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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 1985)
By KARL PALLMEYER Music Reviewer T HERE'S NO REASON TO buy this LP. Before any of you hard-core Doors fans throw this issue of At Ease on the ground and stomp on it, let me ex plain. First of all, "Classics" contains only 13 songs, all of which have been released at least twice before. Secondly, of the 13 songs, only one, "Love Her Madly," ever hit the charts. Thirdly, I'm one of the big gest Doors fans in the world and I would have to be forced, at gun point, to say anything bad about the band's music. In the Doors' all too-brief history, they were able to release only six studio albums. Due to the recent re vival of interest in Jim Morrison and the Doors, their record company has been re-releasing their old material in any form they can think of. "Clas sics" is the newest attempt to make money off of the legend of the Doors. Elektra Records and Ray Manza- rek, the Doors' keyboard player, seem to have no respect for the memory of Jim Morrison. They must have taken into account the success of Jerry Hopkins and Danny Suger- man's biography of Morrison, "No One Here Gets Out Alive," when they put together "Classics." The songs on "Classics" were all promi nently mentioned in the biography as songs that were either recorded under strange circumstances or clues to understanding Morrison's "spirit." Videos from "Classics" have The Doors "Classics" Elektra been getting heavy airplay on MTV and a new video cassette of Doors material, "Dance On Fire," has just been released. There is no shortage of footage of the band since Morri son and Manzarak, both students of UCLA's film school, often filmed their concerts and made promotio nal films (the record industry's early version of videos) for many of their songs. It seems as if Elektra and Manzarek are never going to have to do another real day's work for the rest of their lives; they can just live off Jim Morrison. My advice to you: don't buy "Clas sics." Buy "The Doors," "Strange Days," "Waiting for the Sun," "The Soft Parade," "Morrison Hotel" and "L.A. Women" if you don't already have them. You can still find them at most record stores and each record is probably cheaper than "Classics." Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" Warn er Bro th ers VER SINCE THE 1978 SINGLE, "Sultans of Swing," I have been a big fan of Dire Straits. I have often thought Mark Knopfler could take his guitar and lead the music world out of the over-Synthe- sized cesspool it has fallen into. "Brothers In Arms" strengthens my faith in Knopfler and the band. "Brothers In Arms," the band's sixth album, is another triumph for Knopfler. Knopfler has created an album that showcases his guitar in a variety of musical and thematic con texts. The first song, "So Far Away," has the trademarked Dire Straits sound. A bluesy, intentionally understated guitar weaving its way through a background of bass, drums, key boards and Knopler's vocals. It doesn't matter what the song is about, it just sounds good. Other songs that I like just for their sound are "Your Latest Trick," for its cock tail-lounge jazz sound, and "Why Worry," for its almost lullabye feel ing. I think the guitar work on "Why Worry" is the best Knopler has done in years. "Money for Nothing" is the work ing man's lament of MTV. Knopler sings about the way a guy works on the loading dock to make a living while "the little faggot with the ear ring and make-up" makes a million dollars by jumping around on MTV. Knopler's gruff voice and guitar cut through an over-synthesized rhythm track while guest vocalist Sting sings "I want my MTV" in the background. "Walk of Life" contrasts "Money for Nothing" by showing a strug gling blues guitarist who sticks to his roots by playing only oldies and goldies. This time Knopler uses his guitar to achieve a rockabilly sound. The entire second side is devoted to the story of war. "Ride Across the River" is a call to arms done reggae style. Filled with statements of rhe toric and propaganda, the song shows a race proudly going off to war. "The Man's Too Strong," done in a neo-Dylan style with acoustic guitar, tells of the frustration soldiers feel in battle. "One World" tells how the people who stayed home feel now that the war is over and many of their friends and family aren't coming home. "Brothers In Arms" tells of the difficulties the soldiers have trying to re-adjust to society and how all mankind suffers from war. "Brothers In Arms" is an excellent album that should not disappoint even the most hard-core Dire Straits fan. □ Movies are listed alphabetically. The Grove movies will be shown on listed date only. The rating and theater code name are in parenthesis. The theater codes are: GR — The Grove 845-1515 ME — Manor East ; / 823-8300 P3 — Plitt Cinema III 846-6714 PO — Plitt Post Oak i 764-0616 S6 — Schulman Six 775-2463 Back to the Future (PG.P3) .Hanky Panky (Wed.,PG,GR) A new Spielberg film about a kid Your guess is as good as mine, who gets transported back to the 50s Sounds like another Spring Break. and sees his parents as high school tt i sweethearts. See related review. He-Man and She-Ra — The Secret of The Sword (G,PO) Beverly Hills Cop (R,S6) Film for all He-Man and Masters of the An Eddie Murphy comedy. Universe fans. ( Casablanca (Mon.,NR,GR) Last American Classic Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid VirginfFri. ,R,GR) Bergman. A must for everyone to see. See Hanky Panky. Cocoon <PG-13,P3) Mad Max Ron Howard directs this science- Beyond Thunderdome (PG- 13,S6) fantasy adventure. Mel Gibson and Tina Turner star in _ this Road Warrior sequel. The Emerald Forest (R,ME) A father spends years in the Amazon Pale Rider (R,S6) searching for his kidnapped son. Clint Eastwood is back in the saddle „ _ after a nine-year absence. E.T. (PG.ME) Our little friend from outer space has Rambo (R,P3) returned in this re-released favorite . Sylvester Stallone stars in First Blood Part II. Explorers (PG,S6) Science fantasy about three boys who Red Sonja (PG-13,S6) make a discovery in their backyard. It's not a Conan sequel but this should satisfy Arnold Schwarzenegger fans. Fletch (PG.S6) Chevy Chase stars as a reporter with St. Elmo's Fire (R,PO) many disguises. Sort of a Big Chill for the college crowd. Mixed reviews. Footloose (Thu.,PG,GR) Kevin Bacon is a city boy who teaches Silverado (PG.ME) some small-town kids how to dance. A new western by Lawrence Kasdan that looks promising. Kasdan wrote The Goonies (PG,PO) the script for Raiders of the Last Ark. Seven kids follow an old map to g se- He also wrote and directed Body cret treasure. Heat and The Big Chill. Future is a creative fi By WALTER SMITH Co-editor "It's such an entertaining movie because it's got a little bit of every thing," Steven Spielberg says of his presentation, Back to the Future. "It's like somebody brought a big dumpster full of good ideas and backed it up and poured them all through my window, with Bob Ze meckis behind the wheel of the truck." The film, directed by Zemeckis, is a creative fantasy-adventure that is sure to please. When I saw the movie, I started grinning a few min utes into it and hadn't even stopped by the time I left the theater. The plot seems straightforward: a modern-day teenager travels 30 years back in time only to encounter his parents as high-schoolers. But things get sticky when his mother-to- be fall in love with him instead of his future father. Now he's got to make them fall in love or else he might never be born. Michael J. Fox of "Family Ties" stars as match-maker Marty McFly for his parents, played both as kids and adults by Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover. It isn't a happy household, so Marty spends | time in the cluttered lab of th" mad scientist, played by pher Lloyd, the wacked chanic from "Taxi." Dr. Emmett Brown's time — a nuclear-powered De L sends Marty back into a vjrB^ld of anachronistic juxtapositions.:-” ■ The present-day porn palace shd^iSases films in the '50s like "Cattle Qh^en of Montana," starring Barbardj^Stan- wyck and Ronald Reagan. Metirty is mistaken by the townspeople bis a sailor, because his down-fillptiLvest looks like a life jacket to them. After his mother falls in love with him,'- Marty spends the rest of' the movie trying to pass her pgssion onto his father, a bumbling ndfeDhat is constantly being intimidatpej by the school bully. A young Dr. JSfbwn trys to helps Marty back to -tlje fu ture, but finds it difficult to under stand something he hasn't even in vented yet. ppp Back to the Future is an entertain ing movie for the entire family. Its style is similar to the fun-filled ^ad ventures of the Disney era bf.^film making. Its language is oply foul enough to get a PG rating. I gpess its makers thought that a G : rating would be the box office's kiss of death. □