1988_02 The Daily Collegian February 1988

              Frictay,February 5,1988 Page7
Sounds
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
ANDNICO
fVerve)
Every decade of so, a disc comes
along that makes all that talk about
the 80's as "vast musical wasteland"
worth ignoring.
A new release slipped to me the
past week does just that; I have seen
the future, and it travels a Velvet
Underground.
The Velvet Underground and Nico,
new on the obscure Verve label, is a
combination of the most trailblazing
musical taste of the pasi 15 years and
makes going into the 90's seem like a
much more palatable situation.
Co-lead singer and songwriter Lou
Reed hasn't missed a cue. He
represent the best of what both
Jonathan Richman and Patti Smith
have broughi to rock composition.
TackJing subjects such as sadomasochism and drug abuse and
purchase, Reed's three-octave vocal
range lakes the material out of the
streets and into the stratosphere. His
guitiness is reminiscent of early
Bowie and Iggy Pop.
"Heroin," the second side's opening
track, and the album's centerpiece, is a
transcendant anthem about drug abuse
lhat makes you think that just maybe
the First Nancy is wrong and lhai hard -
drug use is something we should all
experience.
/ have seen the future,
and it travels a Velvet
Underground.
Meres ;i choice bit of lyricism from
lhe song, a seven-minute romp
featuring John Cale's insistent viola
and drummer Maureen Tucker's
otherworldly thrashing of animal skins
I'm sure are still attached to living
beasts:
Cause it makes me fee! like I'm a
man/When I put a spike into my
vein/You know thai things aren'i quite
the same/When I'm rushing on my
run/And J feel just like Jesus' son!And
I guess that I just don't know/And I
guess that I just don't know...
Heroin
It's my wife
And it's my life
If lhat isn't enough, two cuis later
we get "Black Angel's Death Song,"
which just may be ihe feel-good song
of the last two years.
The album is the harbinger of good
things to come. From "Waiting for
the Man's" drug deals in Harlem lo
the domination in lealher of "Venus in
Furs," the album gives us one
stomach-wrenching experience after
another with Actual Romantic Ballads
interspersed - a combination which
spells out the human existence for the
listening audience and surely means
big bucks for the Velvets. Let's call
them that, it's catchy.
The Velvet Underground could
probably be dismissed as just another
art-rock band in black if it weren't for
all the imaginative elements they toss
into their beautiful, stinky stew of
darkness. The album cover features a
big yellow banana and Andy Warhol's
"signature." Yeah, right. And 1 guess
Lhat he produced such a fine album as
well I'm willing to pay Lhe band's
legal expenses when ihe late artist's
estate sues. They are that good.
Listening to "The Velvet
Underground and Nico," an experience
I'm sure is much like thai of being
bom again, light is cast on what a
blight on lhe past 30 years the Beailes
really were, and will lead to puncture
wounds on the arms and fists of ils
listeners. Use clean needles.
—Donnell Alexander
LOVE
Aztec Camera
(Sire)
CONSUMER WARNING: There is
an album on the market bearing the
name Aztec Camera that has
absolutely no resem-blance to
anything the band has done before. Let
the buyer beware.'
While the name remains the same
ant! singer/songwriter Roddy Frame is
MUSIC
Tonight
That Infamous blacksheep of
the Bach family. PDQ, appears
with the Fresno Philharmonic
Orchestra. Bach, also known
(to family and friends) as Peter
Schickele, will be making his
fourth appearance with Lhe
FPO. Schickele's program
features such staid, stately fare
as "Beethoven Sportscast."
' Chaconne a Son Gout.
Variations on an Unusually
Simple-Minded Theme" and
'Suite from the Civilian
Barber." Guaranteed to make
all dead composers from the
17th and 18th centuries roll
over in their graves. 8p.m..
William Saroyan Theatre,
Tickets $16, $12 and $9. Info:
485-3020
Tuesday
Somedaysyoujustwakeup
feeling listless. Others times,
you even wake up Lisztless. in
which case, nothing gets the
old go-get-'em glands pumpln'
like a hit of old Franz, the
original Liszt man hlsself. If
you don't know what I mean.
hop down Lo the Northwest
Church and hear the
in lernaUonally-acclaimed
pianist Jerome Rose. Rose, who
specializes In the works of
Franz Liszt, has performed
with many of the great
orchestras of the world,
including the Berlin
Philharmonic, the Royal
Philharmonic, the London
Symphony Orchestra and the
Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
Also, I think he played boogie
piano with 'The Eh/is" once.
Presented under the auspices of
Keyboard Concerts. 8p.m.,
NorthwestChwch(5415N.
West Ave.)- General admission
$7. students/seniors $4.
Tonight
The fabulous return of Green
Shag to the Olympic Tavern.
Let us now praise Green Shag
for allowing us to exist in an
era which would permit their
greatness, and in Fresno, yetl
Green Shag, the rug that would
not die. the musical carpet,
THE SUM OF LIFE AS WE
KNOW IT. WtthAutumn
still up front, Love lacks everything
that made Aztec Camera a promising
band in the pasL
To refresh your memory, Aztec
Camera was formed by Frame when he
was only 16. That was back in 1980.
The music of Aziec Camera in the
good 'ol days was simple, slow and
melodic. And it was marked by
intelligent lyrics to boot.
Back in '84, the band did a sarcastic,
half-tempo cover of Van Halcn's hit
"Jump." Frame was thumbing his
nose at lhe pop establishmenL
But this is 1988, and Aztec Camera
has joined the long list of anonymous,
madc-for-MTV pop bands.
From ihe opening synth-drum beats
of "Deep and Wide and Tall," it is
apparent lhat Frame has undergone
some sort of musical lobotomy.
High-pitched synthesizers and
programmed beals that sound like they
came from a Madonna B-side clutter
lhe album. Lols of female backup
singers try to add soul to the soul-free
music and fail miserably.
No fewer than six producers had a
hand in this disaster, most likely
because no one wanted to accept ihe
blame.
The most distressing pan of Love
is lhat all the production frills amounl
to a blessing in disguise. They serve
to divert attention from Frames
dreadful lyrics.
Lines like Somewhere in my
heart/Is a star that shines for you and
Paradise is true/Paradise is you would
have probably been rejected by The
Archies (God rest their soul).
Whether a fan of lhe Aziec Camera
of old or a fan of pop music in
general, lhe message is clear Spend
your nine bucks on a pizza. And feel
sorry for Roddy Frame, the man who
lost his intelligence al an early age.
—Rob Evans
ESCAPE FROM NOISE
Negativland
(SST)
... The voice on the loudspeaker
spoke up and said... "You are listening
to Negativland"...do not be alarmed..
"Do noi panic"...The voice on the
loudspeaker   spoke    up   and   said...
There     is     no     escape     from
noix"..JVegativland's new album is
named 'Escape From Noise'... "Shop
as usual"..jio panic buying... "No
panic buying!"..Bo not be alarmed...
"State-of-the-art marketing analysts
technology"...there is no escape from
noise...
They took the electrodes off of my
head. I realized what I had been
subjected to: a mass-marketing
experiment. I fell different, I knew
things I did not know before.
Do you know how many time
zones there are in the Soviet Union?
Eleven. That was easy. Negativland
had told me ihaL The album was
named Escape From Noise , and it was
made by a group named Negativland.
There was very little singing on it,
I remember, little music of any sort,
as a matter of facL They had fed it io
my brain for eleven straight hours,
enough lime for the sun to completely
cross the Soviet Union...
The voice on the loudspeaker spoke
up and said. "Christianity is stupid.
Communism is good. Give up. Give
up. Give up."
This horrible noise! What was it?
What could it have meant? There were
some "songs" on the album, though 1
only use that word for lack of a better
Lerm.
There was a "song" about the
Playboy Channel. It made little sense.
Supposing you're watching the
Playboy Channel, and it's just about
time for them to have an orgasm,
when all of a sudden...WHAM...the
horrible noise comes in and
completely destroys your orgasm on
the Playboy Channel...that sound is
more important than you are.
The man on lhe album had a very
familiar voice. Then 1 realized
thai his voice was die voice 1 had
heard as a child, on the crude
eilucauonal films they would show us
in second grade. Right there! On
"Time Zones," the watery soundtrack
music behind his voice. The man had
a very comforting voice. A familiar
voice.
A   stream   ol   very   weird,   very
disturbing images Hooded my mind. I
had no idea how to gel back, get back
Please see NOISE, page 8
Carnival: 9:30p.m., Olympic
Tavemli426N. Van Ness Ave.).
21 andover.
Thursday
The Miss Alans (undisputed
Biggest Band In Fresno. ..well if
you dont count Capitol
Punishment, but they're not
really around anymore, so,
yeah, the Miss Alans are
Biggest Band In Fresno) hiccup
out their hits. Be there, or be
somewhere else that's not
there, but an entirely different
place, like Modesto. 9:30p.m..
WUdBlued 145N. Fulton)$4.
21 andover.
Some people would choose to
call Fresno a city, a teeming
metropolis. If you will. Others,
not so, gotham-Jy inclined,
would still like to think of
Fresno as a village, a town.
And some people get so worked
up over the Issue that It causes
leais to drip down their faces,
forming a huge puddle of salty
water by their bass guitars.
And ure call these people the
TownCryers. 9:3Qp.m,,
OlympicTavem(1426N. Van
Ness). 21 and over.
KINGFISH
Continued from page 6
O'CLOCK. DIVE, DIVE DIVE.
KILL, KILL, KILL...I spot the swine
walking down a side street and I am
filled with a blood lust. I can tasle the
cheap lealher of their briefcases as I
build up speed. My huge bird brain is
is racing at the thought of driving the
seven-foot beak (at die place where
my mouth should be) through a pack
of weasels like a toothpick through a
juicy sausage.
This is like the bird Olympics, and
I am a star athlete from the great
winged continent I am about to
achieve an airborne orgasm when I am
awakend by what sounds like a
doorbell. Birds don't have doors so I
must be a mere human being again.
As I make my way to the door of my
very human apartment, I notice the
AC/DC music has stopped. I open
the door and find a Girl Scout. She is
selling a 57 page book called Let's Go
For A Bird Walk. "Get away from my
floor, you little Nazi," I yell, as she
recoils in horror and yells for her troop
leader. I slam the door and make my
way lo the couch, exhausted It was all
some strange sickness, I think io
myself, I must get help. My bare feel
sink deep into the shag rug and I feel
safe again as my eyes move to the
floor and find, not a shag rug, but
thousands of huge feathers.