1988_03 The Daily Collegian March 1988

              Friday, March 4,19S8 Page 7
L
ft of the Dial	
Speak no evil, hear no evil
STEWART COPELAND
The Equalizer and Other Cliff
Hangers
(I.R.S.)
PETE HAYCOCK
Guitar ft Son
[l.R.S.)
WILLIAM ORBIT
Strange Cargo
(I.R.S.)
WISHBONE ASH
Nouveau Calls
(1.R.S.I
These discs represent the
first four entries In I.R.S." new
No Speak line. a series of
instrumental rock albums that
clearly smells of Miles
Copeland's doing.
Copeland.headofl.RS. and
manager of the Police, seems to
have a bug up a place that cant
i3e explicitly speL-ed out in a
family newspaper. Or even a
college one.
He doesn't seem to like pop
music a real lot, as he spells out
in the introduction to the line:
"No Speak is an Instrumental
rock label for the '90s. It's
sound is based firmly in the
rock Idiom but unencumbered
with banal lyrics aimed at
teens by players who look like
Vogue models or punk/metal
trendies." Which Is a fine, and
not too hypocritical
philosophy, ramingfoma
man who gave the world the Go-
Go's. "We Got the Beat," indeed.
He also seems steamed up
abou t this whole New .Age
thing: "No Speak eats New Age
for breakfast. No sleepy dinner
music here..." I guess it's only
sleepy dinner music when
someone he hasnt personally
signed plays it, not like, for
instance, his brother Stewart
Copeiand. ex-Policeman.
Yeah. Stew's here, all right.
After apparently tiring of
beating the gaudy footpaths of
the "rock idiom," he's out about
on big bro's label doing stuff
that eats New Age for
breakfast. And lunch. And
dinner. And maybe a 'tween-
meal snack or two.
The first artists on the elder
Copeland's not-hypocritlcal-or-
sleepy-at-all early-morning-
meal whatchamacallit are:
Pete Haycock, William Orbit.
Wishbone Ash (!) and the aforementioned Little Copeiand.
So how does It sound, this
Instrumental rock for the '90s?
Well, I was never a big fan of
hypocrites or sleepy dinner-
music types both, so that's why
I'm so darn disappointed with
No Speak. I guess.
Technically, it's pretty
decent stuff, especially Orbit's
latter-day Pink Floyd-Isms,
full of synth flourishes,
swooping tinkle gestures and
even a little "Miami Vice"-level
guitar here and there.
Unfortunately, someone forget
to inform Copeiand that, along
with the more trashy and
blantantly stupid elements of
the haled "3-mlnute single'
form" that gets him so hopping
mad. also exists, albeit In
largely hard-to-find places.
most If not all of the passion
that is so glaringly missing
here.
Mostly, these four albums, by
four admittedly diverse artists,
are odes to an aesthetic that
Copeiand apparently sees as
the Next Big Thing (or Big
Thing In Progress), sort of an
aural equivalent of Lhe high-
tonedjeans ads that have
dominated the growing number
of advertising pages In Roiling
Stone, and. well. Vogue, too.
despite Copeland's pithy
nipping at the form. He has
distanced himself from any
New Age stigma, yet
enthusiastically buys Into the
same philosophy that has
made New Age the
phenomenon that it is. His is
Music Classic. Acid-Washed
"Rock" (though these records
have little in common with.
say. the Rolling Stones, or the
Replacements). Original
Formula Soul, and
aesthetically, they have as
little to do with any kind of
base roots mentality then do
any other offerings of that
same genre.
Copeiand claims that his
new plaything will appeal to
people "rooted in rock 'n' roll''
the bad. folks, and sometimes
the good Is the bad. After all.
even the Beatles never
managed to get that lyrics
thing down. Infact. their entire
career could be viewed, in Miles
Copeland's terms, as one big
compositional blunder after
another, from the Insipid "She
loves you. yeah, yeah .yeah." to
the equally hackneyed "I am
the Walrus, goo-goo-ga-choob."
yet. every time I hear either one
of those lyrics. I can think of
nothing other than the
otherwordly genius possessed
by those who wrote those words
(well, maybe not Ringo). That's
rock 'n' roll, and those who
haven't figured that out spend
most most of their time trying
to interpret the "meaning" of
monstrously huge mistakes
like Emerson, Lake and
Palmer's Plciures al an
Exhibition, which Is a possible
explanation for what Copeiand
was doing during the '70s.
There are some things that
can't be imagined, and classic
rock without goofy lyrics is one
of them. Sometimes the words
don't have to be goofy at all:
Dylan proved that. And maybe
that's why today we revere
"Friday on My Mind" by the
Easybeats, and have pretty
much forgotten about people
like Mason Williams.
So remember. Miles, it
doesn't always pay to keep your
mouth shut, though
personally, I wouldn't mind
seeing it shut more often. Is the
music really "too good for
words?" Is poetry too good for
music? If you're going to make
these statements, it pays to
keep a good historical
perspective on things. Don't be
a hypocrite: if your records are
who have a hard time
"connecting with jazz or
classical." but give any of these
records a listen and, what do
you get? Primarily, a sort of
carmel-coated J azz- rock-
classical hybrid, without the
obvious technical proficiency
possessed by most New Age
"artists." and very little basics
glandular-central get-down
desired by people "rooted in
rock 'n' roll." What kind of
"rock 'n' roll?" Herman's
Hermits?The Carpenters? The
Bee Gees? Quite likely, if
Copeiand is as smart as I think
he Is. This stuff will sell,
because there are a lot of people
wandering around out there
who believe everything they
read, or listen to. Real people
"rooted in rock 'n' roll" don't
listen to a rock "idiom." they
are touched by a music that
grabs something in their
hearts, whether it be a hastily
improvised guitar fill, or a
carefully planned vocal
arrangement.
And as far the whole "no
speak" concept, well, he's
generally right. Most lyrics are
dumb. Most bananas are
yellow. You take the good with
"too good for words, "you're
ignoring 35-odd years of
experience. If it Is still
supposed to appeal to people
"firmly rooted In rock 'n' roll."
youre Ignoring reality. I
suggest you and your record
label take a nice long brunch
with the dastardly New Age
culprits and compare notes: It
might give you a firmer
foothold on the cliff that is
crumbling below you. and
maybe a new idiom to trollop
around in.
Almost forgot: the music. As
noted above, basically fluff-
stuff, soundtracks to endless
"mood" sequences and moonlit
strolls on some pastel-washed
dramedy beach. Stewart
Copeland's work Is generally
strong, though the rote
pleasantness of it tends to grate
after the first 15mlnutesorso.
Wishbone Ash (who are
reunited more than a decade
after a string of
undistinguished art-boogie
records) and Pete Haycock are
basically cut from the same
cloth: (almost) totally bland
Fusion Lite, the fusion more
with classical, nee
"progressive." elements than
the typicaljazz psuedo-
structures. aft of it intensely
forgettable and unfilling,
Chinese food for the ear.
William Orbit's Strange
Cargo Is by far the most
Interesting of the bunch, and a
good clue as to a direction
wher^ this kind of format
might actually work. Agood
sense of space (both aurally,
and In a Floydian way), and a
number of unexpected,
appealing touches, including a
few that seem genuinely
innovative, which is pretty
much what the rest of this
series is not. and what I
thought it was supposed to be.
-T. James Madison
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Lesa Than Zero (Soundtrack)
(DefJam)
Most lyrics are dumb. Most bananas are yellow...
"The thing about this rap
music you. always play,is that I
can listen to ttforfive minutes,
tap myjeet and kind of enjoy
ilButthen.as Ihearmoreqf
It, this nauseous feeling comes
over me and I really want to
throw up. I just wish you'd turn
it off. - Writer'smum, old lass
in her 40's.
'Its tike this, man-1 love
rap music, but like, that Ice-T
and Public Enemy stuff you
play... I don't know JtsJust so
hardlcorel. Its heavy stuff, you
know what fm saying? IJust
want to enjoy myself. Now,
lookatWhodtni, the Fat Boys.
They got the dejjams 'cause
they got fresh beats. You know?
Ijust like the beat- Writer's
cousin, a 17-year-old down-bylaw b-boy and Joe Rapfan.
"ItsJust so noisy."   Writer's
girlfriend.
'To. they should know by
know that they can't stop this
bum rush] Word up.They keep
telling me to tiun.it down, but
Flavor Flav ain't goin' out like
that" -Public Enemy's Flavor
Flav on "Bring the Noise" from
the Less man Zero soundtrack
That lead shields block
anarchy so that those of us who
picked up ourx-ray specs years
ago can't see it is sort of God's
way of keeping order. If
anarchy was kept out in plain
sight, every hipster who
felt playful on a given day
could dip into it and, man,
there would be sex and violence
in the streets. All the time. But
it ain't, so there isn't. Infact.
things are quite the opposite.
Forms of anarchistic
expression pass for
Iconoclastic notions, in this
life. You can grab a guitar and
(please see ZERO, page 8)