The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 17, 1989, Image 10

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    Page 10 The Battalion Monday, April 17,1989
Reviews
Latest release by drivin'‘n' cryin’
recalls old R.E.M., shows promise
Drivin’W cryin’ (I to r): Jeff Sullivan, Tim Nielson, Buren Fowler and Kevin Kinney.
By Keith Spera
STAFF WRITER
Knowing full well that it’s been
said about at least 100 other bands,
I’m going to say that drivin’‘n’ cryin’
sound a bit like R.E.M.
Or rather, they do sometimes.
Or better yet, they sometimes
sound like R.E.M. used to sound,
back before the “Stand” days.
Saying that a group sounds like
R.E.M. is no longer all that descrip
tive, for it has become the musical
equivalent of saying that some sort of
meat “tastes like chicken.”
R.E.M. has come to be the stan
dard by w'hich all other folksy guitar
rock bands are judged, just like
chicken is the meat with which ev
erything from rattlesnake steaks to
frog legs is compared.
Still, drivin’ ‘n’ cryin’ have more of
a legitimate claim to that description
than most other bands do.
It’s no surprise that some of their
just-released third album, Mystery
Road, has an R.E.M. feel to it. Both
bands hail from the same part of the
country (R.E.M. is from Athens and
drivin’ ‘n’ cryin’ are from Atlanta,
just down the road).
The “R.E.M. office” is thanked on
the back of the record. R.E.M. gui
tarist Peter Buck is credited as hav
ing played the electric dulcimer on
Mystery Road. Buren Fowler, drivin’
‘n’ cryin’s guitarist, formerly worked
as an R.E.M. guitar technician.
On tracks such as “House for Sa
le” and the excellent acoustic “With
the People,” the much missed sound
of R.E.M. classics like Reckoning
and Life’s Rich Pageant is resur
rected.
But then, drivin ‘n’ cryin’ whips
out the hard-rock rifts, all drawn-out
and grungy. “Toy Never Played
With,” “Wild Dog Moon” and “Syl
lables” could have been on a mid-70s
Aerosmith album.
The rifts are right, but vocalist
Kevin Kenney is no Steven Tyler.
Tyler’s raw, hoarse voice can hang
with Aerosmith’s guitar sound, but
Kenney’s voice is just too high and
smooth. It comes across as strained
and extremely unnatural when he
tries to go down in the gutter with
the guitar.
His voice is suited just fine for the
rest of the songs. On “Honeysuckle
Blue,” he uses just a bit of coarse
ness, la Jon Bon Jovi, to stand vo
cally above the song’s blend of acous
tic and electric guitar.
He trades notes with a fiddle on
the album’s opening cut, “Ain’t It
Strange,” coming across at just the
right level to complement the fid
dle’s strings and give the song an
overall mountain-music sound.
Besides R.E.M. pickin’ and Aeros
mith strummin,’ drivin’ ‘n’ cryin’ also
take a stab at sounding like Johnny
Cash, with the rolling-train rhythm,
tale-of-the-Old-West lyrics and
deep-voice vocals of “Peacemaker.”
“Straight to Hell” is a fun little
tongue-in-cheek sing-along tale of a
hypocritical momma and her com-
ing-of-age son.
“Son, won’t you go outside/ I got a
man cornin’ over tonight,” she asks
her son in the first verse. Not an un
reasonable request, except that this
man is “the seventh one in seven
days.” The obedient son heads out
the door, and hangs out with friends
until 5 a.m.
When he comes home, his mom is
waiting for him on the porch, and
chastises him, saying he’s “no good,
’cause you’re runnin’ around with
out love.” So into the chorus we go,
singing merrily, with more than a
hint of sarcasm, “I’m goin’ straight
to hell, just like my momma says.”
The rest of the album’s lyrics
range from your basic rock n’ roll
standard fare to idyllic comments
about Southern living (we hear
about the Blue Ridge Mountains and
the Chattahoochee river, and old
men running and lovers kissing and
such).
The Mystery Road tunes on which
the band tries to be something they
aren’t detract from the rest of the al
bum. This band is still young, how
ever, and they’re still trying to find
their niche, so a' little experimenta
tion is only natural.
A Rolling Stone magazine poll of
college-music programmers called
drivin ‘n’ cryin’ one of the nation’s
nine most promising bands, a vote of
confidence that indicates this band
has some people out there who know
they can make it.
Judging from the high points on
Mystery Road , they can. When this
band does what it does best, and
when Kinney stays within his vocal
range, they can come up with rock
’n’ roll songs that are full of feeling
and emotion, with some not-too-
shabby musicianship thrown in to
boot.
They’re not breaking new
ground, but they’re planting some
thing pretty good in the old plot.
Rolling Stone magazine poll of college-music
programmers called drivin ‘n’ cryin’ one of the nation’s
nine most promising bands, a vote of confidence that
indicates this band has some people out there who
know they can make it.Judging from the high points on
Mystery Road, they can.
Texas tradition of rockabilly, blues comes to life
on veteran Fort Worth band’s new album, Live
Live!
The Juke Jumpers
Amazing Records
★★★•/a
By Shane Hall
REVIEWER
club Caravan of Dreams on Dec.
25-26, 1987, Live is nine songs of
energetic rhythm and blues and
rockabilly. This is the kind of al
bum that sounds right at home
with recordings by Texas blues
legends such as T-Bone Walker
and Freddie King.
the yuletide season blues of
“Merry Christmas Baby.” On the
latter, he plays a fluid, jazzy solo
much in the vein of Texas blues-
man T-Bone Walker, whom Bru
ton cites as a major influence.
Live closes with the roadhouse
blues of “Bluebird Boogie,” the
guys’ musical salute to the
Bluebird, a Fort Worth blues
nightclub with a history that dates
to the 1940s.
For Texas music that is a good
time from start to finish, Live is
the album to get.
The Juke Jumpers, with their
combination of rhythm and
blues, rockabilly and jazz, vir
tually personify the eclecticism
that is Texas music.
For more than 10 years the
Fort Worth band has performed
its style of Texas rhythm and
blues.
The band’s lineup consists of
Jim Colegrove, guitar, vocals;
Sumter Bruton, guitar; Craig
Simecheck, keyboards; Jim Mi
lan, bass; Rene Ozuna, saxo
phone; Robert Harwell, saxo
phone; and Doyle Bramhall,
drums.
Like so many blues bands, the
best way to hear these guys is in a
live setting. Unfortunately for
music fans in Bryan-College Sta
tion, the Juke Jumpers have not
yet made it down here.
So you can either go up to Fort
Worth and see what you’ve been
missing, or pick up a copy of the
band’s third Amazing Records al
bum, Live.
Recorded at Fort Worth night-
Live has so many great mo
ments it would be difficult to list
them all here. For starters, there’s
the hillbilly rock ’n’ roll of “Hot
Dog” (a Buck Owens song). The
rockabilly guitar lines of Cole-
grove and Bruton sound as au
thentic as anything ever put on vi
nyl in the 1950s.
One of my favorites is the Cole-
grove-penned “Lips ‘n’ Fingers
Bar-B-Que,” an uptempo piece of
rhythm and blues in which Cole-
grove sings of the kind of place
where one can go to be satisfied
“on red-hot blues or chicken
fried.”
Colegrove’s vocals combined
with the band’s jump and jive
sounds are just right for the kind
of place where the food is fried
and the music is loud.
Other examples of the Juke
Jumpers’ blend of blues/rocka
billy are “Rocket In My Pocket”
and their version of Jimmy Mc-
Cracklin’s “Georgia Slop.”
Bruton best shows his guitar
skills on songs such as “Somebo
dy’s Been Rockin’ My Boat” and
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RLuis 845 - 1631
Swingle Singers bring
orchestra to stage, using
voices, not instruments
By Suzanne Hoechstetter
REVIEWER
Imagine singing the theme
from “Peter Gunn.” The tune
that was made popular a few
years ago by The Art of Noise ac
tually was sungby eight musicians
with incredible voices at Saturday
night’s final OPAS presentation
for the year.
The Swingle Singers gave a
performance that ended the sea-^
son on a high note — sometimes
an unbelievably high note.
The Swingle Singers is a group
from England that specializes in
scat singing, a technique used by
many jazz musicians when they
sing meaningless lines like, “Do
be do do da ma da.”
Many of the songs combined
barbershop-style harmonizing
with jazz. The Swingle Singers
sing the lyrics to classical, modern
and folk songs, and they sing the
instrumentation to each piece.
For instance, when they sang
“El Paisenito,” an Argentinian
folk song, two Swingle members
sang the lyrics while the other six
each “played” one string on the
guitar.
If you closed your eyes, it really
sounded like a guitar, but this en
ergetic show was as fun to watch
as it was to listen to.
The performance was one of
pure entertainment that the per
formers seemed to enjoy as much
as the audience. The fast-paced
show included dancing, acting,
comedy, and of course, singing.
They barely paused between
songs, and the show ended all too
soon.
The group has performed with
the London Symphony Orches
tra, the Royal Philharmonic Or
chestra, and the Houston Sym
phony Orchestra, but Saturday’s
performance was a cappella.
It was like watching a human
symphony. The most entertain
ing piece was Tchaikovsky’s
“1812 Overture,” the final song
of the night. Singer Andrew
Busher got the audience laughing
w'hen he introduced the number
by saying, “I’m sure you’ll be re
lieved to know we’ve shortened it
a bit. We’ve also had to do some
special arrangements since Tchai
kovsky wrote it for a symphon-
y...and a brass band...and canon-
s...and church bells.” Since
Rudder Auditorium had no sym
phony or cannons that night, the
Swingle Singers made up lor that
lack by singing those parts.
The singers reproduced the vi
olin section by waggling their
tongues up and down between
their lips. T hey “swished” to cre
ate sounds like cymbals, fhe bell
tolling gave Busher a chance to
get another laugh from the audi
ence when he acted like the Hun-
chback of Notre Dame while cre
ating the bell sounds.
When all these unusual musical
methods were combined it really
sounded like a live symphony was
playing instead of eight vocalists.
The audience was on its feet be
fore the overture was finished.
After a minute or two, the
Swingle Singers reappeared
onstage for the encore, which was
a medley of American folk songs
arranged by the groups founder,
Ward Swingle.
The program included a vari
ety of songs from all times and
genres. The first half of the fea
tured mostly classical and folk
songs. The first song was Mo
zart's overture to “The Marriage
of Figaro.” A few minutes later
they sang “Coventry Carol,” an
English folk song that allowed the
group to show off their talents for
harmonizing.
The songs progressed to some
by more contemporary compos
ers like Irving Berlin’s “Putting
on the Ritz” and “It’s a Lovely
Day Today!” in which finger
snapping made the sounds of a
tap dance routine.
After intermission they sang
“Fool on the Hill” and “Lady Ma
donna," both by the Beatles. The
guys in the group then gave a
special performance of “Natural
ly” by Huey Lewis that was ar
ranged by Swingle member Ben
Parry.
All the Swingle Singers mem
bers have conservatory training.
Members Parry and Jonathan
Rathbone arranged most of the
music for the group.
The concert was a perfect fi
nale for the 1988-89 OPAS sea
son. With songs by Mozart to Ber
lin to the Beatles, there was
something for everyone to enjoy.
‘Hope and Glory’ looks at war
from child’s comic perspective
“Hope and Glory,” a 1987 Aca
demy Award nominee for best pic
ture, will be Tuesday night’s feature
in the MSG Aggie Cinema interna
tional series.
Directed by John Boorman (“Ex-
calibur,” “Deliverance”), “Hope and
Glory” is a humorous and moving
look at World War II through the
eyes of a child.
The film follows the experiences
of the Rohan family, an English fam
ily coping with the war. For Billy Ro
han and his younger sister, Sue, the
war seems like a party. Billy and his
friends collect shrapnel, play in
bombed-out houses and smash up
any intact objects in them. For them,
the war provides an outlet for fun.
In a scene near the end of the
film, we see the children jumping
for joy and cheering at the sight ol
their school, which is on fire after
being hit by a German bomb.
A scene where the Germansboml)
London sums up the child’s eye view
of the war. In the dark background
we see homes wrapped in flames.
Dawn, Billy’s older sister, calls for
him to “come see the fireworks.”
However, in showing the war
through a child’s eye, Boorman
never forgets war’s truly tragic na
ture. We see homes destroyed and
families lost. Overall, however,
“Hope and Glory” is a lighthearted
look at life during the war. There
are numerous comic moments that
make for an enjoyable experience.
“Hope and Glory” will be pre
sented Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Rud
der Auditorium. Admission is $2.50.
ITOYOTAI
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WESTON, Con
tor Stanley Mason
the world’s first
ware, the squeeza
and the granola 1
things, says he’s se
dollar ideas get los
of vision in corpor,
Like the dispos;
signed.
Mason, who’s
Wizard of Weston
part to remedy tha
with a course on cr
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the University
Stamford campus.
The inventor h;
a two-story barn w
and secret — ex
progress.
Mason isn’t tryii
dents into Thoma
does think he can i
curiosity and abil
lively, which he c
patents he holds.
"In large comp
divided up inter de]
so insular, they i
what goes on in th<
son said at Simco
development com
in 1973 after a cor]
"They don’t unc
ity, the continuun
between products
he said.
“It’s possible, i
teach people how
live way, how to
point of view abou
not to be so damn
thing.”
Norman C. Pa
Calif., president
Congress of Invent
calls Mason “one c
respected inventor
Mason’s work, h
Steps
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eye, which he lik
On some shows, t
from scratch, anc
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for other shows.
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costumes are the
those students whe
to Theater or a co
says.
"They put froi
hours a week build
some work more h<
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two seamstresses w
and work on more
parts.”
Technical crew:
theater arts majors
“Some students ;
in acting and work
says. “Others do a
and act in the next
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lighting, costumes
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“People do diffet
the show run smooi
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depending on the t
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cost more,” Porno s
If five weeks to
sounds like a rush,
direcor, cast and
overtime to get the
“Five weeks is p
says. “But we are 1
some very dedicate
willing to put in the
show.
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are completely ded
ater.
“The theater is
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