PAGE FOUR • Bloody Good Album I was in the bathtub when the call came. "Dylan's new album is out! Better go get it!" Right. I dried off and headed for the store. And, sure enough, Dylan's new album is out: a colection of ten songs unlike any he has ever done, yet reminiscent of them all. Blood on the Tracks has a little Highway 61 imagery, some folkie-type tunes, a couple of blues numbers and a pervading theme of bitter-sweet love. "Tangled Up in Blue", which kicks off the record, tells the story of an on-again off-again love affair against a backdrop of the late Sixties. Though basically a happy, upbeat song, the lyrics are laced with regret and recollection. It is one of the album's strongest cuts. The mood of looking back continues with "Simple Twist of Fate" as Dylan muses what could have been. "You're a Big Girl Now" - no relation to the old John Sebastian song - is the worst 4 minutes and 36 seconds on the album. Dylan's voice just doesn't come across in leisurely love songs of this genre. Fortunately the artist gets back on track with "Idiot Wind", possibly the bitterest song Dylan has yet written, surpassing even "Positively 4th Street". The song attacks anyone who expects the poet to live his life according to their expectations. At the end of the 7 minute and 45 second epic, Dylan mellows and concedes that the Idiot Wind blows through us all. "You're Gonne Make Me Lonesome When You Go" is ode to the end of a relationship. It is a lively tune with some nice harmonica and reflects the view of a mature person. "Meet Me in the Morning" is a blues tune that could have been lifted from "Bringing It All Back Home". "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" comes next and is kind of a 9 minute John Wesley Harding meets Desolation Row. Though it suffers - as the whole album does - from some unimaginative organ backup, the number comes across well. "If You See Her, Say Hello" and "Shelter From the Storm" are two pleasant love songs - not great but pleasant enough. A Dave Bromberg style blues number, "Buckets of Rain" ends the album. While this album lacks the electricity and jump of vintage Dylan, it is quite good. The songs, though dealing with some regrets and might-have-beens, avoid maudlin sentiments. The back-up is simple; at times you wish there was more of it. But still it is definitely a fine Bob • Dylan album with all that entails. Doug Gibboney Parishioners Demand "Purification Rites" After Concert [Earth News]-- Parishioners of the Rheims Cathedral in France are demanding that the church be given a "pur ification ceremony" following a concert there by German avant-garde band Tangerine Dream. The church-goers were upset by the smooch ing, littering, dope-smoking, and urinating that took place during the concert in the renowned 13th century Goth ic cathedral. Responding to complaints, the Rev. Bernard Goureau, cultural attache for the arch diocese, explained, "It is true that certain youths smoked pot to communicate more with the sound and the show. It is also true that some others, because of the cold that prevailed in the cathedral went to urinate against its pillars. It is true that some couples were seen folded in each other's arms and kiss ing. But it is also true that some 5,000 youths--staying three hours in the dark stretched out on the cold Doug Glaboney-resident Dylan freak floor--could have caused more serious damage and behaved in a more disgrace ful way."• ** e, l y e 1 Rock Music To Warn Whales [Earth News]-Live rock music and even a moog synthesizer will be used this spring by whale conservation groups to drive endangered whales away from Soviet and Japan ese fishing fleets. "Project Jonah" and Canada's Green peace Foundation are co sponsoring the campaign, to be called "Stop Ahab." As many as five boats and ships will sail out in front of whaling fleets this spring, playing rock music--much of it live-- to warn whales away before they can be killed. A spokes person for "Project Jonah" notes, "Just like humans, whales prefer live to recorded music." C.O "'-nDER What s A Sp What's a Splinter? A piece of wood or metal, or a disembodied piece of anything? Well, in this case, you'd be almost right, but not quite. The Splinter under consideration here is a rock group being promoted by George Harrison, founder of Dark Horse Records and producer of said rock group, Splinter. In their first (as far as I know) rock effort, entitled The Place I Love,Splinter tries to sell themselves as a bona-fide talent, while their producer, methinks, tries to sell himself as being Just as multi-talented now as in those halycon days of Beatle-yore. Mr. Harrison does not just produce the album, he makes the album. In the course of the LP's nine cuts, Harrison displays his adeptness at playing such varied instruments as mandolin, percussion, moog synthesizer, and all manners of guitar besides his customary slide. Besides his own multi-faceted abilities, Harrison has also enlisted those of other notable studio musicians such as Klaus Voorman, Willie Weeks, and Billy Preston. But, to get back to the original question, just what is Splinter? Well, to be quite specific, Splinter is (ostensibly, at least) the conglomerated talents of Bill Elliot and Bob Purvis, who, besides singing, also penned all the album's songs. Lest these two become submerged in the flood of talent used to produce their album, let it now be said that they are quite capable songwriter-singers in their own right. The album's first side consists of four cuts, all performed at least adequately well. The best of this side, however, are the last two. The first of these is entitled "China Light", a love ballad to some dreamy geisha queen. On the song, their producer gave it the royal treatment very reminiscent of Ringo's "Photograph" and Badfinger's "Day After Day". The second of these is "Somebody's City", a story of depressin in today's average urban scene. The nice thing about this one is it sounds very good, without sounding like something Harrison has produced before. The most immediately noticeable thing about Elliot & Purvis are their uncanny vocal resemblance to producer Harrison. Actually, they sound more like a cross between Harrison and Gilbert O'Sullivan. The effect, though, is pleasing on most of their songs. However, I suspect that if they try to branch out in their subject matter and style, the results may be much less satisfying. Anyway,to finish with the album: side two is much like the first, but I like it better because it has consistently better music. The best cut is "Elly-May", whose theme is the old travelin'-man and girl-back-home anthem. The high point here is a fine synthesizer break played by P. Roducer (tricky, eh?) Another notable cut is "Situation Vacant", which sounds and feels eerily like some old Beatle song, but it's hard to pinpoint just which one it is. Finally, the last cut on the album-" Haven't Got Time"-is Splinter's attempt at "boogying", and with Harrison's help, they sound like watered down imitators of someone who's trying desperately to sound like John Lennon. C'est la vie. My final note on this group is that they obviously have some talent, but it's going to be hard to figure out how much until and unless they break with their benefactor(who,l'd swear, also sings on a few of the cuts himself). If they are good, they're eventually going to want to be set free from the established talents who made up the bulk of this album. If they aren't good, n4 then they most certainly will never bother us again. Jim Bollinger Enrollment Of Penn State's 56,926 students, 93.3 percent are from Pennsylvania, 5.1 per cent are from other states, and 1.6 percent come from other countries. Most of these from abroad are grad uate students. New York, New Jersey and Maryland lead the out-of-state cat egory. Allegheny, Centre and Philadelphia counties togeth er provide 13,229 of the in-state enrollees. inter "JOY OF SEX' FOR CHILDREN [Earth News]--What may turn out to be the most controver sial book of 1975 is a child ren's book called "Show Me." Its editor Paul De Angelis of St. Martin's Press, describes it as a sort of "Joy of Sex" for children. JANUARY 31, 1975 Women's Free Press Know, Inc. is a non profit, tax-exempt corpora tion founded in the fall of 1969 by Pittsburgh NOW members who believed that you can't have a revolution without a press--and bought one. The original intention was to produce a newsletter, but several others began a bout that time and were successfully filling the need. In the meantime, the press was being used to reprint feminist articles for free dis tribution at local NOW meet ings. These articles were so hungrily sought after we de cided we could support our press by reprinting and sell ing such articles at only slightly over the cost of the materials. KNOW, I nc. , housed in a member's garage and later in a basement, began to fourish, supported by volunteer labor, donated supplies and money, good faith and growing sales. We quickly added many original articles, several longer works and books. Each step in our development brought us closer to the status of femin ist publisher. We now carry a wide range of topics, including our Fe male STudies Series-collec tions of course designs (I, 11, III) and essays related to the Female Studies field (IV, V). We have published one full length paperback book (American Women and A merican Studies!, by Betty E. Chmaj) with its sequel due mid-spring, and one hard back (I'm Running Away From Home But I'm Not Allowed To Cross The Street, by Gabrielle Burton) released with great pride on August 26, 1972. While the publishing bus iness grew, we had not given up the idea of an information network news service. We wanted a way to disseminate news to feminists, feminist publications and groups, without the rigid confines of a regular publication. Our in creased volume of mail brought privileged informa tion, announcements of job openings, conferences and feminist products and pro jects, whch we felt should be communicated to persons in volved in the women's movement. We began by printing single item news bulletins and enclosing them in all outgoing mail. On August 17, 1970, we an nounced KNOW NEWS,a bulletin issued approximately 10 times a year, going to feminist publications, report ers you can trust, and to sub scribers who paid $4 per year. Another change in status for our bulletin was announced in Jan. 1973. KNOW NEWSis now free to members of Know, Inc. the yearly, tax-deductible mem bership fee is $4 per year for individuals, $8 for institutions $6 for Canada and $8 for overseas. There are other facets of KNOW: We publish a list of "Reporters You Can Trust" and a list of feminist period icals and special publishing projects. For two years we have compiled a bibliography titled "Books of Interest To Feminists". All are period continued on pg. 7,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers