page four
Floyd's newest heads list
By Bryan Smith
Columnist
All you readers out there in
"Guilco" can consider this
column a Christmas shopping
guide; this Christmas, let's pray
for snow and remember to think
pink.lf you have already bought
a smokeless ashtray for your
sweetheart, then you might
contemplate giving your teen
age sister a Mr. Microphone. It
might come in handy for slum
ber parties.
I decided against giving an
automatic button-holder to a
close friend of mine, and have
Album
Review
withdrawn my order for a metric
tape measure roller from San
ta's mailbox. Instead, Pink
Floyd's new album, The Wall,
will head my gift list.
I will go as far as to say that
this is my choice for album of
the the year. A double album
consisting of relatively short
cuts, this is the first album
Floyd has released since 1977.
Animals was cut early in that
year, and was somewhat of a
departure from earlier Floyd
albums.
Animals broke some tradi
tions and precedents that the
band had previously set for
their music themselves. It rock
ed harder, and the dreamy,
aprj i HF JH
B^W f: I
Bassist Mark Egan provided the rhythm and the drive as Pat
Metheny gave a great show at puke University.
acoustic tunes that make Pink
Floyd sound so uniquely plea
sant, only opened and closed
the album.
The Wall has returned to the
placid and sometimes illusio
nary qualities of the acoustic
based melodies, and incorpora
ted them with the best of the
high energy ideas that were
brought to life in Animals
The lyrics on the album are
written by Roger Waters. David
Cilmour, lead guitarist, cola
borates with Waters on the
music of three of the cuts.
However, though Waters wrote
the majority of the material on
The Wall, Pink Floyd
the album, Cilmour produced
the Ip, therefore, in reality, it is
more of a joint effort on the part
of Gilmour and Waters than one
might originally think.
Structurally, the album is
sound. Although the album is
dominated by short cuts, it is in
no way a commercial, "pop"
attempt, common theme, "the
wall" ties the work together.
"The Wall" itself, is an
existentialist entity. It is not
necessarily representaive of one
particular thought; instead it
has a fickle character that
makes "the wall" symbolic only
of a force that has an incapacita
ting quality to it. In some cases
on the album, "the wall" is
Guilfordian
merely a material object; in
others, it is a meta-physical idea
that has a profound impact on
its victim.
Yet, at other times, this
fickle, illusionary quality of
"the wall" can also make "the
wall" a very desirable goal. Due
to a continual melody line
throughout the tunes, the image
of "the wall" becomes almost
haunting to the listener.
The album proves that Floyd
can musically still travel off into
unknown spaces. On side three
of the album, Gilmour takes
melodic guitar runs into obli
vion. Yet, Floyd is attempting to
communicate this message of
"the wall" to a wider audience.
So Cilmour's runs tend to instill
a tranquil, contemplative feel
ing in the listener.
"The Wall" is meant to be
listened to, and then related to.
If one cannot relate to the
album, on whatever level, then
they have met one form of "the
wall." But, if you happen to buy
it, instead of the "Ranco" fish
scaler, you may have crossed
"the wall." Merry Christmas!
Zappa not bad . . . or cheap
By Rolf Darnann
Columnist
Was Albert Einstein the
Jesus Christ of science? Who
knows? Is Frank Zappa the
Jesus Christ of music? Who
knows?
Should Frank have vanished
into Suzy Creamcheese after
portraying our conceptual sta
tue of liberty as a pernicious
prioress in his first album
"FREAK OUT"? Who knows?
Is the new Zappa album Joe's
Garage [parts 2 & 3] available at
your favorite record haven? I
know. . . it is.
Many feel that Zappa amply
accomplished his mission on
"Freak Out" and should have
called it quits; well, he didn't.
That was past, we don't want
him to, this is present so let's
talk about the new Frank and
Joe
From a musical standpoint,
the album is great, we find
some of Zappa's best guitar
work on such inspirational
tracks as "He Used To Cut The
Grass" and "Outside Now."
Looking ahead into the realm of
dollar signs, we find "Joe" an
expensive piece of Iranian oil
based vinyl, but that's the price
Planets explain Christmas Star
An unusual grouping of seve
ral bright planets this winter
may give a clue to the origin of
the Christmas Star, says Robert
Hoyle, an intern at the More
head Planetarium at the Uni
versity of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
"Over the next five months,
Mars and Jupiter will appear to
pass close to each other three
times," Hoyle said "That's
called a triple conjunction The
W M
Pat Metheny jams out at a great concert! Metheney and his
band were at Duke University last Tuesday, December 4.
one must pay to follow this type
of saga.
The three album set was
released in two separate pac
kages to curb cost; ever try to
buy a three record set without
mortgaging the wife and kids?
If one doesn't wish to dish out
the bills, one can pursue a
cheaper saga, say, "The Hardy
Boys" books or "The Hobbit".
Now for the plot: We find Joe
getting some friendly advise
from L. Ron Hoover at the first
church of Appliantology. Joe is
told that he has a sexual craving
for an appliance, but he must
learn German in order to get
one (German house, this is for
you).
Joe learns German and
encounters a glib appliance
named Sy Borg who is your
everyday XQJ-37 nuclear
powered pansexual Roto-ploo
ker
Now a few unmentionable
events. . . and a few more. . .
just more. Now Joe gets a real
work over from the bloodsuck
ing record company execu
tives. . . You'll have to get the
album to hear the rest.
Although Zappa claims that
Joe's problems with the record
current public program at the
planetarium, 'Star of Bethle
hem," suggests that a similar
grouping of planets may have
been the Christmas Star that led
the Wise Men to Bethlehem.
"Of course, the planets don't
really move back and forth. This
is an optical illusion from our
earth-based viewpoint.
"Imagine a race track with
the planets as the cars. When a
faster moving planet, such as
December 11, 1979
companies are not executives.
You'll have to get the album to
hear the rest.
Although Zappa claims that
Joe's problems with the record
are not neccessarily reflective of
his war with Warner Brothers,
it seems that way. It appears
that Zappa (who now has his
own record label and can do so)
is very actively striking back at
the record companies using that
great philosophy of "don't get
mad, get even".
Some of the references to
these record company execu
tives are too harsh for me to
believe that Zappa isn't getting
in a few well-deserved punches
of his own.
The song "Outside Now"
brings forth the contempt that
Zappa has for these exec, and
the guitar solo at the end stands
as a tribute to those musicians
who never made it through the
Money Making American Way
Music Factoria.
"These executives have
plooked the -- out of me and
there's still a long time to go
before I've paid my debt to
society and all I ever really
wanted to do was play the
guitar."
Earth, passes a slower one,
such as Jupiter or Mars, the
slower planet appears to stop
and back up in the sky. Once the
Earth has passed, the slower
planet again appears to move
forward.
This "backing up" of plan
ets, Hoyle said, is called retro
grade motion, and it accounts
for the unusual movement of
Mars and Jupiter seen in this
winter's sky.