The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 29, 1981, Page Page 5, Image 5
Entertaini
Jon
By JOHN
At last. The long-awaited
Jones has finally arrived. Em
brings with it more of the strc
made her debut album of t\
acclaimed success.
The music on the new recor
the songs are a bit slower ai
self-titled first album. Aftei
music, "Pirates" offers a ref
commerciality of all the top 44
me first song, "We Belong
King, a city sailor in charg
"crosstown seas/' who loses
better days.
"LIVING IT UP" continue
three members of the "Grei
Lee describes as a collection
to put together their broken li
Eddie and Louie sit on the stc
here to do anymore," and Zer
J- ?t _ ri 1 i i
urcs?s aiier ilaving Deen Deal
to rebuild their lives, refus
anything but "living it up."
The next song, "Skeletons,
man taking his pregnant wi
pulled over by the cops (".
beams"). As the man reaches
is going for a gun, and they si
melody combines with the inr
the album's strongest tracks.
Side one ends with "Woody
Peking," a tribute to the o
melody and blaring saxaphoi
Memphis-Stax Volt-Fifties mi
Side two opens with the ti
begins with a jazzy, uptemj
turns moody and reflective
"my buddy boys, my sad-eye
again at the end, though, giv
will turn out all right.
"A LUCKY GUY" is a sli
loaded with wistful irony as t
but in the end calls herself
Hnilhllocclu incnirml Kmr Inn*
MwwwMVtJUtJ tuppii VU UJ UUIU
boyfriend Tom Waits.
Traces of the Western Slop
best melody.
Aimu
By DAVID BAKER
The amazing movie
summer of 1981 continues to
become more amazing.
Almost without exception,
the waves of big-budget
movies we're subjected to
during times of peak box
office activity are borne out
of an ocean of mediocrity.
We've so far thriled to the
special effects of "Raiders of
the Lost Ark" and
." <*' S.
& ; :
Cleavon Little, James I
nent
ICS, J
I BAKTUS
second album by Rickie Lee
titled "Pirates," the new album
?t characters and imagery that
vo years ago such a critically
d is better than ever; in general
nd more reflective than on her
* an otherwise dismal 1981 in
reshing change from the excess
) clones.
Together," is about Johnny the
[e of his "rooftop docks" and
; his lover and now yearns for
s the album with a story about
it Diconnected," which Rickie
of runaways and hobos striving
ves. The characters are losers ;
>op all day, but "there's nothing
I . ttLl 1- 1 ? ?
v wains uy 111 a oiacK ana Diue
ten by her husband. They strive
ring to admit they are doing
" is a haunting ballad about a
fe to the hospital when he his
..in step a waltz of red moon
? for his wallet, the cops think he
loot and kill him. The mournful
edible lyrics to make this one of
and Dutch on the Slow Train to
Id RxB scene. The boDDine
- ft &
nes are a throwback to the old
isic.
*uly remarkable title track. It
x> arrangement that suddenly
as the singer says goodbye to
sd Sinatras." The beat picks up
ing the feeling that everything
ightly more conventional song
.he singer laments a lost lover,
"a lucky guy." This song was
2 s reiationsnip wiin longtime
>es is the album's jazziest and
"Dragonslayer," reveled in
the romantics of "Superman
II," gotten our bi-yearly
dose of 007 in "For Your
Eyes Only" and split orx
collective sides in "Stripes"
and Blake Edwards'
superlative "S.O.B."
Now six more features
have opened, or are about to
open, and each one has
enough merits to make it
worth one's while.
WALT DISNEY Studio's
lifii!?
* jBSBHBWW mB
tj
irolifi, Chick Venera and Bruce I
ackson L(
The vocal and instrumental arrangements really shine,
and the lyrics fuse with the music to form one of Jones' most
memorable efforts. It is a song about the road to depression
and despair, and the thin thread of light that rescues the
singer from the Western Slopes (going off the deep end).
KEEPING with the album's theme of reconstruction from
despair, "The Returns" closes the album on an optomistic
note. The song says there are always things that help one to
keep trying even when all seems lost. The lyrics convey the
message of renewal:
...but after all,there are such things
and these are the things who'll turn
vour memories hach intn tire>nma nonirt
If I had to choose one of this year's albums to buy, this
would be the one. The production and arrangements are
superb, and the musical and lyrical quality of the material
goes far beyond what I've been able to convey here.
Rickie Lee Jones is light-years ahead of any other female
artist on the current music scene, as a songwriter, composer,
and vocalist. Only Joan Armatrading comes anywhere close.
Also, perhaps the best thing about this album is that it make
absolutely no attempts at commercialism. It makes the
current chart-topping artists like Sheena Easton seem
ridiculous.
I'm anxiously awaiting future efforts from Rickie Lee
.1 nnpc Hor nntontiol conmc litv>Ulnr.o * ~"-'4 4- 1
UUML4J. net punmiui uiuiucas, diiu i can i wan iu near
more from this mended mirror of the Great Disconnected.
'miner iriuvi
"The Fox and the Hound" is they originally did when
both a touching story of love compared with the exquisite
and friendship that wasn't background paintings and
meant to be and a startlingly lively characters on view in
beautiful example of "The Fox and the Hound."
animation, as it was meant And, unlike Bakshi, the
to be. nf*onlP? nt Hisnm/ knnu; hnui
The trash-flash feature- to tell a story. Here, they tell
length cartoons that hack it so well that even those who
film-makers like Ralph go to the theatre only to see
Bakshi have been foisting off the animation techniques
on the moviegoing public in are bound to get caught up in
the past several years look the surprisingly somber
even more amateurish than dramatics. j
as ever, is topcast as Arthur )
1 Bach, the richest and hapIS
%s *C" ,Sr i piest drunk in all the world.
,^j HIS ONLY problem in an
{K^BJL:. bow to his family's wishes ]
PSFF * W | that he marry a Long Island
I1 . || debutante (Jill Eikenberry),
k j* whom he perceives to be the
~ SIBBSEUUMmm most boring woman ever !
Davison in 'High Risk/ restrained Liza Minelli.
C
\ "tst f
* r
By MARK McEWAN
"If you're successful and
repeat a formula, you're as
good as dead. You've gotta
keep changing. You gotta
keep trying. If you stop, you
may as well give up. What I
don't want to do is pigeonhole
myself."
This quote from Joe
Jackson is over a year old
and was meant to describe
his feelings about the just
released, Beat Crazy. But it
holds true for his recent
album, Jumpin' Jive. And
how! This album consists of
'40s jazz tunes, very different
for this popular poprocker.
While his fans may be
taken back by the music it is
a very enjoyable record. '40s
jazz is thought to resemble
Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller,
Benny Goodman, etc. Not
here. Most of the material is
from Louis Jordan, King of
the Jukeboxes, and a few are
from Cab Calloway. They
were considered amusing
performers first and
musicians second. With the
fine renditions here they are
shown to be pop artists with
a dancing beat. The vitality
comes through even though
oc tm
WvH
The relationships Arthur
has with the women in his
life (there's also a happy
hooker and a greedy
grandmother for him to
contend with) are fine and
funny, but the most interesting
relationship is that
of Arthur and his butler,
UnK^/\n ( T/\Km
iiuuouii vuuiui uici^uu;.
The banter between Moore
and Gielgud, who is certain
Ifr-, " ^ .y.
The Fox and the Hound' i
20th animated feature.
eat
the songs are 40 years old.
Definitely not sappy lyrics.
This should partly be
attributed to Joe Jackson's
affection for the songs to the
point of presenting a contemporary
sound. The songs
do not sound dated.
The song titles alone are
very amusing. Is You Is Or
r _ t/ a > ?
jif z uu /tin 1 jwy aaoy, ttve
Guys Named Moe, You Run
vour Mouth (And I'll Run
My Business), What's The
Use Of Getting Sober (When
You're Gonna Get Drunk
Again) have some fine jive
lyrics. This is jive in the '40s
sense of sly humor not in the
present day sense of bulls**t.
Jackson just plays vibes
and sings. He has someone
else, Nick Weldon, playing
the piano. This is a wise
. decision because Jackson's
cocktail-non stvlp wmilH Kp
incongruous.
The whole band is strong
Graham Maby on bass is the
only holdover from The Joe
Jackson Band. Everyone
else is a London studio
musician.
The horn section is the
strongest here. Raul Olivera
on trumpet, Pete Thomas on
alto sax, and Dave Bitelli on
tenor sax and clarinet, take
turns shining. They blow it
out or cool it down when the
situation arises. Each one
has suberb tone.
With vivid arrangements
and alot of gusto Jumpin'
Jive is best of all an album to
dance to. So reap this
righteous riff, bop, bop.
They, the cats shall hep ya.
itinue
nomination lor ms performance,
is what makes
"Arthur" work so well.
Gordon should be heartily
thanked for bringing their
incredible talents together in
what is one of the funniest
movies of this, or any other
year.
ALSO QUITE humorous,
and very unexpectedly so, is
"High Risk," which should
, ? " . - 4
* y:sv.s
pe?1, nssis
Walt Disney Production's