Thursday, November 11,1993 The Battalion Page 5 _ Jk LS Kate Bush s ‘The Bed Shoes... ’ 1 1 • • By Jacqueline Ayotte The Battalion "The Red Shoes" Kate Bush Soft Pop Rock Columbia Records Kate Bush's mu sic has always fall en in a category all its own. Not poppy, not bluesy, but more like slow rock with a jazzy overtone. Her voice has always been distinctive ly high, yet smooth to the sound. Sort of like a calm, classy version of Cyndi La u per. But it seems Bush's new album, "The Red Shoes," carries a mixture of her musical traits to such an extent that trying to define it becomes impossible. Maybe it's because she hasn't released an album in over three years, or maybe it's because "The Red Shoes" is based as the soundtrack to her soon to be released film, "The Line, The Cross, The Curve." Whatever the reason may be, "The Red Shoes" falls somewhere between fascinating and disappointing. Every slow song on the album sounds beautifully tender and deeply real. But the fast songs are nothing more than dry and irritating. For instance, the song "Rub- berband Girl," though full of lively music, drowns out the beauty of her voice. She starts to sound like a cheap version of Lauper, and this isn't pleasant. The title song, "The Red Shoes" has the same effect. Luckily, the true flavor of her sound comes through in soft songs like Moments of Plea sure." Her voice dances along to the instruments, like a ballerina gracefully flowing through a routine. Every word is real and unadorned, yet magical at the same time. But again, the fast songs get lost in a plethora of poppy noise. Maybe there will be answers to this drastic transformation in her musical style once her new film is released. As for now, my advice would be to buy the album, fall in love with the soft tunes, and fast forward through the an noying ones. : ■ TOM CRUISE THE FIRM I !'iin ih iri i .CCPVRiGiin 1993 8V PARAMOUNT Thursday @ 7:00 & 9:45, Saturday @ Midnight Please note: Due to the rescheduling of the football game this Saturday, there will be only one showing of The Firm on Saturday night. All shows presented in Rudder Auditorium - The largest screen in the Brazos Valley! Persons with disabilities please call us 3 working days prior to the film to enable us to assist you to the best of our ability. MSC FILM SOCIETY OF TEXAS A&M Questions? Call... MSC Box Office 845-1234 MSC Student Programs Office 845-1515 .JJL. A Memorial Student Center Student Programs Committee ADMISSION: $2.50 Advance tickets available for all shows at MSC Box Office Sinatra pairs up and falls flat J 111 ■ By Anas Ben-Musa The Battalion "Duets" Frank Sinatra Classic Pop Capitol Records I gotta new album for you, mister. It's wild, kooky fun. . . babe. With that unique delivery and talent ed voice, Frank "Of Blue Eyes" Sinatra is back with "Duets." But "The Chairman of the Board" is not calling the shots by himself this time. He has some of today's most talented vo calists to sing some of his most popular tunes. Singers like Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Natal ie Cole, Anita Baker and Sinatra's good friend Tony Bennett; but Sinatra still does it his way with that legendary style. Frank can't be Frank without that big orchestra playing hard and furious while he delivers such well known songs like "New York, New York," "The Lady is a Tramp," "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "Witchcraft" and many others. Yet, in the monumentous effort to blend such diverse singing and musical styles, "Duets" at times sounds awkward. See Frank/Page 6 =1 i d _ Catch the Kings! Just back from their West Coast Tour! inD rCOR P»DANCING SKELETONS® LIFE AND DEATH IN WEST AFRICA T his personal account by a biocultural anthropologist illuminates important, not- soon-forgotten messages involving the more sobering aspects of conducting fieldwork among malnourished children in West Africa, With nutritional anthropology at its core. Dancing Skeletons presents informal, engaging, and oftentimes dramatic stories from the field which relate the author's experiences conducting research on infant feeding and child health in Mali. Through fascinating vignettes and honest, vivid descriptions, Dettwyler explores such diverse topics as ethnocentrism. culture shock, population control, breastfeeding, child care, the meaning of disability and child death in different cultures, female circumcision, women's roles in patrilineal societies, the dangers of fieldwork, and the realities involved in researching emotionally draining topics. Readers will alternately laugh and cry as they meet the author's friends and informants, follow her through a series of encounters with both peri-urban and rural Bambara culture, and struggle with her as she attempts to reconcile her very different roles as objective ethnographer, subjective friend, and mother in the field. 14=113 1 Return to the Field 2 Of Mosquitoes and Men 3 Female Circumcision: Not Just Another Bit of Exotic Ethnographic Trivia 4 Of Worms and Other Parasites 5 The Grande Marche 6 Rural Africa at Last 7 Children, Snakes, and Death 8 Bad Breath. Gangrene, and God's Angels 9 Poulet Bicyclette 10 I Give You Rural Africa 11 Turtles All the Way Down 12 Dancing Skeletons 13 Mother Love and Child Death 14 Postscript, 1993 KATHERINE A. DETTWYLER iiiiaji MEET THE AUTHOR KATHERINE A. DETTWYLER who will be autographing her book Saturday, Nov. 13th, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at your Texas ASM Bookstore in the Memorial Student Center 3rd Floor Cantina 201 W. 26th St. • Downtown Bryan • 823-2368 THURSDAY NIGHT • NOVEMBER 11th Happy Hour 5-8 $5. Tickets go on sale at 8 pm MSC TOWN HALL AND ALPHA PHI ALPHA PRESENT ■owl In Advance $10 At the Door $12 HI PHI ALPHA IYPE JL/Eii IPSYNC JAM Box dice oftiy pine al 845'1234 lllt#l!!