idthe tar 'HeelThursday, July 13,
Crenshaw back on the night track -
Marshall Crenshaw's dazzling
debut left him in the unenviable po
sition of having to follow it up. His
releases since then, including Down
town and Mary Jean and Nine Oth
ers, have drawn disappointing reviews
and a largely indifferent public. Cren
shaw's latest, Good Evening, like his
others since Marshall Crenshaw, fails
to completely live up to the promise
of his debut But Good Evening is an
impressive step in the right direction.
Judging from the liner notes, this
would seem to be a fabulous album.
One is left to figure out exactly why
Good Evening isn't the classic it
should be.
Crenshaw surrounds himself with
top-notch talent Drummer extraor
dinaire Kenny Aronoff (John Mellen
camp) appears on most songs. Other
guests include David Lindley, Sonny
Landreth, the Bodeans and Syd Straw.
From Crenshaw' s original trio, brother
Robert Crenshaw makes only two
appearances on backing vocals. Chris
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Brian Springer
Album
Donato is completely absent
Producers David Kershenbaum and
Phil McKenna undermine Crenshaw's
sound at some points with overpro
duction. Most times, they don't inter
fere with Crenshaw's straightforward,
tuneful rock V roll. But keyboards
are occasionally allowed to intrude
with negative results. Kershenbaum
and McKenna do succeed in helping
Crenshaw sow country influences at
many points', some of the highlights
of the album.
To Crenshaw's credit, he takes
chances, both in terms of personnel
and material. Few artists would under
take the challenge of covering songs
by John Hiatt and Richard Thompson
on the same album. That many of the
risks do not succeed is not as impor-
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tant as the attempt, in this case. One
can't help but wonder if Crenshaw
has lost confidence to some degree
with cover songs being almost half
the album. In any case, Good Eve
ning is his best release since his de
but To begin, the most unsuccessful
song on the album is the first single,
Diane Warren's "Some Hearts." The
song itself is not so bad, but it is a
slick, predetermined hit. Poppish,
hooky and keyboard heavy, this song
will be at home on summer radio.
However, it can't hold a candle to
most Marshall Crenshaw tunes.
Both sides of the album open with
a strong Crenshaw composition.
"Should've Been There" is a winner,
with clear chord changes and hooks
galore. Aronoff 's drumming on this
track is uncharacteristically un-note-worthy.
Bassist Graham Maby gives
this song its fire. In loneliness, Cren
shaw sings, "The only friend I had in
sieht was an emDtY chair You
should've been there." Side two opens
with On the Run, wnicn, lixe Cren
shaw's best, recycles dozens of clas
sic hooks and incorporates tnem into
the same song. As with the Smither
eens, his strongest work seems liKe a
long-lost greatest hits compilation
Desktop
ware or a certain computer."
Most of Desktop PubUsmng s
business is newsletters, magazines and
books, Gardner said. It also produces
resumes and pamphlets, she said, ana
gets some "vanity press" work
people publishing their own novels.
"The big problem witn newslet
ters is having a client who's not or
ganized enough to give you the ma
terial all at once," Gardner said. "Most
of the clients we have know nothing
about design, and the battle is to get
the customer to be really well organ
ized in terms of content and to let me
do the design."
The newsletters are usually four-to-eight
pages long. The magazines
are longer, and Gardner said that the
biggest problem with them is re-editing
if the magazine runs longer than
about six pages. That is why she likes
to have all of the copy at the start,
she said.
August 16th!
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t' ''
from the Sixties.
While John Hiatt's "Someplace
Where Love Can't Find Me" and
Richard Thompson's "Valerie" are
given passable treatments here, both
lack the songwriters' unique vocal
gifts (Bonnie Raitt is a more fitting
singer for Hiatt songs). Crenshaw's
voice seems out of place. The song
still works, though, largely because
of Hiatt's amazing songwriting abil
ity. "Valerie" seems more natural for
Crenshaw. The version here, a rock-abilly-ish
stomp powered by Aro
noff S drumming, is faster than Th
ompson's own.
"Radio Girl" is another Crenshaw
penned winner. One of several country-influenced
tracks, the song fea
tures Steven Conn's piano and a slide
guitar courtesy of David Lindley
(Sonny Landreth plays remarkable
slide through most of the album).
Crenshaw spins a classic rock yarn,
singing an ode to the D.J. who "rocks
away (his) blues."
One of the best covers is the Isley
Brothers' "Live It Up." Crenshaw
gives it a proper rock treatment. Even
if his singing is not powerful or soul
ful enough for the original, Crenshaw
gives it a valiant eliort. 1 his track is
surprisingly successful.
Books present few problems and
are "relatively easy," Gardner said,
because of the few style elements to
worry about Therefore the client,
intimidated by the size of the project,
will usually give her "carte blanche,"
she said.
A book about soil science for a
North Carolina State University group,
a training manual for a chiropractor
and a music theory book for a music
instructor are examples of books
produced by the company. Gardner
is still working on the music theory
book, and it has required her to learn
another software program a mu
sic notation program that plays the
music back using the computer's
sound system so that the music can
be checked.
Books are typed on Microsoft
Word, imported to PageMaker and
printed out on the LaserWriter, Gard
ner said. The final product is cam-
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is 'W- ,
almost
The other songs include one Cren
shaw throwaway, "She Hates to Go
Home," a simply unmemorable filler.
Crenshaw's "Whatever Way the Wind
Blows" is better, upbeat and coun-try-ish.
The final song, Bobby Fuller's
"Let Her Dance," is reasonably good
party rock, a typical Fuller song. It
finishes the album on an upbeat, posi
tive note.
This album doesn't succeed as well
as it could because, too often, Marshall
Crenshaw is not allowed to be
Marshall Crenshaw. This is a very
good album, one worth buying. But
for Crenshaw to make another rec
ord as good as his first he needs to
rely less upon covers. He takes strong
influence from country music, with
some of the album's best results.
Overproduction in spots is excusable
for this album, because Good Eve
ning is Crenshaw's return from the
doldrums. There aren't many here as
memorable as "Someday, Someway"
or "Whenever You're on My Mind,"
but cuts like "You Should've Been
There" will ease the time until his
next album. Crenshaw is to be lauded
for making attempts to change his
sound, avoiding stagnation. This is
the first step back on the right track
now let's hope that he can finally
deliver the goods next time.
from page 9
era-ready page proofs which are sent
to the printer, she said.
The biggest frustration Gardner
experienced is "not meeting customer
expectations as far as speed be
cause people expect it to be so much
of a timesaver.
"But most of our customers are
real happy," Gardner said. "The
printer is the biggest time sink we
have, because we don't have a spooler
we haven't found a good enough
one.
"The secret to our success is that
we have really invested in the em
ployees it's not the computers,
it's not the software, it's not the printer
it's the person who's running all
those things. Customer service is the
most important thing here."
Gardner said she sees Desktop
Publishing as a service profession,
and also sees the company expand-
ing into bigger space m tne ruture
and buying a photocopier to try to
market the printing end of the busi
ness as well. She said she would like
to see the Carrboro store double its
employees, equipment and space to
match the Durham store.
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