page 12
daily nebraskan
friday, december 8, 1978
arts & entertainment
Queen's new album shows evidence of complacency
By Jeff Taebel
After the release of last year's disap
pointing News Of The World, critics and
fans alike wondered why a band as
talented as Queen would sink to such
musical depths. After all, "We Will Rock
You" was a far cry from "Bohemian
Rhapsody," any way you look at it.
The puzzling thing about News Of
The World was the fact that Queen's mus
icianship seemed to slide downhill at the
point when it should have been taking off,
especially after the success of A Night At
The Opera and A Day At The Races.
album review
Certainly lead singer Freddie Mercury
multi-layered vocal posturings are unique
among rock vocalists and guitarists Brian
May has only Boston's Tom Scholz as his
peer in the art of guitar overdubs.
One might surmise that News Of The
World was only a temporary snag in
Queen's development, however, their latest
release, entitled Jazz, suggests that this
might not be the case.
Rush job
Jazz, like News Of The World, sounds
like it was a rush job, containing some
strong material, supplemented with a lot of
filler. If the best songs from News Of The
World and Jazz were incorporated into one
album, the results might have been more
favorable. But why settle for one platinum
LP when you can stretch your material
into two?
First of all, one should not be misled by
the title Jazz. The album contains no music
that could be misconstrued as such by even
the most imaginative listener. Instead,
Jazz contains a strange combination of
songs ranging from overbearing hard-rock
to bland, AM-oriented pop.
Conflicting ideas
Perhaps this is because the four
members of the band have different
ideas as to what the band should be. Brian
May, bassist John Deacon and drummer
Roger Taylor seem to be making a play
for the Ted NugentFoghat audience with
their writing and playing. They are success
ful enough in their endeavors, except that
one might have expected a loftier set of
aspirations from musicians such as these.
Freddie Mercury, on the other hand,
seems hell-bent on establishing himself as
a vocalist to be reckoned with, without the
aid of overdubs. His writing suggests that
he wants to be recognized as a balladeer
of merit if it's the last thing he does. At
the rate he's going, it probably will be.
Runs out of steam
Jazz opens with "Mustapha," which
Mercury describes as "the first Moroccan
rock and roll song." The song is different,
if nothing else, and Mercury turns in a
powerful vocal performance. However, it
runs out of steam before it ever really
develops.
The side's second offering, May's "Fat
Bottomed Girls" represents Queen's con
cession to Aerosmitrfrrhentality and is cer
tainly not the kind of number one you
would expect from a group of "sophis
ticated" musicians.
Mercury's "Jealousy" sounds like a
Wings reject, as he apes McCartney's vocal
style, with limited success.
"Jealousy" is followed by "Bicycle
Race," which exhibits Mercury's singular
capacity for building an angelic vocal
chorus out of an incrediably simple
melodic line. The song is loosely contrived
around the all-female nude bicycle race
that Queen sponsored as a promotional
stunt for this album. A poster depicting the
proceedings is included in the jacket.
Almost saved
Side one is almost redeemed by John
Deacon's scorching rocker, "If You Can't
Beat Them." Never mind that it sounds a
lot like Boston because at this point it
doesn't seem to matter who's copying who.
Side two opens with another hard
rocker by May called "Dead On Time"
which profoundly claims that the world is
a rat race. This tune sounds like a logical
antecedent to Bachman-Turner Overdrive's
"Taking Care of Business," only without
any of BTO's tongue-in-cheek aplomb.
However, May redeems himself with
"Dreamer's Ball " the side's third offering.
"Dreamer's Ball" is a perfect easy-going
vehicle for Mercury's vocal extensions as
well as being a showcase for May's guitar
talents.
Disaster strikes
"Dreamer's Ball" is followed by Roger
Taylor's disastrous "Fun It." This tune is
about as close to disco as Queen is going
to get wtihout stepping into the realm of
satire.
The song is cliche-ridden, with police
whistles punctuating "Don't shun itFun
it!" chorus. Taylor's drumming on this
number is mediocre at best and is truly
indicative of his sluggish performance
throughout the album.
Continued on Page 13
I i . '(AMY V AT' ; Vty 1 I I
Photo by Christopher Hooper
Queen's new album, Jazz, remains at the same level of their News of the World release.
Professor suggests open mind for 'Sea Gull' audiences
By Kent Warneke
"It's his brilliant characterization and
the full development of even his lesser
characters that make Chekhov's plays per
fect," according to Rex McGraw, professor
and chairman of Theatre Arts at UNL.
Perfection is a word not used often
when talking in terms of the performing
arts, much less playwrights and their
works. McGraw says he thinks the master
ful Russian playwright was perfect.
Chekhov was born in 1867 and became
--a.toctor, but earned his living as a short
story 'writer for newspapers and by writing
vaudeville sketches, before writing his first
"perfect" play in 1896.
"The first performance of Chekov's The
Sea Gull was disastrous," McGraw said,
"but in 1898, the Moscow Arts Theatre,
probably the single most important theatre
in the 20th century, did a production of
The Sea GuU and they have become a sym
bol for that ever since."
Next Theatre offer
The Sea Gull is the University Theatre's
next mainstage offering running December
8, 9 and 12 through the 16th in the
Temple building. It is directed by McGraw.
McGraw says he believes, on the basis of
the four masterpieces that he created, The
Sea GuU, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and
The Cherry Orchard, that Chekhov is the
greatest playwright ever to put pen to
paper.
"Chekhov's plays show a complete,
total representation of human represen
tatives, not stereotyped in any way. Each
character has its strong and weak points
showing a tremendously wide range of
emotions even on one solitary page," Mc
Graw said. "It's definitely a challenge for
any actor or actress, but I think they like
it that way."
Undergraduate interest
McGraw said he became interested in
Chekhov's work as an undergraduate when
he took a course in modem drama and as
the course went on, he became more and
more engrossed with Chekhov.
Unlike many playwrights, Chekhov is
not overly-concerned with plots, McGraw
said.
"Taking the play, The Sea Gull, for an
example, it has ten different characters
which are so involved, that takes the
emphasis of the play," McGraw said.
"Things do happen concerning the plot,
but it's really not important and Chekhov
was the first playwright to do this."
And it has been only in the past 10 to
15 years that Chekhov's plays have come
across on he stage as they were intended
to when they were written.
Complexity terrifying
"His plays are so complex in everything
that it terrifies most directors to even at
tempt one of his works," McGraw said.
"Besides, a lot of misconceptions have
arisen about his works.
"When Chekhov first wrote his plays,
he intended them to have a subtle humor
in them, but traditionally that has come
across only as heavy drama," McGraw said.
"With the advent of new advancements
in the field of human "psychology, the
humorous side of Chekhov's plays has been
coming out recently," McGraw said.
"Chekhov wrote brilliant psychological
studies in his plays and it is just now that
people are really understanding his plays."
Subtle humor
But Chekhov's works are not the side
splitting humor that many people expect
when going to a play termed humorous,
McGraw explained.
"His plays are not popular fare or pure
entertainment; they're much more pro
found and a lot of damage has been done
to his works by English instructors who
don't fully understand his writings.
"If you're planning to attend a produc
tion of one of Chekhov's plays, you have
to do it willingly and with an open mind,
and then I'm sure youH enjoy it more than
you would expect."
'Messiah' to be broadcast live on Sunday
George Frederick Handel's Messiah, a
holiday tradition throughout the world,
will be performed this Sunday, Dec. 10 at
2:30 p.m. at Kimball Hall, 11th and R
streets.
entertainment
notes
The Dec. 10 performance marks the
first time the Messiah will be performed in
Kimball Hall. It also is the first Lincoln
performance of the Messiah to be televised
on ETV as a live broadcast.
This performance of Messiah will be
conducted by Harold Evans and performed
by University Singers and members of the
UNL Symphony Orchestra. Soloists for the
show will be soprano Lois Vaccariello,
mezzo-soprano Denise Hurley, tenor Carv
B J 1 i a
wiicnaeis, ana oantone scott Root.
The performance will be based on the
edition prepared by the Englishman
Watkins Shaw, in 1959, which attempts to
recreate the orchestral forces originally
used by Handel. The use of a smaller orch
estra and chorus will offer Lincoln audi
ences a unique look into Messiah as Handel
originally conceived it.
For tickets and more information con
tact the Kimball Hall Box Office in room
1 13, Westbrook Music Building or call 472
3375 Five groups of UNL student instrumen
talists will present a free public concert of
chamber music at 8 pjn. tonieht in
Kimball Recital Hall.
A string quartet, Dan Rains and Laurie
Scott, violins, Jonathan Brodie, viola and
Bruce McLean, cello, will open the'pro-
gram with Haydn's Quartet in D major.
Opus 20, No. 4.
A group named "The Eight-fifteen
Quintet" will present a Suite for Wind In
struments, Opus 57 by Lefebure. The
quintet is composed of Joy Werner, flute,
Amy Duerr, oboe, Karen Sandene,
bassoon, Roger Mastalir, clarinet, and Steve
Getty, French horn.
Dohnanyi's Trio, Opus 10 will be played
by Sandra McNally, violin, Teresa Beck,
viola, and Carol Warren, cello, and Lynn
Nesmith, piano, will perform the Shostak
ovich Trio.
The final number on the program will
be Rounds for Brass Quintet by McCabe,
featuring trumpeters Jeffrey Grass and
Jeffrey Patton with Larry Ahokas, french
horn, Loy Hetrick, trombone, and John
Thomason, tuba.