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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1981)
-QN DISC“ (Continued from paffe 13) Discipline is comfortably on its own, and can be approached by even staunch anti-punks without tear Insuf ferably self-assured, obscure as a nxk theorist and inconsistent as a record maker, Robert Fnpp nevertheless can not be dismissed After his bnef lived League of Gentleman outing ear her this year. Fnpp has reinvented the hand that won him fame in the first place — King Crimson, disbanded in the mid-Seventies after a trailblazing career among British progressive rock groups Tlie album has an unashamedlv in tellectual tone. While such tracks as ' Elephant Talk' and "Thela Hun Gin jeet' have peppy percussion lines, it’s best to dance in your head to this LP And theres much for both the mind and the senses to enjoy here gentlv whining guitar murmurs, soothing touches of congas and marimbas, tasty tax/ and even raga-like arrangements When Discipline's mood threatens to stay serene, eruptions of drum banging and clanging guitar riffs break the peace nicely Belew is the voice ol the new King Crimson, and his hu morous David Byrne-iike yelp is right for the album's curious lyrics. Several tracks ( Indiscipline. Thela Hun Gin teet i are more narrated then sung, yet another unexpected touch in an album full of them Barry Alfonso COUP DE GRACE Mink DeVille (Atlantic)'*'illy DeVille is an anomaly among the new breed of rockers You probably know him via his menacing version of Cadillac Walk but his real forte and true love are the un abashedly romantic, uptown soul bal lads that gav e the likes of Ben E King a string of hits in the very early Sixties Willy's passion for the music extends to looking and acting the pan, too—if Saturday Slight herer had been set in Spanish Harlem circa 1962, he would have been the ideal choice to play the lead role Cuufj IX' Grace Mink DeVille s first LP for Atlantic (the very label that re leased most of those old r&b classics voung Willy least his hean to), unfonu nately isn t the matcb-made-in-heaven it could have been DeVille and co producer Jack Nitzsche have saddled these tunes with monochromatic ar rangements The performances have nothing in the way of tension, dynamics or color and consequently fail to generate the sense of drama that is absolutely central to this music Predictably, DeVille shines brightest on tlie slower material — no one but no one. among rock singers can tackle an old-fashioned soul ballad as con vincingly as he dix-s Help Me to Make It and You Better Move On” (both covers) and Willy's own So in Love Are We fare best here while Love Me Like You Did Before stands as one of his most successful forays into uptempo Stones swagger Con// he Grace is a proficient, workmanlike record but it's too Hawed to break DeVille to a wider audience If you re looking tor an introduction, try to track down Cabretla, Mink IX Yille s first Capitol album, which boasts his best batch of songs to date includ ing an utterlv magnificent gem of a soul ballad. Mixed I p, Shook l.p Girl Don Snowden Lindsey Buckingham is miking about one of his heroes It’s a cautionary tale, with many unspoken implications, and the dash ing singer/songwriter, guitarist and progressive wedge for FleerwcxxJ Mac — th? most hugely successful of all hugely suc cessful mega-buck bands of the last decade—is making his par allels very obvious. Anvone who knows anything about the Beach Boys," he says, loung ing in a windowless, frigidly air conditioned back room of his manager's Hollywood headquarters, "knows that Brian Wilson was the group It mav seem a smidge odd that Buckingham, dressed down in ratty on Fleetwcxxl Mac's two mythic albums, HleetUHxui Mac and Humours His contributions in those halcyon years included tunes like 'Monday Morning," "Second Hand News," "Never Going Hack Again, anti the awesomely commercial "Go Your Own Way. Hut Buckingham was ton siderablv more than a hit making cog in the Mac machine. The lull ex tent of his audacious experimental prowess became lully evident on 1979's Tusk, about as complete a creative departure as any group could make and still lx- considered the same entity "I ni still very proud of that album, insists Buckingham Befort it was released, everyone was really excited about what wt d done, but •iitor if a-.K rmreir#*nt fh:lt it WLLSH t pin stripe pants, nattered ioarers and what looks like a khaki green surgical smock, should be ru minating on a man and a band whose best work was fifteen years ago After all. Laic and Order, the criminally handsome musicians first solo LP, has just hit the racks, while the album’s debut single Trouble" is currently making its bulleted way up the Top -40 charts If nothing else, the boyish, curb headed 32-year-old should be plugging the upcoming FleetwixxJ Mac effort, the band's studio follow-up to its ambitious, qual ified failure Tusk (4 million dou ble LP s sold as opposed to 16 mil lion for 1977’s legendary Ru mours, still the best selling al bum in pop history). Hut no. he wants to talk about the quirks, sol itary and monolithic genius of Brian V. ilson, and for reasons that quickly become apparent It just got to a point, I think with Brian that he became so de tached trom the group that it was impossible to make the mu sic he heard in his head using the capacities of the band If he d made the choice to break away from his brothers, to not be responsible for them, he’d be mucli better off today F.ven it lied had to settle into his own fairly obscure niche, he wouldn't have had to compromise It’s sort of sad Between the lines, of course, the point is clear Lindsey Buck ingham has reached a strikingly similar crossroads in his own career It s not that he compares lies talents to those of that formi dable mastermind of the Califor 111a Sound I'll never even get close, he asserts in an obligatory disclaimer It s just that as a member of a globally renowned quintet, with fistfuls of fame, for tune and enoch-makint! music Lindsey Buckingham's Beach Boy Gambit: BE TRUE TO YOUR MUSE by Davin Seay cnrvmoH selling, opinions in the band changed I got remarks like, you went too tar this time Lindsey Fine Having been made responsi hie for the album's failure only made me want to go further with the same ideas Going further in this case re suited in Utu and (trder, an LI' that advances his singular musical philosophy along immensely satis lying lines "I reject the idea that rock must la- built around a bass and drums,' he asserts and to prove the point he has crafted a buoyant, tuneful sound that de pends as much on delicate bar monies, multi layered guitars and intricately floated arrangements as an\ vintage Brian Wilson studio opus “It's been compared to the Beach Boys, Buckingham beams, ‘John Lennon and Harry Nilsson I m flattered The most impressive as|>ect ol l/iti anJ Order, aside from several melodies which catch and hold alter a single listening, is the do it-yourself spirit ol the project Hvery instrument (with the excep lion ol the odd drum track), all vocal parts, arranging engineering and much ol the producing were handled bv Buckingham himself What could have ended up a sterile exercise in studio gimcrack er\ is instead a surprisingly sjkiii taneous effort I could have gotten a bunch ol great studio musicians togethei comments Buckingham but then it would have sounded like an other one of iIhjm- albums I get enough ol that with Fleetwood Mat Thev re all great musicians But all the music ends up lx-ing driven In bass and drums, with everything else out on the edge I always felt there were too many people involved in the creative process in the band, I Buckingham suddenly linds him sell in search of that mercurial grail, Artistic Fulfillment Born and raised in the South Bay area of San Francisco, Buckingham began playing guitar at age seven taking his cue from fits older brother s rock and roll singles, most notably Buddy Holly In the late Sixties, he joined forces with Stephanie (later Stevie) Nicks in a group called Fritz The band plied the Northern California club circuit before relocating in LA and cutting Buckingham/Nicks as a duo The LP was a regional hit in, of all places, Birmingham, Alabama The pair s producer, Keith Olsen, used the album to pitch his own production talents to Mick Fleetwood of the venerable British blues band, Fleetwood Mac Fieet wood was duly impressed with both Olsen and the album. Stevie and Lindsey became Big Macs after Bob Welch left the group Buckingham’s dynamic rise as a songwriter and guitarist is chronicled In' continues 11 made it ver\ difficult at times Buckingham's decidedly hla.se attitude alxnit the sujiergroup was re llected m Ins recent refusal to sign the renewal contract offered the band by Warner Bros. While Insisting that the policy right now is for the group to stay together he admits. I m sure Fleetwood Mac will out live its meaning sooner or later In fact, Buckingham came to (Ins inter view from a recording session for the next Mac 1.1' luu anil Order was a very intimate experience. Buckingham con eludes The only way to maintain innocence that I know of is to choose things you care about and commit yourself to them. I1 I had to choose between commercial success and the kind of pleasure I got from doing this album, there d be no contest tmm
