The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 01, 1988, Image 23

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    Thursday, September 1, 1988/The Battalion/Page 5B
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Grant’s 11th album transcends
barriers of pop, gospel music
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Amy Grant, best known of the
singers whose music is termed pop
gospel, recently was interviewed by
two men on the same day. She says
one told her that “Lead Me On,” her
new album, her 11th, is her biggest
attempt at the pop market and the
other told her it’s the most gospel
she has ever done.
So that both pop and gospel fans
know about it, “Lead Me On” was re
leased simultaneously by a religious
label, Myrrh Records, part of Word
Inc., and by A &: M Records.
She says, “As far as I know, I’m
the only person signed to two record
companies for a single project.”
Also new in the life of Amy Grant
and husband Gary Chapman, who
plays bass, is son Matt, born Sept. 25,
1987. “Lead Me On” is dedicated to
Matthew Garrison Chapman by
— B "Momma.”
Grant doesn’t find her album ei-
/ ther more or less gospel in tone than
i J her earlier LPs.
“I guess for me it’s the most com-
“b trotlii plete expression of my life I’ve ever
Was th( P ut on ta P e; tBat f ee fr really com-
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to be an easy album to live with.
[ “It’s the closest-to-the-bone expe
rience I’ve ever had making a re
cord. It was a really healthy experi-
I ence for me.”
One song she might mean is
Amy Grant
“Faithless Heart,” which she co
wrote with Michael W. Smith. It’s a
“get-thee-behind-me Satan” song
about a wife with straying thoughts.
“I co-wrote nine of the 12 songs,”
she says. “I almost always have help
with the music, usually by people I
know. Jimmy Webb sent a song, ‘If
These Walls Could Speak.’Janis Ian
and Rye Fleming wrote ‘What About
the Love?’ I know Rye from Nash
ville. It’s not that I wouldn’t accept a
song from somebody I don’t know,
it’s just, how do you connect?”
Instead of coming off stage while
touring and writing a song for the
next album, still full of energy from
performing, Grant prepared for
“Lead Me On” at home. She says, “I
think in the high-energy environ
ment of touring, I have tended to
write songs that were a little more
high-energy.
“This album is a little more con
versational and vulnerable. It isn’t
void of energy, it’s just a different
kind of energy. I think, without
knowing it when I was writing it, it’s
probably the broadest thing I’ve ever
done. I’m really crazy about these
songs.”
The album was recorded last Sep
tember. She sang the scratch vocal
on the title song the day before her
son was born, was back recording
three days later, with recording gear
moved to the Chapmans’ living
room.
Her first album came out 10 years
ago, when she was 17 and a senior in
high school.
“I sort of quietly made an album
over the course of a year and it sort
of quietly slipped out,” she says.
“During college years, I started sing
ing and performing more. Once I
got out of school, I was on the road.
I never had that much time at home
before.”
After an 18-month tour for her
last album, “Unguarded,” ended in
September 1986, the Chapmans
went to a farm they’d bought near
Nashville.
“We wanted to start a family,”
Grant says.
“I’ve always wanted to be a
mother from the time I was a little
girl,” she says. “I had a miscarriage
early on. Then I got pregnant with
Matt. When I had Matt and even
when I was carrying him before he
was born, I just felt something set
tling down in me. I guess everybody
goes through it. I think I anticipated
it for so long and having miscarried
before I had him, everything height
ened the anticipation.
“You tend to want something
more when you can’t have it. There
have been big blocks of my life
where I’ve obligated myself 18
months in advance. I couldn’t get
pregnant in the middle of a tour.
“I’d love to have a girl after the
next tour.”
The next, 13-month tour will be
through America, Canada, Austra
lia, New Zealand and England.
When it starts in September, the
singer will have enjoyed two years at
home.
“I’m sort of a homebody,” she
says, “who likes to write'and sing.”
New Edition matures after problems in music
NEW YORR (AP) — No more growing piiins
j for New Edition. After years of legal and per-
I sonal problems, the five-man vocal group is re-
| ady to enjoy its success.
“Being young and corning into the business,
I you just sign your name on dotted lines,” group
member Ralph Tresvant said recently in an inter-
| view.
“We got caught out there at a young age. We
were forced to grow up a lot quicker and we
found out things people didn’t think we’d ever
find out,” he said.
"Now we’re back on the right track,” he ex
plained.
A “new” New Edition can be heard on their
latest album, “Heartbreak.”
Original member Bobby Brown left in 1987 to
pursue a solo career and was replaced by Johnny
Gill.
Gill is best known for his duet with Stacy Lat-
tislaw, “Perfect Combination.”
Gill says he had little trouble fitting in.
“We’d known each other a long time,” he said.
“They didn’t have to get to know me.”
Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe
round out the band. Although Gill, 22, is the old
est member, New Edition had been around long
enough to have a wary approach towards the mu
sic business.
“I don’t think you really look for a friend in
the music industry; I don’t think you can find
one,” Tresvant said. “You get someone that likes
you and you get along with and they’re working
for you and working with you.”
New Edition, then teen-agers, became known
nationally in 1983 with “Candy Girl,” a catchy,
danceable song heavily influenced by the Jackson
Five.
Although they also had hits with the ballad, “Is
This the End?” and “Mr. Telephone Man,” prob
lems arose.
Maurice Starr, New Edition’s former pro
ducer, filed suit, claiming he had the legal rights
to their name.
A Boston judge later ruled in New Edition’s fa
vor.
Brown left and the group did not record for a
year and a half.
The legal difficulties took their toll on New
Edition. Tresvant wrote the song “Competition,”
which appears on “Heartbreak,” and chronicles
the group’s dissension.
“There was a lot of separation in the group,
pairing off and doing things that weren’t a group
thing,” Tresvant said. “I just wanted to write
about what was happening and what w'e were
doing to each other. I just pictured what each
person would say if he tried to explain how he
felt.”
New producer
tries to clean up
acts on Dynasty
NEW YORR (AP) — “Dynasty”
isn’t exactly turning into a bastion
of high morality, but its new pro
ducer promises more meaningful
relationships than affairs this sea
son, and more ginger ale than
gin-and-tonics.
David Paulsen, named exec
utive producer of the show as it
begins its ninth season, said he’s
betting that more realism, more
action and some new characters
will attract more viewers — even
as the characters clean up their
acts.
“I don’t think people will be
popping in and out of every bed,”
he said.
“In the age of herpes and
AIDS, it’s irresponsible to have
flagrant bed hopping and 1 don’t
think we ought to do it,” he said.
He promised that men and
women would develop less ephe
meral relationships, and there
would be less smoking and drink
ing on “Dynasty.”
“We’re going to cut that down,
because I just don’t think it’s
healthy,” Paulsen said.
But he cautioned that any one
show should not be used as a ba
rometer of societal changes.
Paulsen, who was in New York
auditioning actors and actresses
for the show, is no stranger to
glamorous prime-time soaps.
He spent five years writing or
directing more than 50 episodes
of “Dallas.”
He also was supervising pro
ducer of “Rnots Landing” for one
year.
“Dynasty” finished the 1987-88
television season ranked 37th out
of 85 regularly scheduled series.
Although he is planning some
new wrinkles for “Dynasty,” Paul
sen said some of the strengths of
the past will be revived.
“We’ll see the character of
Blake (Carrington) be a driving
force again. The character w r as al
lowed to weaken,” he said.
Blake will “lead the charge” of
men with stronger personalities,
he said.
“I don’t think people
will be popping in and
out of every bed. In the
age of herpes and
AIDS, it’s irresponsible
to have flagrant bed
hopping...”
— David Paulson,
Dynasty
executive producer
“The women have always been
the stronger force,” he added.
Also, there will be more action
in the episodes, and, he said,
“we’re going to tell a faster story.”
One of the new characters will
be a young detective, “a street guy
somewhere between Serpico and
Colombo,” he said.
And although there will be
plenty of elegant clothing, di
amonds and fancy place settings,
there will be more people from
other walks of life, “people who
even live without air condition
ing,” Paulsen said.
The changes in the show are
aimed at higher ratings.
But he said the effort to clean
up the lifestyles of his characters
came from his desire to reflect
changing values in America.
And he insists that television
shows can affect the way viewers
live.
He recalled that once, in a
scene of a television sitcom, a
character in a car made passing
mention of fastening seatbelts.
“For four or five days af
terward, police departments no
ticed a distinct drop in fatalities
and serious injuries,” he said. “It
was a very humbling experience
that showed that although we’re
not out to preach, there are subtle
things you can do.”
|r your parents,
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HOLD
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