LPs
9 to 5 and Odd Jobs
Dolly Parton
Produced and Arranged by
Mike Post
RCA, AHL1-3852
Dolly Parton, as you may have
heard, has recently been gar
nering praise as one of the stars
of a new Hollywood comedy
called 9 to 5. Her latest album,
not without coincidence, also
bears the same title, as well as
the addendum And Odd Jobs.
It’s an album comprised of
songs about various modes of
work and poverty I only wish
Parton and her producer
arranger Mike Post had worked
a little harder to make this al
bum.
That Parton is a seasoned
professional performer who
knows her craft cannot be den
ied, even when she's just along
for the ride on a certain song (as
in this album’s weakest track
"Sing for the Common Man,” an
anemic rehash of Mick Jagger’s
and Keith Richard’s “Salt of the
Earth”), she still delivers. Ex
cept for a couple of the songs
on 9 to 5 she just doesn’t seem
to give what she's capable of
giving.
Those exceptions, however,
are almost worth the price of the
album. Parton shines in the title
track, which was also used in
the film. It’s a snappy, straight
ahead little rocker with a good
deal of life and sparkle. In
cidentally, Post did not produce
this cut.
One he did produce, which
works very well regardless, is
the opener to side two, an ode to
the “Working Girl." It starts with
and maintains a strong, perva
sive beat, almost a military
cadence, around and through
which Larry Carlton laces his
electric guitar licks. This cut
also has an edge to it, a bit of a
bite in lyrics like: “Some men
find her sexy, some men disa
gree/But if she's not it’s not
because she doesn’t want to
be/She wears a push-up bra
from Frederick's, five inch high
heel shoes/Maybelline and
Rubenstein, and Avon’s best
perfume/And she's a working
girl.” Although Parton delivers it
all in a straightforward, non
judgmental manner. Each verse
examines a different type of
working girl.
The last song, “Poor Folks
Town,” which Parton wrote in
1972, is a cheery, positive little
ditty with spirited lyrics along
the lines of "We got no carpets
on the floor/We got wall to wall
love/Who could ask for more.”
It’s an upbeat number that
sticks with you throughout the
day.
Parton also dabbles in disco
with a version of "House of the
Rising Sun." Granted, it’s a
song no two performers ever
seem to cover the same way, but
disco? Maybe Parton and Post
just wanted us to know she
could do disco. She can, but
why bother? At any rate, it must
be heard to be believed.
What is wrong with the rest of
the album is a certain lack of
spirit on Parton's part (she does
her job, but doesn’t seem to put
much true conviction into her
phrasings), and a lack of taste
from Post. The latter seems to
think songs, expecially quiet,
moving pieces like Woody
Guthrie’s "Deportee” and Merle
Travis’ “Dark as a Dungeon,”
are improved by starting them
out simply with voice and guitar,
or piano and synthesized flute
and then layering on another
instrument and/or a full string
section with each additional
verse so that the climax can be a
big, mushy, glorious statement.
Post even overarranges and
mucks up tried-and-true cry-in
your-beer tunes like ’ Detroit
City” and "But You Know I Love
You.” What has made these
songs work over all these years
is their simplicity and honesty;
Post gives us the lush Hol
lywood version.
Maybe everyone just felt
rushed to get the album out in
order to coincide with the film's
release. I don’t know. But what
we are left with is a rather short,
over-produced work, contain
ing a few notable songs and
several forgettable ones. It's
easily Dolly Parton's most com
mercial (employing all the con
notations, both positive and
negative, of that term) album in
quite a while. She’s done better
in the past; I hope she will do so
in the future.
By Robert Webb
l
Books
Side Effects
By Woody Allen
Simon and Schuster, 149
pages.
Maybe one of the most
revealing things about Woody
Allen's new book Side Effects is
its classification as a nonfiction
piece of literature If the 149
pages of the book aren’t fiction,
then Side Effects is an insightful
interpretation of Reality.
Insightful, only as Woody Al
len can make it. And, for the
most part, humorous enough to
make for enjoyable reading.
How many of us know Woody
Allen the book writer? Most of
his work extends to us by way of
his films, and this is where Allen
has gained most of his reputa
tion and critical acclaim. But
Woody Allen on paper is every
bit as good as Woody Allen on
celluloid. If he has won your
heart in any of his movies, there
is something in Side Effects for
you. It is sort of a Woody Allen
movie in itself — incorporating
his characteristic off-the wall
brand of humor along with his
sensitive philosophical views of
life. In short, Side Effects is al
most a “best of" Woody Allen.
Sixteen short essays are the
essence of the book. Essays?
Well, sort-of essays. Most of
them read like short stories, and
a couple of them are in the for
mat of a one-act play But all this
is nonfiction, remember. So we
must treat them as observations
of the real world. That is, real as
only Woody Allen sees it
For those Woody Allen fans
who loved his earlier, more sa
tirical films, such as Bananas
and Everything You Wanted to
Know About Sex, there are
several pieces in Side Effects
that will knock you on the floor
in fits of laughter. And for those
who prefer Allen s later, more
serious and introspective films,
like Interiors and Manhattan,
there are pieces for you, too
But this is not to say that one
has to have seen and ap
preciated a Woody Allen film in
order to appreciate this book.
Far from it, for the book stands
on its own as a fine piece of
work. It is both deep-sighted
and funny as hell; it makes for
both quick reading and inspired
reflection. Something for the
whole spectrum of humanity?
Perhaps. At least the American
species. It’s hard to imagine
someone not finding anything in
Side Effects that turns them on
But it might be safe to say here
that if you have absolutely de
spised every movie Woody Allen
has ever made, then you might
not want to buy this book. It’s
Woody Allen, through and
through.
The best piece in this book
(my favorite, anyway) is entitled
"The Kugelmass Episode." It is
one of several pieces in the
book which are written in the
short story format; its plot is so
zany it makes you wonder how
this could be called anything but
fiction. Fiction of the wildest
sort.
Kugelmass is a despondent
college professor living in (of
course) New York City. He is
unhappily married and desires a
wild, romantic affair with a
young, beautiful woman. He
goes to an analyst, who, after
listening to the troubles of the
short, bald, Jewish Kugelmass,
declares himself “only an an
alyst — not a magician." He
refers Kugelmass to a magician
friend of his. The magician has
this sort of "magic cabinet"
which will transport a person
into the book of his choice Just
place the book and the person
into the cabinet, tap three times,
and presto — he’s in the book
Kugelmass decides he'd like an
affair with Emma Bovary, and so
into the cabinet he goes, along
with a paperback copy of
Flaubert's novel. The next
moment he is standing in the
bedroom of Charles and Emma
Bovary’s house in Yonville
Charles is out of town; Emma
falls in love with Kugelmass, his
fantasy comes true.
But: "What he didn't realize
was that at this very moment
students in various classrooms
across the country were saying
to their teachers, Who is this
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character on page 100? A bald
Jew is kissing Madame
Bovary?’ ’’
And as the affair develops,
Kugelmass brings Emma back
to New York with him. ’“I cannot
get my mind around this,' a
Stanford professor said. 'First a
strange character named
Kugelmass, and now Emma’s
gone from the book. Well, I
guess the mark of a classic is
that you can reread it a thou
sand times and always find
something new.’”
The ending of The Kugelmass
Episode is one of the most
hilarious points in the book. The
wild imagination of Woody Allen
at its comic best.
Allen includes several purely
philosophical — but still humor
ous — pieces in the book. In
"The Condemned” the plot is
based upon the existential
views of Jean-Paul Sartre. And
Allen's view of Socratic philo
sophy is given in “My Apology,”
Allen’s rendition of the classic
by Plato.
Allen, playing the part of
Socrates in this one-act play,
twists the gravity of the original
Apology into a comic affair. The
scene is, of course, a prison
cell, and Socrates is con
demned to drink the cup of
hemlock.
Agathon: Ah, my good friend
and wise old sage. How go your
days of confinement?
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Allen: What can one say of
confinement, Agathon? Only
the body may be circumscribed.
My mind roams freely,
unfettered by the four walls and
therefore in truth I ask, does
confinement exist?
Agathon: Well, what if you
want to take a walk?
Allen: Good question. I can’t.
But unlike Socrates, Allen is
afraid of death, and he tries to
convince his friends that it is no
virtuous thing to drink the hem
lock.
Agathon: But you have
proved many times that the soul
is immortal.
Allen: And it is! On paper.
See, that’s the thing about
philosophy — it's not all that
functional once you get out of
class.
Side Effects is a good book to
have around. Though it can be
read in an evening, its lasting
value lies in its ability to bring
comic relief to a sometimes
overbearing world. Pick up a
copy and put it on your book
shelf, right next to Kurt Von
negut or Plato — it’s comforta
ble either place. And when you
find yourself despaired in the
middle of a long night of text
book reading this winter, pick it
up and read a story or two. Or
the whole book, even for a
second or third time. It’s good
therapy
By Kirk Knighton
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