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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1991)
Fourth posthumous release ‘Talkin’ Blues’ one of Marley’s best LPs By Carter Van Pelt Staff Reporter At the time of his death almost 10 years ago, Bob Marley had achieved the status of uncontcstcd champion of reggae music, as well as being one of the most popular recording artists in the world. The passage of time has elevated him to the immortal status achieved only by legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley and Robert Johnson. “Talkin’ Blues,” the fourth posthu mous release of Bob Marley and The Wailcrs material, serves to reinforce the importance of his life’s work. “Talkin’ Blues” is a collection of rarities recorded from 1973-1975, a period when reggae music first vaulted to international recognition. The album’s 21 tracks arc com posed of a live session from The Wailcrs’ first American tour in 1973 recorded by San Francisco’s KSAN radio, three previously unused tracks from the 1974 “Natty Dread” ses sions, a track from the 1975 shows at London’s Lyceum Ballroom which produced the Marley album “Live” and nine minutes of interview re corded on JBC radio in Jamaica in 1975. The interview tracks arc divided into 10 segments, which arc heard between thcalbum’s 11 music tracks. These pieces provide interesting per spectives on the breakup of the origi nal Wailcrs, Marley’s music and the Rastafarian religion. Unfortunately, Bob Marley and The Waiters “Talkin’ Blues” Tuff Gong/lsland Records Rating: 4 Ratings are 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent). Marlcy’s thick Jamaican accent makes some passages almost unintelligible to the untrained car. The bulk of the album’s musical content is taken from the magical KSAN session. The KSAN tracks, taken from the only existing record ing of the Waiicrs’ first U.S. lour, arc among the most powerful Waiicrs’ material available. The set is kicked off with a power ful version of “Bumin’ and Lootin’,” which rages about the loss of Africa to the white man. Next, the Waiicrs move to a lighter tunc called “Kinky Reggae” from “Catch A Fire” and then into the timeless “Get Up, Stand Up” in which Marley tells the oppressed to “Stand up for your rights”and “Don’t give up the fight.” The song warns oppressors of the faith and conviction of the Rastafarian, while reminding the lis tener of the presence of guitarist Peter Tosh. Tosh left the band after the “Catch A Fire” album to pursue a solo career. His beautiful baritone vocals and rock steady staccato rhythm guitar arc in full force on this track and on his own “You Can’t Blame the Youth,” in which he takes lead vocal responsi bilities to comment on the while man’s version of history. The other standout song from the KSAN set is the soulful “Slave Driver” in wh ich Marley sings of the scars left from slavery and complains that “they say we arc free, only to be chained in poverty.” The other songs in the set arc the rare “Walk the Proud Land” and deeply religious “Rastaman Chant.” Notably absent in this set arc original Wailcr member Bunny Liv ingston (a.k.a Bunny Wailcr) who had quit the band before the tour and Bob Marlcy’s backup singers, the I Thrccs, who were not yet part of the band when the set was recorded. The remainder of the musical tracks on “Talkin’ Blues” arc not as moving as the songs from the KSAN set, but arc nonetheless classic Marley. From the “Natty Dread” album recording session arc alternate versions of “Talkin’ Blues,”“Bend Down Low,” and the never-before-released love song “Am-A-Do." The final song on the album is a seven-minute version of the classic “I Shot the Sheriff’ (later covered by Eric Clapton), recorded on the first of the two nights Marley played at London’s Lyceum Ballroom in 1975. The song is an excellent example of the soul and feeling of Marley’s famous mid-’70s concert performances. Despite the overall quality of this collection, it would have been en hanced by including all the songs recorded at the KSAN session and Courtesy of Island Records leaving the other four songs to be included on a future compilation of unreleased tracks and alternate lakes. However, the album as presented is the best reggae album released in some years and definitely slacks upas one of the best among Marley re leases. The Computing Resource Center is offering free microcomputer seminars to UNL students. The seminars will feature Microsoft Word on the Macin tosh and WordPerfect on the IBM. No reservations required Advanced WordPerfect on the IBM Tuesday, March 19 2:00-3:30 p.m. Advanced Micwsoft Word on the Macintosh Wednesday, March 20 3:00-4:30 p.m. Macintosh seminars will be held in the Andrews microcomputer lab. IBM seminars will be held in the Sandoz Btmamhimwrit nil UK itS IT HR Men Who Are: - 19-35 years of Age! - Healthy! - Non-Users of Tobacco products! - Able to stay at Harris from Thursday night through Monday morning! May Qualify To Participate in a Study and Earn Up To $900.00 For Further information and complete schedule On Study 13765 HARRIS LABORATORIES, INC. 474-0627 I Monday-Thursday 7:30 a.m.--7:30 p.m.; Friday 7:30 a.m.--5:30 p.m. Muses Continued from Page 9 1989, without the refinement of vo cals. Hersh’s raw vocalization work with the effects and distortion of gui tars to define the voice and sound of the Throwing Muses. “Him Dancing,” “Honeychain” and the fine “Two Step” all resound with the influence of the Muses’ Boston based 4AD label-mate, the Pixies. Guitarist/vocalist Tanya Donelly’s work last year with Pixies’ bassist Kim Deal in their splinter band, the Breeders, shines brightly with influ ence. In “Him Dancing,” the Pixies-esque bounce of Abong’s bass line with its quick accent carries as much drive and punch as Narcizo’s snappop and crash of cymbals. Donnely’s throaty vocals are even (Kim) Deal-esque, featuring the strum of one acoustic guitar, the high, deep sound of another and the strolling rhythm of the song. “Two Step,”credited as written by the entire band again reflects clearly a Pixies bass line and a guitar effect straight from the Pixies’ “Doolittle’s” from 1988. The fuzzy guitar grunge scraping along the bottom of the song carries one guitar line, featuring another thickly Lush-like echoed guitar car rying the other one. “Two Step” seems the quintessential Throwing Muses song, featuring all of the styles that the band features. The song is full of cymbals’ thick clish and shake, and the scratch of an acoustic guitar. “Two Step” and “Not Too Soon” highlight “The Real Ramona” as the best tracks. “Not Too Soon.” the other Donnely composition shows influ ences of Flatmates and other such happy-pop people like early My Bloody Valentine and other neat Lazy label treats. Zyd Continued from Page 9 Toups, who is admired as much for his dark, rough and tumble Spring steen looks as his music, has softened his style slightly since his “Blast” album. While his style hasn’t achieved the more blended flowing quality of some Zydcco artists like Buckwheat Zydeco, at least competition with his backup crew doesn’t take precedence any longer. Unfortunately, in “One Heart Beating,” Toups has taken advantage of the adaptability of Zydcco’s rhythm, moving too far left with the addition of his rock guitar runs. Better to stay away from too much “mass”-turali zation. Let the listener accept Zydeco for its inherent appeal or go else where. Toups’ sound is maturing with each album mainly because like great jazz, Zydeco reflects a cultural ability to draw richness from life’s experiences — each new event, every tear of the heart bringing new depth. thirtysomething Continued from Page 9 As Zwick and Hcrskovitz say in their prologue, “the only thing less fun than writing is writing about writ* ing.” Instead of writing a book about their characters, they give thumbnail sketches of the characters and then present the scripts. The only scripts the two men comment on arc their own — the pilot episode, “ihirtysom cthing,” and “The Mike Van Dyke Show,” which deals with Michael’s crisis of faith. In episodes by other writers, we sec Gary and Susannah help each other through the labor and delivery of ihcir daughter, Emma; we see Melissa and Russell guide each other through their respective love affairs and Elliot and Nancy try to save their marriage. An especially memorable script deals with the miscarriage of the always perfect, unflappable Hope. Each script is introduced by its writer; each person explains why they wrote the script the way it was writ ten. Most go into what they thought of the actors’ performances, as well. It’s interesting to sec the snappy lines expressed in the script, and remem ber the interpretations and subtle shading the actors brought to the epi sodes. It’s strange to read the scripts from this show. While the scripts and script notations emphasize that these people arc fictional, “thirtysomething” is a show so true-to-life that it’s often easy to forget that it isn’t “real life.” The scripts are augmented by black and-white photos of cast members on and off the screen. The writers involved in the book, as well as MGM/UA Television, arc donating their advance for the book to AmFAR, the American Founda tion for AIDS research Any “thirty something” fan will want a copy of this slick paperback for permanent enshrinement. Gerardo Continued from Page 9 stuff. As much as Gerardo seems to be trying to be diverse, most of his songs arc identical. The same rhythms and patterns appear in most of the songs with the only real dif fcrcnce being the offensive words he chooses to sing along with the music. The big pile of bad songs is led by the hateful, sophomoric “Christina,” a song that viciously attacks a former lover of Gerardo’s who apparently cheated on him. This nasty song ought to further convince her that she did the right thing by leaving him. “Mo’ Rilmo is by no means a good album, and in several ways it is just plain awful. Some fans of dance music might find him innovative and enjoyable but most people will gladly avoid his rotten debut. City Continued from Page 9 out from the screen all over the audi ence. Most of the movie makes it clear that this is an anti-drug state ment, but Van Peebles seems to think the audience won’t get it unless he beats his point to a bloody, mashy pulp. For the most part, however, Van Peebles’ direction is excellent. He coaxes great performances out of several of the actors in the movie. Most notable is the first-lime per formance of Ice T. It was quite a risk to cast a beginning actor in the movie’s major role, but Ice T is incredible. He has acommanding presence onscreen that many so-called experienced screen stars would have trouble approach ing. “New Jack City” is a tense, fright ening movie that manages to make its point too well. Hopefully, Van Peebles will continue to make his movies from behind the camera where his talent is obviously superior. “New Jack City” is playing at the Cinema 1 & 2, 201 N. 13th Street.