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The Red and Black, Monday. October :tl, 1077
I
AT CIVIC CENTER
Chapin scores again in Atlanta
By BOBBY BYRD
Although hampered by
hoarseness. Harry Chapin en
thralled an enthusiastic, near
capacity audience with a
spell binding performance at
Atlanta's Civic Center Friday
night
The master storyteller and
his band played 27 selections in
a powerful, moving, often
hilarious three hour show The
material included old and new
songs, featuring seven cuts
from his latest LP. Dance
Band on the Titanic.
Every fall. Chapin explained,
he refuses to admit that
winter's coming and forgets to
wear a jacket, thus bringing on
a cold. His annual illness was
noticeable, weakening the
star’s voice as the evening
wore on Chapin couldn t quite
handle the loudest, highest
notes in his repertoire, but his
band was more than able to
pick up the slack
Chapin’s band has stayed
essentially the same, with the
exception of an excellent young
cellist to replace the departed
Michael Masters Howie
Fields' drumming remains
tasteful, and Doug Walker’s
lead guitar seems to get better
each year
The backbone of Chapin’s
sound, however, comes from
pianist Steve Chapin and
bassist John Wallace Harry's
brother gives the group its
direction, and Wallace displays
one of the finest vocal ranges
in the business
After opening with Short
Stories.” the title cut from his
second album. Chapin delved
immediately into new material
("Dance Band on the Titan
ic”), displaying a variety not
present in his earlier work
Four more selections, two of
which were new, preceded the
first classic Chapin song of the
Photo by BOBBY BYRD
Harry Chapin fingers guitar
evening. "Mr. Tanner."
John Wallace, as usual, stole
the spotlight with his magnifi
cent background work on "Mr
Tanner." the touching story of
an Ohio dry cleaner who,
blessed with an excellent
voice, attempts to become a
star As Harry told the tale.
"Big John” added his trade
mark rendition of the rich,
lovely bass vocals
Coming surprisingly early in
the playlist was "A Better
Flace to Be.” a tear jerker
generally agreed, even by
Chapin himself, to be his best
song ever The haunting tale of
the rotund waitress and the
little midnight watchman was
a special treat, as it wasn't a
part of the Atlanta show last
December.
The first set closed with
Steve's beautiful "Let Time Go
Lightly” and the hilarious live
version of "30.000 Pounds of
Bananas.” including the two
endings that were too bad to
place on the record
“Taxi,” Chapin’s first hit,
began the second half, thus
silencing numerous requests
from the crowd. The band
made its usual successful
effort to break Harry up
during "Six String Orchestra.”
a saga of learning to pick the
guitar that has become a
delightful feature of the tours.
Two particularly touching
songs then graced the second
set. “Tangled Up Puppet”
chronicled the difficulty a
young daughter has growing
up. and Harry stood in the
front row for a gorgeous
rendition of “Mail Order
Annie,” the story of a western
settler waiting to meet his new
bride Harry's faltering voice
on "Annie” added even more
emotion to an already awe
some song
Steve followed with a new
composition, "Love Is Not in
Season.” and Howie Fields
sang his "Horniest Drummer
in Rock and Roll Land," the
story of his inability to attract
groupies Doug Walker’s "Vin
yl Woman” gave an alterna
te view of the problem
Chapin closed his show with
W O L D .” which features
the trials of an aging disc
jockey. The singular encore,
"Circle.” has earned a reputa
tion as the best audience
sing-along around, and the
Atlanta audience came through
with aplomb Apparently lack
ing the voice to continue.
Harry kept up the tradition
that he started last year of
running into the lobby to meet
his fans
Harry Chapin is one of the
finest performers of our time,
and his Civic Center show will
rank with the best of the year,
despite his weakened voice.
The only real disappointment
was the exclusion of "There
Only was One Choice," the
brutally introspective epic
from the last album that was
expected to be the feature song
of the tour
Long considered one of his
best cities. Atlanta once again
poured out its affection for
Harry He gave freely of
himself in a stunning tour de
force that will be lovingly
remembered for a long time.
Chapin and his band serenade Atlanta
Photo by BOBBY BYRD
Renaissance man lives on
CDB needs another chance; Kansas stiff
B> BOBBY BYRI)
From his debut in 1973 with a
novelty song called "Uneasy Rider.”
to his latest release. Midnight Wind.
Charlie Daniels has been a major
figure in Southern rock Although
never attaining the popularity of the
Allmans. Lynyrd Skynyrd. or Mar
shall Tucker, the Charlie Daniels
Band is now one of the two remaining
vestiges ‘along with the Tucker hand*
of the Southern phenomenon
Midnight Wind, the SCVgDtl I 1
Daniels album, reflect* a change py-*>.r
the CDB More complex and
orchestrated than their previous work,
it takes some getting used to,
delegating some of the vocals to
supporting players, and displaying
arrangements running the gamut from
C&W to jazz.
The title cut opens the album
adequately, with powerful lead guitar
and Daniels' distinctive voice. The
chorus is marred, however, by a poor
bass line and lethargic backing vocals
"Sugar Hill Saturday Night ' also
suffers from the ringing of Tom Crain
and Taz Di Gregorio, which is too
manic and overly enthusiastic
Other flaws are prevalent as well
Crain's "Ode to Sweet Smoky" is
simply dull, and "Good Ole Boy" is
hurt by, of all things, lyrics too
obstinately Southern in their attitude,
such as ‘"Bout half wild and about
half crazy I know what I am. and I
don’t give a damn-I’m a good ole
^o^^Th^^es^^ebel^ocl^xpresses
itself through its entire essence, not in
Billy Carter style rhetoric.
The flawed tracks aside (four can be
considered quite weak'. Midnight
Wind is a bit above average for its
genre Daniels has gambled with this
album, adding more variation and
polish than ever before.
The risks pay off several times.
"Grapes of Wrath.” based on
Steinbeck’s classic novel, is an
excellent, masterfully arranged roc-
Album
Review
ker. the strongest selection on the LI*
"Redneck Fiddlin Man” shows
Daniels' legendars fiddle playing in a
semi-autobiographical, hoedowp fla
vored tune
The album's biggest surprise is
"Heaven Can Be Anywhere." a slow,
simple love song, hacked by piano and
guitar The added string arrangement
makes "Heaven” genuinely pretty, a
rarity for the CDB
Midnight Wind is. while holding onto
the CDB style, a different Charlie
Daniels LI* It's on par with the last
three efforts, although not as good as
1974 s Fire on the Mountain. Whether
or not Daniels' fans will like the
"new" CDB is a matter of question,
but Midnight Wind at least deserves a
chance
It) HOBBY BYRI)
Point of Know Return is one of those
albums that you either like or dislike;
there's not much middle ground
Kansas' keyboard-dominated rock
boasts numerous fanatics, and a lot of
detractors as well.
The Kansas sound is fairly unique,
for while they sound like parts of
several bands, no one sounds very
much like them. They have released
five albums in a four year period, a
relatively fast pace for a rock group.
Their personnel has remained un-
'changed^ and. for the most part, the
style has also
Nonetheless. Point of Know Return
shows a gradual change for the worse.
Kansas is in danger of becoming too
artsy for their own good
The keyboards have long been the
basis of their sound, as the
organ synthesizer tandem, above all
else, gives Kansas their distinction.
On the new LP, in a classic case of too
much of a good thing. Steve Walsh
gets carried away with his talents,
and the rest of the band suffers from
his excesses.
Side one opens with the title cut.
basic Kansas, but with a number of
disturbing up and-down-the-synlhesiz-
er exercises that foreshadow the
album's downfall "Paradox” follows,
worsening the problem with mundane
five chord guitar runs behind the
keyboard tracks
Things pick up. though, with the last
two tracks of the premier side.
"Portrait 'He Knew)" and "Closet
Chronicles" are the only two songs
with lyrics even worth discussing
"Portrait." a moderately paced
rocker, tells of a man with a vision
who lives alone, misunderstood by the
world "Chronicles'' relates effectively
to a paranoid leader, his apathetic
populace, and one man's reaction to it
all Unfortunately, the lyrics surpass
the music in both cases
Album
review
Side two is more of the same, basic
chord guitar behind unstructured
keyboard riffs. Two exceptions,
however, serve as the best songs on
the album. "Nobody’s Home” is a
slow, stately piano and string work,
and "Dust in the Wind" features fine
acoustic guitar backed by tasteful
violin.
Kansas is at their best when
attempting a restrained, almost
majestic theme, as they did on the
superb title track from Song for
America. Sadly. Point of Know Return
contains precious little of that
restraint Hard core Kansas fans may
revel in the keyboard acrobatics, but
it's unlikely that many other people
will
By ANN M. McNELLIS
Renaissance man may lx
buried, but he certainly is not
dead Through Nov 4. he will
leave his North Campus
hideaway to exhibit his work in
the Memorial Gallery
With the cooperation of the
University Union Visual Arts
Division, the School of Envi
ronmental Design student ex
hibit constitutes "our invitation
to show the university what
were about," Exhibit Coordi
nator Ed Davis said.
Colorful drawings, detailed
plans, and models of actual
and potential development ol
Athens. Macon. Atlanta and
other cities familiar to Univer
sity students manifest the
multifarious skills of landscape
architecture students.
As the models indicate, and
despite rumors to the contrary,
a jack of all trades—even in a
society as complex as ours-
need not be a master of none
Environmental design stu
dents go through a five year
regimen which includes stu
dies in both the arts and
sciences and which prepares
them to enter the job
market, .in their field upon
graduation
Science studies include geol
ogy, soil science, hydrology
topography, climatology, hort
iculture. wildlife studies, ecol
ogy and engineering.
On the other hand, students
must also master the art of
creating visually pleasing de
signs. Being able to draw,
then, is an important skill.
Davis said.
Combining arts and sciences
yields "designs (that) could
easily qualify as art in their
own right.” according to
University Union Visual Arts
Division Advisor Rick Johnson
However, the Union produces
practical as well as interesting
designs. Through site analysis,
landscape architects can deter
mine the most practical if not
the cheapest means of develop
ing an area
Through site development,
they can plan a visually
pleasing and functional, habi
table area.
Even the set up of the exhibit
itself is interesting and easy to
follow It proceeds in orderly
fashion from graphics to
engineering to site design to
architecture to planting design
to advanced design—roughly
the environmental design pro
gram path
This exhibit enables Univer
sity students to see for
themselves that specialization
is not the rule in all University
schools.
Certainly the very practical
contributions made by 20th
century Renaissance men and
women, landscape architects,
incorporate many different
specialties and bridge the gap
between the arts and sciences
in so doing
Design Exhibit at Memorial
Matt Helm dons 007 cloak in spy series
By NELSON d ROSS
A* society gets more and
more complex, the demand for
simple, escapist entertainment
increases
Pulp spy novels
have always been a popular
form of escapist fiction and
British secret agent James
Bond, for a lot of people, still
resides as top spy in a world
where there is never any
trouble distinguishing the good
guys from the bad guys
But Bond's adventures came
to an end with Ian Fleming’s
death, and the fan of the spy
thriller must adjust and place
the safety of his country in
another agent’s hands For the
American reader this sacred
trust can be placed in the
hands of only one man. Agent
Matt Helm, code name Eric, is
the creation of Donald Hamil-
Helm story Hamilton has
paced himself at a one book a
year output since 1960 and
stuck faithfully to his original
formula.
Though the paperback price
has risen with the times from
Book review
those outside his profession
that he had when he first
appeared in Death of a
Citizen. The true character,
Matt Helm, is not revealed in
the farcical Dean Martin
movie portrayals or the TV
series Matt Helm Matt Helm
is America’s top-notch no non
sense, professional killer in the
secretive world of international
intrigue.
Hamilton's touches of topi
cality which give the books a
slight contemporary feel have
not altered Helm's philosophy
Helm is still the super patriot
and spokesman for the conser
vative values that came into
question and change in the
1960's.
f Lool^into\
our ryes
The Terrorist* is Hamilton's
17th and most recent Matt
40 cents to the current $1.75,
Helm has not changed Helm
still has the same sexist
attitude and macho disdain for
PARTY NIGHTS
$|30
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HI IM STATION
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