Wednesday, February 16, 1933
8
Daily Nebraskan
Arts t
Entertainment
?! a
CCflEin can melt
Kihnspiracy
Greg Kihn Band
Beserkley
The end of 1982 saw the popular music
scene begin to take on three distinct faces.
One of those faces was worn by the new
British influence of bands like ABC, the
Psychedelic Furs and Culture Club. The
middle image came in the form of the more
mainstream bands like Journey, Foreigner,
and REO Speedwagon. The other extreme
was presented by bands like Tom Petty
and the Heartbreakers, John Cougar and
The Zone and The Greg Kihn Band.
Kihn has done his part this year already
to pay homage to the basics of rock V roll
with his newest album Kihnspiracy.
VCvWn Vs. ifects Vt iKe "bat band" -
type music have one thing in common with
groups like ABC, et al. The common de
nominator is danceable music.
If one hears Kihn's single, Jeopardy,
from the new album and doesn't immedi
ately start tapping a toe to the heavy beat,
the listener is either paralyzed, deaf or six
months dead.
The San Francisco band puts together a
combination of tight guitar licks, promi
nent drums and keyboards to produce
tough, raw sound that makes people take
notice.
Don 't let go while I'm hangin'on
I been hangin'on so long
It's so hard to be all alone
I know you 're not that strong
Our love 's in jeopardy
This is no-nonsense rock V roll at its
very finest.
Songs like "Fascination," "Can't Love
Them All," and "Curious" are all evidence
that music from 20 years ago doesn't have
to be as light as that of Stray Cats to be
popular today.
Kihnspiracy is also proof that dance
music need not be recorded in multi-track
form to be upbeat and danceable. It also
proves that 14 different synthesizers aren't
-"a prerequisite to be "cool." Kihn puts to
gether two guitarists, one drum, one bass
and one set of keyboards and leaves it at
that. No short cuts, no complications, no
frills, just music.
On the second side of Kihnspiracy, Kihn
covers an old Eddie Cochran tune called "I
Fall To Pieces." If you listen to the song
with no other knowledge except that of
who's doing it, you would never know the
tune is more than 20 years old. It was writ
ten by Cochran and Patsy Cline made it a
hit. That has to say something for Kihn
and his style.
It should also say something for his abil
ity to take something that old and pull it
off without a hitch.
Kihnspiracy should mark the band's
movement from the shadows of the likes
of Petty, Springsteen and Cougar. It has no
noticeable weaknesses at the first couple
listens. The only problem could be with a
follow-up to "Jeopardy." No other song
on the album has quite the feeling of solid
ness to back it up.
Nevertheless, Kihnspiracy by the Greg
Kihn Band is one of the best albums of the
young year.
-Randy VVymore
Do not heed
ihe Call
Modem Romans
The Call
Polygram
Thank gosh I'm getting paid for this.
A complete critique of this album could
be accomplished in just one word and an
abbreviation: pretentious b.s. But that
would elicit a scowl and glare from my
esteemed editor, so 1 may as well go ahead
and explain why I would rather listen to a
Cristy Lane version of "Sister Morphine"
than this loathsome tripe.
If you've ever heard of the Cure or
Orchestral Manuevers in the Dark, you
might have some idea of this group's basic
approach. But I don't want to press that
comparison - to do so would, insult two
fine bands. Both the Cure and OMD afe
creative and likeable. The Call is neither.
Anyhow, the Call obviously has heard
of both. The Cure and OMD are respon
sible for some of the most euphoric sounds
of recent vintage - soaring vocals over
rhythmic, icy synthesizers. The Call's
rhythmic synthesizer rates a big OK. But to
call vocalist Michael Been's sermonizations
"singing" is like equating "charity" with
Ronald Reagan. Rather, Been (one name
you'll never be quizzed on) etches out his
lyrics with the same mindlessness you
might expect of a pig lolling in barnyard
mud. Phlegm on the sonic landscape.
Digest these lyrics, the Pepto-Bismol's
above the sink.
Faithful servants, counting the years.
Say lead 'em to heaven.
They've no home here.
Or ... '
Untamed passions of primal rage
Vie child of hatred comes of age
v . -JS
There are a few passable melodic ideas,
but anything even vaguely interesting gets
stretched into a five-minute magnum opus.
Maybe with the nine songs on this record, a
person might be able to synthesize one
good pop song - if only you didn't have to
listen to the singer. Rather than attempt to
carry a tune, he either talks the song along,
modulates the volume of his ravings, or, in
a particularly amusing breakdown, goes
into the kind of spastic yodels that have
put David Byrne's name on the tongue of
every mortal from sea to shining sea,
including even the famous 'rassler, Vern
Gagne.
I don't really enjoy listening to these
guys. You might not, either - they're
probably a tad too "new wave" for
Quarterflash fans and way too Quarter
flash for "new wave" fans. As for me, I'd
rather vacation in Cozad.
-Bob Crisler
a oicce surprise
Special Pain
Robert Ellis Orrall
RCA
Special thanks are due to Mark Messer-
Album
Reviews
smith for my hearing this special album by
the little-known Robert Ellis Orrall.
Oil-all's album was a free promotion gift
from RCA which arrived at the Daily Ne
braskan offices sometime in mid-Januaiy.
But. since none of our alleged reviewers
had ever heard of the guy, nobody bother
ed to take the thing home and play it. That
is, until Messersmith, during an evening
broadcasting class, played a cut called
"Facts and Figures," the first single off the
Orrall album.
It only takes the song a few notes to
establish its authenticity as dance music,
mixed carefully with the techno-pop field
and soul. Special Pain, the five-song mini
set which closes with the arresting number,
is just as catchy.
If you believe the theory that all the
energy and excitement in today's music is
coming from England, then you'll probably
mistake Orrall for an Englishman right
Roiu k i I'.i u- 0ai :
i '
away. Close. Orrall hails from New England
- the Boston area to be exact. He used his
own money to produce his debut album,
Sweet Nothings, and followed that with
Big 12-inch Single and Fixation in 1981.
Those albums gained him comparison to
Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello and Stevie Win
wood (whom Orrall's voice sounds similar
to). With Special Pain, Orrall appears to be
more set on carving his own niche. No song
is a remake, nor do any remind you of
something else by the aforementioned
Englishmen.
One thing Orrall does have going for
him in a big way are songs that say some
thing, such as in "Senseless," and the set's
only slow song, "You've Had Too Much to
Think," which concerns a woman's
fixation with pleasing society.
The album's best song is the duet with
punk star Carlene Carter, "I Couldn't Say
No," which includes a country-like melody
among the synthesizers.
"Tell Me if it Hurts " is a typical song
from the English motifs, while "Facts and
Figures," except for Orrall's voice, could
fit into any progressive rock or soul for
mat. Overall, Special Pain does a consistent
and successful job of taking the music
above the English style. The result is a
surprising and refreshing album that
crosses sounds like ideal cross-over
material.
-Ward W. Triplett III
Aima's sound
'likeable' soyi
Live and Let Live
Aurra
Salsoul
Curt Jones and Starlena Young don't
get a lot of mention when people discuss
recent soul duos, but Jones and Young,
known as Aurra, have been the only such
mix to consistently score on the black
charts in every album appearance.
That usually doesn't mean a lot, given
the low quality of music that generally gets
airplay. But Aurra is slightly different. As a
duo, they don't preoccupy themselves with
solf-boasts to each other (the "I m al v,v.
neeJ'Mvpe songs) or. when that getsUiul.
a meaningless, more-often-than-not unin
spired dance groove. As far as creative
black music goes, they have yet to break
any new ground, but seem to have the best
idea of what people are going to like for
more than a week.
live and Let Live is a song-and-dance
album, of course, but as in the duo's first
two efforts, there is something distinctive
running through the eight tracks. "Such A
AU ,X K
Feeling," the first single, is an example of
the fine tuning Jones, Young and bassist-producer-writer
Steve Washington are
known for. While it doesn't have the lyrical
meaning of "Are You Single?", it has al
ready scored in both the black and pop
charts nationwide.
Other than "Such A Feeling," little on
the album comes out and demands
attention. But none of them are annoy
ing, repetitive retreads of someone else's
already overdone material, either. Among
the subtle, likeable things going on are the
vocal stylings in "Baby Love" (not the
Supremes' hit, but a Washington-Jones
collaboration), where Jones does a credible
early Lionel Ritchie take-off, followed by
a chorus from Parliament's "Swing Down,
Sweet Chariot" rhyme from the Mother
ship Connection.
Young isn't given as much spotlight as
Jones and is apparently comfortable join
ing in for two-part harmonies on the
choruses. When she does venture out, as in
"Positive," she proves herself capable of
competing with the best of the black fe
male singers working the popular dance
circuit today, despite not having a
particularly strong approach or voice.
Live and Let Live is an above-average
album that I think will do well on both the
important charts, which will hopefully add
depth to the confidence Aurra displays on
the album. There are a few picky things
you could criticize here and there or find
midly disinteresting, but when it works,
Aurra is definitely one of your better buys.
-Ward W. Triplett III
Vocals conjure
on Voodoo LP
Call of The West
Wall of Voodoo
IRS
Some things in life are pretty hard to
describe, much less explain. In this case,
the problem lies in trying to describe, ex
plain, and get this criticize. I doubt that
many of the people reading this have heard
of Wall of Voodoo. Therein lies the prob
lem. Wall of Voodoo is a group of four indiv
iduals who produce music drawing heavily
upon the use of synthesizers, matched with
their own personal guitar features. Added
to this is a vocal technique not usually
heard with bands trapped in the new wave
genre. The lead vocalist in this band is a
man by the name of Stanard Ridgway. The
group seems to center around him and his
lyrics. This is no mistake, as he carries the
listener along the course of the alburn with
an original flair that proves to be very en
joyable. Continued on Page 9