October 29,1987
THE LANCE
page 9
4rts & Entertainmf^nt
Steve Skinner's Disc Spin
Reviews by Steve Skinner
The Smiths Strangeways, Here We Come
Sire Records, Tapes, and CDs
The Smiths have yet another new
American release in short succession fol
lowing the spring release of their British
hits collection, “Louder Than Bombs.” On
a sad note, this could be the last in a string
of great Smiths albums with the recent
Morrissey-Marrs split - Marrs leaving the
band over highly speculated reasons. It’s
truly a song-writing talent combination
destined to go down in history as one of
the finest during the progressive rock era.
So “Strangeways, Here We
Come,” with a “Push and a Rush” leading
the way. This cut is caught up in a trap at
first, escaping later from the eerie echo (tu
bular) beginning. It rolls in painful, yet
pure, urgency and consistency. Another
key U'ack, “Death of a Disco Dancer,”
breaks into a new sound for the Smiths
which is not at all uncommon. It’s a
strange, piano-laced, pull and strain that
moves forward at a stressed rate. The end
builds into a powerful guitar strum, when
effectively, the band pulls a stringy out
stretch, extending the track into “Girlfriend
In a Coma,” the British hit single from the
album’s overseas counterpart, “The World ^
Won’t Listen.” This single just finished
ripping the charts over the summer in Eng
land, and is wildly poised to do the same
in the Slates. It’s really a simple ballad fea
turing the sort of silly twist the band does
best. And at last, Morrissey screams, “It’s
serious!”
The other side of this seemingly
sideless disc features “Last Night I Dreamt
that Somebody Loved Me” - a pseudo
ballad that builds on soupy strings and a
much hallowed Morrissey wail. “Un
happy Birthday” is my favorite this time
around. The lyrics tell it all...
“I’ve come to wish you a un
happy birthday,
because you’re evil and you lie
and if
you should die, I may feel
slightly sad,
(But I won’t cry) . . . No, I’m
going to
kill my dog.”
The inside sleeve of the record is even plas
tered with XXX’s and OOO’s (surely to be
picked up soon by your local Hallmark
store - What a neat way to send someone a
unhappy birthday!). In short, I like the cut
because it’s short, snappy, and truly British
in tone.
This disc is full of other Smiths
classics I have not the time nor the space
to mention. Crave it, buy it, and wail along
with it. This may very well be the last of its
kind.
Jesus & Mary Chain
Darklands Warner Bros. Records, Tapes,
and CDs
The Jesus & Mary Chain may well
be one of the world’s most fashionable
bands out today. They have, over the
course of the last two years, become widely
known and accepted if not for their raw
sound, then for the beauty that lies beneath.
This time out the beauty is un
earthed as the band does away with its
progressive staple of “airplane liftoff’-
heavy laden layers of fuming feedback that
once covered warm and melodic accous-
tically inlayed workings of fine, mystic
sound. This progressiveness found on
1985’s “Psychocandy,” provided just what
the band needed to break through. And
several of their cuts from that release,
namely “Just Like Honey” and “Some
Candy Talking,” made it big as English
singles on the top of the foreign pop charts.
It’s now 1987 and their major
label debut on Warner Brothers Records is
haunting alternative album stations across
the country. Jesus And Mary Chain are
dark and the “Darklands” provide that
needed boundary (or happy hunting
ground) necessary for their obviously
unique moldings of musicalmagic. Top re
leases as singles from the album include
“April Skies” (an early spring release over
seas) and “Happy When itRains” - both en
tities of flagrant, yet harmonious accousti-
cal style. Breathless vocals and shrouded
lyrics make up the eternal basis on which
this follow-up rotates and shines.
The real pleasure releases on side
two as the band places emphasis on the
ballad, complete with soft, sexual over
tones. “Cherry Came Too”, “On the Wall”,
and especially “About You,” sum up the
focus of the band. They continue to build
on the theme they set up with “Psy
chocandy.” Even without the progressive
sting of feedback, this band can move an
audience. They’ve taken away the edge,
concentrated on melodic purity, and pro
vided the essence of beauty in today’s pro
gressive rock scene.
Pink Floyd
Momentary Lapse of Reason
Columbia/CBS Inc. Records, Tapes, and
CDs
“A Momentary Lapse of Re^n”
is a good justification for this otherwise
misunderstood (rockin’ the grave) release.
The Floyd has gone Water-less (Roger
Waters opting for his solo work instead -
he’s totally against the band’s use of the
Pink Floyd name) - thus providing a
murky, unacceptable, and incomplete re
sult for the band to wade through for some
time to come.
Don’t misunderstand however,
the disc is solid as ice and its coolness
shows. The instrumentation is apparent,
the Floydian psychology obvious, yet the
sheer energy and melodic arrangement
(strangement!) under Waters’ direction
has disappeared. Where has the concept
gone? The mystic? The power? The
energy?
The album cover surfaces with
an ocean breeze of freshness. Who would
of thought of placing a mental ward on the
beach and stretching it to eternity? For
album cover collectors this is a must!
The cuts are familiar. We’ve all
heard this Floyd play before. In fact, taken
are some of the best effects, many straight
from the classics - at times, only the song
titles are different. The music is eerie,
quaint, free, static, moving and even para
noic - spreading from one realm into an
other, It’s even loose at times and some
times moody.
The opening cuts march forward
with familiar sensations that only Floyd can
conjure. Suikingguitarjabs and echoes of
loose, flowing rhythms abound. It’s some
of the best of the early albums. Included are
bits and pieces of “Meddle,” “Animals,”
“Wish You Were Here,” and “Piper at the
Gates of Dawn.” But it all rages as a mere
anthem to what was once the one, true
progressive band. Let’s celebrate the clas
sics and enjoy the new, but as far as the best
ever? Never.
It seems a “final cut” would not be
enough. In this age of multi-plaiinum
supergroups, and unhealthy (down right
decrepid) reformations, we have to accept
yet another in the big bill, big bucks series
(as if the Monkees, the Grateful Dead,
Boston, and Lynryd Skynryd weren’t
enough). It’s funny what a little bit of
money does in the world today.
Again, the fact most apparent in
this new work is the missing Waters talent.
He was the brainchild behind the band and
the masterful creator of Floydian witch
craft.
Only lime will tell if ihis release
is Uuly to live up to the classic Floyd
releases of the 70’s. Buy it. Enjoy it. It’s
Pink and it’s Floyd, but it’s obviously dry
without the Waters.
O'Keeffe Centennial to be
Musically Celebrated
Jill Stricklin
The celebration of the 100th birih-
day of renowned American artist, Georgia
O’Keeffe, will not only involve a
retrospective of her collected works, but
also the innovational performance of a
musical piece which was inspired by
O’Keeffe’s artwork. Entitled
“Black Bird, Red Hills”, the
newly commissioned chambcr music
piece for clarinet, piano, and soprano is a
multi-media presentation which features
reproductions of seven O’Keeffe paintings.
“Black Bird, Red Hills” is the brainchild of
Thea Sikora Engelson, accomplished solo
ist and music professor at St. Andrews
Presbyterian College, and B. Scott
Bridges, clarinetist and associate profes
sor at the University of Alabama. The
composition itself is the work of former
Composer-in-Residence of the Minnesota
Orchestra and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Libby
Larsen. The ideaforamusical tribute to the
work of O’Keeffe was conceived one
evening at a pool party when both Engel
son and Bridges were leaching at
Governor’s School East on the campus of
St. Andrews. They contacted Larsen, a
'college friend of Engelson, who agreed to
compose the piece.
O’Keeffe’s life and works were
researched by Engelson and Bridges in
order to provide Larsen with information to
aid in her composition. O’Keeffe, al
though she was originally from the mid
west and spent her young adulthood in
New York, had strong tics to the south
east. Engelson pointed out that O’ Kceffe
herself drew a strong parallel between vis-
Thea Engelson
ual art and music. “She really felt that one
of the great U'ansition points in her life came
at the University of Virginia. It was there
that she began writing that music could be
visual. Some of her pieces painted at this
time were inspired by music,” remarked
Engelson. “I was surprised by the number
of singing references occurring through
out her life. She described ‘singing
shapes’ and said that if she were reincar
nated, she would like to come back as a
soprano because she felt that singing was
the ultimate means of expression. She
said,’I can’t sing, so I paint,’” Engelson
pointed out. Thus, a musical tribute in volv-
s*e O'Keeffe, p»ge 12