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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1995)
The Battalion • Page 3 Tuesday • July 25, 1995 Teenage Fanclub's new album draws on influences while (carving new identity T By Kyle Littlefield he Battalion Ah, the plight of many a good band. E ^he musicianship is there, but the tars are just not in alignment — or the uck needed to make a band commer- ially successful is lacking. Or as Raymond McGinley, guitarist for Teenage Fanclub explains, “If what you’re doing inter sects with the xood of the mass- js, you will be Isuccessful.” Grand Prix , Ithe latest release I from Teenage I Fanclub, contains | no evidence that Ithe band is chang- ing in order to >lease the American masses. Instead, the album finds the band writing great >op music and maturing. Teenage Fanclub has always had an mcanny knack for writing songs that Album Review Teenage Fanclub Grand PrSx DGC ★★★★ (out off five) left listeners wonder ing if they had heard them before. Grand Prix seems to stray from this tradition, which is proof the band has found its own sound. The notable exceptions to the band’s distinct sound are “Sparky’s Dream,” which sounds a lot like the chiming harmonies of the Byrds, and “Verisimilitude,” which could have resided on the Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds. The songwriting has Come a long way since the band’s last album. Thirteen. Songs like “Tears.” show that love songs are no longer the band’s only forte. Singer/guitarist Norman Blake sings, “You’re exalted Your exit was so dramatic.” Although it’s nice to hear a band that is not afraid to poke fun at itself, the wit of the album is, at times, overbearing. Some of the song titles show humor and cleverness. The title “Mellow Doubt” certainly has a double mean ing. If said too fast, it becomes “mel lowed out,” which is the mood project ed as Blake sings, “It gives me pain to think of you / And all of the things to gether we’ll never do” to the slow strum of his acoustic guitar. “Neil Jung” — pronounced “Neil Young” — sounds like the grandfather of grunge, but actually has nothing to do with him or the famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung. “It’s about a friend who was having a relationship with a crazy woman,” Blake said in a press release. “Sparky’s Dream,” a song about a cosmic love,, finds bass player Gerard Love singing, “I took a wrong direction / From a shooting star / In the love di mension / Fading fast from taking this too far.” The song is equipped with ce lestial harmonies and vintage-sound ing guitars to boot. With many songs these days being filled with cliches and words that have no face value or deeper meaning, “Verisimilitude” is an interesting look at the human side of songwriting. “It is an anti-dishonest love song, song,” McGinley said in an interview. The selective art of choosing words for lyrics is summed up as he sings, “I’ve got a pocketful of words in my brain / I pull something out when I think I should ... I’ll try to find some thing I can give to you.” In this day of punchy, distorted gui tars and blood-curdling screams that mark the resurgence of punk rock. Grand Prix may sound anachronistic. However, it is indigent to times when everything was laid back, and music could be described as “pretty” without that description being a bad thing. It's a small, thin, good-looking world after all Too much Disney can be dangerous Elizabeth Garrett Columnist E very summer it’s a new movie but the same ol’ thing. Pochahontas, the latest Disney creation, immediately spawned a mass of followers when the trailers hit theaters. And no wonder — Disney does a fantastic marketing job. The company’s advertising blitz cannot be avoided. Fast food restaurants offer children’s menus that include Disney toys. Radio waves and music video chan nels are flooded with Vanessa Williams’ rendition of Pocahontas’ theme song, “Colors of the Wind.” Hallmark is selling a line of greeting cards, stationery and party goods in spired by Pocahontas. Other Disney projects are still being exploited. The stage version of Beauty and the Beast is a hit on Broadway and is also touring the country. And we can’t forget the Disney store. Located in malls across America, the stores give parents the opportunity to purchase Disney clothes, accessories, videos, books and toys under one roof. Children pressure their parents enough without having an entire store devoted to Disney to rummage through. Many times, I have participated in elab orate covert operations with my family to distract my 6-year-old sister’s atten tion away from the Disney store as we walk by. Although we may avoid Disney at the malls, the blitz also comes by mail. For the periodically-inclined young ster, there is the Disney Adventurers Magazine, which is read by 5 million children monthly. Subscribers can look forward to the September issue, when they can take a Pocahontas personality quiz to find out which character they are most like. Yes, Disney has made itself quite com fortable in the market place. If it wasn’t busy playing the kids for every cent-of their al lowance, the company could train children to be good capitalists. But with the power over such a vast audience also comes responsibility. To its credit, Disney has tried to put a modern and realistic spin on its latest releases. In Beauty and the Beast, Belle, the heroine, loved to read. This is more be lievable and acceptable than Snow White, who loved to clean. But Belle’s bookish appearance made it obvious that Disney was trying to make up for its shallow femi nine portrayal in the past. With Jasmine of Aladdin, Disney introduced multiculturalism to its pre viously ethnocentric reper toire. The leading couple even had Arabic noses. Yet the rest of Aladdin’s charac ters were completely An glo. In fact, the only people who truly looked like Arabs were the bad guys. And now it’s Pocahontas. In its attempt to provide a history lesson for its audi ence, Disney falls short and merely exploits a folk tale. Disney fails to accurately portray Pocahontas as one of the first American Indians to speak English and act as a translator between her tribe and the colonists. The fact that she died in England, married to John Rolfe and never to John Smith is never even hinted at. And the typical squaw’s outfit did not, as the movie implies, have a thigh high slit, nor did it show cleavage. In fact, all modern Disney heroines’ scantily clad bodies have becorqe alarm ingly similar to Playboy centerfolds. In The Little Mermaid, Ariel swam around wearing nothing but seashells, if she wore anything at all. Jasmine was practically falling out of her genie outfit in Aladdin. But Pocahontas wins the Penthouse Pet Award for her ex tremely exaggerated figure. And Disney’s men are not immune to high standards. Captain John Smith of Pocahontas looks just like Fabio. In Disney cartoons, the good guys (and girls) are always extremely attrac tive. The characters who do nothing are mediocre looking, and the villains are always hideously ugly. .. Fortunately, this hierarchy of good looks does not tafe. exist on this side of the big screen. There is nothing particularly wrong with being estheti- cally pleasing to oth ers, but children ^ should see that just because someone is good looking on the outside, it does not always mean that they are good on the in side. It seems as though Disney wants to add a bit of re alism to animated movies to benefit its viewing audience. But it certainly has the power to influence, as well. This year’s influence has been wasted. But maybe there will be some frumpy he roes, or gorgeous villains next summer. Silverstone surprises with Clueless performance By Amy Uptmor The Battalion The basis for the movie Clueless can best be described in the words of its leading woman, Cher (Alicia Sil verstone) — “Searching for a boyfriend in high school is as pointless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie,” she says. Director Amy Heckerling’s new movie essentially is a meaningless display of high school kids trying to find love, much like her directo rial claim to fame. Fast Times at Ridgemont High. And much like Fast Times, the movie is successful with its catchy dia logue, biting one- liners and captivat ing characters. The movie centers around Cher, a wealthy Beverly Hills bombshell, and her best friend Dion (Stacey Dash). Both girls are named after “great singers of the past who now do in fomercials” and are friends because they know why others are jealous of them. They befriend a rough transfer student named Tai (Brittany Mur phy) and take her on as a fixer-up per “project.” In the midst of their quest to find the perfect guy for Tai, Cher realizes she wants a boyfriend of her own. The ever-picky Cher — “You see how much trouble I have picking out my shoes, and they just go on my feet,” she says of the opposite sex — experiences a run of bad luck with guys such as Christian (Justin Walk er), her James Dean-like dream guy. The problem is that everyone figures Movie Review Clueless Starring Alicia Silverstone and Stacey Dash Directed by Amy Heckerling Rated PG-T3 Playing at Hollywood 16 ★★★ (out off five) out is gay, except for Cher. It takes over half the movie for Cher to realize she is in love with her politically correct. Amnesty In ternational T-shirt-wearing ex-step brother, Josh (Paul Rudd). Where Cher is obsessed with coordinating the perfect outfit, Josh is more con cerned with growing the perfect goatee — “you just couldn’t be the only guy at the coffeehouse without chin pubes,” Cher tells him. It’s the perfect case of opposites attracting. There is an obvious age gap in Clueless that makes it a little hard for college-age students to relate. It is more geared toward the high school students it portrays. Nevertheless, the movie is enough of a spoof on high school mentality for people of all ages to enjoy. The acting in Clue less is surprisingly good, especially con sidering that Silver stone is best known for her performances in Aerosmith videos. The young actress is charming and por trays a character of considerably more substance than the movie trailers would lead view ers to believe. Cher has a heart of gold and only wants the best for her friends. De spite her obvious ditziness, she occa sionally surprises viewers with bits of intelligence. For example, she knows it was “that Pollonius guy,” not Ham let, who coined the phrase, “To thine own self be true.” .The film may never be the classic film of the- current high school crowd. It is not- a Fast Times or a Sixteen Candles, but Clueless is good for a few laughs. s The World unfolds for Graduate Students and Graduating Seniors ivith J\ rxnfYR If you are a U.S. citizen, you can perform research abroad in the country of your choice. Attend these meetings in Room 1 54 Bizzell Hall West for more information: Tuesday, July 25 at 4:00 pm Wednesday, July 26 at 4:00 pm Thursday, July 27 at 9:00 am Study Abroad Programs; 161 Bizzell West; 845-0544 Student Appreciation Night Every Wednesday Free Pool w/ college ID 7 pm-1 am Happy Hour 4-7 pm M-F $1.00 Draft $1.25 Longnecks $2.00 Chuggers $1.75 Well OPEN DART TOURNAMENT Every Ttiesday starting at 8:00 p.m $5 entry fee • Double elimination • 1st, 2nd & 3rd place prizes • Bud Light Chuggers $2.00 I Winn Dixie Shopping Center - Texas Ave. 764-8664 I Doux Chene Apartments The living is easy & so is the rent! Limited spaces available. Come see our complex and our new white walls! 1401 FM 2818, College Station 693-1906 *S«e On-Site Manager for details. Offer expires 07-31- 95.