The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 15, 1979, Image 15

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    Todd Rundgren—Back
to the Bars
Todd’s latest is a double live collection of some of
his best old tunes. Most of the material comes from
“A Wizard - A True Star” and ‘ Something/Any-
thing,” plus some more recent Utopia songs and
some other old favorites.
One in particular, from Todd’s “Runt” days, is
Range War, which is Romeo and Juliet retold in a
sheep-cattle feud context. Despite its pretentious
ness, it’s one of the album’s highlights.
Another is the medley of I’m So Proud*Ooh Baby
Baby*La La La Means I Love You, which spans 10
minutes of mellow nostalgia.
Interspersed between all the slow songs are the
more raucous Utopia songs such as Initiation and
Love in Action.
To conclude the album, Todd brings out his pals
Hall and Oates and Stevie Nicks to help him out on
his biggest hit, Hello It's Me!
Overall, this is a fair collection of his best songs
done with adequate style and finesse.
—Victor Sylvia
Alice Cooper—from the
Inside
I’ve always been a pushover for good concept
albums. Ever since the Who’s ‘Tommy” I have
known that rock ’n’ roll could be more than just or
ganized noise. It could express the fears and de
sires that we all share. It could move people, emo
tionally and physically. And finally, it could make
people think.
“From the lnside”gives all this and then some.
Alice has scored again with another great concept
album. This time he’s trapped inside an asylum,
evidently from his years of insane stage antics.
That’s certainly a step up from his last venture in
“Alice Cooper Goes to Hell,” but it doesn't quite
shine as brightly as the introspective “Welcome to
my Nightmare.”
“From the Inside" gets off to a fast start with the
title cut which sets the stage for Cooper’s remake of
“Cuckoo’s Nest.” The following songs all depict var
ious characters in the mental ward.
Wish I were Born in Beverly Hills is a tale of a
California girl who buys one Gucci bag too many.
The Quiet Room comes next and accommodates
those who enjoy engaging in self-slaughter.
Perhaps the best song, Nurse Rozetta, follows
and deals with a clergyman’s temptations and even
tual destruction by a buxom Jezebel with a body that
could make a cardinal crawl.
“Millie and Billie” are in love, and as we all know,
love makes you do funny things.
Texas A&M Women’s Gymnastics Team
MUSIC
Side Two opens with Serious, about a compul
sive gambler with the odds against him.
How You Gonna See Me Now is about the pains
of returning home from the home.
For Veronica’s Sake is one inmate’s reason for
leaving the institution. Veronica is his collie, who
“...can get pretty weird” if she’s not fed.
Another high point of the album follows with
Jacknife Johnny, about a shell-shocked Vietnam
War vet who’s “a tool of the dagger’s drawn world.”
Finally the album closes with Inmates (We're All
Crazy), which asks the musical question, “Who is
crazier, those inside or outside the asylum?”
This is an album we can all relate to in some way,
either because we are mental pygmies or because
we know someone on the brink of lunacy.
Whichever the case, if 10CC, Cheap Trick and
Peter Gabriel all wrapped up and topped off with the
inimitable vocal style of Alice Cooper appeals to
your bizarre musical tastes, then “From the Inside”
will relax your nerves and have you resting comfort
ably. Now get outta here and go buy it, you maniac.
—Victor Sylvia
Cat Stevens—Bacfr to
Earth
This is Cat’s best album since “Catch Bull at
Four.” With it, he again assumes his rightful place
as Mr. Mellow, Sir Sentimental, the Emperor of Em
pathy.
This is music to snooze by, with occasional
glimpses into the soul of an artist torn between se
renity and joy. Snips of well-turned phrases emerge
from a backdrop of orchestral breezes as Steven’s
guitar, like a newborn river, cuts the landscape, ex
posing fragrances and evolving new life.
Cat is the advocate of the defiant school of non
defiance. Take life at your own speed, let no one
hurt you and hurt no one, forgive and be forgiven. If
life is a dream, then make your reality a fantasy, a
wisp of hope, a handful of light.
As the title suggests, Stevens has gotten back to
earth, back to the fundamentals of existence: life
and love and their union as happiness. These will
always be, though there will never be another you.
So how you experience and interpret them is all that
matters. Cat Stevens states this discontinuity of
personal experience as a product of those things
empirical and their subsequent interpretation: “I was
dying, but for you it was just another night.”
We spend our lives striving to explain the things
we see and do, but the center of our own existences
will always only remain as feelings and not expla
nations. This new Cat Stevens album makes me
feel good and I don’t need to explain it.
—Victor Sylvia
Toto may be next
‘overnight success’
By Bruce Meyer
United Press International
The “overnight sensation” was
once a rarity in rock ‘n’ roll.
Talented new bands and ar
tists faced years of spirit-numbing
work, in the recording studio and
on the road, before they could
hope to gain even a taste of the
rewards enjoyed by the
superstars.
But the system seems to be
changing. Over the past couple of
years, we have seen an increas
ing number of bands whose
debut albums leap up the sales
charts with amazing speed. Bos
ton’s first record sold five million
copies. Foreigner’s debut sold
three million.
Now we have Toto, six young
West Coast musicians whose first
album, “Toto” (Columbia), has al
ready achieved “platinum” status
for sales of one million copies,
largely because of a powerhouse
hit single, “Hold the Line.” A sec
ond single, “I’ll Supply the Love,”
should spark even more album
sales.
It all came so fast, even the
band was surprised.
“Things have been happening
really quick for us,” says drum
mer Jeff Porcaro, who organized
the band with keyboardsman-
arranger David Paich. “We didn’t
expect to be doing so well this
soon."
Toto’s average age is about
22, but young as they are, these
players are studio veterans. Indi
vidually they have worked for
many top artists, from Boz
Scaggs and Alice Cooper to
Steely Dan and Barbra Streisand.
So they knew what they were
doing before the tape started rol
ling.
“We've all been on platinum
albums before, for other people,”
says Paich. “But we've also been
on albums we thought were going
to go big and they just fell away.
So making a record is a little like
throwing dice. We thought we
had something good, but we were
still throwing the dice. Fortu
nately, the dice came up seven.”
But performing live is an
entirely different thing. Toto is
now faced with the need to create
an honest musical rapport with an
audience and to relate to one
another not as an assemblage of
independent musicians, but as a
team. And so far, though the play
ing is flawless, Toto’s on-stage ef
forts leave a bit to be desired.
“We were great performers in
high school," says Porcaro. “But
now the guys are used to being in
the studio, behind someone else,
or as sidemen. We have to re
learn how to get up and muster
that professional style on stage.”
Otherwise, they’ll just end up
as one more group of wealthy
woodenheads.
TOP TEN AL
BUMS
1. Rod Stewart — Blondes
Have More Fun
2. Blues Brothers — Briefcase
Full of Blues
3. Billy Joel — 52nd Street
4. Neil Diamond — You Don't
Bring Me Flowers
5. Barbra Streisand —
Greatest Hits, Vol. II
6. Chic — C’est Chic
7. Barry Manilow — Greatest
Hits
8. Village People — Cruisin'
9. Earth, Wind & Fire — The
Best of Earth, Wind & Fire
10. Eric Clapton — Blackness