The Collegian Wednesday, March 28,1990
Entertainment
McCartney wallows in the dirt
"Flowers in the Dirt" fails to meet critic's expectations
by Gary L. Nolan
Collegian Staff Writer
As a new decade begins, many
notables from decades past
emerge once again to claim a
piece of Rock and Roll's
limelight. Among lew new
groups, the better known
Rolling Stones, The Who, and
The Grateful Dead claim the
headlines. Most recently, cx-
Bcatlc Paul McCartney has joined
the ranks armed with his Flowers
in the Dirt album and subsequent
tour to support its release.
Flowers in the Dirt received
great critical acclaim upon its
release, somewhat due to the 47-
ycar-old McCartney teaming up
with songwriler/performer Elvis
Costello. The two seem quite the
unlikely pair, but chart success
speaks for itself. The duo yielded
two top forty hits together with
"My Brave Face" off McCarUicy's
album and "Veronica" from
Costello's album Spike.
Although the album received
rave reviews from the music
critics, the commercial success of
the release was rather
disappointing for a mega-star
such as Paul McCartney. It sold a
mere 600,000 copies in the
United States and only a million
in Europe. McCartney’s
management attributes the low
sales to a lack of radio airplay.
One can find it very difficult to
Playboy
Magazine is actually helped by publicity
(CPS)-Prcsidcnts of colleges
belonging to the Atlantic Coast
Conference (ACC) agreed March
10 to send a letter to Playboy
protesting the magazine’s April
pictorial on the "Girls of the
ACC."
The April issue, which hit the
stands Feb. 27, features photos of
36 women from each of the eight
ACC schools in clothed, semi
nude and nude poses.
"It doesn't change anything,"
Playboy spokesman Bill Page
said of the presidents' complaint.
Playboy has published 15 of
the features in the past 13 years,
Page said, and each time, protests
have been part of it. "These
things happen every time we do a
campus pictorial."
And the extra press caused by
controversy simply helps sell
Coming Soon: The Collegian and April Fool s Day.
The possibilities are endless.
blame radio stations due to the
fact that very little of this of this
release is filling for radio airplay.
"My Brave Face” is a very
catchy, made for radio song. It
hence has become the only
charting single from the album.
This song, the best on the
album, is entertaining, and in
characteristic McCartney style,
not very intellectual. It starts the
album off on the right foot, but
the rest of the release
unfortunately falls far short of
The material is just
not up to the
expectations created
when an ex-Beatle
enters the studio
Many more of the songs seem
to sound like filler, songs only to
fill the space so the album can
cover the vinyl needed for release.
Typical examples arc "Rough
Ride" and "Don't Be Careless
Love". These two tracks
exemplify the reason Paul
McCartney's chart success has
waned in the last few years. He is
losing touch with his audience.
Another flaw in the album is
unaffected by protests
more magazines. "The louder
they protest, the more people
know we're in town," Page said.
"The magazine," he added,
"always sells very well in the
area of the schools we're
covering."
The magazine is currently
trolling campuses in New
Mexico, Utah, Nevada and
California for a feature on "Girls
of the Big West."
At Utah State University,
students arc taking the whole
issue pretty much in stride.
Although both the student paper,
The Statesman, and the Logan
paper. The Ilerald-Journal, refused
to run advertisements promoting
the off-campus interviews, the
two papers covered the event.
"It's caused quite a stir on
campus," declared USU student
that so many tracks sound like
retreads of Paul's Beatles and solo
material. The latest single,
"Pieces of Eight," sounds like a
bad version of "Junior's Farm”, a
McCartney solo piece. Also,
"Pul it There" sounds like the
Beatles’ "Blackbird" meets Harry
Chapin's "Cat in the Cradle" after
a bottle of MD 20/20.
Although when one is an
artist covering as diverse a ground
as McCartney, one finds it
difficult to find the road less
traveled. That is the lime to
cither quit, or seek help. It is
fortunate that McCartney met up
with Costello, who all but saves
several songs on the release,
especially the vocals in "You
Want Her Too".
McCartney proves, however,
that his voice is still as strong
and feeling as it was when he
recorded "Let it Be."
Unfortunately, it seems that the
material is just not up to the
expectations created when an cx-
Bcallc enters the recording studio.
One hopes that McCartney's
tour, his first since his marijuana
bust in Japan in 1980, has more
to offer than his studio release.
By the reviews, and sold-out
arenas of many ages, it seems it
docs. One can thank Paul for
including many Beatles' songs in
his repertoire to allure audiences
away from his recent commercial
disappointment.
Steve Barth. "A lot of women I
know are mad at the press for
making it taboo," he continued.
"They think they should have the
decision as to whether it's
degrading or not."
"As far as students arc
concerned," added a USU student
senator who didn't want her name
used, "they really don't care one
way or the other.”
Other campuses to be featured
in the pictorial in schools of the
"Big West" -- a conference that
exists only in the minds of
Playboy's editors -- arc New
Mexico Suite and San Jose Suite
universities, California State
universities at Fresno, Fullerton
and Long Beach, the universities
of California at Santa Barbara and
Irvine, and the University of the
Pacific.
Liner Notes
GN'R to get new drummer
by Robb Frederick
Entertainment Editor
Former Pretenders drummer
Martin Chambers will soon
replace Steven Adler of Guns N'
Roses, the musical periodical
Kcrrang! reported last week.
The magazine has stated that
Chambers will join the band at
the beginning of their next tour.
Until then, Adler’s absence will
be filled by Adam Maples, who
kept the beat for the Sea Hags.
No reasons arc given for Adler's
departure from die Gunners.
• Vocalist Gloria Eslcfan
has been transported to a New
York hospital for surgery to
correct injuries she sustained
last week in an automobile
accident. Eslcfan and her band
Miami Sound Machine were
traveling on a snowy
Pennsylvanian interstate when a
truck collided with the louring
bus. The singer suffered two
fractured and dislocated
vertebrae.
• Comedian Richard Pryor is
recovering in an Austrailian
hospital after suffering two heart
attacks in four days. Pryor was
originally hospitalized after
suffering an attack while skin
diving. The second attack
occurred while he was under
observation. Pryor's last
appearance on the big screen
was in Eddie Murphy's Harlem
Nights.
• A film frenzy inspired by
the steamy lambada dance has
inspired seven different movies
revolving around the dance
craze. Two of these thought
provoking pictures have already
been released, including The
Forbidden Dance, which actually
suggests that the lambada can
save the rain forests. If film
executives have any mercy, this
forbidden dance will soon
become a forbidden film topic.
• Prince’s new film Graffiti
Bridge has brought about a
reunion of the pioneering
funk/rock group the Time.
Members Morris Day, Jimmy
Jam and Terry Lewis will join
their former bandmalcs for an
appearance on both the film and
its double-album soundtrack.
Graffiti Bridge also promises
appearances by George Clinton
and soul diva Mavis Staples.
• Heavyweight rocker Meal
Loaf has agreed to star in a
scries of commercials for "Ultra
Slim Fast" as soon as he
completes the 60-lb. weight
loss program that he began in
January. Meat Loaf is currently
working on a new album with
Jim Slcinman, the mastermind
behind Bat Out of Hell. The
project will be released early
next year.
• Grateful Dead drummer
Mickey Hart has initiated a
"tree" clause in his book
contract with the Harper & Row
publishing company. The clause
calls for the publishers to plant
one tree for each tree used in
production of the 50,000 copies
of his book, Drumming at the
Edge of Magic. Hart devised die
plan after learning that 1,000
trees would be sacrificed to
publish the book.
• This week's "Career Move
Resulting in the Greatest Loss
of Respect" award goes to the
director of alumni affairs at
Harvard’s John F. Kennedy
School of Government, who left
his position to work as a
manager for New Kids on the
Block
• Consumer warning: here
come the Simpsons. Fox TV
has already issued merchandising
rights to 65 individual licensees
which should result in over 200
different products including
towels, bikes, boots,
wristwatchcs, and even chewing
gum emblazoned with images
from the hit cartoon show.
Retailers predict the hype to
surpass even last year's Batman
frenzy.
• After seeing Tom Cruise
denied the Oscar for best actor, I
have channeled my faith into the
reliable Golden Raspberry
Awards, which honor the year's
worst cinema work. This year's
unfortunate winners included
William Shatncr ( Star Trek V)
for worst actor and worst
director, and Heather Locklear
(The Return of Swamp Thing)
for worst actress. Honorable
mention went to Sylvester
Stallone, who was named the
decade’s worst actor for each of
the films he has appeared in.