Wednesday, March 16, 1983
9
Daily Nebraskan
Faithfull.
Continued from Page 8
Everyone of the eight cuts on t lie disc
takes a very deep look at life of the char
acter involved in the song. Most of the
material was written by Faithful! and
Reynolds, who also helped produce. The
lyrics sometimes take the listener over
when Faithful pulls pure emotion from
inside to tell her story. The mostly enjoy
able instrumentation never drops below
acceptable, but also note that it wouldn't
get five stars by itself. Overall, Faithful!
gets her message across with considerable
success, and listening to the album can
arouse a feeling of interest in the listener.
I don't think Marianne Faithful! is
looking for more of the commercial
success she once knew too well with the
release of this new disc. That's very fort
unate, because with the type of attitude
Faithfull takes on the album, the listener
enjoys the success of having something
worthwhile to listen to. This album is a
must for Faithfull fans, a maybe for those
who enjoyed Broken English, and some
thing to think about for those who want to
experiment with well written true-to-life
lyrics.
- Todd R. Tystad
Dolby sound:
Fun, fresh music
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Blinded By Science
Thomas Dolby
Harvest
Record buying is getting too compli
cated. There are too many options outside of
the regular old LP. These days there are
EPs, singles, 12-inch discs, mini LPs and so
on and so on.
When 1 went in to pick up the Thomas
Dolby album, I thought that 1 had only
one selection. Hence, I ended up with
Blinded By Science - a mini LP with five
songs. However, this is not the album.
The official album is called The Golden
Age of Wireless.
But that is somewhat irrelevant at this
point.
Included in the five songs on this mini
are, of course, the techno-smashes "She
Blinded Me With Science" and "One Of
Our Submarines."
Dolby's work is an excellent example of
the new taste in music. Upbeat and dance
able with no real message, this record drips
with synthesizers and drum programs.
What this album doesn't drip is tired
and overworked themes. After all, how
many artists today sing about a stranded
ship or windpower? And the only other
group that has devoted time to robots is
Styx. And, oh yes, Neil Young.
On "She Blinded Me With Science,"
Dolby vocodes:
It 's Poetry in motion
When she turns her eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
She blinded me with science
This is just fun music.
The second side of the record offers
three selections, "Windpower," Airwaves"
and "Flying North," all of which appeared
on "Wireless."
The most memorable song of the three,
"Airwaves," is very smooth almost
trance-like. It moves along like a spring
breeze on a warm afternoon. One listen to
it and you're hooked.
A surprise comes on the list of back
ground vocalists. Mutt Lange - connected
with such heavy metalers as Van Halen -backs
Dolby on the single. From Van Hal
en to Dolby, that's pretty diverse!
Dolby goes through the album like a lit
tle boy locked overnight in an electronic
toy store. It's obvious that he is having fun
with his music, and that always makes a
difference in the final product.
Tins won't be one of the biggest records
of all time, but it should more than estab
lish Thomas Dolby as one of today's most
promising talents.
- Randy VVymore
Old spark missing
from Read's effort
! j
The Bird
Jerry Reed
RCA
I used to anxiously look forward to
each new Jerry Reed album. Featured on
them were some of the best musicians,
songs and sounds to come out of Nashville
in the early- to mid-seventies. The lyrics
were sharp, the production was tight and
more than anything else, Reed delighted in
showing off what an accomplished musi
cian he was. His guitar playing was innova
tive at times, and his voice was actually
quite pretty when he chose to show it off.
Thus, albums like Georgia Sunshine, Ko Ko
Joe and Hot A 'Mighty were recognized as
excellent pieces of musicianship and Jerry
Reed was hailed as being the best of the
"new breed" of country music performers.
Then, something happened. Or more ac
curately, two things happened, that sent
Reed's recording career into a tailspin.
First, diet Atkins stopped producing his
albums. Although Atkins was responsible
for some of the most abominable examples
of the dreaded "Nashville sound," his pro
duction skills were second to none when he
got Reed into the studio. He seemed to
lend an air of order and coherency to the
proceedings, something for which Reed has
never had a reputation.
The other thing that happened is that
Reed fell in with bad company - Burt
Reynolds. Burt thought Jerry was really
neat, a "good ol' boy," in the vernacular.
It wasn't the musicianship that impressed
Reynolds, but rather, it was that "When
You're Hot, You're Hot" and "U.S.Male"
were such darned funny songs. Burt likes
to yuk it up, you know.
So, Burt made Jerry a movie star and
soundtrack superstar. In the meantime,
Reed's albums became pure schlock, direc
tionless and sadly undistinguished from the
multitudes of albums cranked out daily in
Nashville.
Last year, Reed made a conscious at
tempt to revitalize his sagging recording
career. He found refuge in Muscle Shoals,
Ala., second only to Austin, Texas, as a re
cording center for wayward country music
singers. Unfortunately, though, he did not
hook up with Johnny Sandlin or Barry
Beckett or any number of other credible
producers stationed in Muscle Shoals, but
rather, Rick Hall, a man whose main claim
to fame was producing most of the Os
mond Brothers fine recordings.
Admittedly, Reed's. music started to im
prove somewhat; however, I suspect this
was due more to his own efforts than
Hall's. But, when you compare last year's
Man With a Golden Thumb or his newest
record, The Bird, with some of his past ef
forts, it is apparent the old spark is still
missing.
Reed starts off with a pale cover of
CCR's "Down on the Corner" and limps
on from there. "Down on the Corner,"
"Hard Times" and "Good Time Saturday
Night" all have the same tired themes, and
in some cases, even the same words. "The
Bird" is an idiotic novelty song (Reed used
to be one of the few artists able to handle
such material, as classics like "Amos
Moses," "Crude Oil Blues" and "Lord Mr.
Ford" bear out), as is "I'm a Slave."
Reed does do fairly well for himself on
"Red River," "I Want to Love You Right"
and "J Get Off On Jt." Reed's first num
ber one song in a decade, "She Got The
Goldmine (J Got the Shaft)" is also pleas
ant enough; however, it was on his last LP
as well, and the repetition here is unnec
essary. Realistically, Jerry Reed will probably
never be as good as he was in the 1970s.
It's a shame, too, because, although it's
not obvious on records like The Bird, the
talent is there. Jt seems the converse of
"When You're Hot" is also true: when
you're cold, you're cold.
Mike Frost
Canadians play
classic rock'n'roll
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Music For The Hard of Thinking
Doug and the Slugs
RCA
Canada has, for one reason or another,
always held a certain air of mystery for me.
With a country that acts as home base
for the likes of Loverboy, April Wine
and Rush, I've often wondered if there
would be anything else to listen to aside
from Anne Murray. Well, contrary to
my own belief, Canada really does have a
degree of variation in its music. Take for
example the band that is known as Doug
and the Slugs.
When listening to only a song or two
from Doug and the boys, you can tell in
a moment that this band knows how to
play classic rock 'n' roll. Every song is
a new experience in lhe sound of the band
and the sound of vocalist Doug Bennett.
With thereleaseof their third album entitled
Music for the Hard of Tlu'nking, Doug and
the Slugs display their same old gusto,
but are just now showing signs of wear
and tear.
Doug and the Slugs' previous albums
released in the United States were titled
Wrap It and Cognac and Bologna. The
latter was the disc that displayed the
most energy, with Bennett at his best.
The instrumentation was flawless and
matched the vocal endeavors of Bennett.
The album contained enough blues-style
rock V roll to wear you out with only
one play through. This year the band has
come back'from its recording break with
the same old style, but Music for the
Hard of Thinking just isn't what you
would expect from good ol' boy Doug.
Music for the Hard of TJu'nking was
written almost entirely by Bennett. The
two covers are, unfortunately, the cuts
that seem the most interesting. The old
Isley Brothers tune "Nobody But Me"
gets most of the attention on the disc,
yet with careful evaluation, it falls into
equal status with the other songs on
the album. Hie most serious lag in the
overall feeling is Bennett's lyrics. They
fall to the level of fair on a couple of cuts,
but are hastily rescued by the never failing
guitar work of John Burton and Rich
Baker. Therein lies the fun of the Slugs.
One can only wonder how much influence
Booker T. had here. I personally thought
the influence of anyone of prominence
would have helped out the keyboards,
which at times drag a little too much.
Overall, it can't be denied that the Slugs
are an interesting, as well as talented,
band.
Music for the Hard of Dunking is not
the best work done by Doug and the
Slugs. I think their best work would be
done in live performance. Their character
expressed over the course of their second
and third albums has gone from the theme
of the snarling hood to a more "mod"
approach, and this could be the reason
for the lag in attitude. Doug and his band
are nothing to pass off as uninteresting,
but the fact is they won't stake their
claim to fame on Music for the Hard of
Thinking. Say a prayer to the M.G.'s
and hope for a live album from Doug
and the band next time.
- Todd R. Tystad
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