The Columns
November/December 1988
The A.A.E. Experience
By Jamie Marks
GETTING THAT
On Wednesday, November
6th, Louisburg College was
introduced to Awareness Art
Ensemble. A.A.E. is a very
popular reggae band on the
East coast. They’re originally
from Richmond, Virginia.
They play many colleges,
functions, and clubs while
they’re on tour. This was the
first reggae experience for
Louisburg and some students.
The turnout was not as large as
many expected, due to limited
advertising. The chosen few
that attended enjoyed the show
immensely. The band played
mostly originals and a couple
of covers, including “Buffalo
Soldier,” a classic Bob Marley
tune. I would like to thank the
college, on behalf of the student
body, for having A.A.E. play.
I
The Awareness Art Ensemble
Photo by Jamie Marks
MOVIE
REVIEWS
by ^usan Hendricks
staff writer
THE Accused* Starring
Kelly McGillis and Jodie Foster
THE ACCUSED is a movie
based on the true story of one
woman’s plight with gang
rape. Jodie Foster acted very
well as the uneducated rape
victim. She had a great scene in
the court trail.
, Kelly McGillis played a very
smart and concerned lawyer
who also became a good friend
to Foster’s character in the end.
The movie itself was good
even though they did actually
show the rape scene.
PUNCHLINE* Starring Tom
Hanks and Sally Field
A very funny movie. It shows
Tom Hanks in a different view.
He helps a woman become a
stand-up comedian. Hanks
shows .more personal feelings
than humor. Sally Field is
pretty good as a comedienne
and housewife. Hanks and
Field do well together.
FRESH HORSES* Moll-
Ringwald and Andrew
McCarthy
A bizarre love story but
touching. Andrew McCarthy
plays an engaged college
student. Molly Ringwald is
good as a poor country girl.
This is a movie that you have to
watch very closely. It is
confusing at times. Whenever
McCarthy and Ringwald get
together it’s always a success.
U2 RA TTLE AND HUM*
U2 is excellent. A very
colorful and artistic movie. If
you like Chriatian or social
music, you will like this movie.
There are a lot of clips from
their concerts. The band proves
ihemselves well as actors. It is
worth seeing.
This past month has been a
busy one for music lovers.
There have been releases by
Mettalica, Keith Richards,
Fishbone, The Feelies, and
David Sanborn. There have
also been some disappoint
ments by otherwise great acts
like U2 and R.E.M. Then there
are the others, Bon Jovi, Randy
Newman, and the Escape Club.
I’ll give my personal opinion of
some new releases and some
concerts I attended. I’ll try to be
fair and I welcome reader
comments, good and bad.
One of the great surprises of
1988 has been the first Keith
Richards solo album. Talk is
Cheap. This album has a huge
Rolling Stones feel to it, as
expected. It is a rough-edged,
even sloppy album that is
underproduced and very loose.
That is why it is such a great
album. It is fun to listen to and
it shows why Keith Richards is
one of the most enduring and
talented musicians in rock
history.
The new Metallica, . . .And
Justice For All, is a heavy metal
landmark. If I could have had
this album when I was in eighth
grade (my heavy metal prime), I
would have been the happiest
kid on earth. The shortest song
on the double album is five
minutes and twelve seconds,
and its intensity is no less than
any other epic on the album.
Metallica is the daddy’s of
modern heavy metal, so if you
are going to listen to metal, this
is the band for you. For the
people who don’t listen to
heavy metal and want to, . . .
And Justice For All is the
albimi to experiment with, and
for the people who already like
heavy metal, happy head
banging!
Whoever said females
couldn’t play in good bands has
been proven wrong by The
Screaming Trees and Sonic
Youth. Both groups feature
great female bass players. The
two bands are very different
though. I saw the Screaming
Trees with Firehose in Chapel
Hill this month. The Trees
were great. They have a sixties
garage band-type sound that
thrashes loud and hard. The
Sonic Youth are more of a
murky complicated band.
Their new release. Daydream
Nation, certainly lives up to the
group’s name. I love the
album. It’s very intense and
often overindulges. It can beat
itself into the ground at some
points, but overall the album is
a definite achievement that
should only be ignored by top
' 40 lovers.
Close Up, the new release by
jazz artist David Sanborn is a
prime example of why compact
discs were made; this guide
simply is the best sounding CD
I’ve heard in a long time.
Sanborn is a great saxophonist
who mixes pop and jazz sound
perfectly on Close Up. This
album is great to “cuddle up”
to. It is relaxing, easy to lister
to, and very entertaining. In all
everything you could hope for
in a jazz album. Even though i
have a rock and roll heart I stil!
need a break once in a while
and Close Up is the perfect
remedy.
They Might Be Giants is one
of the most interesting bands
around. They consist of a
guitar player and an
accordian player. They feature
fun, catchy, sing-along tunes
that are original and funny.
Lincoln is their new album. It
features such treasures as,
“They’ll need a crans,” and
“PurpleTotipee.” Lincoln
must for the intelligent listener
who doesn’t mind being
different and having fun.
The Feelies new release Only
Life is a mellow, hypnotic
album. It features easy-to-
swallow rock music, with a
Velvet Underground feel. It
gets fast paced on some songs
and isn’t mellow in the strictest
sense on some songs. Like most
albums, this one you have to
hear for yourself. I like it but it
probably won’t appeal to the
masses. Great, huh?
There were a couple of
disappointments in the last
month. Rattle and Hum is the
first. Don’t get me wrong; U2 is
one of my favorite groups but
Rattle and “Ho-Hum” is not
good U2. It’s a safe album; it
features “Helter Skelter,” the
most American Beatles song,
“The Star Spangled Banner,”
and a couple of Bo Diddley
influenced songs. It has a song
with 'Bob Dylan and a song
with B.B. King - how safe can
you get? I loved U2 when they
were different and original and
knew where their place was.
Come on guys, you can do
better than this; you’ve already
proven that.
The second disappointment
is R.E.M.’s Green. I feel bad
talking about this band because
I almost worshipped them for
two years. Green is repetitive,
commercial, and not worth the
vinyl it was printed on. R.E.M.
was great when they were
murky and dark. Wasn’t is a joy
not to be able to understand
Michael Stipe’s voice? Now it’s
clear as a button and terrible.
They sound more like Bryan
By Ford Peny
Staff writer
Adams than R.E.M. If you are
going to buy a R.E.M. album,
buy Chronic Town or Murmer
and you’ll have one of the
classic albums of the past 25
years. Leave Green on the shelf
where it belongs.
Bon Jovi’s new release is New
Jersey. I have no comment on
this commercial trash except to
ask why it exists in the first
place. They should be touring
the malls with Tiffany.
The last album I will
comment on is the best.
Fishbone’s Truth and Soul is
the best album of 1988 by a
landslide. I cannot say enough
about this album; it is
incredible. The album is a
mixture of soul, funk, new
wave, punk, and acoustic music
that has no weak points. It
opens with the rocker,
“Freddie’s Dead,” that tells of a
drug user that dies from his
addiction and no one cares. If
you are tired of hearing about
.drugs, fine; it’s got a great beat
! and will get the dead moving in
their grave. “Deep Inside” and
“Subliminal Facism” are hard
driving punkrockers that make
even the hardest head bangers
wonder what they’ve been
missing. These guys are
energetic, emotional, eclectic,
intellectual, and just plain fun.
Truth and Soul even has an
acoustic tune, “Change” that is
as moving or more than any top
forty ballad, and it has
meaning! Fishbone is the best
band of 1988. They combine
raw talent with energy and
passion and cannot be
compared to any group in rock
history. Listen to this album
closely a couple of times and
the rest will be history. Go see
them live and you will be
hooked forever, you’ll have the
“Fishbone Feeling.” Fishbone
is red hot and is not cooling off.
Ever.
My ranking of the concerts I
attended this past month are as
follows:
1. Fishbone-Wilmington, NC
2. Fishbone-Raleigh
3. Firehose/Screaming Trees-
Chapel Hill
4. Fishbone-Greenville
5. Robert Plant-Chapel Hill
6. Prince-Greensboro
7. They Might Be Giants-
Raleigh
8. Bob Dylan-Chapel Hill
9. Robert Cray/Evan Johns
and the H-Bombs-Raleigh
10. The Moody Blues-Raleigh