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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1987)
Wednesday, January 14, 1987 Daily Nebraskan Review Board Page 11 The Kinks, "Think Visual," MCA Records j The Kinks have to be the big come back band of the '80s. They started in !l979 with their "Low Budget" LP, con tinued with a fantastic live album and itook off with "Give The People What They Want." Then The Kinks found MTV', and the band's 25-year career was stronger than ever. One explanation for The Kinks' long- jtime popularity has to be Ray Davies' engaging voice and insightful lyrics. And Ray is as insightful as ever on the latest LP, "Think Visual." His voice is as appealing as the day they recorded "You Really Got Me," back when I was wetting my pants and eating Gerber strained beets. The music is somewhat below par. In fact, sometimes it's just plain boring. Clever, insightful lyrics just can't save an album with dull music. That's too bad. Better music could have made some of these songs classics. In "Working At The Factory," Davies tells how he escaped a life of blue collar hell by discovering music. Then he discovered the big record compan ies were no better. "All my life I've put in a working day Now, it's sign the contract, get production on the way. Take the moneyMake the music payWorking at the Factory." I wish I could reprint the entire lyric of "Working At The Factory;" it's a dev astating attack on record companies. But again, the music isn't as fiery as the words. Ray's brother Dave doesn't play any interesting leads, his guitar is just fiat and useless. He wrote two bad songs, "When You Were a Child," where he actually sings, or tries to, and "Rock and Roll Cities," a worn-out theme about rock musicians' life on the road including an equally worn-out riff. But, hey! He mentions Nebraska. Besides "Working At the Factory," "Welcome to Sleazy Town" and "Video Shop" are standouts. But it doesn't take much on this LP for a song to rise above the rest. Stew Magnuson Ready For The World, "Long Time Coming," MCA Records The Best Prince song of 1985 was Ready ForThe World's "Oh Sheila." No, His Royal Purpleness didn't write the song. It didn't even sound like any spe cific Prince song. It just borrowed Prince's guitar riffs, quirky drum machine sound and erotic groans. So it was a rip-off, but it was still better than anything Prince penned for his "Around The World in a Day" LP, a stinker for sure. RFTW is back with a new LP, "Long Time Coming." No, they haven't branched out and come up with their own sound yet. And Prince came out with one of the best LPs yet, the "Under The Cherry Moon" soundtrack. So no matter how hot "Long Time Coming" gets, they're just going to sound like pale imitators. How much of an imita tion is it? Well, while listening to this LP for the first time, my roommate came out of his room, scrunched up his face and said, "Ichh, I hate Prince!" Well, my roommate doesn't exactly have a trained ear. His idea of funky music is JethroTull. Still, the song that fooled my roommate was the title track of the LP. It's a blatant rip-off. Not of Prince, but of "Oh Sheila." So it's kind of a rip-off of a rip-off. Even more deplorable is the opening song, one of those sappy boring soul ballads Lionel Richie has made so pop ular. "Love You Down" is sure to be a hit. It sounds like 30 other top-10 sap songs cluttering up the KFRX airwaves. The rest of the LP is just more of the same. The "Prince is popular, let's just imitate him" attitude. I hope these guys don't start making movies. Stew Magnuson The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, "Distressed Gentlefolk," Big Time Records The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy seems like such a harsh name for a band. With such a weird name, I exited weird, harsh music. Well, the opposite is true. The music is quite pleasant, mostly parodies of light pop songs. The lyrics, yes they're definitely weird. Just weird enough to stick in my brain all day, making me sing a chorus like: "In the springtime Cats have sexIn the springtime, rats have sexIn the springtime, fish have sexBut our do mestic animal stays very good indeed." A pop song about getting animals fixed. Who says musicians have nothing original to say? "Distressed Gentlefolk" is a wildly unpredictable LP. Both sides begin with simple parodies of simple love songs. With titles like "Falling in Love" and "Who Loves You Now?" The Jazz Butcher butchers trite pop. After "Fal ling In Love," the band shot me straight into the high energy "Big Bad Thing," my favorite cut. Then the aching "Still In the Kitchen," a slow, beautiful song full of pain and food. The Jazz Butcher never lets things get too serious for too long though. The lyrics are silly but insightful, and the music can range from slow jazz to spaghetti western soundtrack music in "Buffalo Shame." Whatever their topic or the type of music, the Jazz Butcher never does two similar songs in a row. All the music is conventional, but when strung together and mixed up on an LP like this, it's unconventional. And this makes The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy my best discovery of 1986. Stew Magnuson W6 e 1' ,iwL w AL-i) is a free, complete instructional package to help teach high school students their tax rights and responsibilities, including how to prepare a tax return. The redesigned course can be used in math, economics, civics, history, business and vocational education classes. Contact your IRS office for details. A public service message from the Internal Revenue Service WHY GO SOMEPLACE THAT'S FILTHY TO GET YOUR CLOTHES CLEAN? Our laundromat is clean and comfortable and we have attendants to keep it that way! cpplc Highlander center Open 7 a.m.-10 p.m. everyday 33rd & Apple St. (4 blks. south of Holdrege) REWARD $1,000 A ... , if .. ... . j. M. Do You Know This Man? 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