Newspaper Page Text
Southern Voice/April 11, 1991
13
COUNTERCULTURE
RECORD REVIEWS ^
Feeding the Flame, Songs by Men to End AIDS
Ten years into this epidemic you might expect a project like this to take on a somber tone,
but the mood here is upbeat and positive
by Kenneth J. Altman
I felt an incredible amount of frustra
tion listening to this album. Not because
I didn't like it, but because I did like it.
Because it's so damn good. Read on.
Conceived and produced by Willie
Sordillo, Feeding the Flame, Songs by
Men to End AIDS is a collection of songs
by gay and gay-sensitive artists. Its
themes include: the joy of being gay
(Xotika's delightfully disco-ish "Forever
Gay"); the pain of those who have to hide
it (Romanovsky & Phillips' poignant
"One of the Enemy"); educating children
about the AIDS crisis (Peter Alsop's
"Gotta Lotta Livin' To Do"); the frustra
tion of dealing with a government that
has chosen to ignore that crisis because of
its identification with our community
(Sordillo’s [with Flor de Cana] tide track);
and a smattering of just about every relat
ed subject in between.
This is a collecuon songs so good that,
in a more perfect world, they would war
rant air play on top-40 radio. That’s where
where my frustration came in.
Take George Fulginid-Shakar's and
Elliot Pilshaw's duet on "Welcome
Home." With lines like "I need your
touching / can't you see / you can crawl
all over me / so come and fill the days of
my life" and a powerful keyboard and
vibes instrumental break halfway
through, is it really that far removed, lyri
cally or structurally, from what Kenny
Loggins and Stevie Nicks sang in 1979,
"Whenever I call you friend / I begin to
think I understand, anywhere we are / you
and I were meant to be / forever and
ever?" Nope!
So why won't you hear this song on
commercial radio? Because it's sung by
two men and because they're singing
about, oh mercy, "the love that dare not
speak its name." You want to talk about
frustration?
There are real gems here by some tal
ented, well-known artists (Alsop, Josh
White, Jr., Pete Seeger) but, aside from
listener-sponsored radio, you probably
won't hear them over the airwaves.
Alsop's "Gotta Lotta Livin' To Do,"
with its father-son/question-answer dia
logue, a catchy hook (just try not to sing
along) and a great slide guitar accompani
ment brought tears to my eyes. It could
probably do more to educate our children
about AIDS during eight weeks of main
stream radio "hot" rotation than the
Reagan and Bush administrations have
Sue Fink’s
True Life
Adventures
You won't be hearing Sue Fink's lat
est on top-40 radio either, but it won't be
from lack of trying on Sue's part. Tru e
Life Adventure (Frostfire Records) falls
into the Adult Contemporary mode.
The mainstays of the album are R&B
ballads, with a couple of up-tempo tunes
more reminiscent of Sue's earlier release
Big Promise.
True Life Adventure showcases Sue's
excellent vocals-she can fill the torch
song as easily as the rocker with deep
emotion. The songs themselves echo
the subtitle of the album ("Songs of
Risk and Reality").
Ballads like "Easy to Forget," "Am I
The Last To Know," and "The Way We
Planned It" truthfully reflect the pain of
ended or ending relationships. The title
cut is a call to risk: This ain't no lip
sync to the radiolare you ready, ready,
ready to let go?
The first of the upbeat numbers is
"Letters to Marie," a danceable song
about letters from a housewife to a pris-
done since 1980. But don't hold your
breath waiting to hear a song about "that
terrible disease that only bad people get,"
on your local hit parade.
Sordillo’s reggae-tinged title track,
with another great hook, is worthy of air
play too, but with lines like "each drop of
blood / each tear we shed / is kindling that
kicks up the flame / ...science as yet had
not found a cure for scourge of a blade
called hate," it probably won't make it
either. "Until the Balance Tips," boasting
John Bucchino's seductive deep tenor, is
as pretty and as hitworthy as anything
James Taylor or Jackson Browne ever
sang. And I can't wait to hear the stark
reality of Fred Small's "All the Time in
the World" blaring from my car stereo,
but it'll be coming from my tape deck not
the radio.
There are some songs here, most
notably White, Jr.'s "Say a Prayer for a
Stranger" and Seeger's "Quite Early
Morning," that might make it to commer
cial, if not top-40, radio.
Please don't get me wrong; I don't go
oner. The second is "Popular War," the
only song on the album with the humor
of some of the tunes on Sue's last album
(Big Promise). Unfortunately, the
recent war in the Persian Gulf makes
lyrics like "I want to kill in a popular
war" ring a little sour.
Even though you won't be hearing
this on commercial radio, you can see
and hear Sue Fink at the Conference
Weekend Extravaganza on Saturday,
April 27, 7:30 pm at the Civic Center.
-KC Wildmoon
to sleep at night praying to the God of
top-40 to bless me and keep me. I do,
however, understand the influence radio
has on people, especially on young peo
ple. It would be refreshing to see that
influence used towards positive and edu
cational means. As a 15-year-old, I sang
along to "Lola" and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-
Da." While they were not specifically
about homosexuality, they did expose me,
in a positive manner, to a world I had pre
viously been unaware of. Would there be
any harm in some 15-year-old today
singing along to "Welcome Home?" I
think not.
Feeding the Flame, Songs by Men to
End AIDS, on Flying Fish Records, is
available at Tower Records in Atlanta,
264-1217, or by mail order through
Zango Distributors in Berkeley,
California, 415-527-0187.
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