Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

entertainment Album Review Guess Who's made 0 . an impression BY ERIC ANDERSON It had been five years since I had seen Charles. He and I had been great friends in high school, and had been rivals in almost everything. We tried to win the same girls, tried to out-do each other in the same classes and argued vigorously over the worth of the same music. When I finally ran into Charles a week ago in a local bar only one question burned in my mind. He used to absolutely detest the Guess Who, while I thought the world of them back in the days when they would never be without a single in the top forty. He could never see my point in liking them. I could never understand his dislike. I had seen their new album "Flavours" on the rack of a local record shop and chuckled to myself that the Guess Who are still plugging on. I was aware they were making a fairly strong comback with several recent singles. That day I really had to know if he had an opinion on the Guess Who. As I approached him, Charles looked up from his beer, grinned broadly and said with a trace of submission, "You know, you were right." "Yeah?," I replied. "About what?" "About the Guess Who," Charles admitted. "I changed my mind." "So did I." It was true. I had lost interest in the band about four years ago, close to the time I entered college. Everybody in college knew that the Guess Who strictly catered to the teeny-bopper's idea of heavy metal music. Charles looked at me sternly, almost with disbelief. "You mean you don't like them anymore?" I nodded. "You haven't changed a bit," he said, laughing. "You're still a fool." I had to know his angle. "What's your angle?" I followed. "Well," Charles said, "I decided about three and a half years ago that I liked the Guess Who. Very much, actually." "What brought this on?" It seemed the natural thing to ask, for .Charles used to give me lots of hell about liking the band. "I saw them at Carolina Coliseum in the fall of '71," Charles ex plained. "You must have been a freshman then. Anyway, I was really impressed with their style. They were all clever and accomplished musicians, and Burton Cummings' voice . . . what can I say? The man's voice is really incredible. I mean his range, his phrasing, and his versatility equal that of just about any singer around today. Cummings is up there with the very best of 'em, and that jiving of his at the end of some songs sounds like he must be a Fats Waller fan." "Fats Waller?" I thought for a moment, "You mean the black entertainer who played piano back in the '30s?" That's the one," Charles grinned. "I never thought about the similarity until you mentioned it." "Are the Guess Who still as commercial as they used to be?" I asked. "Well, yes, sort of," Charles said finishing the beer I had just bought him. "The Guess Who are commercial in the same sense that people like Eric Clapton, Todd Rundgren, Elton John or even the Beatles are commercial. They have a crisp, clean production and very tight, very saleable arrangements." His enthusiasm was rubbing off and I wondered if he had heard their new album. "Dancin' Fool" was saturating my car radio, and I'd found myself subconsciously trying to pick out the lick on my old Telecaster. Intuition told me it would be a hit. It had a really catchy tune, but, unlike so much of the infectious fecal material on the AM band, this song was really good. The arrangement was so tight it hurt, filled with soulish guitar chunks supplemented by Cummings' pum ping piano chordings and trills. And I'd had to admit to myself that I actually did like Cummings' vocals, even though something in the back of my mind was saying, "Hey, listen bud, that's the Guess Who. You're not supposed to like them." But I dug the vocals despite myself. They were too strong, steady, and straightforward to justifiably to think otherwise. So, I queried Charles about his opinion on "Flavours" is a -very tasty little number," he said, apparently not appreciating his own pun. " 'Dancin Fool' is about . . . a freshman scoring for the first time at a watering hole like the Campus Club. "Listen to the lyrics," he chuckled, "You'll remember. Anyway, the song is a great opener. 'Hoe Down Time' is a different concept unless you've heard a lot of country reggae." (I hadn't). I like to think of it as Poco cum Johnny Nash with Belafontesque vocals." "What a strange combination," I smiled out loud. "What a great combination!" came the rebuttal. "You're going to have to listen to the album. The Guess Who really runs the musical gamut. They hit the lush cocktail jazz with the song 'Eye'... gorgeous vocals. They get crunchy on 'Dirty'. Frank Sinatra could sing 'Loves Me Like a Brother' and pull It off. They can dish out main stream rock numbers like 'Diggin Yourself' and 'Long Gone' with guts and still keep the polish. There Is a song dedicated to Gram Parsons called 'Seems Like I Can't Live With You, But I Can't Live Without You' and you'd swear Parsons wrote the tune." I had to give in. "You win. Your arguments sound pretty con vincing. Convincing enough anyway to warrant some investigation on my part. I'll pick up a copy of "Flavours" tomorrow." "Good man," Charles said rising and patting me squarely on the shoulder. "Seems to me low yua beer..". 'Indians Christopher Messersmith p Bill Hickok in "Indians," the P winning drama written by Aj which will be presented Feb Carolina Coliseum at 8:15 p.rr The drama is performed I tinental Theatre Company and locally by USC's University Uri Series. Movies: Mel Br BY CHUCK CROMER Entertainment Editor DOWNTOWN YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN It's Mel Brooks Week in Columbia with two of his finest movies being featured. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is his latest masterpiece that spoofs the old classic horror films of the 30's. Gene Wilder, one of the truly great comic actors on the screen today, stars as the somewhat eccentric doctor, with British comedian Marty Feldman and Peter Boyle co-starring. For effect, the movie was filmed in black and white. 'Mel Brooks is also much more sub dued and controllable in this film than with his last effort, BLAZING SADDLES. Everyone in Columbia should see this comedy while it is here. Miracle PG BLAZING SADDLES--Mel Brooks was totally nuts when he directed this extravaganza. That's what makes it so good. Slim Pickens, Gene Wilder and Harvey Korman star in this ndian saga schedu 'to play I )rtrays Wild Buffalo ulitzer Prize theatrical -thur Kopit, destructior 17 in the white m simultanec oy the Con- Wild West is sponsored true about ion Cultural and out of ooks films totally ridiculous satire 'on westerns. Even with enormous amounts of foul language and horrid story line, this is a must for USC students. Dutch Square. Rated R MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS--A first rate murder mystery based on the novel by Agatha Christie. Just look at this cast--Sean Connery, Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, and Michael York. Richland Mall 1 PG TOWERING INFERNO--One day this fiasco will leave Columbia. After all, two months of burning bodies and Paul Newman is too much for anyone. PG Palmetto EARTHQUAKE--What kind of effect has "sensurround" had on the structure of the Jefferson Square building? Don't be surprised if you're watching the movie one day and the ceiling collapses. PG Jefferson Square CAMPUS FILMS PAPER CHASE--Have you ever wondered what the true 4K Nd Teb. 17 3ill is the pivotal figure in a fantasia as the subject of the of the American Indians by the an. The drama moves usly in and out of -Buffalo Bill's Show, in and out of what was him and what was false, and in present and past time. offered value of your college diploma is? If you're scared of finding out, pass up this movie. Timothy Bottoms of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW fame stars as a Harvard law student who's trying to decide if law school is worth it or not. A fine performance by John Houseman as Bottom's an tagonistic professor makes this movie worth seeing. Thursday Friday EAST OF EDEN--This is the best acting performance of James Dean's short career. Based on a story by .John Steinbeck, the plot centers around a struggle between a father and his two sons over the love of a sensitive local girl. It's an okay movie starring Burl Ives and and Raymond Massey but only Dean stands out. Sunday 400 BLOWS--Directed by Franco.is Truffaut, -the plot follows a Parisian boy who turns to small-time crime as a reaction to his tyrannical parents. The film has excellent photography and terrific editing, but may scare some away because of English subtitles. Tuesday