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■ BEST BET
6 • The Red and Black • Wednesday, October 7, 1992
A&E
Athens' own Lagerhead will play at the Tate Student Center to
day starting at noon and going until about 1:30. It's the first
fall band brought to the Tate by University Union, and you
should come out between classes and see 'em.
10,000 Maniacs' newest
produces no major surprises
10,000 Maniacs' latest, 'Our Time in Eden' is a solid,
interesting, albeit unoriginal album.
By MARK HODGES
Staff Writer
■ ALBUM REVIEW
■ 10,000 Maniacs: Our Time In
Eden (Elektra)
For the past three years Fve been
waiting impatiently for this album.
One big reason for this is because I
was somewhat disappointed by the
Maniacs’ last effort, “Blind Man’s
Zoo." (1990’s “Hope Chest" was a ret
rospect album, so it does not count—
although I did like it better than
“Zoo.") To make a long story ex
tremely short, “Blind Man’s Zoo”
was dull.
The new album brings no real big
surprise, but it does have a lot of
small ones that make it quite enjoy
able.
The first two songs sort of play it
safe, relying on the standard formu
la of the 10,000 Maniacs: light-step
ping rhythm patterns with spirited
vocals that are phrased completely
off-beat. A trademark, so to speak.
“Noah’s Dove" begins the album
with a slightly haunting piano line
which sets a strangely somber tone
for the album — strange because the
lively “These Are Days” immediate
ly follows. The band apparently
wants us to be caught off guard, and
it works for the initial listening.
"These Are Days" is more than like
ly going to be the first single off the
album for its accessibility, and it fol
lows the aforementioned system ex
actly.
A certain change is evident in the
next song, “Eden." The guitar lines
are straight out of Daniel Lanois’
production influence on U2’s “The
Joshua Tree.” You know, those echo-
filled strums that linger on and on
into oblivion. I can only assume that
the new Maniacs producer Paul Fox
has something to do with this phe
nomenon. It is different for this
group, but it gets boring about half
way through the song.
Then, as if things could get any
stranger, James Brown’s horn sec
tion pops up on “Few and Far
Between" and “Candy Everybody
Wants.” That’s right, Fred, Maceo
and Pee Wee are all in the groove.
While neither one of the tunes real
ly even approaches soul or any type
of JB-funk, the songs have an added
dimension which keeps the music
fresh.
“Jezebel” is a pure Natalie
Merchant song through and
through. Its strings, piano and pain-
filled vocals are very reminiscent of
“Verdi Cries," and it displays the
strengths of Merchant’s lyrical
skills: “But I’m a shadow/ I’m only a
bed of blackened coal/Call myself
Jezebel/For wanting to leave.”
The song “Circle Dream” incorpo
rates a round-style call-and-answer
between Merchant and herself,
which puts this song into an intend
ed circular effect. And, yet again, the
music on this one has the U2 sound
all over it. I can’t decide how much I
like hearing the Maniacs doing their
version of “The Joshua Tree II," but
it doesn’t bother me as much as it
makes me wonder why it was done
in the first place. It is quite notice
able, and that is enough to bring it
into question.
So “Our Time In Eden” is a very
solid and interesting piece of work,
although parts of it are lacking in
the originality department. In short,
fans of the band will love it, and oth
ers will probably pay it little more
than a passing glance.
Satriani's latest, The Extremist,’
guaranteed to please beer drinkers
By GRANT GOGGANS
Staff Writer
V The Robert Cray Band: / Was Warned (Mercury)
■ Joe Satriani: The Extremist (Relativity)
Submitted for your approval, here are two recent
guitar-heavy albums guaranteed to please pretty
much every collegian with more than one Led
Zeppelin album. I think of these types of albums as
“music to drink beer by.”
Cray has been making great blues records for
years, with pretty good success. “Smoking Gun” was
a Top 20 hit a few years ago, he’s frequently Eric
Clapton’s invited guest on stage, and his appear
ances on “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight
Show” are always highly rated.
Cray has a winning formula: stick to the tried and
true, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
This is why I can’t really enjoy “I Was Warned”
very much. Beyond the excellent guitar work (and he
is one of the finest guitarists alive), there is abso
lutely nothing new or challenging about this CD.
Think of every blues cliche you can think of—“My
woman left me, she was a real devil and she hurt me
so bad,” for example—and they’re here. This
wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the blues were a new
thing. But this is the same type of songwriting that
Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters did better many,
many years ago.
Most disappointingly, Cray is usually above and
beyond this hackneyed style, and he’s proved it on
many fine albums. But from the opening “Just a
Loser” to the ending “Our Last Time," it just plods
on—brilliant musicians playing tunes that have be
come boring by repetition. The seven-minute title
track is the album’s best number, a great song that
doesn’t have very many lyrics to drag it down.
Lyrics are not the problem for Joe Satriani, whose
many fans have come to know and expect excellent
instrumental albums regularly from him. From his
second album, the seminal “Surfing With the Alien,”
he’s been proving to the world that he’s an out
standing guitarist.
What makes Satriani interesting is his ability to
vary styles convincingly. The loud and fast “Summer
Song” kicks things offbreezingly, and the overall ef-
The Robert Cray Band's latest album is
titled, “I was Warned.”
feet of “The Extremist” is one of listening to a very
good soundtrack album. Usually, instrumentals fall
apart because they have precious little mood. That’s
where lyrics come in and that’s why synthesizer
players like Midge Ure fail miserably.
Satriani doesn’t have that problem. There’s a love
song to his wife here that says an awful lot about her
and his feelings without resorting to lyrics, thus pos
sibly becoming sappy and ready for B98.5 FM. The
power is in Satriani’s playing. This, like most of his
slower (not slow) songs, works best because they
highlight his skills. When he isn’t sounding like your
average metal axe player, when he slows things
down, you can hear a lot more of his unique style.
Satriani appeared on “Rockline” recently to play
some songs with his new band and they’re very im
pressive. If they come to Atlanta, try to see them; you
won’t be disappointed.
Sculptor strives for diverse interpretations of his work
By STEVE H. HALL
Staff Writer
If you find yourself in heated
disagreement with a friend over the
meaning of a work by sculptor
Glenn Dasher, this is not entirely
by accident. In fact, the artist says
that diverse interpretations of his
work is exactly what he strives for.
Dasher’s sculptures, which fuse
marble representations of parts of
the human body with structures of
wood and metal to depict abstract
concepts, are on display at the Tate
Center Galley until October 23.
The exhibit is sponsored by the
Visual Arts Division of the
University Union.
Dasher received his bachelor’s
degree in printmaking, sculpture
and painting from the University
and his master’s degree in sculp
ture from the Indiana University
School of Fine Arts. He is now
chairman of the Department of Art
and Art History at the University of
Alabama.
When working on a sculpture,
Dasher said, he’s not so interested
in expressing his own thoughts as
he is in the way that people
interpret the piece.
“I produce work that tends to be
somewhat ambiguous, in terms of
its specific meaning,” he said. “I
want to do my work in such a way
that two people can look at it and
read it in two very different ways.
It’s usually the point at which we
are almost in agreement that we
tend to disagree the most, especial
ly with religion and politics.
‘The beauty of
simplicity is
underrated in the
Western world.’
-Artist Glenn Dasher
“I might do a piece that has reli
gious overtones to it, and some peo
ple can look at it and say, ‘Oh, this
is a very devout piece; it speaks to
me about the strength of my own
faith.” 1 Dasher said. “Then some
one else can look at it and say, ‘This
is blasphemy.’ I’m not really trying
to say anything; I want to create a
situation in the pieces where people
will look at it for a long time.”
Dasher said he usually works
on four or five pieces at a time, with
each work taking two or three years
to complete.
“I have no idea what a piece is
oing to look like when I start it,”
e said. “I work very intuitively; I
don’t make drawings ahead of time
or plan anything. The pieces build
themselves. I will carve a piece, and
sometimes it will sit on the floor for
a couple of years before I realize
what needs to be done to it.”
Viewing his works as “anti-mon
uments,” the artist wants his work
to represent real people rather than
unnatural figures who are totally
good or evil. Dasher also said he
aims for simplicity and a fusion of
elements from the past and present
in his work.
“Simplicity is very hard to
achieve, and the beauty of simplic
ity is underrated in the Western
world,” he said. “We think excess is
where things really achieve their
beauty, but I’m interested in re
vealing beauty through stripping
away things to get at the essence of
the idea behind a piece.
“By incorporating forms from
the past and present in my work, I
reflect the way people make
choice,” he explained. “We take ex
perience from the past and apply it
to a modern situation to solve a
problem. You can’t separate the
past from the present.”
Dasher said that in graduate
school, he er\joyed interacting with
sculptural materials more than cre
ating illusion through painting,
and that this influenced him to be
come a sculptor.
“I’m always fascinated by what
happens, because it’s always a sur
prise,” he said. “You always try to
work toward seeing what you’ve
never seen before, and that’s what
keeps me doing it.”
Viviane Vangiesen, a senior
from Porto Alegre, Brazil who at
tended the opening reception for
Dasher’s exhibit, said she feels that
the wide variety of elements in
Dasher’s work represent a stream-
of-consciousness line of thought.
“His work seems both sponta
neous and very well thought out,”
she said. “I like the different
sources of inspiration that he puts
together.”
TRACY STENBERQ/The Rod and Black
Glenn Dasher's sculptures will be on display at the Tate
Center Gallery from now until October 23.
SPFECH >
COMMUNICATIONS
ASSOCIATION
Orientation Meeting
on October 7
5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
Tate Center Rm. 140
Open to all
Speech Communication,
Speech Pathology,
Speech Education,
Journalism, and
. Drama majors. >
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LOWERY'S
SGA Freshman
Elections
Application Deadline
October 13
Election Day
October 20
Applications Available at
the Information Booth in
the Tate Student Center.
Questions call the SGA office
ac 542-8 5 84
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Tori Amos Dennis Miller Carrot Top The Nutcracker Star Wars Trilogy
CDeCtaY Z>eta
What do Bob Dylan and Bob Hope g
have in common ? ' ^
They were both sponsored at
UGA by the University Union.
The Union is seeking new members
for the 1992-93 school year.
For more information, come to the
University Union Orientation
Thursday, October 8, 1992
at 7 p.m. Reception Hall
Pearl Jam Sarah Weddington/Phyllis Schlafly Debate JoyceDarol Oates
Nikki Bagley
Tammy Baynes
Lara Bearden
Gina Bennett
Pledges^
Cindy Healan
Amy Morgan
Chana Oliveira
Amanda Prather
Gerin Ragan
Kelly Clydesdale
April Henderson
Elizbeth Rowe
Mollis Cotney
Amber Hester
Angela Shyman
Jennifer Craft
Jenna Hickinbotham
Michelle Shymlock
Catherine Crum
Angela Kesler
Heather Sosebee
Kalia Edmonds
Gretchen King
Carole Straub
Jackie Evans
Lizzie Kolb
Teal Thayer
Linda Forrest
Suzie Lawman
Mari Varnado
Amy Golleti
Kristen Mason
Heather Vogel
Genevieve Griffin
Carla McClain
Stephanie Weeden
Virginia Griffin
Rebecca McClure
Stacey Wells
Kim Harrell
Stacey Mercer
Elizabeth Willtert
Ashly Harris
Shelly More
Collin Wood
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