Zebop
Devadlp Carlos Santana
1981 Columbia Records
To give Santana his due, he is
a monster of a guitarist, and
works with a great bunch of
sidemen
But Zebop is more than a little
disappointing. The album has
its bright spots here and there,
but it is flawed by several unex
citing and undeveloped songs
— and a couple that are down
right bad.
The album opens with a
decent rendition of Cat Steven’s
"Changes.” The words to the
song inadvertently sum up the
difficulty with the album: And we
all know it's better/Yesterday
has passed/So let’s all start the
living/For the one that's going
to last.
One of the problems with this
optimistic refrain is that, as far
as the album is concerned, it’s
not true. Santana was putting
out better music yesterday than
he is today.
There was a time when San
tana would take charge of a
song, when the music would
expand and soar to his wailing
sustains, and crash into an in
tense groove on his cue.
On Zebop, Santana has it all
bass ackwards. The material
doesn't conform to Santana,
Santana conforms to the mater
ial. Here his guitar playing,
which should be the blood and
guts of the music, is squeezed
into the tune in the form of
“solos.”
He makes up for this, in part,
with five short instrumental
numbers. "Primera Invasion” is
like old Santana, with Devadip
Carlos cruising over a solid La
tin groove. “Tales of Kilaman
garo” sets down a mood that is
mysterious and laid back. And
“American Gypsy” is another
strong instrumental
Santana does a fine job on the
old love ballad, "I Love You
Much Too Much,” by utilizing
one of his best techniques, the
sustained note. "Hannible" is a
decent exploratory tune, but it is
too short to achieve very much
or to explore very far.
Granted, the instrumental
tunes are fine — Santana is
falling back on what he does
best. But waiting for these short
moments of inspiration is like
watching T V. for the commer
cials: You have to sit through
the shows.
In this case the shows are the
songs, and what a mixed bunch
they are! One thing is consis
tent, though: the lyrics are in
credibly insipid Santana might
have spared himself some em
barrassment by not having them
printed on the sleeve.
"Brightest Star" is a good
rock-soul ballad, and Alexander
Ligertwood is a fine, gutsy
singer. But check out the last
stanza: Girl. . . oh, yeah .
oh. . . Come back. . . won’t you
come back/Please, oh, please,
please, /Please, please/Pretty
pretty pretty pretty please/I
need your love, oh, baby, yeah.
On “The Sensitive Kind” we
encounter the same problem.
Here is a nice slow minor blues
with strong singing by
Ligertwood. But the message of
the song is dumb. It can be
roughly paraphrased, “She’s a
gentle little thing, so treat her
with kid gloves and it’ll pay off
eventually."
“E Papa Re” is a song of un
explored potential. The object is
to transport the listener to a
thick, steamy jungle where the
natives are chanting and doing
a frenzied dance. The music is
passable, but it is really little
more than semi-dated funk, and
since it doesn’t come close to
working up the excitement that
it’s supposed to, the whole idea
ends up being kind of silly.
“Searching,” "Over and
Over” and “Winning” are abys
mal songs. They throw together
so many mediocre rock cliches
that one of them might be bad
SEAN CONNERY in
"OUTLAND"
PETER BOYLE i
FRANCES STERNHAGEN JAMES B. SIKKING KIKA MARKHAM
Produced by RICHARD A. ROTH Executive Producer STANLEY O’TOOLE
Music by JERRY GOLDSMITH Written and Directed by PETER HYAMS
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enough to make the top forty.
It’s a crime for someone of San
tana’s stature to be playing that
kind of crap.
Save your money and wait for
the next one. Santana can, and I
hope will, do better than this in
the future.
— Matthew Taylor
Folk Festival
comes alive
The 11th Annual Willamette
Valley Folk Festival comes alive
on campus for three days of folk
music, folk dancing, various
workshops and just good
feelings. The night before the
festival on May 28 you can catch
folk music and dance films at 8
p.m. in 150 Geology — for free!
May 29 Small Change, old
time music, opens the first day
of the festival at noon on the
main stage on the East Lawn. At
the Beer Garden, Boden and
Zanetto, play 1920s jazz. And at
8 p.m. Dewey Balfa and Marc
Savoy from Louisiana play
Cajun dancing music in the
EMU Ballroom.
May 30 the Ragtime Million
aires take to the stage in the
opeining act at 11:30 a m.
Throughout the day fiddlers and
pickers and yodelers and others
entertain.
May 31 Lip Service, Western
swing at its best, opens the final
day of the festival at 11:30 a.m.
on the main stage.
Okay, guys, this is a straight one
As we near the final days of the
1980-81 Thursday Revue, and after
all the copy-editor "hellos" and
"good-byes," I would like to
welcome Myrrh Sagrada to the
official "tie-it-up” position of TR
copy-editor. C. Hanson (See
Hanson?) split for the other coast to
find a real job; Brett went to
Portland to slosh drinks; and Kirk,
well, we don't really know what
happened to him. Kirk took off on a
bike to escape from this lovely
college town, and we've not heard
a word since (rumor has it, though,
that he is in Eugene once again)
Also, in this space of straight
thanks THANKS,
WAVE-who-gives-me-the-pages
Finally, thank you, Sandy and all
your ingenuity. Ahh. creativity
Remember all stuff to go in the
TR must be in my staff box by
Thursday at 5 p.m. the week before
publication
One last gratuitous note: Thank
you, Doug for sitting with Shanti;
Phil, for the rushing stream
fisherwoman; and Sally, tor the
roses — just a couple out of 24
dozen (equals 288) Sniff, your
editor-friend, Erzsi.
dis’ser
ta’tions
Quick and inexpensive:
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