University of South Carolina Libraries
'Egg' n< By Lshman Stilts Entertainment Editor Very few people care much for this album. It is Wings' first for Columbia and as such was expected to be a major effort by McCartney and company. But, while it rocks harder than the much-loathed London Town (this reviewer rather liked the title cut I * [Album Review | of London Town but has been told often how wrong he is), Back To The Egg is more of the same from McCartney. It is almost impossible to take an objective critical approach to Paul McCartney. In a sense, he is modern music; he is undoubtedly one of rock's greatest songwriters. Everyone has some prejudice or Overall the mus Imaginative, the prod another about McCartney or the Beatles. Many expect too much of Wings. A particularly bitter Rolling Stone review had this tone to it; one could see the rnnfnsinn tv?hiroon McCartney as Beatle and McCartney as Wings. The Beatles' songs changed our lives; why can't McCartney's songs still do it? Then there are those who fervently hold to the belief that McCartney is no worse a songwriter than he ever was, that nothing has changed. These people overrate Wings' musk, blindly loving it all merely because the jacket says "All songs by Paul McCartney." So what can we make of Back To The Egg? McCartney shows no signs of selling out; he has even left "Goodnight Tonight" off the ikjr _ a many nuns including b.. n.L.. UJ U?flU DBKVI QaitMcock Film Crttle Do you ever think about the I number of quality films that never , find their respective ways to a ' Columbia theatre? If not, let me assure you that quite a few of them exist. I'm not just writing about obscure foreigni movies with unknown director's and no-name casts. Some of the films that have bypassed Columbia were directed by such proven talents as^ Billy wiiaer, Micnaei Kitcnie, Kiaiey Scott and Peter Bogdanovich. Some of the films have such favorites as Jane Fonda, Steve McQueen, Glenda Jackson, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Ellen Burstyn and Goldie Hawn in their leading roles. Three of the recent no-show films have won Oscars. One of the most noteworthy films yet to open in Columbia is Michael c Ritchie's An Almost Perfect Af- ( fair, starring Keith Carradine and I Monica Vitti. Set in the circus-like 1 milieu of the Cannes Film Festival, the picture opened to < generally favorable reviews in t New York last May. After its ] opening engagement, however, the i movie has disappeared. If Paramount Pictures would release the film with ads noting its director is the same man who directed The Bad New* Bear a, Semi-Tough, and Smile, the ads alone would lure in enough of the local yokels to make its distribution here worthwhile. Likewise, after the $25 million success of Foul Play, the presence i of Goldie Hawn would seem to be / othing r aiDum. The songs with a few ex- J ceptions are well written, well a played, and very listenable. But, sadly, the actual worth of the \ music McCartney creates is of n little Doint anv more. f Overall the music is typical s McCartney: eclectic, imaginative, c the product of a highly personal s symbolic language. There is more o hard rock than we have come to exoect of Wines, but for thp mrwt r? part it is distinguished only by the b McCartney touch. The much- h touted Rockestra never quite ci makes it, producing wall-of-sound b thud rock. b "Getting Closer" kicks off side tl one nicely, bringing back memories of "Live and Let Die." It a rambles through a catchv chorus u to an ending rock-out that is ac- fi tually exciting. This is Wings' best V lc Is typical of Mc uct of a highly symbolic ? 1 single in the last few tries; it tl makes up well for "Goodnight IV Tonight". oi The short, perplexing "We're Open Tonight" never does much of c< anything besides setting up a ti strong contract for "Spin It On," a tt cut that must have Beatle cultists p leaping for joy with its reminiscent ei sound of 15 years ago. ft Denny Laine takes his crack at ui song writing with "Again and b* Again and Again," the most un- w derstandable and therefore least 6< interesting song on the album. s< : The new Single "Arrow Through * W Me" is more classic McCartney with perhaps just a slight touch of C disco tossed in for good measure. h< Side two opens with "Rockestra f? Theme/' a repetitive waste of the 01 talents of John Bonham, John Paul di never get to three Oscar enough to make Travels With the Anita a strong box-office pull for a eff< Few weeks at the very least. United fan Artists does not see things that gai way, though, so the film continues Yoi to collect dust on the studio's shelf, Pai as it tine Kaan ftninit ainnA U? KaI a v aiuu MVVll UVIII5 OillV^ A tO MCI completion in February. For the soj record, Travels With Anita hasn't auc opened anywhere in the United L States, so it isn't just Colombians pla: who are being deprived of the Fe< chance to see it. did Such is not the case with this eng gear's Oscar winner for Best stat Cinematography, Days of Heaven, sau [t has played practically the tvannvhaM Kiif PnliimKlo T sain If on<l v? j v? uva V WMV wililUVUli A van A i HUV ast December in Atlanta and wh< subsequently named it to my Ten F Jest List of 1978, thinking it would sim >pen here in February to capitalize Sui >n the Academy Award cin< lominations. It didn't. For- the unately, the film is now available fillc m 16mm for colleges, and the USC Mai kinematic Arts Committee has it see* woked into the Russell House hav rheatre in November Si It's a shame that Cinematic Arts has iidn't bother to book The Duellists, Par hough, which is also available on the <mm A Vloli v?in? rm iiuijvi pi u>v wuuid ai uiu uiu 877 Cannes Film Festival, Ridley com Scott's first feature segued from byp riew after a financially disap- are. minting New York opening. With In Uten, Scott's new film, racking up wor KMc-office records everywhere, well kapa la (inns that Tim r\. >/>!tla*> Atr/t Id livpv UKII* A ric &/I4VIIMM n?V nay yet receive the release it exis leserves. Pas There doesn't appear to be any and tope, however that comedian awe; Ubert Brooks' Real Life will play disa % inifcfr ii i f . i ewfro 'ones and Peter Towns hend, imong others. "To You" is Wings' bow to New Vave ; it sounds as if it could be the lew Police single. "After the tall," a gospel-type number, eguas into "Million Miles," an odd ut that employs something ounding vaguely like a Magnus rgan as the only accompaniment. "Love Awake" is the album's lost beautiful song, a straight allad that lets McCartney utilize is voice to the finest. The album loses with "Baby's Request," a luesy number that sounds like it elongs more on the Tonight Show (ton aw *K:?, ?IU.? iiun vii vttis aiuuiu. So there we have it: a Rice lbum, in the vaguest sense of the rord, that actually does nothing to iirther or belittle McCartney's and Zings' reputation. More important uartney; eclectic, language. ian how the music sounds is what [cCartney has become in the eyes I himself and his public. Let's face it: the Beatles aren't Dming back, not so much because ley don't want to but because lere is no place for them. Like arents, the Beatles guided an ntire generation through a (liferent kind of growing up. And like nruly children, we left them ehind. But something went rong: the glorious dream of the )'s fizzled and, through some snse of injustice and betrayal, we lameMcGartn^: ~ *"* * There is no doubt that Mcartney is making the best music b knows how to; it is hardly his lult that he can no longer change it lives. In the midst of this iscofied. mellowed-out. fast-lane Columbia, ! winners Carolinas. A comedy about the sets of television on an Arizona lily, the Charles Grodin vehicle ! nered rave reviews in New rk and Los Angeles, but ramount Pictures evidently lieves the film is too ihisticated for Southern liences. ikewise, United Artists has no ns to release Billy Wilders' iora here, even though the film quite well in a few select [agements in the New England i tes and in California. When I r it in New York this summer, theatre was packed and many nence members applauded m the curtain came down. edora is a stunning film, ilar in many ways to Wilders' is o t Boulevard. Its unatoffraohy is ffomeous and leading roles are beautifully >d by William Holden and rthe Keller. I'd love to see it a md time, but I doubt I'll ever e the chance to to do so. > far, every film I've mentioned been non-released by either Amount or United Artists, but aHmmp ? v ?V %uoMtvw%V?V| SNITV IV1 1 vrersal (with whom I have no iptoints), are Just as bad about sssing the area as those two I fart Avon rkiimmw maw k? se. If a film doesn't perform 2 1 in a single tost engagement, I o will pretend the film doesn't J t. Jules Dassin's A Dream of ( ton, starring Ellen Burstyn I Molina Mercouri, has been j pt under the carpet after a ppointing one-week run in i * t culture, all of his songs seem to carry implied question marks: is this all that it amounts to? Is this what we meant? Is this what we hath wrought? Back To The Egg is good, but that hardly matters. Perhaps IhtM ^mp Brooke Shi Mlanta. Since the opening day idvertisements in the Atlanta tewspapers were smaller than one nch square, mentioning only the ??? ? ^ ? lue ana we snow tunes, 1 tau to inderstand why they even tothered to opto there at all. Another strike for Avco comes rith Th* Stud, one of the topprossing films in the history of Jreat Britain. Based on Jackie >)Ulins' book and featuring a disco i ? * i_ muuuunui UMI IOIIM Bccum m British Mies only to Saturday tight Fever, the movie already las spawned a sequel titled The litch. Avco picked ud domestic listributfon rights to The Stud a rear ago and has not released it ret. Warner Bros, has come up with in unbelievably chintsy way of xxrtney Bii': -Jx: '{ * *% John Lennon's self-imposed exile from music is good after all. One would not be surprised to see McCartney do the same thing. It may be the only escape from the impossible challenges of his?and our?past. ?M? In 'TO#' ww 111 m ? g, unspooling some of its films in the Columbia area. Both Bloodbrothers (starring Richard Gene and Paul Sorvino) and Boulevard Nights (one of the year's biggest moneymakers on the West Coast) had their Columbia premieres on Home Box Office, the former on July 14 and the latter on Sentemher 1. Rudy Durand's Tilt, also from Warner Bros., appears headed for the same fate. Of course, with Brooke Shields' rancid acting in both Wanda Nevada and Just You and Me, Kid, Warner Bros, may be uuing us a iavor oy Keeping Tilt locked away in the studio vault. Columbia . Pictures also has ^ developed a novel way of avoiding See MOVIES, jug# 11