Gabriel's solo disc soars
By TOM BUTCH
Collegian Staff Writer
Peter Gabriel “Peter Gabriel” Atco SD 36-147
With his initial solo release, Peter Gabriel proves that his
departure from Genesis over a year ago has in no way stalled
his creative drive or his ability to write and perform in
novative music. “Peter Gabriel” is a polished, musically
complex album on which Gabriel and eight backup musicians
deal quite capably with a diversity of -musical styles and
forms. /
In his songwriting, Gabriel is not content to rely on the
musical formulae that worked for him as a member of
Genesis, but makes a conscious attempt to deal with a spec
trum of musical expression. His sharp, intense vocals are
.prevalent throughout, often handling difficult transitions
between stark power and flowing delicacy.
Important* to the album’s successes the sensitivity that the
backing musicians seem to have for the musical interaction of
voice and instruments integral to Gabriel’s music. Rather
than acting as a mere substitute for Genesis, the band
possesses a cohesiveness that gives it identity as a unit as
opposed to a thrown-together collection of above-average
musicians.
This exceptional supporting cast includes such musical
opposites as guitarists Steve Hunter, hard-rocker ex
traordinaire and Robert Fripp, electronic technician of the
-now-defunct King Crimson. These different musical forces
present within the group work in collaboration to create a
musical whole that is the sum of the strengths ot its separate
parts.
, Each cut,on the album accomplishes what it sets out to do,
but two cuts, “Modern Love” and “Here Comes the Flood,”
stand out as the album’s exceptional performances.
Paul Gil lete's new Penn State
novel would make better movie
By SHEILA McCAULEY
Collegian Staff Writer
Pennsylvania-born Paul
Gillette has a new novel, 305
East, with “movie script”
written all over it.
book review
The publisher even tells’us
so on ' the book jacket.
Gillette’s hero, Ted Vassily,
springs from Ayn Rand’s,
Howard Roark and Harold
Robbins' sexual superheroes..
The publisher does not tell
us, however, that Gillette
recruited Coach 'Paterno’s
first-string offense for
Vassily, the best quarterback,
who ever lived and a Penn
State graduate.
Vassily is a humanitarian
and something of a scholar to
boot. He is also the con
summate jock. He and his
football friend has-been are
affectionate. When they greet
each other they punch each
other in the stomach as hard
as they can. -
Vassily’s big project is a
luxury apartment building,
305 East on New York’s
East Side. Vassily the
humanitarian, not one to
forget his humble Greek
origins, provides luxury
apartments for poor people in
the same building.
Vassily’s quest to bring
luxury to the rich and
-powerful and the poor as well
is the plot. It’s rather thin and
awfully shallow. The obstacles
Vassily encounters are
predictable Mafiosi
muscljng in on him, building
inspectors looking for bribes,
banks unwilling to finance the
building and the eventual ruin
of the project after one of the
tenants is thrown from a
balcony.
That’s why this, book has
"movie script” written on it.
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“Modern Love” is a straightforward rocker which opens
with a shower of bar chords and maintains a moving strength
throughout. The hard rock influences of guitarists Hunter and
Dick Wagner are evident here, as is the vocal power that
Gabriel is able to summon at will.
“Here Comes the Flood,” the most technically intricate
track on the album, is Gabriel at his musical best. The lyrics
display Gabriel’s poetic skills, and the interplay between
gentle verses and the powerful chorus are indicative of his
sense of effective musical transition. Wagner’s guitar work
here is perhaps the album’s finest, building beautifully on the
background chord progression towards crescendos that mark
the song’s climax.
Parallels between this album and Gabriel’s work with
Genesis are inevitable, as some of the tracks are undeniably
Genesis-influenced. “Moribund the Burgermeister,” the
album’s first song, stands out in this regard, as it sdts a tone
quite similar to several tracks from “The Lamb Lies Down on
Broadway," the last album Gabriel recorded with Genesis.
The album’s strength, though, lies not in an attempt by
Gabriel to recapture the Genesis experience but in what
seems a sort of progression towards some logical musical end.
The Randy Newman-ish blues of “Waiting for the Big One,”
the sheer gaiety of “Excuse Me,” the gutsy rock power of
“Slowburn” all represent important aspects of Peter Gabriel
that were not able, to emerge as long as he remained with
Genesis.
“Peter Gabriel” represents a departure from a fantasyland
of fairy tales and mellotron, a movement toward a multi
dimensional approach to music. Its rich success on all levels is
in itself a justification of Peter Gabriel’s exit from Genesis,
and establishes for him a musical identity independent of his
past performances.
It treats all of those subjects
people seem to be interested
in these days the lives,
sexploits and powerplays of
big-time spenders.
Gillette does not forget his
hero’s alma mater in the
novel. References to all Penn
State landmarks abound. The
My-Oh-My (sic), the Nittany
Lion Inn, College Avenue, the
Wall and the obelisk all get a
mention.
Vassily extols Penn State
coach Pater Noster. In the
second scene, Vassily beats a
MafioSo trying to bribe him on
the mall between Sparks
Building and Patee (sic)
library.
Gillette's fiction is
readable, at least. He writes
his share of corny “movie"
lines, but he usually manages
to cover himself. He prevents
mass groans with disclaimers
such as “Only Eddie
Witkowski could pull off a line
rv_
Come to 206 HUB, LAVlEoffice, TODAY.
like that with a straight face.”
The book is touted as a
blockbuster by Gillette’s
publisher, but he must be
referring to the number of
pages 412. Even so, this one
shouldn’t takg,long to read.
About half of those 412 pages
are redundant sex scenes
Vassily uses the same
superstud technique ad
nauseum. Some readers who
just want to know what ac
tually happens in the book will
start to skip pages.
The ending is easy to
predict. Vassily goes back to
his football origins for “one
more game.” His building in
ruins, his life a mess, he
finds himself again while on
the field. Gillette even throws
in a new sex interest just to
make things complete. And of
course he tells us that the
greatest quarterback who
ever lived won’t die he’ll
Just never grow up.
7(Pl\
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Collegian arts
Ullmann tells little of art
'Changing's' style 'foggy 7
By JIM ZARROLI
Collegian Staff Writer
Liv Ullmann is no writer, but then
actors and actresses are never supposed
to be. It’s a nice surprise if they can turn
out a literate piece, like David Niven’s
“Bring on the Empty Horses.” But you
read their autobiographies for other
reasons. If a star writes about his life,’
there’s a fan magazine appeal. Some
thing inside you believes that he or
she is speaking to you alone, giving you
the inside scpop on all sorts of good
gossip. If an actor writes a book, you
want to read about his art and about
certain scenes In certain movies which
electrified you.
book review
Ullmann doesn’t have to philosophize,
but I wish someone had told her that. In
“Changing,” she’s fond of making
profound statements like “the sea is
constantly changing” and “Hollywood’s
‘happy ending’ is a manufactured
product which never finds its equal in
Miles LP has Corea influence
By JOE TORI
Collegian Staff Writer
Barry Miles,
2200
"Sky Train.” RCA, BGLI-
Sometimes his music sounds like
Chick Corea, sometimes like Keith
Jarrett, and still other times like
Maynard Ferguson. But Barry Miles is
only influenced by these styles of music.
He creates his own style of music. -
On “Sky Train,” his second album,
Miles presents the listener with con
trasts. His music is a mosaic of quickly
changing rhythms, complex chords, and
tight precision. These contrasts also
show up in the different styles of music
that he plays throughout the album.
The title cut, and the first song on side
one, has a fast tempo and a flighty sound
with much electronic piano and fast
drumming. It sounds like something that
Chick Corea would do.
With the third cut, "Relay,” Miles’
real life.” The entire book is written in a
foggy abstract style which makes Rod
MpKuen’s look concrete
Of course, “Changing” is simply a
book of reflections and there are going to
be a lot of people who identify with much
of what she says. This type of thing is
largely a matter of taste, I think. Here,
she is occasionally witty and sometimes
capable of great insight. When she at
tends a banquet where Richard Nixon is
a guest, she writes, “He would have
made a fantastic figure in a Bergman
film if only he were a better actor.”
But overall, I found “Changing” in
tolerably dull. Why must she write about
the colors and smells and touches she
experiences and skip the really im
portant details? If I hadn’t known better,
I might have been pretty uncertain at
first which of her two lovers is the father
of her daughter. Her whole relationship
with Bergman is reduced to a series of
amorphous blurbs about encounters on
islands and how “dreams seldom
become reality.” How did they meet?
Why did they break up? What did they
fight about? This would have told us
more about their relationship than a
hundred flowery passages on the
affinity for Corea style music returns.
Part of this influence is due to the
musicians that he chose to play with him
on this album.
Eric Kloss, who at 27 already has 15
albums to his credit, plays alto sax with
special flair. Some of his own works are
reminiscent of Chick Corea and, in fact,
he has written a piece dedicated to
Corea. Anthony Jackson, an excellent
bassist, plays in a style that reminds me
of Stanley Clarke from Return to
Forever. Jackson has played bass for A 1
Dimeola, also a former RTF musician.
Terry Silverlight, Barry Miles’
brother, (Barry’s last name is
Silverlight, but he has performed under
his middle name since he was a child),
drums on a par with Lenny White, and in
fact sounds like him.
On side two, “A Waltz For You” is a
Brubeck type cut, which is followed by a
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The Daily Collegian Wednesday, April 6, 1977
warmth of love.
.There is also far too little about her art
here. The best, most vivid part of the
book is the end, where she’s written a
day-to-day record of her experiences
while filming “Face to Face.” (We’re
never even told the title, though; you
have to have seen it to know what she’s
talking about). But those sketchy
paragraphs are a meager diet to sustain
us through the rest of the book.
And “Changing” is a dishonest book in
many ways. I got pretty sick of reading
about the fake glitter of Hollywood,
where “smiles never leave the face
nor do they touch the eyes.” She at
tempts to portray herself as an earthy
Alice Adams, drowning in a sea of
hypocrisy. It quickly got very tiresome.
Early on, Ullmann writes about how
much anguish writing the book caused
her. She couldn’t seem to get it done;
there were too many distractions.
Somehow, her attitude shows. I can
picture her dashing off paragraphs
whenever she had the chance, waiting
till she had a good-sized manuscript,
then placing it (in a brown paper bag) on
her publisher’s desk. From there it
went, unedited, to print.
relatively long (20 minutes and 30
seconds) and driving work called
“Cityscape (The Fusion Suite)". This is
the best and most finely orchestrated
piece on the record. The piece uses all of
the members of Miles’ band plus an
orchestra conducted by Phil Woods.
Miles wrote the piece and asked
Woods to conduct it so that he could play
the piano. This work makes use of a
large horn section, characteristic of
Maynard Ferguson, and also includes a
piano solo by Miles, which sounds
almost Keith Jarrett-like in nature.
Miles’ brother also gets a chance to show
off his fast stick handling before the
piece ends.
The album is well recorded, and, if I
am correct, should launch Barry Miles
on his way to a long and productive
career as a noted jazz musician. Who
knows, maybe “Sky Rocket” next.
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