Stone keeps rolling with new releases
Michael Stone
Capital Times Staff
Genesis, We Can't Dance (Atlantic)
Richard Marx, Rush Street (Capitol)
Bryan Adams, Waking Up The
Neighbours (A&M)
All three of the entertainers I chose to
review haven’t been around for awhile.
Although Phil Collins had a huge and
successful Seriously tour last year, and
Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks have
been working on other projects, Genesis
hasn't released any new material for close
to five years.
We Can't Dance is a fine effort to
return with. The CD starts off with their
latest single, "No Son Of Mine," and ends
with the 10-minute, largely instrumental
"Fading Lights."
In between, the trio packs the Genesis
sounding "Dreaming While You Sleep;” a
Sting-like "Tell Me Why;" a 10-minute
joy of "Driving The Last Spike;" and
some slower songs like "Hold On My
Great acting abounds
in Gilliam's "Fisher King"
Ann Feeney-McGovern
Capital Times Staff
If you haven't gotten out to see Terry
Gilliam's latest effort, "The Fisher King,"
do it soon before it gets pushed out of the
theatres by the Christmas blizzard of new
movie releases.
The film presents a myriad of messages
that are becoming the contemporary issues
MOVIE REVIEW
of the '9os. Like a delicate loom, the plot
weaves its characters together, as the
layers of issues are focused on a central
theme.
The movie addresses the moral
bankruptcy of our culture; homelessness,
intolerance, free speech and greed. And
without mentioning the existence of a
supernatural being (i.e. God) it deals with
blame, guilt, salvation and redemption.
Don't worry-it's really not a downer.
Thanks to Gilliam's agile direction, the
evangelism never displaces the movie’s
comic flair.
Robin Williams, true to his
intellectual slapstick style, plays a lovable
hut schizophrenic man who finds shelter
in the boiler room of a condominium.
Williams falls in love from afar with a
lonely, shy, young woman skillfully
played by Amanda Plummer.
Jeff Bridges portrays a talk radio disc
Tarnhelm, Penn State Harrisburg's literary /arts magazine is
noiu accepting submissions of original poetry, fiction and
black-and-white photography/art work for reuiew until Feb.
7. Submissions, guidelines and questions can be dropped off in
the Humanities suite, ID-360.
Heart" and "Since I Lost You."
The only disappointing track is the
slightly annoying "I Can't Dance.” It has a
good musical feel, but Phil's voice sounds
out of place. I wondered if perhaps this
Music Review
was a vocal demo that mistakenly got on
the album.
There are some flat spots on this
album, but the fast-paced "Jesus He
Knows Me," makes up for them.
On a recent talk show, Collins said
that after a grueling 10-month Invisible
Touch tour in 1987, Genesis will scale
this tour down to only three months-two
in Europe, one in the United States. That's
a shame. This is- a great album.
And after a 30-month Repeat Offender
tour in 1989 and a recent birth of a son,
Richard Marx has returned with Rush
Street.
Critics dislike this album-probably
jockey with a controversial style. He is a
rising star of radio, which provides him
with the big bucks to maintain a fancy
lifestyle.
His life crashes when an unstable caller
goes out on a shooting rampage in a
trendy nightspot and randomly shoots at
patrons, killing several. This is after
Bridges cynically told him that all yuppies
are worthless members of society and
should be gunned down.
Bridges and Williams meet as victims
of an attack by some young vigilantes
(children of yuppies) who roam the
shantytowns in search of thrills. The
gangs beat and set fire to the unsightly
homeless, believing this will rid their
beautiful city of the social eyesores.
Bridges discovers that Williams' life
was tragically changed by the yuppie
shooting massacre, as he went crazy after
his beautiful wife was killed in the
slaying.
The two embark together on their own
individually-motivated quest for peace and
sanity.
The issues are complex, but the film
remains uncomplicated. In fact, one
viewer complained that it was too
simplistic. Another thought that it got a
little heavy-handed.
At times it did, because the one thing
this film lacks is subtlety. But these are
only minor drawbacks. It's packed with
great performances and delivers a good
script. These two factors alone make it a
worthwhile piece of entertainment.
because it doesn’t sound like Marx's last
two albums, or perhaps there aren't
enough ballads about the new joys of
fatherhood.
Marx provides a good mix of rocking
tunes and slower macks. The CD is evenly
spread, and does not rely on love songs.
Guests such as Luther Vandross, Steve
Lukather, Tommy Lee and Billy Joel grace
the album nicely.
Although Joel doesn't sing, he adds
a nice "I Go To Extremes" piano part to "I
Get No Sleep," which makes up for the
high-pitched backing vocals. Marx returns
the favor with an "All For Leyna" piano
piece on "Big Boy Now."
The song "Hazard," which deals with
prejudice, is the charm of this CD,
featuring fantastic vocal harmonies.
Marx's new work is very strong. If the
radio doesn't overplay it, it should fare
nicely.
Bryan Adams heated up the summer
with the biggest-selling, most-requested
single in Casey Kasem history.
"Everything I Do (I Do It For You),"
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was Adams's first work since the weak
1987 album Into The Fire.
That single, with a three-minute
instrumental added to the end, is featured
on his new album. And thankfully, it
wakes us up.
The CD contains 15 songs. Honorable
mentions include the single "Can't Stop
This Thing We've Started," the sugary
"Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven,"
and the Def Leppard's "Love Bites"-
sounding "Do I Have To Say The Words?"
Other than those four tracks, the CD
really misses the mark.
Adams is trying so hard to duplicate
that "Summer of ’69” success, but the
louder songs just don't rock. Some of the
songs even contain the same guitar riffs
from his older albums.
This CD wasn’t worth the wait. I think
it would have been better if he toned the
15 songs down to a tighter 10 tracks.
GRADES:
Genesis: A-
Richard Marx: B+
Bryan Adams: C-