ocalist-guitarist
I returns
to
Portland
Singer-guitarist Jesse Colin Young and
his band return to the Portland Auditorium
on Friday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m.
Young's latest album on Warner Bros.,
"On The Road," was recorded live during
his Northwest concert appearances last year.
He first attracted national attention with
the Youngbloods, a group he formed in the
mid-60's. His present band consists of key
boardist Scott Lawrence, horn player Jim
Rothermel,
drummer Jeff Myer, bassist
David Hayes and backup singer Suzi Young
(Jesse's wife).
Appearing with Young as special guest is
singer-guitarist Ry Cooder. Ry Cooder's rep
ertoire is an eclectic encyclopedia of the
authentic and obscure music of America.
Tickets for the Northwest Releasing event
are on sale at the Ticket Place at Lipmans,
First Federal in Vancouver, Stevens and
Son and the Auditorium.
Jesse Collin Young
'In Review
'Todd’ melts
AM lovers and
music snobs
By Jim Rogers
Cougar Print Editor
Editor's Note: This is the second
in a series of reviews of generally over
looked albums which stand out from
the mainstream of popular music for
whatever reasons.
WThis week's jewel is "Todd", and is
the work of Todd Rundgren, one-
time producer of the Rascals.
As a producer, Rundgren was the
proverbial boy genius and he is no
less as a musician/composer.
■"Todd", released in 1974 on the
Bearsville label, provides a listening
e>®erience not often available to the
rock and roll audience. This is one of
the few two-record sets that doesn't
suffer from repetition of ideas. Each
new song has its own identity.
■"Todd" is mainly a one-man show
case as Rundgren puts himself in the
dangerous position of being the only
musician on many of the tracks. Any
one who has ever listened to Paul
McCartney's first album should see the
danger. Rundgren avoids the pitfalls
of one-man-showmanship and the re
sults are as satisfying as those achieved
by Stevie Wonder.
■ Rundgren's greatest achievement
on
"Todd" is the way the love
songs come across. This is one of the
few albums with songs of this nature
that hasn't made me gag. The song in
this category that best illustrates this
is "A Dream Goes On Forever."
■A
thousand true loves will live and
die
■But a dream lives on forever
■ The days and the years will go
strewing by
lacka nas Community College
But the time has stopped in my
dream
The boy almost gets philosophical;
hardly common fare for most love
songs.
Rundgren also has a sense of humor
as illustrated in the song, "An Elpee's
Worth of Toons", a song that tells of
the futility of songwriting.
There's something at the heart of
it that's simply awful
A man who makes a living off a
plastic waffle
Other tunes to take note of are
"Heavy Metal Kids", as good a punk
rock song as has ever been written and
"Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song",
an interesting arrangement of a Gil
bert and Sullivan song.
"Todd" is an album that anyone,
including AM radio listeners, can enjoy.
I heartily recommend this album, es
pecially to musical snobs. It just might
show them where rock can go given
the right direction.
Trekkies enjoy
Enterprise voyage
to Coliseum
By Happie Thacker
Staff Writer
Star Trek lives! In the hearts and
souls of Trekkies everywhere and with
in the confines of syndicated television
reruns, the Starship Enterprise voyages
on. Her five-year mission: To explore
strange, new worlds; to seek out new
civilizations; to boldly go where no
man has gone before. ..
A sell-out crowd of 9,000, some
in costumes similar to those worn in
the 23rd century science fiction tele
vision series, revelled in "The World of
Star Trek" at the Memorial Coliseum
Friday night.
The three-hour show consisted of
two reels of "bloopers", outtakes from
the filming of the series; a somewhat
overdone,
philosophical speech by
Gene Roddenberry, producer of the
show which began in 1964; and the
series' original pilot, never before seen
in its entirety.
Although the show may have seem
ed too long for some, most diehards
stayed for a second showing of the
bloopers in order to hear the parts
missed because of laughter during the
first showing.
Roddenberry spoke on the origins
of the series and the difficulties in get
ting the show produced. It seems that
network executives were opposed to
including any philosophical discussions
of man's destiny in a prime-time ad
venture show.
Roddenberry also assured Star Trek
fans that a full-length movie with the
original cast would go into production
early next summer and will be released
approximately nine months later.
His discussion of his personal phil
osophies regarding future evolution
and the world of tomorrow were long
and rather boring. Most interesting
were his anecdotes about battles with
network executives and censorship.
Many fans recognized the pilot as
most of it was shown as part of the
show in which Spock was tried for
mutiny after stealing the USS Enter
prise.
The movie was in black and white.
Roddenberry blamed this on network
executives who threw away the color
negatives which they felt were "not
important enough to keep."
Roddenberry also offered hope for
the return of the series if the movie
is a success.
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