Music Reviews
Blue Rodeo
'‘Nowhere to Here”
Warner Bros.
Grade: C+
Blue Rodeo has two different
personalities, one wanting to be
Garth Brooks’ backup band, the
other succeeding in imitating Sarah
McLachlan.
Whatever their ultimate fate, the
masterminds behind Blue Rodeo
seem to sense this band needs a
gimmick. Half of the songs are only
a steel guitar away from the coun
try charts, wallowing in the pleas
ant, medium-paced, and utterly for
gettable world of middle-aged mu
sic fans who love the Eagles and
Eric Clapton.
The words ‘Tile under rock” are
printed on the back of the CD, as if
the musicians are clinging desper
ately to their mediocrity as a prin
ciple.
But other songs show fairly good
mastery of the Tori Amos school of
pretty, anticlimactic wispiness.
McLachlan herself sings on
three of the tracks. Her contribu
tions are lovely and singable, with
multi-layered instrumentation
amounting to a very spacious
sound. But the words she sings are
another matter.
The lyrics are mind-numbingly
average, invariably in the second
person. They invariably imply that
the band is sorry it broke up with
me and hopes we’ll get back to
gether, and then occasionally ac
cepting its fete bravely.
“Save Myself’ is the best song.
It has a haunting sound that almost
makes you feel guilty for turning it
off; but not quite as it wears on to
ward its sixth repetitious minute.
Blue Rodeo seems to have been
afflicted by the same banality that
is now infecting a lot of office ra
dio
rock. File under “uninspiring.”
— Kathleen Pel strap
Halo Benders
“Don’t TeD Me Now”
K Records
Grade: A
Apparently, making an album
ain’t nothing but a thing for Calvin
Johnson.
When he’s not making the Beat
happen with Bret and Heather or
pioneering the unique indie pop of
his label, K, or doing cameo appear
ances with the 75 other bands he
knows, one would assume he’s
sleeping during the remaining two
hours of the day.
I guess not.
Instead, he’s hanging out with
Doug Martsh from Built to Spill,
who is also seemingly suffering
from insomnia.
But they’re not j ust playing cards
to pass the time. As if they haven’t
made enough music already,
they’ve formed the Halo Benders.
Fran the depths of Dub Narcotic
studios in Olympia, Wash., comes
their sophomore release, “Don’t
Tell Me Now,” the follow-up to one
of the best records of 1994, “God
Don’t Make No Junk.” Calvin,
Doug, keyboardist Steve Fisk and
some Boise chums are banging out
poplicious basement punk again.
The formula, simple as it may
be, is still very tasty.
Clock this. You get a guy with a
very low, sensual voice and a bunch
of clever lyrics, Calvin, and let his
talents counteract with Doug’s dis
tinctive whine and guitar arrange
ments. Then you top it off with
some bouncy drumming and Wayne
Flower’s catchy little bass lines.
Their second effort is pretty
much up to par with their last
record, with gems like “Halo
Bender,” “Planned Obsolescence”
and “Volume Mode” maintaining
the sound one has come to expect
from their collaboration.
“Bombshelter Prt. 1” is dyna
mite, its chaotic opening quickly
tripping into a song reminiscent of
“Three Years Ago” from BTS’s de
but.
Without a doubt, Steve Fisk’s
best contribution is his Velvet Un
derground-meets-the-theme-from
“Thxi” keyboard work on the dark
guitar number, “Crankenstein.”
Anyway, word to your moms,
they came to drop bombs, so you
better get your halo bent in prepa
ration.
Actually, don’t bother; Calvin
can just come over and do it for you.
He’s not too busy.
— Matt Kudlacz
Harmony Rockets
“Paralyzed Mind of the Archan
gel Void”
Excelsior Records
Grade: B
Harmony Rockets really may be
the musicians who form Mercury
Rev, but this is certainly not the type
of thing you would find on a Mer
cury Rev record.
Mercury Rev is a band that
writes songs, with a great deal of
sound/noise, that sound great.
This recording, which was done
live at the Rhinecliff Hotel, is some
where between ambient and chaos,
something akin to an orchestra and
a rock band fusing together.
I can make out a french horn, a
drum set, some guitar work, maybe
a synthesizer, possibly a clarinet
and once in a while the occasional
vocal, but only toward the begin
ning.
Only one track long (granted, it
is a 41-minute track), the sound
builds and builds, almost like mu
sical intercourse, giving release
about 38 minutes into the perfor
mance, then allowing a little time
to come down.
“Paralyzed Mind of the Archan
gel Void,” however, is not some
thing to which you can listen fre
quently. After your first listen, put
it away for a while and let it sit.
Then, one night when you’ve got
nothing else to do, turn out the
lights, plug in your headphones, put
in this record and sit there while lis
tening to it.
If you want nothing but a pure
wall of sound for 41 minutes, here’s
your record. But when you’re not
in the mood, go back to Mercury
Rev’s “See You On The Other Side”
and “Boces.”
— Cliff Hicks
invasion or ibsts
Carman
“R.I.O.T. (Righteous Invasion of
TV-uthr
Sparrow
Grade: D
Carman’s newest release,
“R.I.Q.T.,” had possibilities. It re
ally did. By making the press re
lease jacket out of corrugated card
board, someone was making a
unique statement.
Unfortunately, the rest of the
world never will be privy to that
statement because the actual com
pact disc case is really boring (and
not constructed of corrugated card
board).
Even though Carman can sing
(which is quite an accomplish
ment), his gimmicks overshadow
any singing, rapping or talk-sing
ing that appears on the album.
The songs where Carman
doesn’t rap are not too bad, but not
too good, either. They’re just sig
nature Carman stuff.
“Seven Ways 2 Praise” does
have some musicality in it, just not
of Carman’s making; a trumpet ap
pears as part of the gimmick-laden
background and is extremely
worthwhile.
“Whiter Than Snow” is a great
ballad. Unfortunately, it is nine min
utes of ballad, but the gospel choir
and organ accompaniment really
adds to Carman’s vocals.
“Amen” again features a gospel
choir, which adds immense texture
and is arguably the best track on the ,
entire disc.
“Step of Faith” is also notable
because Carman presents an almost
passable country imitation in a song
that’s packaged extremely well.
Fortunately, three of the four
songs just mentioned are available
on singles, so the listener can
choose to avoid Carman’s
“R.I.O.T.”
— Emily Wray
The Drovers
“Little High Sky Show”
Tantrum Records
Grade: A
The sound of The Drovers is
hard to describe. The band sounds
very mellow, very sound oriented,
with a good dosage of melodical ex
perimentation and Celtic rooting.
By combining traditional rock
instruments such as guitars with
not-so-traditional instruments like
violin, mandola d’more, tin whistle
and pump organ, the emergent
sound is fascinating indeed.
One of the most impressive as
pects of the album, however, is its
seamless sound. If you listen to it,
it’s difficult to tell when songs have
changed because of the smooth way
the album flows.
The vocals fade in and out, of
ten into the background, with the
focus on the feel of the music and
the sound itself, rather than on the
verse-chorus-verse structure.
The Drovers don’t really fit into
any set category, taking aspects
from both folk music and the
dreampop movement and blending
them together. “Little High Sky
Show” proves that sound-based
music doesn’t have to be loud to be
effective, nor does it have to be
based on heavily distorted guitars.
The Drovers take music down a
path that’s very rarely walked, if at
all. That’s a shame because the way
is splendid and makes for marvel
ous listening.
Cliff Hicks
Faust
Continued from Page 12
crammed with detail; every hand in
the crowd and dog in the back
ground is meant to be inspected and
enjoyed by itself.
Although heavily influenced by
Albrecht Durer, Cornelius’ own
unique sense of humanistic pathos
is easy to recognize.
In one of the best in the series,
“Prelude on the Stage,” Cornelius
depicts Goethe being assaulted by
an artist, a theater manager and a
common man, each of them de
manding he write a different sort of
play.
While the writer tries to accom
modate them all, the demons, an
gels and other actors in the play al
ready are studying their lines and
straightening their outfits back
stage. Only Lucifer peers through
the curtain of the outdoor stage, to
joke with the audience waiting to
be entertained on a lazy afternoon.
Once the play begins, though,
Faust becomes an agitated, intense
student of a comic Satan, learning
about the joy of love and life only
on his way to damnation. And un
like Charles Dickens* “A Christmas
Carol” self-discovery ends not in
redemption, but tragedy.
In the last picture of the series,
“Scene in Prison,” Faust and his
new-found love, Gretchen, are be
ing led away in different directions:
he by Satan, and she by an angel of
God.
Even in that final moment, the
scholar is still full of Germanic se
i Arrow
Continued from Page 13
Slater is great as the student
tumed-hero, sliding into the role
with particular ease. Between this
and “Bed of Roses,” he should be
enjoying the sweet smell of success
for a while.
Mathis is also pretty good as the
reluctant heroine. The chemistry
between her and Slater is very good,
and it should be; this is their third
film together. (“Pump Up The Vol
ume” and “Femgully: The Last
Rainforest” were the first two.)
Also, look for appearances by
Kurtwood Smith (“Robocop”),
Frank Whaley (“Pulp Fiction”) and
Bob Gunton (“The Shawshank Re
demption”).
Travolta is the master of this
film, though. His maniacal, wise
cracking bad guy is completely
over the top (another Woo require
ment) and Travolta looks as though
he’s loving every minute of it. The
mixed responses to “Get Shorty”
and lukewarm reviews of “White
Man’s Burden” are cast to the way
side. Travolta, as the ear-to-ear grin- "
ning nuclear terrorist, conveys atti
tude just by the way he smokes a
cigarette.
Over-the-top performances, ac
tion and violence all come together
to make “Broken Arrow” an incred
ible film. Down some extra caffeine
just to give the action a little extra
kick.
Imax
Continued from Page 12
(OK, OK. He read the paper. I
napped.) ,
By 6 p.m., it was time to go in
for the movie I had awaited all day
with eager anticipation. We showed
up early because the museum people
said “Rolling Stones: At The Max”
was an almost sold-out show, and
they were right—it was pretty much
elbow-to-elbow all the way around.
At 90 minutes, the show also
lasted a lot longer than other IMAX
films. It was also the first IMAX fea
ture-length film. It wasn’t just “a
concert film,” but a total experience.
The cameras take you up on the
stage — both in front and in back
— during overseas performances of
the Rolling Stones’ “Steel Wheels”
and “Urban Jungle” tours. These
guys make rock ‘n’ roll look easy
already, but “Rolling Stones: At The
Max” makes you a part of the
group’s party.
The immensity of the concert can
only be enjoyed in an IMAX setting,
showing you what Mick Jagger of
ten sees as he is jumping and pranc
ing about: sometimes a sea of black
ness, other times thousands upon
thousands of fans, all clapping and
moving in unison.
This was also a great showing for
the IMAX six-channel surround
sound system, which not only gave
you the crystal-clear tunes of the
Stones, but put the sound of the au
dience all around you to give the
“you-are-there” feel.
Granted, the $ 12 admission price
seemed a bit steep for a 90-minute
movie, but in the end, it was defi
nitely worth it.
So that was it. Three IMAX films
and a full day in Hastings were be
hind us as we headed north to Inter
state 80, with BobJSeger tunes fol
lowing us along.
We made it.
DmtKmv
About
1-800-DIABETES
* a program of
XV.American Diabetes Association.
