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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1995)
.. .. f ■*' Pat Metheny Group “We Live Here” Geffen Records Grade: F+ Various Artists “Jazz, Ltd., Vol. 1” Delmark Records Grade: A+ One day, in the depths of hell, one of the underworld’s most twisted and perverse demons decided that bad music wasn’t quite bad enough. And that demon created the music known as adult contemporary jazz. “We Live Here” by the Pat Metheny Group is a surly exercise in this most de praved and barren of musical stylings. Per haps I’m letting my feelings run a bit ram pant over this album, but I don’t really think so. This is the music to which I had prom ised myself I would never willingly listen. It makes most VH-1 videos look like hard rock. It is too sedate and pointless to even justify Weather Channel airplay. This is bad music. Although the liner notes suggest that this music is produced by actual instruments. I’d be more inclined to say it is an electroni cally polished nightmare. At its absolute best, it sounds like the soundtrack to a grossly over-budgeted pom flick. At its worst... no, 1 simply can’t go on. Instead, I’ll focus on something that truly warrants attention. While adult con temporary jazz sputters ahead, other forms of jazz are flourishing in the oft-forgotten past. Take Dixieland jazz, for example. Take the first volume of “Jazz, Ltd.” as an even better one. “Jazz, Ltd., Volume One” is a sampler of the best that Chicago’s legendary literally underground jazz club had to offer. What it offers is highly improvisational, emotionally charged music with rhythm to spare that is performed by hard-core musi cians. Even after 40 years, this music retains the impact and spark that it held for its contemporary listeners. Musicians such as Sidney Bechet, Muggsy Spanier, Don Ewell and Doc Evans were legends in their own time, and artists whose intensity and creativity have yet to be paralleled by more recent songwriters and performers. Listening to this album was an incred ible experience. I felt as though I was sitting in the very club where those men once blew their hearts out. I could smell the smoke and sweat of the tightly packed room. I could see them all, out of breath and ready to collapse, still playing in spite of them selves. From the mellow, solo-filled beauty of songs like ‘Tin Roof Blues” (performed by Miff Mole and Doc Evans) to the fired-up, brink-of-chaosjump tunes such as Spanier’s “Washington and Lee Swing,” this album is just a taste of what lies ahead when you turn to the past. — Jeff Randall The B.U.M.S “Brothas Unda Madness: Lyfe and Tyme” Priority Records Grade: B Brothas Unda Madness hail from hip hop-heavy Oakland, Calif., and follow the lead of lyrical giants such as Del the Funky Homosapien, Casual, Souls of Mischief and Saafir. However, they don’t copy them. This is strictly a personal thing for D-WYZE and E-vocalist, the duo that is the B.U.M.S. What they do best is freestyle and tell everyday street stories. There’s no better place to look than on the first single, “Elevation (Free My Mind).” The track is similar to Black Moon’s “I Got Cha Opin.” The guys kick rhymes like, “It’s true for what you say is what you do with the flow/For labels, MCs come and they go/But B.U.M.S, we leave a mark for hip hop’s devastation/And I strive to stay alive for my record’s elevation.” For about half the songs, this reality rap is standard. There is nothing too heavy. Songs like ‘Take a Look Around” and the catchy “Flex Uv a Finga” are just the anyday stories of Everyhood, USA. At other times, the Oakland, laid-back feel is apparent. “West Coast Smack” uses a jazzy bass and horn hits to complement the Souls of Mischief sample. “Non-Stoppin the Groove” has a beat that lopes along and a Big Daddy Kane hook. A couple songs fall short. “Let the Music Take Your Mind” uses some simple rhymes, while “6 Figures & Up” makes a gratuitous plea for money. And there are too many inserts or interludes. Seven of 19 tracks are inserts on “Lyfe and Tyme.” They detract from the album. For their first effort, the B.U.M.S per form well. This is just one more group that will keep Oakland lyrically famous. —Greg Schick 1111111i»m ■» mmmmsmmmmmm*****' h mmmi im i Bret Gottschall/DN Action is key to week’s rentals By Gerry Bettz Him Critic It is going to be a busy couple of weeks on the video new-release shelves. Over the next two weeks, five new flicks will be available for rental. “Stargate” (PG-13, available March 14) — This one is the best of the five. An out-of-work archeolo gist (James Spader) is hired by the military to decipher a 2,000-year-old artifact that turns out to be a gateway to another world. All cast members are good, al though Kurt Russell — as the gung ho military leader — is a bit disap pointing. The special effects are top notch, and the film is a wild ride. “Angels In The Outfield” (PG, available March 21) —This one couldn’t even meet the fix of the baseball junkies, but it will entertain the kids and many adults. A baseball manager (Danny Glover) and his loser team receive help from a little boy and his guard ian angel (Christopher Lloyd), and the team starts winning games with a bit of divine intervention. It’s pretty dam sappy and predict able, but well worth renting as a family movie. “The Specialist” (R, available March 21) — Stallone plays a bomb expert (he should be one by now, he’s been in enough action movies), and Sharon Stone is a mysterious woman who hires Stallone to get revenge on the underworld. James Woods, Eric Roberts and Rod Steiger all make appearances as various bad guys, but the entire movie has a very forced feel to it. The explo sions are pretty cool, and (surprise) Stone is in the buffski. Skip this one. “Only You”(PG, available March 21) — A waste of talent about fate and love. “Only You” stars Marisa Tomei as a woman who is told that a man with a certain name is the man she is destined to marry, and some guy (Robert Downey Jr.) claims that name. Better to get a root canal from Laurence Olivier than watch this movie at any point in your life. PICK OF THE WEEK — Why wouldn’t you want Olivier to have anything to do with your teeth? The answer is in “Marathon Man.” Dustin Hoffman plays a graduate student who is inadvertently thrust into the world of international in trigue by his brother (Roy Scheider). At one point, he is “interrogated” by a Nazi played by Sir Laurence Olivier, one of the best screen villains of all time. 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Intro to E-Mail Thursday, March 16 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Friday, March 17 12:30-2:00 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Monday, March 27 12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Thursday, March 30 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Advanced E-Mail Thursday, March 16 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Friday, March 31 12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Gopher Friday, March 17 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Electronic News Tuesday, March 28 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Finger/Talk Monday, March 27 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 World Wide Web using Lynx Wednesday, March 15 11:30 - 1:00 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239
