Newspaper Page Text
(
1
■ BEST BET
6 • The Red and Black • Thursday, October 25, 1990
SOUND
Boogey on down to The Colorbox tonight for a night of 80s dance
hits. DJ Ritchie D. will be spinning tunes from 1980-1989. What
could be more delightful than a night of bopping to popsters of
days gone by like Duran Quran and Culture Club?
Wayward heroes’ works may result in disappointed fans
By NOEL MURRAY
Entertainment Writer
Nothing is more upsetting for a
fan than when his hero makes a
mistake. Recently, three different
works in three different media
have reflected the wayward paths
of once-mighty artists. Observe:
“U2’s Music and Me and You,
Too” R.E. McCalister (Wicker
Mountain Publications)
R.E. McCalister claims his pam
phlet of poetry is “in tune with the
group’s (U2’s) songs” and attempts
to “capture their spontaneity
during live concerts, the power and
passion of their music and their
continuous struggle to make this
world a better place in which to
live.*
First of all, U2 is a rock band,
okay? No matter what kind of
weight and importance thev try to
add to their music, they will never
be anything more than a rock
band. To try to make them into
anything more is to deny the fun
damental function of rock and roll
as music for the common person.
Second of all, this poetry is
weak. McCalister depends on the
strength of words like “rock,”
“soul,” ‘light” and ‘love* but re-
■ REVIEW
fuses to let them do anything but
sit there looking important.
His imagery is dense and point
less, and is all the more infuriating
because he states in his press re
lease that this was written “espe
cially for the twentysomething
generation.” The idea that he is
speaking to and for my generation
invites my ire.
Third of all, and most impor
tantly, McCalister fails to under
stand that the power in U2’s music
lies in the killer riffs of The Edge
and the rhythms of Adam Clayton
and Larry Mullen, not in the pom
posity of Bono.
There was once a Rolling Stone
interview where Bono left the room
for 10 minutes and the conversa
tion got very lively, with the three
other members chatting about the
history of Irish pubs... then Bono
returned, blabbing about how he
thought all the good words had
been corrupted. After that, the in
terview took a dive.
The poetry in this book revels in
“The Bono Complex" — the imposi
tion of a self-important personality
on a noble idea. The U2 concert
film “Rattle and Hum” became a
WHO WILL BE
THE NEXT
TWELVE
\ v y
PANDORA
f(? j§
\ * /
SENIOR LEADERS
Ka
???
'%/A
Applications
Available at
Tate Information Desk
Due by 4:00 p.m.
Monday October 29
R.E.M.: Michael Stipe on stage at Legion Field.
parody because of “The Bono Com
plex,” and ‘The Bono Complex”
sinks this ill-conceived poetry col
lection.
“Tourfilm” R.E.M. (Warner-Re-
prlse Video)
R.E.M.’s concert video is no
where near as dire as “U2’b Music
and Me and You, Too,” but it does
suffer from some of the same
faults.
Michael Stipe, who helped edit
‘Tourfilm," has been boasting
about the originality of this piece
versus conventional concert films,
but these claims are not substan
tiated. There is nothing here to
best Martin Scorsese’s “The Last
Waltz,” Johnathan Demme’s “Stop
Making Sense,” or even Phil Joa-
nou’s “Rattle and Hum.” The only
thing truly different between
‘Tourfilm” and these movies is that
‘Tourfilm” focuses 90 percent of its
screen time on Michael Stipe.
For fans of Stipe, this is cer
tainly not a problem, but then
again Bono fans don’t mind ‘The
Bono Complex” either. In the early
days of R.E.M., Michael Stipe
played the introverted mystic,
swirling around the stage in 10
layers of clothing or even lying on
his back, singing to the ceiling. In
‘Tourfilm," he strips down to his
cut-offs and writhes around like
it’s Disco Night at the 40 Watt.
The best way to experience
‘Tourfilm” is to plug a cassette
deck into the VCR and record the
soundtrack. The performance is
tight and passionate, and the song
selection is solid, albeit too depen
dent on recent material. Even the
ballyhooed “unique” editing style is
well above-average, though not ac
tually unique.
It’s just that it’s hard to watch
Michael Stipe for that long, espe
cially when he’s making vague po
litical statements to introduce the
songs — “The Bono Complex” in ac
tion. R.E.M. remains a national
treasure, but this package is ulti
mately disappointing.
The Waterboys “Room to Roam”
(Ensign-Chrysalis)
Speaking of disappointing, the
Waterboys’ latest practically de
fines the word. The point about
heroes making mistakes has never
been more salient than with this
release.
In 1985, when The Waterboys
made “This is the Sea,” they
achieved a peak mixture of soaring
instrumentation and lovably pre
tentious poetry. They were
grouped in the same league as U2
and Simple Minds, but the Water
boys had a rakish charm that be
lied their seriousness.
Then Karl Wallinger left the
Sfront&ctvui *)nc.
Sales — Service - Restoration
MG. Austin-Healey. Triumph, Jaguar,
Corvette, Mustang, Alfa-Romeo, Fiat,
Mercedes, Volvo, Muscle Cars and
any other fun
If it's
474 E. Doughtery St.
354-1085
DROP BY
E.T.'S HANGAR
"Your downtown gathering place"
Thursday:
Wing Night II
John Berry
and the Pack
354-1009 120 Washington St.
Three new ways to survive college.
The poetry revels in
‘The Bono Complex’ —
the imposition of a self-
important personality
on a noble idea.
band to form World Party and lead
singer Mike Scott began an obses
sion with Irish music that led to
last year’s “Fisherman’s Blues."
That record was erratic, but when
it hit, it produced a rush that ex
ceeded anything the band had done
before. The future looked prom
ising ...wow, what an incorrect pre
diction.
“Room to Roam” lies in the
speaker like stagnant water.
Rather than mix traditional Irish
music with ‘The Big Music," they
stick with a stilted traditional
sound that fails to connect. “Room
to Roam” ends up sounding as au
thentic as a Zamfir record and
about as exciting.
The lyrics suffer from a severe
case of ‘The Bono Complex.” The
opening song, “In Search of a
Rose,” relies on that precious idea
to fuel the whole tune. Simplistic,
overbearing words coupled with
rigid, stale music adds up to an un-
listenable album.
The Waterboys have betrayed
their fans with an inflated sense of
their importance. Perhaps they lis
tened too hard to the raves that
came in for “Fisherman’s Blues.”
The danger of ego-pumping that
has damned Bono and damned Mi
chael Stipe is damning Mike
Scott’s Waterboys
As a result, the reader, the
viewer and the listener suffer.
[ATHENS SHINE 1 .
&
i SHOE REPAIR |
, IF THE SHOE FITS, FIX IT"
I 295 'h E. BROAD ST. |
1 546-1105 1
L -CUP AD FOR 10% DISCOUNT - -*
African
Energy
Resources
t Natural 0
ll UnmoriiCMc
Tbir Macintosh LC
lhe Macintosh flask
With Apples introduction of three new
Macintosh* computers, meeting the challenges of college
life just got a whole lot easier. Because now, everybody
can afford a Macintosh.
The is our most affordable
m<xlel, yet it comes with everything you need-including
a harddisk drive .’Hie BUBBBSHBI combines color
capabilities with affordability. And the Mmmnnanifll is
perfect for students who need a computer with extra
power and expandability.
No matter which Macintosh you choose, you’ll
have a computer that lightens your work load without
giving you another tough subject to leant. Every Macintosh
computer is easy to set up and even easier to master. And
when you’ve learned one program, you're well on your
way to learning them all. That’s because thousands of
available programs all work in the same, consistent manner.
You can even share information with someone who uses a
different type of computer-thanks to Apple's versatile
SuperDriver which reads from and writes to Macintosh,
MS DOS, OS 2, and Apple* II floppy disks.
See the new Macintosh computers for yourself,
and find out how sur\i\ing college just got a whole lot
easier.
For further information contact
University Bookstore
542-3171
The power to be your best"
C'H0 Acew Corner. ** *• *OOW MK^tom I'KMaMi o* ««X« Com0u»< Wc Sup«0Th* lwm* 10 ttm YOul 0*w IrMwwti o» ComouW. *C CUMC « • r* 9 .«*f»d fradama.t i.c«r<Md to A«)M Como** .me
* * r H‘*** > H o« Hcw»o< Comor-pfi OS/8 — • Mawwr* 04 inomOOoo* Bum—» MacHmw Corpwfco«