SM&jA&U
Reviews
"Man In Motion"
Night Ranger
MCA Records
★★V2
Night Ranger approaches
rock ’n’ roll by grafting searing,
metallic guitar solos onto a
melodic, middle-of-the-road
pop tune. On “Man In
Motion,” the band continues
that sound.
“Man In Motion” is Night
Ranger’s first album in three
years, the last one being
“Seven Wishes, ” which scored
the band three hit singles,
including the ballad
“Sentimental Street. ” With the
loss of keyboardist Alan
Fitzgerald, and the help of
producer Keith Olsen, who
produced recent efforts by
Whitesnake, the new album
has a harder edge that
emphasizes the twin guitars of
Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson to
make “Man In Motion” similar
to Night Ranger’s debut album,
“Dawn Patrol. ”
“Love Shot Me Down” and
“Right On You, ” two of the
album’s heavier tracks, feature
Gillis and Watson spewing out
screaming guitar solos.
However, their solos tend to
sound the same from one song
to the other. Both Gillis and
Watson have good technical
chops, they just don’t do
anything different with any of
the songs.
As with so much of today’s
pop and rock music, “Man In
Motion” is not an album of
much substance. Most of the
songs deal with good love, bad
love and broken hearts, all
staple subjects for much
commercial rock music. For
example, on “Halfway to the
Sun, ” bassist/vocalist Jack
Blades sings of leaving the girl
“with the overdone lips and
that million dollar smile,” while
telling her to use them on
somebody else.
But, love this stuff or hate it,
some of Night Ranger’s songs
do have catchy hooks to them.
“Don’t Start Thinking” is one
of these. However, if top-40
radio gets its paws on this one,
it is sure to be quickly worn out
from overplay.
Although “Man In Motion”
does not contain a solid ballad
along the lines of the band’s
earlier hit “Sister Christian,”
Night Ranger fans are sure to
Play satirizes morals
By Chuck Lovcjoy
The Aggie Players will
open their 1988-89 season
with a production of Gilbert
& Sullivan’s operetta, “The
Pirates of Penzance”
tomorrow night at 8 in
Rudder Theater.
“The Pirates of
Penzance” will be the
group’s first production
since “A Question of
Identity, ” a story of political
intrigue originally scheduled
to open the season, was
cancelled by its playwright.
The musical, a satire of
Victorian Age morality,
centers around the story of
Frederic, an orphan who is
apprenticed to a bumbling
band of pirates who are
orphans themselves. By a
twist of fate, Frederic meets
Mabel, and they fall in love,
despite hilarious efforts to
prevent it by the local police
force and Mabel’s father,
General Stanley.
Gilbert and Sullivan
composed the operetta in
1879. Since its first
production on Broadway, it
has become one of the most
beloved musicals of all time.
The Aggie Players’
production promises to be
somewhat different, as theirs
boasts a fresh orchestration
by August Wenck, a music
professor for 12 years and
son of A&M theater
professor Robert Wenck.
Using the original score,
August Wenck arranged the
operetta’s music for the
seven-piece orchestra to be
used in the A&M
production. The show’s
songs, including “I Am the
Very Model of a Modem
Major General” and the
choms, which served as the
basis for the familiar “Hail,
Hail the Gang’s All Here,”
will not suffer from the
smaller orchestration.
The musical’s lead roles,
Frederic and Mabel, are to
be played by senior Theater
Arts major Kris Longwell
and part-time student
Deborah Lard.
Lard, who also works
with MSC OPAS, said she is
especially looking forward to
the performance, which will
be her first in an A&M
musical.
“I love music, ” Lard said.
“I had my first musical role
in the sixth grade, and since
then I can’t seem to get
enough of the stage.”
She has held the leading
roles in about twelve
musicals produced in both
high school and in
community theaters in
Conroe and the Woodlands.
Her show credits include
“My Fair Lady,”
“Brigadoon” and
“Showboat. ” Also, she is a
member of the Century
Singers here at A&M.
Lard received a
bachelor’s degree in music
education from Sam
Houston State University.
She is currently seeking a
master’s degree at A&M,
although she has not
decided in which subject she
will pursue the degree.
A similar love for the
stage is held by junior
Theater Arts major Tom
Haygood, stage manager
and assistant music director
for “The Pirates of
Penzance. ” But Haygood’s
passion for the theater lies
behind the stage rather than
on it.
“It is a very hands-on
type of experience, ” he said.
“I have learned things I
could never have discovered
in the classroom. ”
Training such as this is
crucial to students like
Haygood, who plans to
pursue a career as a stage
manager following
graduation.
“I have found my niche in
the theater. I plan to do this
for the rest of my life, ” he
said.
Performance dates for the
musical are Nov. 11,12,17,
18 and 19. Tickets are $5 for
students and $7.50 for the
general public and are
available at the MSC Box
Office.
enjoy this new album, and it’s
sure to be another respectable
hit for this California Bay area
group. The only real problem
with albums like this is that they
lack any real idiosyncracies.
Night Ranger’s mixing of hard
rock and mellow pop is nothing
new. Another Bay area band,
Journey, has been doing it for
years.
Review by Shane Hall
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Thursday, Nov. 10,1988/At Ease/Page 5