Photo by Mott Meyer
Christopher Cross brought a polished but unenthu
siastic show to the Memorial Coliseum Sunday
Style lacking at Cross show
Christopher Cross has talent, there's no question
about that. The question is: where does it belong?
Some artists are stunning on stage, projecting a
sense of excitement in their music that doesn't quite
come across on vinyl. Others are true masters in the
relative safety of the studio — where overdubbing and
proper mixing can cover a multitude of sins — but
completely fall apart when it comes to performing in
public
Judging from Cross's performance at the Memorial
Coliseum in Portland on Sunday, he doesn’t fit into
either category
A relative newcomer to the national music scene,
Cross has had a very impressive string of hits from his
debut album Unfortunately, after "Sailing". "Fly Like
The Wind", "Say You'll Be Mine” and "When You Get
Caught Between The Moon and New York City" are
gone, you're left with a number of tunes that are good,
but not really first-class material
Although most of his songs rely heavily on lush
studio productions, Cross and his five-piece backing
band adapted them to the harsh realities of live perfor
mance extremely well With the help of synthesizers and
an array of percussive instruments, the band was able
to reproduce the studio sound with impressive accur
acy
The imitation was almost too exact Those who like
to hear the songs "just like they are on the record" can
save money and listen to their stereos Most concert
goers expect a little diversity, a little ad-lib, and a little
excitement These were in short supply on Sunday
night
Christopher Cross is not very exciting to watch
Short, pudgy, and curly-haired with a bald spot, he is
not exactly your typical rock star It would be somewhat
ridiculous to expect him to do a show like Bruce
Springsteen, but Cross seemed abnormally staid While
singing, he stands motionless at the microphone,
gazing blankly at the crowd During guitar solos, he
strolls idly a tew feet and turns slightly, staring at the
ground all the while
Surprisingly enough, these solos (and an im
promptu rendition of "Happy Birthday") were the
highpoint of the show Cross displayed impressive
talent in his guitar solos, which were always fast,
precise, and fairly imaginative These solos were the
only obvious departure from the recorded versions of
the songs, often stretching the tunes to ten minutes
The other members of the band were equally
talented With the exception of some flute riffs that were
badly out of tune, the backup band carried their part of
the show with quiet competence Although it would
have been nice to see them put down their guards and
really take off, they never distracted the audience with
unnecessary flamboyance, which is often a mistake
backup bands make
One problem developed, however, with the mixing
of the sound It's a basic assumption among concert
sound crews that the audience should be able to "feel"
the beat in any rock tune The sound crew Sunday night
was no exception While this preoccupation with the
beat usually doesn't hurt the overall sound, it ruined an
otherwise superb job of mixing Cross's voice is unique,
with its lack of enunciation and laid-back feeling, but it
becomes totally unintelligible when the drums are
pounding over them As a result, many of the lyrics were
garbled on the faster tunes
Otherwise the sound was superb Harmonies were
incredibly sweet, instruments blended nicely, and
everything went together to produce a sound tighter
than many albums can attain
From that standpoint. Cross was a definite success
in Portland From a visual standpoint, however, Cross
has a long way to go before his show matches the level
of quality set by his music
By Matt Mayar
Frank zaps back into Eugene
Hold on tight, Eugene, Uncle
Meat is back in town!
Frank Zappa will bring his
legendary guitar playing and his
notorious brand of humor to
MacArthur Court at 8 p.m Sun
day for one of the most unusual
evenings of entertainment to hit
Eugene this year
No matter what people may
think of Zappa’s off-beat per
sonality and cynicism, they all
seem to agree about one thing
he can play the guitar Combin
ing elements from a variety of
styles including classical, jazz,
rhythm and blues and rock, he
accompanies his satire with in
credible sounds from his guitar
Zappa's satirical brand of
music began in the 60’s, where
his socio-political barbs
brought him a cult of loyal fans
and a wealth of enemies He’s
continued in his tradition, and
his songs poke accusing fingers
at everyone from swinging sin
gles to "pure as driven snow"
WASPs
All seats for the concert are
reserved in a special amphith
eater format Tickets are still
available at the EMU Mam Desk,
Meier and Frank and Ever
ybody's Records Tickets are $8
and $9
i
Frampton cancels
Peter Frampton won't be bringing his rock show to
Eugene tonight as had been earlier announced
Frampton had been scheduled to appear at 8 p.m at the
Lane County Fairgrounds Performance Hall, but the concert
was cancelled due to lagging ticket sales
The concert, produced by Starline Presentations in
conjunction with KBDF-AM, has not been rescheduled
People who bought tickets for the show can obtain full
refunds from the EMU Main Desk, Everybody's Records and
Meier & Frank
-Ma6-4*4*104*
The Innocent Age
Dan Fogelberg
‘‘I think everyone should go to
college,” Dan Fogelberg said
last year in Portland, "but no
longer than a week or two.”
No matter how he feels about
higher education, Fogelberg's
latest album. The Innocent Age,
is more an organized thesis on
the nature of life than an album
in the conventional sense
Although many of his earlier
albums contain songs which
probe certain aspects of life,
Fogelberg has never really tak
en a topic and explored it to its
full extent With The Innocent
Age, however, he breaks away
and develops his theme with the
thoroughness and clarity of a
well-written term paper He ex
plores, sometimes autobiogra
phically, man's passing through
life, from the innocent and
spontaneous days of childhood
to the routine-filled days of ma
turity. He concentrates on our
wish to return to our childhood,
and the frustration of trying to
make time stand still: "Every
vain attempt to make it stay/Is
destined to fail” (from “Empty
Cages”).
The Innocent Age is a double
album containing 16 songs
Although Fogelberg's theme is
rather broad, his train of
thought sometimes meanders
through a few more verses than
Page 6 Section B
is necessary After hearing the
first verses on almost every
song repeated, one gets the
feeling that Fogelberg might be
padding the songs a bit to justify
a double album
In spite of this, Fogelberg's
latest release is an excellent
album, and definitely one of his
best efforts to date There is an
abundance of exceptionally
strong cuts on the album In
"The Sand and The Foam" he
combines a lush blanket of
acoustic guitar and cello with
some of his best lyrics ever to
form a touching ballad dealing
with the lost road back to child
hood: "Dawn like an angel
lights on the step/Muting the
morning she heralds/Dew on
the grass like the tears the night
wept/Gone long before the day
wears old Gone are the
pathways the child followed
home,/Gone like the sand and
the foam.”
As usual, Fogelberg utilizes a
variety of musical styles, from
classical to Eagle-esque, some
things highly reminiscent of
Fleetwood Mac, and lots of his
own brand of rock As usual,
Fogelberg shines brightest in
his more acoustic moments
Among the strongest cuts on
the album, most are of this style
"Same Old Lang Syne", "Run
For The Roses", "Leader of the
Band", and "Only The Heart
May Know' , a duet with Em
mylou Harris
Many of the songs sound
similar to earlier Fogelberg
releases This could result from
his habit of playing most of the
instruments used on the album
himself Although he's obvious
ly competent on guitars, piano,
synthesizers, bass, lead and
multi-tracked background
vocals, certain riffs and mixes
sound awfully familiar
Nonetheless, he manages to
use more original chord pro
gressions than ninety per cent
of the recording artists currently
around Between his songwrit
ing ability and his talent for per
forming, Fogelberg has more
talent than any one ought to
have
Although "The Innocent
Age" is not a perfect example of
a flawless theme album, Fogel
berg has been successful in his
attempt While no thesis project
is without imperfection, he has
done a remarkable job with his
theme, and put out some darn
good songs at the same time
Fogelberg has graduated
By Matt Meyar
Shot of Love
Bob Dylan
What will it take to convince
some people'?
With the release of Slow Train
Coming, Bob Dylan's conver
sion to Christianity became
public and beyond debate Or
did it?
Jann Wenner, the top dog at
■'Rolling Stone’’ listened to
Dylan's album, breathed a sigh
of relief, and announced to the
masses that Slow Train was
about faith and doing what was
right — themes reminiscent of
the Dylan of the sixties But,
Wennner assured, Dylan had
not become an orthodox Chris
tian as reports claimed (after all,
there was a song about a girl on
Slow Train), the faith he spoke
of was faith in ourselves
The next year Dylan released
Saved, a strictly gospel album
both musically and lyrically The
rumors subsided, temporarily
Six months later, Dylan was on
the road again in England, do
ing little "religious" material,
much older stuff and beirtg
joined on stage by Eric Clapton
and George Harrison
"Ah-ha!" cried the desperate,
"that 'born-again' bit was a
phase." Yawn No sooner had
the new plague of rumors in
fested the music world, when
Dylan released his new record,
Shot of Love The record has
been kept remarkably quiet by
the critics It is not surprising
It may seem unnecessary to
dig up history when listening to
a new album, but much of the
significance of Shot of Love
stems from the swirling con
troversy that has surrounded
Dylan for the past two and a half
years Taken out of context, the
album loses much of its impor
tance
There are several things that
strike the listener almost im
mediately. For beginners, the
production is typical of many
Dylan albums — sloppy
Mis-timed harmonies abound
from the opening moments of
the first song, "Shot of Love".
The clear, crisp production of
Slow Train is gone, giving way to
Continued on Pago 8B
Thursday, October 1,1981