page 8
daily ncbraskan
tuesday, march 18, 1980
New Wave washes over shores of rock'n' roll
By Peg Schcldrick
Waves are usually associated with
coastal locales, but if a wave is powerful
enough, it may eventually sweep its way to
the Midwest. That is, if the wave in
question is New Wave.
New Wave music may be settling in as
successor to the moribund disco trend,
which doesn't look like it will be staying
alive much longer. At least, that is the
trend nationally. Locally, disco is still
popular, but New Wave has definitely
arrived and the first ripples are apparent.
New Wave describes music that shuns
the intricate, overdubbed melodies of a
group like Steely Dan for the simpler,
"powerhouse" sound of early '60s rock
n' roll, according to Rick Morris of the
Spec's (a local band that includes New
Wave tunes in its repertoire). But he
doesn't like trying to classify it.
"New Wave is just another word to me,"
he said. Morris sees it as an alternative to
commercial, top 40-type music.
Ron Jester of Applause Attractions,
which handles some New Wave acts, point
ed out that the New Wave label has been
applied to groups like the Cars as well as
to works like Linda Ronstadt's new album,
so classification obviously isn't easy. Also,
many groups are "not putting both feet in
it at this time around here." That is to say,
they are adding some New Wave material
to the act rather than making it the whole
act.
Not boogie fever
But some genuine New Wave bands have
sprung up locally, among them Small
Wonder, the Ou teats, the Jets, the Vio
lators, the Blue Ducks, Spec's, a.k.a., Black
Rose, and the Throbs. The names alone are
enough to indicate they have something
different in mind than boogie fever.
It isn't easy getting started as a New
Wave band in Lincoln.
"We have very few requests for New
Wave acts per se," said Bob Codr of CID
Productions. "There is definitely some
market out there, however, wnat people
really want is dance music," he said.
Jester, of Applause Atractions, said that
the trend is quite noticeable in the larger
metropolitan markets like Denver and
Phoenix and on the coasts, but it's less
obvious locally.
"It is still difficult for me to sell a New
Wave band around here. People are still a
little skeptical yet," he said.
He said it's easier to book a group like
Skuddur, an Omaha band that has a "cult
following," which has a definite audience
to bring with it.
"A lot of them (New Wave bands) are
basement bands at this point," said Doug
Fenton of the Lincoln Musicians Associa
tion. He -said that clubs tend to book
country swing bands, for example, because
they know they can "get the bucks."
Want dance music
"We haven't ever gotten paid to play
what we want to play," said Morris. He ex
plained that when booked for a dance, for
example, the people want familiar music to
move to. Consequently, the group has to
have plenty of familiar tunes in their
repertoire. New Wave is not where the
money is locally.
"It's really depressing sometimes," he
said.
The Drumstick and El Ranchito have
hosted some of the local New Wave bands.
The Drumstick had phased out its music
night but will be bringing it back,
according to spokesman Bob Rock, so the
club scene is not totally hopeless.
And there are other significant indica
tions of New Wave's arrival in Lincoln.
Local clothing stores are plugging the
"New Wave Look." New Wave nights are
being heard on the airwaves and even in
a local discotheque.
For those concerned with learning to
dance to the new sound, the Dance
Emporium is offering a course in "free
style" movement which, according to
Caryn Wood, will adapt to New Wave and
many other styles of music. The course
and its advertising are meant to broaden
the appeal of dancing.
She said that many people associate
dancing with disco, and "a lot of people,
if they hear the word disco, react violently."
The dance school would prefer people
"who don't feel they have to have a three
piece white suit."
Since dancing is an integral part of the
disco trend and it seems that the dance
teachers are trying to shift emphasis away
from disco, it seems reasonable to predict
that in the not-too-distant future the old
disco ball will sink slowly in the west once
and for all. Meanwhile, slowly but surely
the New Wave is seeping in. As Bob Codr
said, "Time will see where the whole situa
tion is going to."
. V
v
Photo by Mark Billingsley
These members of the New Wave group Black Rose are part of the surging
popularity of that musical style in the Midwest. From left they are: J.E. Van Home,
Yogi Clemmer , Sandra Morar and Kevin Hill.
'Guess Who9 music recalls images of car radio
By Michael Zangari
I can remember picking up a copy of Rolling Stone
magazine several years ago and reading a review of one of
my favorite groups. It was one of those toss-of-the;Coin re
views, the type where you're not sure if the reviewer likes
or dislikes the album. The review was of Guess Who and
the phrase that sticks in my mind is the comment that the
group provided "a good, (if somewhat dubious) view of
Canadian rock 'n' roll." To this day I still don't know
what it meant.
as
Anymore, Canadian rock n' roll is as homogenous as
American rock n roll. Listening to April Wine will con
vince you that our Canadian neighbors have picked up just
as many bad habits as we have. But the real crime does
not begin or end there.
It lies in a certain lack of passion that has been
developed as an art by groups like Foreigner and Styx, and
a host of imitators. While it goes without saying that a
band cannot get into a major studio any more unless it is
technically perfect, something has been sacrificed. Pro
duction is squeaky clean, lyrics are harmless and inane,
and rock V roll isn't fun anymore.
No passion, fun
If there is a real crime it lies there. Without passion or
fun, we are producing the elevator music well be hearing
in our forties. Rock and roll is better than Sominex.
I guess any summation or defense of the Guess Who
would have to begin there. As sloppy as they got in their
long tenure as Canada's premiere singles band, they never
lost their sense of fun or energy.
The Best Of The Guess Who, which features the best of
a whole host of Randy BachmanBurton Cummings top
flight singles, represents the early years. The sound has a
jazzy rhythm and blues base with wonderful vocals by
Cummings. Included are "American Woman," "Undone,"
"No Sugar Tonight," "No Time," and "These Eyes." The
album is full of fine music and good memories from a
time when the car radio was all there was.
Curiosity items
I'm concerned in this column, though, with the post
Bachman band, and this is where most of the interest lies.
The albums with Bachman have not aged very well, and
with the exception of "American Woman," they are most
ly curiosity items.
Bachman was replaced with two of the most rag-tag
guitarists ever to record. Kurt Winters and Don Mac
Dougal are terribly lazy guitarists who made up their lack s
of expertise with sheer bravado, trading leads -with Cum
ming's infectious piano solos and vocals. It provided the
band with a harder edge which maintained it throughout
the rest of the decade with another load of hits.
The following albums are in no special order. The band
was certainly prolific, if not altogether consistent. These
albums are all cut-outs now.
Share The Land is a patchy album which was Winter's
first with the band. Odd moments out, this album still
contained four minor hits. It includes the title track,
"Hang on to Your Life," a bizarre acid rocker that is con
vincing in its anti-drug abuse vein, and the two best
Winters songs, "Bus Rider," and "Hand me Down World."
Both of these songs are fairly rough-and-tumble as singles,
the former containing a expletive.
Strange but wonderful
Rockin' is another entirely strange album. It contains
two excessively strange but wonderful hits. "Broken
Hearted Bopper," is another hard-as-nails single with the
college message "summa cum laude is a big OK." The
other, "Your Nashville Sneakers" is a jazzy piano number
featuring Cummings ever present sense of humor and
smoky vocals. The rest of the album is particularly
schizoid.
So Long Bannatyme, Hello My Chevcray Home is pro
fa bably the best of these early experiments. It is more
unified, although it contains two longer jazzy rambles.
"Gray Day" and "Coin' a Little Crazy." It also contains
tight harmonies and some interesting synthesized guitar
on "Pain train." The singles off this album are "Rain
dance," and the brilliant melancholy ballad "Sour Suite."
Of the latter albums, 10 is particularly notable for it's
country influences. It is a tighter album than most, and
contains the anti-art rock song "Glamor Boy" which
features the memorable lyrics, "for $100,000 you can
look like your sister tonight, for $100,000, 1 think it'll
work out right ..."
Gritty album
Artificial Paradise is also noteworthy for its lack of
Cummings compositions. It is much more gritty than the
others, and really is very good. TTie Cummings songs
which do appear are top-notch. TTie- package gets five
stars. The album comes in an envelope make to look like
a Reader's Digest contest, and is fun to read.
The rest of the catalog is definitely taste material. If
you like the rest, you might like these, too. Dominic
Troiano, (formerlly with the James Gang) fills in for Kurt
Winter on Flavors, providing fine guitar once again for the
band. But it is not enough to save it. Their final album,
Music, is worthless.
Since Cummings has left the band, the members have
reformed with MacDougal as leader. I wouldn't hazard a
guess on what they sound like now.