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The Rave Raves Again
by Daryl Toor
Gragg Diamond-“Star Crui-
(Marlin 2217): Diamond
had a big disco following
ntly and I can see why. Hal
Brodsky heard this LP and
didn’t like it which means it’s
good disco. The music of
Diamond is fast paced with an
unfortunately monotoned heat
per minute. The whole album
will keep,- one on his feet,
especially with the title cut and
the song “Too Hoi to Gegga* ',
which could possibly be the first
disco Reggae hit. Bo Marley
and the Waders beware! C
Peabo Bryson-*"Crosa-
winds” (Cap. ST11875): Bryson
is most famous for his penned
hits for other recording artists
and nowjte's got one of his own
with “I'm So Into You”, a soul
hit which is really undeserving.
The rest of the LP is presumably
better when the pace picks up.
Bryson sounds very much like
George Benson minus the
instruments. D +
National Lampoon* - “Greatest
Hits” (Visa 7008): National
^J^mpoon LPs in the past have
received very little attention but
this one should break the
comedy right out in the open.
Featuring John Belushi, GUda
Radnor, Chevy Chase, Tony
Hendra, Melissa Manchester,
and Bill Murray, it is easy to see
behind the history of the TV
show “Saturday Night Live”.
The famous poem “Desidirata”
is spoofed by “Deteriota” and a
A John Denver-like impression
is done by Chevy Chase in
"Colorado” with John Belushi
supplying the rude remarks as
usual. Radnor's "I’m a Woman”
is the only weak point on this
LP. “Mister Roberts” is the
famous take-off of “Mister
Rogers Neighborhood” and
probably the best cut on the
album. Christopher Guest and
Bill Murray star.
Other outstanding cats in
clude “Gymnasty", "The Im
migrants: and Magical Misery
Tour” which explain <;!1 of John
Lennon’s problems to Beatle
Fans. A-
AC/DC- Tf You Want Blood.
You’ve Got It” (Atlantic SC-
19212): Despite the rudest
album cover I’ve ever seen,
(including punk rock), this
album can’t do anything else
but turn you on if you’re a hard
rocker. I’ve never N^rd AC/DC
before this live LP and now I
want more. They are what Led
Zepplin hasn’t been in recent
years. The precision guitar riffs
and drum beats give A C/DC the
“electrifying sound” they've
been known for throughout
Europe. Sounding somewhat
like Meatloaf, AC/DC rocks out
your stereo (no electricity
needed) with cuts such as “Riff,
Raff’, "Hell Ain’t a Bad Plat*
To Be”, "The Jack” (dedicated
to Ak), “Whole Lotta Rosie”,
and “Rock n’ Roll Damnation”.
The lyrics are often hard to hear
on this particular recording, but
that won’t stop you from
checking out their studio LPs
like me. A*
Putnam County Pickers-It’i
About Time” (Rose 140): I'm
ashamed to say I missed this
group here at Mercer, because l
heard they were really good.
This, their first LP, on* an
independent,label. The Pickers
are from West Virginia and
their sound proves it. A fast
rhythm paced Bluegrass wang-
wang is emitted from this group
like nothing ever heard before
in these parts. The best cuts are
those written by Ron Sowell
who seems to write about the
weirdest things. This is evident
in the opening tune “There’s
No Better Feeling” and “Vege
table Garden Blues”. It is clear
that The Pickers have a vast
love for everyday life, people,
and the fact that they are just
plain playing together. The
Jawharp is used often on this
album, though never enough.
The Jawharp has been so
neglected in the past and it’s
time a group such as this one
brings it back.
The Pickers can be termed
Dan Goodman gives the Raven of Rock a “rave review” of his
performance as host of Sunday's Gong Show.
“Bluegrass-Hillbilly Styled”
and regardless of Labeling, are
guaranteed to make you stomp
your feet. Other good cuts
include “Sad South Texas
Blues”, “Country Coming to
Town”, and "People Street”.
The Putnam County Picaers
have everything going for their
unique sound except recogni
tion. Maybe they should contact
Jimmy Buffet. C +
Rocky Pulls Crowd
by Randi Hamlin
As expected, Rocky drew a
tremendous audience for CBS
on Sunday, February 4th. The
movie pulled a 38.9 rating and a
52% share of the audience. >
Accordipg to Nielsen,
of the American homes were
tuned in to either all or part of
the movie.
With. counterprogramming,
ABC scheduled s double feature
The Bad News Bears and The
Way Ws Were to divert viewers
away from CBS. However, their
effort failed, both .movies
ranked 48th out of 66 in the
Nielsen ratings.
Even with Rocky's high
rating, CBS finished second for
the week ending February 4th
finishing 21.1, .2 rating points
behind ABC’s 21.3. and 3.7
points ahead of NBC's faltering
17.3 rating. .
New Breaks Help Colleges
Educational Packaging
Three nightmares haunt col
lege administrators today and
threaten the survival of colleges
as we know them: The spiraling
cost of college operations, the
quality of teaching, declining
enrollments.
Certain developments, how
ever, could possibly alter the
grim reality of college bank
ruptcies: government subsidies
to help keep tuition at afforda
ble levels, and technological
breakthroughs to enable colleg
es to teach large numbers of
students more effectively.
But other breakthroughs may
also offer hope for higher
education.
• Holography: a celebrity
teacher presenting a course to
several classrooms with supple
mental assistance from para-
teachers. and phone hor^ups.
* Instant learning: putting a
teaching machine njxt to our
pillow at night, and learning by
snoozing.
* Educational packaging:
fail-safe' teaching materials
including teacher's manuals,
student's workbooks, audio
visual supplements.
Post-textbook technology is
just beginning to enter the
nation's colleges.. Not surpris
ingly, the community and junior
colleges are taking the lead
rather than the elite universities
The most impressive new
development is ” telecourses”
A telecourse is a complete
course for credit that can be
viewed on television at home, in
prisons, or in other nontradi-
tional sites.
Educational packagers of the
future will have to learn a total
new approach to presenting a
course. They will have to pul
together a team of specialists
The team would be headed by a
course director who master
minds the project It would
include a marketing researcher,
a script writer, and a multime
dia consultant.
Not all -educators welcome
this development. Furthermore,
this approach is probably only
appropriate for courses involv
ing a high degree of standard
content and rote learning.
We are headed toward a
Brave New World of technologi
cal leaching. The full implica
tions of this development are
not clear Human systems tend
to subvert technological sys
tems and one can never be sure
that an. innovative technique
will not backfire...There was
one professor who decided to
record his lectures on tape and
have the tapes played to his
students instead of personally
attending class. One day he
decided to visit his class to see
how things were going, and
instead of finding 100 students
diligently taking notes, he
found, instead. 100 tape record
ers diligently recording what his
own tape recorder had to say
(The Futurist, August 19781.-
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