The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 16, 1978 Page: 7 of 16
sixteen pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
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records
Wha-Koo
Berkshire
What is a Wha-Koo? I'm
not sure, but this album is
respectable both for its
material and production. As
far as I can tell, it is not the
group's first, though I am not
familiar with their past
efforts. As for the lineup, the
only name I can remember
having come across in the past
is David Palmer, who used to
do vocals for Steely Dan a few
years back.
The music is a cross between
pop and rock, similar now and
then to the sound that
characterized Steely Dan's
Can't Buy a Thrill. A cut like
"Mother of Pearl," with
Palmer taking lead vocals, is
bound to remind one of "Dirty
Work" for its smooth, pastoral
sound. Surprising to see is
"Dreaming as One," which
Blood, Sweat and Tears did a
cover version of on their latest
release. Palmer's soulful
vocals make it an equally
adept rendition, with the band
providing a backup that sees a
mixture of guitar and chorus
at the end.
The guitar work throughout
Berkshire is notable, and
provides that extra touch
which often distinguishes rock
from pop. On "I'm Here," the
electric opening catches your
interest right away, and keeps
it as the slide and rhythm
work continue throughout the
cut. Danny Douma (who wrote
most of the music) and Nick
van Maarth also share lead
vocals with Palmer while
providing the electric lead and
rhythm which help make this
album successful.
Two more selections which
deserve special attention are
the title cut and "Fabulous
Dancer." The former starts off
acoustically and picks up an
electric lead while maintain-
ing the tone that places it just
outside the realm of what is
normally considered rock.
"Fabulous Dancer," on the
other hand, is one of those
catchy tunes that makes you
want to play it over every time
you hear it. If Wha-Koo were to
consider releasing a single off
the album, the natural choice
would be "Fabulous Dancer,"
because it is both infectious
and well done at the same
time.
While Berkshire may not
explore any new directions in
modern music, it is one of the
better releases I've heard in
the past few weeks, and has
enough variety to please the
majority of mainstream
listeners. I would not be
surprised to hear the radio
stations playing cuts from it
soon. As far as MOR (middle of
the road) music goes,
Berkshire offers enough
recommended cuts to keep the
pace going through both sides.
Rate: 1-
—jim fowler
Chick Corea
The Mad Hatter
Chick Corea's latest effort
is, to put it mildly, an enigma.
To some extent it is an
extension of some of his more
recent, popular work; but
much of the music is closer to
his original work with Circle
and the early ECM albums. If
you must have generaliza-
tions, you would definitely
have to call it a concept album,
but beyond that, classifying it
as jazz, classical, symphonic,
or rock just wouldn't do; it's
just—different.
The concept the cuts revolve
around is, obviously, Alice in
Wonderland. If you've seen
either the advance hype or the
instrumentation, your
impression was probably
'yuk'. However, Corea
manages to build a really tight
work that somehow clicks in
spite of itself. "The Woods,"
the first tune, features Corea
on multitrack electronic
everything, and sets a strange
pace for the album. The next
two cuts typify the album—a
meld of electric, mainline, and
other jazz concepts. "Humpty
Dumpty," which follows, is as
close to mainstream as Corea
ever gets; the description on
the jacket is as follows:
"Humpty watched the
ridiculous trial from the edge
of the field to the north. It
made him laugh so hard that
he fell off of his wall and all the
King's horses and all the
King's man came and grooved
with him."
"Falling Alice" and "Mad
Hatter Rhapsody" are
probably the best concept cuts
on the album. The mood on
each varies from deep to
pensive to frivolous. Gayle
Moran on vocals is particu-
larly effective on the former;
the latter cut sums up the
entire album by quoting from
all of the cuts and working
with some final concepts of its
own.
It is extremely difficult to
know exactly what to say
about The Mad Hatter. Can
you say that it is, for once, a
successful attempt at a blend
of classical and jazz concepts?
Can you say that it draws
The Entrepreneurs
of
your friendly local tavern
declare
with the greatest of pleasure
that the third Friday of February
will be officially known as
Hump Friday
We invite you to attend the celebration of this event
on Friday, February 17, 1978
at
WILLYS
PUS
We will offer cheap beer and wine*
good food,
and
Live Entertainment
Lisa McFarland, Singer and Guitarist Extraordinaire
'Happy Hour — 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. Lisa will be performing from 4 until 7
heavily from the rock
influence? Well, yes, but that
really doesn't do it justice.
Suffice it to say that it's
accessible to anyone who's
ever heard any of Corea's work
and liked it; it defies
classification, and it demands
to be listened to more than
once. At first sitting. I'd never
done that before.
When this is done in concert
it is going to be astonishing.
Rate: 1
—mark linimon
Bob Weir
Heaven Help the Fool
It is not unheard of these
days for a musician to do both
solo and group work, so that
one can be identified both as
an integral part of a band and
as an artist in one's own right,
an object of attention for
cliche-ridden rock reviews. It
gives writers like myself the
chance to say things like Bob
Weir is best known for his
work with the Grateful Dead.
But sooner or later you have
to put aside the past and get
down to the album at hand. In
this case, you have an LP that
is almost good, but just seems
to miss the mark on each cut.
The material Bob has included
is good, the instrumentation
decent to very good, and the
lyrics interesting to amusing.
Still, the album lacks a
motivating factor because Bob
Weir is not a vocalist who can
give life to a song. He stays
within a certain range of notes
and relies heavily on
background singers to
animate the vocals, which
cannot work for a whole
album. After a few cuts it
becomes obvious that he
stifles his own material. This
album should have been
better, and 'almost' does not
hold your interest long
enough.
A cut like "Easy to Slip"
identifies the basic flaw of the
album. Weir takes this Little
Feat tune and drains it of the
kick it originally had. On
"Bombs Away" and the title
cut his vocals betray that half-
spoken sound which merely
hints at the tune the music is
aiming for. Only on "Salt Lake
City" does he manage to pull
music and vocals together,
rendering it an upbeat, jazzy
tune to match its amusing
lyrics.
All in all, it is one of those
albums you play when you're
not too particular what you
feel like listening to. If you
ignore certain points, it has its
moments which are pleasant
enough. Who knows, if you're
a Dead fan you might even
find yourself liking it.
Rate:2-
—jim fowler
RICE UNIVERSITY
Wesley Foundation
Sunday Schedule
8:45 and 10:00 Morning
Worship Services
9:45 College Class—
Sunday School
Bus Schedule to St. Paul's
Brown College 8:30 9:30
Baker College 8:35 9:35
g>t. $aur*
[
€hurci)
526-1695
528-0527
Houston Grand A
Opm!
presents
FALSTAFF
by Guiseppe Verdi
Sung in English
Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana
Monday, Feb. 20th, 7:30pm
Student half-price seats
available from $1.25 Balcony
to $5 Front Orchestra
For tickets, call Houston Ticket
Center, 227-3625
Verdi wrote FALSTAFF when he was eighty,
and this sparkling comedy is both his valedictory
to opera and his supreme masterpiece. Come
see Sir John battle the Merry Wives of
Windsor! (The Old Knight's soliloquy to wine
is worth the price of admission alone!)
the rice thresher, february 16, 1978 — page 7
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Parker, Philip. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 16, 1978, newspaper, February 16, 1978; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245361/m1/7/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.