Ray Charles to Perform
Jill Stricklin
“Genius of Soul,” Ray Charles,
will be performing at the Givens Perform
ing Arts Center at the Pembroke State
University campus on Friday, November
13. Charles’s renowned style of gospel
and blues has won him over 20 Grammy
Awards. He will be playing at Pembroke
with his 17 piece ensemble, “The Ray
Charles Orchestra,” and the four “Ray-
letts”.
Charles has been on the road
doing concerts for at least five months a
year for the last 35 years. Although no two
concerts are alike, the format is consistent.
The concert consists of three acts: a band
instrumental, Ray and the band, and Ray,
the band, and the Rayletts. Charles has
never been known to perform an encore,
so you can leave your lighters at home. A
musician since before he lost his sight at
age 7, Ray Charles considers himself a
singer and pianist rather than a songwriter,
an odd view for a man who composed such
classics as “I Got A Woman,” “What’d
I Say,” and “Hallelujah, I Love Her So”.
Ray Charles will play two shows
at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Friday,
November 13, at the Givens Performing
Arts Center at Pembroke. Tickets are
$12.50 and can be obtained at the Quick
Copy in Holly Square Plaza in Laurinburg
or reserved with a charge card by calling
521-0778.
Swansea Debates Pound
Steve Skinner's
Reviews by Steve Skinner
Columnist’s Note - There comes a time, as
the old saying goes, when a man must kick
back and relax - in this case, pretend it's
summer all over again. And due to
the overwhelmingly strong summer
releases that made it big in the
progressive music scene, it's time
pull the favorites out once again and
give them one more hot spin...
Echo & the Bunnymen
“Echo & the Bunnymen”
Sire Records, Tapes, and CDs
Echo & the Who-men? Bunny
men?
The days of the unknown have
taken their last whimsical laugh, as Echo &
the Bunnymen now share the lime-light
with the best of progressive bands these
days. One might ask why as they listen
to studio-controlled, unabrasive, lyric
conscious, almost sing-along spectacles of
modem rock music. Why, that is, these
guys have had such a hard time selling
records, in this age of electronic, 80’s
style compositions - when bands like the
Pet Shop Boys, Level 42, the Thompson
Twins, and Talk Talk make it on the first
come- around. The fact is and remains that
they’re not in the same league.
Echo and the Bunnymen have
always had their own distinctive sound,
unlike their mentors who make it big with
pop-glazed, sometimes meaningless, lyri
cal and personal style. The band is stylish.
They survive on clever lyrics, foreign vocal
distinctiveness, and earnest pleas to not be
the next pop favorite.
On their latest release, aptly
titled, “Echo & the Bunnymen,” the four
guys caught in a surburban British zeal,
head back to the basics, with tunes that take
time to grasp. It’s a far cry from the melodic
hit of last year, “Bring on the Dancin’
Horsemen.” Instead, it’s a narrow focus on
what made them different; the type of
sound that could only vaguely be repeated
(most notably on the most recent Church
release, “Heyday”). It’s an echo-filled,
hollow, yet on-target release of the
Bunnymen’s well remembered “Porcu
pine” and “Crocodile,” releases in the early
age of modem rock.
The singles favorites from this
one include, “The Game,” and “Lips Like
Sugar” (which repeats itself like a upstage,
punk version of a Doors classic). Others
worth mentioning include “Over You”, and
“All in Your Mind”, which are chock full
of sustained, upbeat guitar-levied
rhythms from the band’s four-stringed
wizard. Will Sergeant. The open-hearted
lyrics are sung in a undertone by Ian
McCulloch, rather than in a brash, abra-
Disc Spin
siveness found on the band’s spear-headed
concert releases. The live Echo is not the
studio Echo, but sometimes I like it when
they do it clean, ya know what I mean?
This is a must for Echo fans, espe
cially those from the early releases. It’s
also one for those who want a crisp edge on
the world of modem rock’n’roll releases.
Take some time out for this one, it might
just reel you into the real world of rock
music.
New Order
“Substance”
Qwest Records, Tapes, and CDs
This one undoubtedly tops the list
for summer releases that made it big this
fall. New Order, a well-noted and highly
acclaimed dance band in England com
prised of former Joy Division members,
released their British remix hits collection
only to explode on dance clubs across the
United States this fall.
The album which contains iheir
previous eleven best dance cuts, some
remixed for the occasion, includes a new
cut which has ridden on high testimony
these many months of late summer and
early autumn. The remix of “True Faith,”
filled with.electrifying gravitational mood
swings and zippy base rhythms, is a
scorcher this unusually hot fall season. In
fact, the 12-inch release has received just
about as much recognition by dance clubs
as has the album at this point in time.
However, the album will journey onwards
and outward in months to come. It will, by
its simple virtue as “the” New Order collec
tion, survive, if not thrive, on the many
sweat glazed, beat intensive dance floors
across the country. For those wishing to
escape the monetary burden (and heavy
search ordeal) ofbuying (after locating) all
their previous releases, this may be the
essential cut to grab soon.
On the double dance long-play,
you’ll find a host of spectacular cuts; some
pulsating in a mind-bending frenzy, others
thriving on a steady, lush rotation, as
sounds surround the entire listening room.
It’s headphones only if you’re lucky
enough to behold the compact disc version
of the album. Better to the beholder, the
CD contains not twelve, but twenty-four
milestones in the New Order tradition. In
fact, the true collection is found only on
CD, as New Order explores the whole
realm in laser disc technology. Believe me,
this one offers the ultimate for high end
systems and enough digits to feed on for the
rest of your mathematical career.
This one is for night people as cuts
like the commercial spinster, “Shell
Shock,” the labor-intensive, “Sub-Cul-
Jiil Stricklin
Charleen Swansea, nationally
renowned writer and educator, read her
newly published False Teeth at the Writer’s
Forum on October 29. The manuscript of
Swansea’s third book, a semi-autobio-
graphical novel describing her experiences
with poet, Ezra Pound, was destroyed in a
fire. Swansea has since rewritten and pub
lished the first section of this novel, the title
of which. False Teeth, has a double en
tendre. Not only does the novel involve
literal false teeth, but Swansea deals with
the human problem of striving with false
courage to become the image which we set
for ourselves.
Swansea’s writing is wonder
fully frank and endearingly human.
Swansea develops the story of a fanciful
ture,” and the British cult fave, “Blue
Monday,” explode after-hours when the
evening dusk arrives so soon. With well
over an hour of blazing, ear-ringing club
notables, try this one with a vengeance!
The Silencers
“A Letter From St. Paul”
RCA Records, Tapes, and CDs
It’s time for a new band to break
on the scene, and break on the scene they
have, as these Scotsmen show in their
major label release for RCA. The band’s
leaders, Cha Bums and singer-guitarist
Jimme O’Neill, landed the band recently
after eight years of American silence (they
were last team- mates in the band, Finger-
printz, which received little notice here in
the States).
This song-writing duo chooses to
focus on Christianity and issues, therein,
extend forth throughout this fine release.
It’s a pop-standard sound, with out-lined
and heavy-laden keyboard accompani
ment The raw edge relies on electronic
and idealistic college girl on a quest for
fame with often hilarious insightfulness.
Swansea’s viewpoint of Pound’s persona
is unique, providing a new facet to the
knowledge of the life of Ezra Pound
which is at once informative and entertain
ing.
Concluding Swansea’s presenta
tion was a discussion of the nature and im
plications of insanity. The debate, which
Swansea initialed by questioning the
sanity of Pound, instigated many thought-
provoking and occassionally heated opin
ions from both the speaker and the audi
ence.
Next week’s Writer’s Forum will
feature President John Casteen of the
University of Connecticut, who will read
from his fiction.
guitar-work which ravages on in soft-
strum technique throughout the works. I
like the extended, yet solemn vocals which
stretch for something they never seem to
achieve, but like a stream seem to flow
toward. Vocally, it’s fun to listen to and
spiritually it makes you feel good - honest
lyrics that might have a smooth edge on the
rock’n’roll scene present today with hard
line viewpoints and unfocused heady pro
jections of what’s in store around the cor
ner.
“I See Red,” lakes a gallant step
forward, and as a cut, should see lots of
radio airplay throughout the season.
“Painted Moon” is the cut that more than
seems to move. This humming beauty
takes a load off the world today as it
poetically strives for mutual partnership
in a outlandish, almost impossible world of
extremes. Takealistento“God’sGift” and
“Blue Desire” for the spiritual side. It’s a
ride well taken and close to an hour of
smooth, melodic splendor often vacant
from the types of music that ring around
the world these days.