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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1992)
Tears For Fears’ greatest hits more than‘pop fluff’ I _ Courtesy of Mercury Records *» Tears for Fears R.cuIcm/4 “Tears Roll Down: Greatest Hits 1982-1992” Tears For Fears Polydor Records Now don’t laugh. While most of our memories of this group consist of a fleeting top-40 phase we went through in junior high, a second glance back through Tears For Fears’ impressive catalog may surprise you. And it may soothe any insecurities you might have had about really lik ing “Shout.” Songwriter/driving force Roland Orzabal has lasted this long, going relatively unscathed critically, because of one concept: sincerity. He really sounds like he means everything he sings, and it’s hard not to hum along with his earnestness. Throughout the last decade, Tears For Fears produced some of the most interesting, complex, and impassioned pop tunes around. When any of the songs from the group’s 1985 mam moth bestseller “Songs from the Big Chair” pop up on the radio, they still sound remarkably fresh and tuneful for a group dismissed in ’82 as pretty, fluffy synth-heads. “Tears Roll Down” comes at a junction for the group, because bas sist and No. 2 pinup boy Curt Smith has left the band to pursue other musical areas. Funny, because it doesn’t seem like there is a musical territory these guys haven’t charted, even margin ally, throughout their career. From the techno drone of “Mad World” through the cocktail jazz of “I Believe” to the glorious and under rated 1990 concept album, “The Seeds of Love,” the band weaves through styles with the ease of very tasteful and accomplished musicians, all the while using Orzabal’s gift for empa thized lyrics as an anchor to give the songs some heft. The hits are here, obviously. Therc’d be some whining if “Mothers Talk” was left out. But those songs that didn’t receive ample airplay through the years deserve a closer look. The quasi-feminist anthem “Woman In Chains” was one of the best things the group had ever done, a slow pulse and hushed vocal floating on a most heav enly of melodies. Likewise, the other overlooked pop masterpiece “Advice for the Young at Heart” never charted higher than No. 50, though you’d be pressured to find another tune more suited to pu bescent radio. The sole new composi tion, “Laid So Low,” is a lyrically morbid tale of betrayed love, but the melody is so tuneful and the beat is so effortlessly relentless that it stands apart from other dance tracks. There was, and still is, something about Tears For Fears’ tunefulness that elevates Orzabal’s compositions to something higher than pop fluff. Maybe the songs are just too dang mature for any tastes under the age of 20. Or 25. Whatever. As TFF heads into its second decade, keep an eye out for this rising young group. It may surprise you. — Paul Winner American Heart Association^ ■< * j-, Friday, May 1“ • Lied Center ‘8 PM Call 472-4747 or 1-800-432-3231 for Tickets , «i UNL Rodeo ^ I •April $1 The Fort Sandy Creek in the Grandstands at the State Fair Metal madness revealed by Ozzy { * •Metal god/animal-rights activist Ozzy Osbourne got himself into a little fracas last week when the ». concert he had planned in Los Angeles to raise money for his late guitarist Randy Rhodes* defaced gravestone got a little out of hand. * During the final encore, Oz invited many of the fans onstage to mosh around with him and the band. Mosh ► they did, taking more than $100,000 worth of music equipment to the dumpsters with them. Ironically, theamountOzzy lost * on the destroyed instruments was the amount he had hoped to raise through ticket sales for Rhodes’ ^ tombstone. Osbourne was upset, but not surprised about the inci dent. Just goes to show you about the metal youth of today. ► Parents — wean your young ones on RaTfi or prepare for inevi table episodes like this. * •MuchMusic reports that former Monkee Micky Dolenz has as ► semblcd a collection of tasteful lullabies for a compilation of chil A. I. i n A< A# A dren’s songs entitled “Micky Do lenz Puts You to Sleep.” Rhino records has successfully resurrected Dolenz’s career with cover tunes like the Beatles’ “The Fool on the Hill” and the Mamas and the Pa pas’ “Dream a Little Dream.” The musical community at Rhino is extremely pleased at the shift Dolenz’s career has taken, and many had wondered why Micky — be cause his voice is so well-suited for it—didn’ t create children’s music during his star days in the ’60s. Yeah, like “Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees” and “Listen to the Band” are classified as deep adult entertainment. •Fantasy Records has just issued a generous helping of spoken-word albums by the late, great bastard comic Lenny Bruce, so says Pulse! magazine. Instead of focusing on the comedian’s life story, as so many other compilations have wont to do, “The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce” does a great job of showing how pointed and meaty this guy’s satire was. L Listening to the discs again af- ^ ter so many years, and in the wake of fellows like Howard Stem, ac knowledges the shadow cast over ^ today’s comics, who follow Bruce’s satirical venom with half of his feeling and spile. Who can forget classic shock treatments like “White y Collar Drunks” and “How to Relax Your Minority Friends at Parties?” A disheartening breath of dirty L air in these PC times. In the time less words of Lenny, “F—k ‘em if they can’t take a joke.” •On a final note, author Isaac Asimovdicdofcomplicationsaris- ^ ing from cancer last week. The science-fiction guru churned out an average of 10 books a year, even until the last stage of Ips life. He y was renowned and revered for his prize-winning novel, “I, Robot,” and for helping start the wave of L sci-fi enthusiasm in the early days of television. — Paul Winner W w w w Book Continued from Page 9 Valenzuela of Buenos Aires, author of “Open Door,” a collection of sto ries. Also included is writing by Jan Morris (who began life as a male), author of “Pax Britannica,” and Ur sula K. Le Guin, author of the classic “Earthsea Trilogy,” whose long po etic essay, “The Writer on, and at, Her Work,” offers an interesting glimpse into her own inner writer’s life. Many of the essays offr ,ch in sight, and it is this inner field where today’s writer fights her most serious battles. Although the collection is fasci nating, and the various writers seem to be interesting people, many of the essays are overwritten. Much of the language used is flowery “literary” language. Too many of the writers sound too much like each other, which may indicate there is a good deal of read ing and writing going on between them, or merely that they have at tended one too many workshops on creative writing. It’s not a book to be read from cover to cover, but one well worth browsing through on a spring after noon. And while some of the writers included will be familiar names, many others may be new to the reader, opening up new literary experiences. For this reason alone it’s a book well worth looking into. Women writers, at least in our culture, never will go back to being second-class literary figures. The effect of the recent explosion in women’s writing will continue to be felt for centuries to come. A collection such as this one may well be an exciting document on the early decades of the new literary millennium. Register With Selective Service. It's Quick. It's Easy. And It's The Law. $3 00 per day tor 15 word* on Individual student end student organization ads. $4.00 per day tor 15 words on non-student ads. $.15 each additional word. $ 75 billing charge. Personal ads must be prepaid. Found ads may bo submitted tree of charge. DEADLINE: 2:00 p.m. weekday before pubUca bon. The Daily Nebraskan will not print any adver tisement which discriminates against any person on the basis of sax. sexual orientation, race, religion, age. disability, marital status or national origin. The Dally Nebraskan reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement at any dme which does not comply with the poiide* and judgments of the newspaper. The advertisers agree to assume liability tor all contents of all ads printed, as well as any claim arising therefrom made against the Daily Nebras kan. 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