—Entertainment
Grim new Cure sounds great
By Thomas Prowell
Emerald Associate Editor
The Cure — Disintegration
Those who jumped on the bandwagon af
ter their world smash album Kiss Me kiss Mr
Kiss Mr may lie surprised by the dow ner title.
_Record Review
but veteran Cure listeners know that Disinte
gration is Ihr perfect title for an effort by Rob
ert Smith and company
For more than n decade now. Smith has
been making embraceable pop that both
sounds great and is incredibly depressing to
listen to. Like fellow Brit Morrissey. Smith is
the kind of songwriter who isn't happy unless
he’s downright miserable.
And with the growing confidence that in
ternational success brings. Smith really lets
himself go. Disintegration is the darkest Cure
album since the faraway days of Pornography
and that's both the album's greatest triumph
and biggest drawback.
Musically. Disintegration is a continua
tion of the some of the same trends The Cure
explored on the last album. If you've got a
copy handy, cue up the tracks "Snakepit" and
‘A Thousand Hours” from Kiss Mr and you'll
know what to expect.
Along with longtime mates Simon Callup
and Laurence Tolhurst, Smith has assembled a
six-man outfit that plays with <i verve and con
fidence like no other Cure lineup. The chaos
Smith welcomes on tracks like "Plainsong.
'‘Closedown” and 'Fascination Street" is ac
companied by great music.
But then Smith gets a little too indulgent.
The extended eight-minute aural montages
“The Same Deep Water As You" and the title
track are bound to inspire a little impatience;
the shorter "Lovesong" is uncharacteristically
sappy. These songs remind one that Smith was
always at his best when he clocked his sharp
angst in under three and a half minutes.
It is also natural to wonder il. given his
success, why can't Smith lighten up a bit'
Like Morrissey, Smith was getting great at per
fectly aligning his deep, dark tears with the
pop song format. But Disintegration complete
ly lacks the catchy singles like "Whv Can't I
Be You?" that were the high points of Kiss Me
or The Head on the Door.
Therefore, Cure fans, both new and old.
will probably have a hard time coming to a
consensus on Disintegration. Depending on
your perspective, this is either a depressing,
dreary album or a return to form from a bund
some accuse of selling out. miner way. «» s
clear that Smith is deliriously unhappy, and ns
long ns he keeps making entropy sound this
sweet, this enticing. I'll stay along for the ride
Tom Tom Club — Boom Boom (Tii Boom
Boom
Every time the future of Talking Heads
looks uncertain, along come Chris Frantz ami
Tina VVevrnouth to establish their own identity
with a new Tom Torn Club record. Consider
ing how it was always Frantz and Weymouth s
fine-tuned, funky rhythm set lion that gave the
Talking Heads their signature appeal far more
than band loader David Byrne's psycho lyrics,
one wishes them well
Unfortunately for Frantz and Weymouth,
it's always Byrne that gels the most attention,
and thes seem unlikely to step out of the giant
shadow of his big suit on Boom Hoorn Chi
Hoorn Room
Passing the opportunity to explore any
new directions on this, their third Tom Torn
Club album, F’rantz. and Weymouth mine the
rich world-beat strains they discovered in last
sear's stunning Heads album, ,Vak<ii There's
also a distinct South American flavor to some
tracks on Boom Boom that are certain to draw
the inevitable comparisons to Byrne’s recent
compilation of Brazilian music, Rulvxa Tropi
cal .
If Boom Hoorn's tracks c ould stand up to
such scrutiny, this would still Fat a fine album,
but unfortunately, they slightly miss the mark
The album starts off promisingly enough on
each side: the spirited, funky trac ks "Call of
the Wild" and "Kiss Me When I Cel Back
lead off the album and the quieter, moodier
"Suboceana" and "Don’t Sav No" start side
two.
After that, good pickings get fewer. The
lock-step "Wa Wa Donee" is the kind of for
mula pap that got The Esc ape ('tub a gold re
cord, but I expect better stuff from Ibis outfit
The glam-bang "l Confess" is similarly unin
spiring. and the bonus trac k "Challenge erf the
l.erve Warriors" on the- c assette and disc is a
drum kit-and heavy-breathing exerc ise that is
no bonus at all.
The songwriting on this effort pales next
to other Torn Tom Club records Nowhere on
lloom /loom is there a single like "Cenius of
l.ove" or "The; Mao With the 4-Way Hips
ihe album lac k*, the sense ot tun that informed
their eponvmous tort I debut or I‘IH.1 •> ( lose to
the Hontt
The telling moment occurs with the two
covers that end tin- album The goofx take on
Turn to Cure, Page >0
'Nuevo tango' artist to play Hult Center
Astor Piazzolla created an
uproar in his home country of
Argentina when he created the
nuevo tango. Critics threatened
his family and a gangster came
to a performance to shoot him
for playing strange music, but
Piazzolla was undaunted. Astor
and The New Wave Tango Sex
tet will perform their revolu
tionary tango in the Hull Cen
ter's Silva Concert Hall on Fri
day. May 12 at 8 p.m.
Reshaping the tango to his
needs and vision. Piazzolla cre
ates supple but dangerous
sounds suggestive of romance
and mystery.
Piazzolla retains tango's
poignancy while rejecting its
tendencies to nostalgia and
morbid self-pity. Revising the
harmonic language to include
classical influences, he incor
porates Stravinskian accents
and tango pulses with three
part fugues and jazz-style im
provisation.
One of the few traditional
elements in nuevo tango is
Piazzolla's instrument — an ac
cordion-like squeeze box with
buttons and a dark, sweet, har
monium-like sound called the
bandoneon. The bandoneon 's
notes arc placed with obscure
logic; the key changes depend
on the player squeezing in or
opening up the bellows. In
vented in Carlsburg. Germany
in the lH4()s. the bandonifon
was used in churc hes whic h
couldn't afford an organ Fifty
years later, Piazzolla said. it
found its way to the bordellos
of Buenos Aires
Born in Buenos Aires in
1921, Piazzolla moved to New
York when he was very young
As a boy. he would often listen
to the music played by his
next-door neighbor, a concert
pianist who played Bach all
day long. Piazzolla was so
strongly influenced by the mu
sic that he asserts: "I am what I
am thanks to Bach ..."
"When I began writing this
music, everybody threatened
me," he recalled But he- quick
ly adds that "you must fight for
what you love, and for me.
that's my music."
Since then, Piazzolla has re
corded over in albums, includ
ing recent releases on Sting's
personal label. Pangaea.
Now in his late 60s. the tire
less Piazzolla will headline at
the Montreal jazz Festival, an
upcoming stop on Ins North
American tour. The New I'.ingo
Sextet's premiere tour destine
lions include Miami. Houston
and West (mast stops in Berko
lev. Eugene and Seattle I lie
sextet includes |ulio Pane the
first h.mdoneon player ever to
perform with Piazzolla. cellist
lose Bragato. Bassist Heitor
Console. pianist Gerardo
Candiut and guitarist Horat io
Malvecino. a member ol the
original loot) quintet
The New Tango Sextet cre
ates music to listen to. not just
dance music "In Buenos Ac
res. popular music is called
tango. For me. however, tango
is a musical art that requires
development; it is not just a
mere folk form. Essential to my
music is progress, something
which I've wanted to bring to
Argentina for a long time."
Piazzolla said.
Tickets for Astor Piazzolla
and The New Wave Tango Sex
tet. the final performance in the
Hull Center's On the Crest of
the New Wave series, are $15.
with a limited number of stu
dent and senior discount tick
ets available. Tickets are avail
able at Hull Center outlets.
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