sharp Major,
SS?u78n ty Beeth(vcn Mndine (from Preludes, book
II) by Debussy and "Ballade in A-flat Major, Opus 47"
by Chopm. Miller will play Paul Hindcmith's "Senate for
. T,mPct anJ Piano" on thc trumpet. Holly Ber
quist will be his piano accompanist.
CC pIay fivc work$ on the violin to a
concert in the Sheldon Art Gallery auditorium. Her seicc-
Uons include Sonata No. 6 in G, K. 301" by Mozart,
HMS ?,thSut Words (Arioso, Ballad, and Scphar
die Melody)" by Paul Bcn-IIaim, "Concerto in D Op.
No wvr H ,rah. delude. Op. 34,
fwL bwostak.vch and "Introduction and Hondo
Criccioso by Samt-Sacns. Kathy Knebcl will be her
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