Wednesday, december 9, 1981
page 12
daily nebraskan
Cars' latest release should 'shake up airwaves
By Pat Higgins
The Cars take a lot of styles and slap
them together, wliich is kind of like doing
a research paper. They aren't particularly
original but they have come up with The
Cars fourth straight hit album with Shake
It Up. It has no weak cuts and potentially
has as many hits as their first album. Better
The Cars ruling the airwaves than virtually
any of the competition, because they make
catchy, eccentric pop.
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Shake It Up takes a few chances as they
put on some of the rough edges of their
New Wave pals. This is highly commend
able, because The Cars could just crank out
formula stuff and rake in the cash. A case
can be made for The Cars as the American
Roxy Music in their sophisticated approach
to pop.
Greg Hawes on synthesizer is the star of
Shake It Up, as he is more prominently
heard here than ever before. Synthesizers
can be dull in the wrong hands, but Hawes
obtains a hypnotic sound.
The Cars are similar to the Los Angeles
Lakers in that they have no obvious weak
spots. It is rewarding to listen to each mus
ician and find something notcwothy.
Whoever did the handclaps, which are
becoming a Cars trademark, should be
given credit because they provide some of
the nicest hooks on the record. Ric
Ocasek wrote the tunes, which seem to be
chiefly concerned with interpersonal relat
ions between jaded adults, which is the
same vein that Lou Reed mines so well.
The phrasing of Ocasek is similar to
David Byrne of the Talking Heads at
times.
livery song is impressive, but among the
highlights arc "Maybe Baby," whose
chorus bears a weird similarity to "Viva
Las Vegas".
"Since You've Gone" opens the album
and has hit potential all over it, which sets
the tone for the rest of the show. There
are some really nice Beatle harmonies on
the ballads such as "I'm not the One," wh
ich is a pleasant touch.
Title cut "Shake It Up" is a good select
ion for the first single and it contains these
apropos lines:
"Dance all night
Do the move with a quirky jerk"
Another good album cover, too, for the
Cars. Shake It Up is their best album yet.
'Annie Hall' on tap this weekend
KZUM radio presents "Annie Hall,"
a nervous romance starring Woody Allen
and Diane Keaton, Friday and Saturday
at 3 pjn. . 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Sheldon
Film Theater. Admission will be $3.00
for general admission and S2.00 for
KZUM members.
Annie Hall is an Academy Award
winning film concerning the relationship
between Alvy Singer, an insecure, rom
antic comic from New York and Annie
Hall, a neurotic, yet aspiring singer,
from Chippewa Falls, Wis.
Keaton won an Oscar for Best Act
ress for her role which, along with her
style of dress and "lah-dee-dah" attitude
toward life, helped establish her as a
cult figure.
In his most popular film, Allen
laughs at the fragility of relationships
while laughing at himself through his
own insecurities.
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Cover design courtesy of ElektraAsylum Records
Shake It Up, the new offering from The Cars.
'The Dinosaurs 9 lumber across pages of tribute
By Casey McCabe
Tlie Dinosaurs is a pictorial fantasy, an eye-catching
display in bookstores that serves as the perfect gift
suggestion for the imaginative would-be paleontologist
on your Christmas list .
The book is patterned similarly after past releases deal
ing with the wonderful worlds of gnomes, fairies and
dragons. As in these The Dinosaurs' graphic art work
makes it delightful. But it is different because dinosaurs
are a very real subject and the book takes its lead from
facts provided by scientific consultant Peter Dodson.
For every child who ever has a dinosaur fetish, the
booK is a veritable preliistoric wonderland. For more
scientific-minded people, artist William Stout and narrator
William Service thoughtfully fill in gaps that the study of
fossile remains is bound to leave.
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Stout's eye for painting a dramatic picture can be
traced back to his work as a production designer for
movie directors George Lucas and John Milius. His poster
artwork can be seen in such movies as More American
Graffiti, Wizards and Allegro Non Troppo.
But Stout's interest in dinosaurs is more than passing.
His illustrations of dinosaurs have been featured in Donald
Glut's Dinosaur Dictionary, The Dinosaur Scrapbook and
in a limited full-color portfolio. In the summer of 1981,
Stout was one of a handful of dinosaur artists featured in
a major exhibition at Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory.
William Servicers a contributor to, of all things, Sports
Illustrated. His third person, present-tense narration gives
an intimate look at the daily lives of the curious creatures:
how they deal with the elements, each other, mating and
bathroom habits and a dramatic look at life and death in
the age of reptiles.
Of course, both Service and Stout take several liberties
with the ever-changing scientific theories on the life of
dinosaurs. But it is a fascinating subject and they choose
not to leave it at the level of dusting off bones or digging
through tar pits.
The tone of the book is that of a tribute, with a
glossary of facts and pages of inspired speculation. A note
near the end says we should aid today's endangered
species, so they do not "go the way of the dinosaur."
This is a book for the person who dreams of a simpler
time, like the Mesozoic Era. Ray Bradbury likens it in his
introduction to a time machine - taking the reader "to
lands where you've always wanted to be: cheek by jowl
with the mighty samurai lizards, striding through a jungle
that goes on forever, or hang-gliding with live nightmare
kites in a Lost Hour that will never end."
'Reds' stays within limits of love story
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Artwork by William Stout courtesy of Bantam Books
Excellent artwork and interesting speculation high
light The Dinosaurs.
By Pat Higgins
Reds, Warren Beatty's new movie, is his most serious
and ambitious work. Beatty's past track record as pro
ducer and star includes Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo and
Heaven Can Wait, which proved that he can make enter
taining, commercial successes. A reported $33 million was
spent by Beatty in making Reds which is a rather large
gamble considering the political context of the times with
the nearly resurgent Right in power..
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Reds is based on the life of a couple of left-wing jour
nalists, John Reed and Louise Bryant. Reed wrote the
eyewitness history of the Russian Revolution, Ten Days
That Shook the World, and he was completely dedicated
to the cause.
Instead of being a political diatribe or an epic of Dr.
Zhivago proportions, Reds is basically a love story. Beatty
plays Reed and Diane Keaton is Louise Bryant. Of course,
they both look great and there is definite chemistry
between them.
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More dynamic than he normally is, Beatty is also boy
ishly charming as usual. The only anomaly is Beatty's
blow-dry hair, which appears somewhat out of place
among Russian peasants.
Keaton's Louise Bryant is at least a match for Beatty,
as she is an emancipated woman who wants to be taken
seriously for her work. She is also capable of being a tad
manipulative of Reed which leads to some intense fight
scenes.
Fabulous as usual is Jack Nicholson, as hard-drinking,
cynical playwright Eugene O'Neill, a close friend of Reed
who falls in love with Bryant. Also notably excellent is
Maureen Stapleton as radical agitator Emma Goldman.
Novelist Jerzy Kosinski is effective as a bull-headed
Soviet bureaucrat who is the perfect representative of the
ultimate failure of the revolution. In a rather interesting
move, about 20 of Reed and Bryant's contemporaries are
interviewed at various points, explaining what It was really
like back in Greenwich Village circa 1915.
Apparently it v .. the wildest time for Bohemians and
radicals until those fabulous '60s, as all these various intel
lectuals were an "in" crowd that discussed the impending
revolution.
Continued on Page 13