Page 6
Entertainment
Firehouse debut isn't too hot
Poor lyrics, weak solos ruin disc
b Jon Flick
The Collegian
I had a feeling as I
purchased the self-titled debut
from Firehouse, a new hard
rock band. It's difficult to
describe. I mean, after seeing
their first release, "Don't Treat
Me Bad," hit number one on
the Erie charts, I had to hear
what was up.
What I got was a basically
solid album, but one where
there is room for
improvement. It is almost
like listening to another
Slaughter album, because
Firehouse's style is very
similar to theirs.
What Firehouse needs is
another lead guitarist. Bill
Leverty, the band's present six
stringer, is quite capable of
producing good rhythms, but
his solos just don't cut it on
this album.
Don't expect too much
substance in the lyrics.
Firehouse addresses such issues
as blowing speakers, sex, and
lost love. Laverty and C.J.
Snare, the lead vocalist, don't
explore any new territory with
their writing.
The album begins with
"Rock On The Radio," a song
where loudness is the key
issue. "Like thunder/ like
dynamite/ Ya know I'm gonna
blow my speakers up tonight."
I have to laugh. Here one can
hear the band's excellent sense
of rhythm.
"All She Wrote" is a tale of
A hot summer at the movies
b Flo d J. Csir
The Collegian
Worried about exams?
Relax! Pass it off as spring
fever. Besides, some really
outstanding blockbuster
movies are waiting in the
wings. Pop open a cold one
and enjoy the show.
Terminator 2
Remember the 1984
original? Arnold
Schwarzeneger vaulted into
movie stardom with that
famous line "I'll be back."
He's back all right. This
science fiction / action /
adventure classic redefined the
genre for many filmgoers.
James Cameron, who directed
the first one, is also back,
which should insure plot and
character consistency.
Arnold, who portrayed the
cyborg that wouldn't die, is
rumored to receive SIS million
a woman who left her man.
Once again, nothing new.
This track contains one of
Leverty's better solos. Next is
"Shake & Tumble," a driving
tune which embodies the spirit
of youthful rockers
everywhere, with sex and body
slamming and everything.
The best track on this
album is the fourth, "Don't
Treat Me Bad." Snare exerts
his best vocal talent here. It
is simply a very nice tune
which was very well produced.
The only sore spot was
Loudness is the key
issue. I have to
laugh.
Leverty's solo, with its gaudy
fastness that didn't really
belong in this song. This is,
incidentally, the one that is
currently riding high in Erie,
so for those who know this
song, this is Firehouse at their
best, so far.
"Home Is Where The Heart
Is" is right up there, though.
It begins with a smooth
synthesizer stretch that sounds
like the opener to a movie.
The guitars gradually seep in,
with heavy electric following a
very easy acoustic section.
Vocals were very strong on
this track.
A blues-style tune called
dollars for this role. That's
peanuts compared to , the
Hollywood estimate of $lOO
million spent on creating the
sequel. This movie may open
the door to a new level of
science fiction / futuristic
movies, to epic proportions
similar to the Star Wars
trilogy.
Backdraft
The latest release from Ron
Howard's direction consists of
some truly talented actors.
Robert De Niro, Jennifer Jason
Leigh, Kurt Russell, Rebecca
DeMornay, Donald Sutherland
and Scott Glenn. Not only
star-studded, but the film's
script was written by a former
Los Angeles fireman.
Even the cast trained at the
Chicago Fire Academy. They
worked closely with flames,
heat and smoke, adding to the
realism of the scenes as well
as developing the characters.
The Collegian
"Don't Walk Away" follows. It
is appropriately very heavy
and slow. Firehouse hit the
nail on the head with this
track. The lyrics are a little
cliche, but when you're
blasting this song at high
velocity out of your thousand
watt stereo, you won't know
the difference.
After the pretty instrumental
"Seasons Of Change," came
the surprise of the
album,"Overnight Sensation."
Here is a song about the
sometimes quick trip to the
top and the temptation to
throw all you have away in
order to follow that dream.
Yes, this song has substance
to it!
It's too bad Leverty
attempts to become Steve Vai
in his guitar solo, because it
doesn't work very well.
Maybe they could re-record the
song with the real Steve Vai
plugging in for a guest solo.
Unlikely, at best.
The last noteworthy song
on the album is "Love of a
Lifetime", which is a very
pretty slow song, almost of
the same caliber as a lullaby.
The title says it all.
I will have fun blowing
speakers with this album.
That is its primary purpose - to
be played at high volume. It
is fun to listen to, but not
earth-shakingly new. Perhaps
Firehouse can receive some
guitar help, and throw in a few
neat new rhythms in their next
work.
Scheduled release date is
May 24.
Hudson Hawk
Bruce Willis stars as an ex
con who wants to steal da
Vinci blueprints of flying
machines and other strange
inventions. Also has Andie
MacDowell who starred in
"sex, lies and videotape." To
be released on May 10.
Poison
Director Todd Haynes
produced the underground cult
classic "Superstar: The Karen
Carpenter Story," with Barbie
dolls. Now he wants to tackle
sado-masochism, child
abduction and other graphic
issues intended to shock the
audience. This probably
wouldn't appeal to mainstream
America, but then again, David
Lynch started out on the
fringe, so who knows?
Hope for the 90's?
John Wesley Harding upstages
this year's tedious records
B Brad Kane
The Collegian
In this reviewer's own
humble little opinion, the past
two calendar years of 1989 and
1990 have featured some
highly superior musical
releases. To list all of the acts
responsible for this burst of
feeling here would be tedious,
so just take the above
statement at face value...trust
me.
But 1991 has looked a bit
bleak through the one-third
marker of the year. Aside from
a few notable exceptions (Pop
Will Eat Itself and to a
slightly lesser degree, Daniel
Ash and The Judyßats), 1991
just hasn't been proverbially
cutting the mustard musically.
But then along came John
Wesley Harding.
On his new album The
Name Above The Title, the
English-born Harding proves
that the critical euphoria
induced by his debut release,
last year's Here Comes The
Groom, was not merely
Harding may well be the next candidate to
attain a long-standing level of musical
greatness.
mindless fanatical drivel. To be
blunt, Harding's new batch of
songs are some good stuff,
folks, maybe the best material
of the year to date.
Inspired by the folk-based
music of the 1960's and 70's
(Harding thanks "Prine,
Fogerty and Sebastian" on the
album as well as Bob Dylan),
Harding takes the harmonies
and melodies experimented
with by such artists as listed
above and spices them up with
horns and strings to compose a
truly enjoyable listening
experience.
The folk influence can be
seen on the driving "The
People's Drug," a tune that
takes the stance of a man who
is seemingly falling out of
touch with the rest of
humanity and longs to get
back in step with the human
race. Obviously a song that
could be played in a downbeat,
somber method, Harding
dresses the track in a jangling
acoustic guitar-driven melody
that draws the listener in
without sacrificing his point.
The folk influence pops up
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on many other tracks on the
album as well. Titles such as
"Save a Little Room for Me"
and "Driving in the Rain" are
performed at a more somber
clip, utilizing a horn section
to insert elements of bluesy
jazz into the works, making
for a complete downcast
atmosphere on both songs.
At times the pace speeds
up, as on the record's first
single "The Person You Are."
"Person," fueled by rhythm
guitar melodies, showcases
Harding's excellent lyrical
abilities. Here, Harding takes
on the persona of three
different people, one for each
verse, who are all down on
his/her luck by way of the
practice of, shall we say,
socially unacceptable patterns
of behavior. "Person" is
almost as effective in
delivering its message as is
"Drug."
Other tracks, such as "The
World (And All Its Problems),"
"I Can Tell (When You're
Telling Lies)," and
"Bridegroom Blues," follow in
the mode established by
"Drug" and "Person" as tunes
that hide serious lyrics behind
catchy pop-sounds. The former
of the three deals with a self
explanatory topic as the latter
two are concerned with love
gone wrong. What draws this
trio together, however, is the
more rock-influenced approach
to each track. This hardened
style shown here proves that
Harding can rock with the best
of them too, so to speak.
It's refreshing to see in this
day and age of techno-dance
post-modern machine-made
music how a simple return to
one's roots can create music
superior to said "slop."
Admittedly, not all of this
dance music is bad, but unlike
"machine music" the melodies
of real instruments and the
words of actual musicians can
live on forever, serving each
age and time as well as the
previous era. The music of
John Wesley Harding may well
be the next candidate to attain
this long-standing level of
musical greatness, and it
rightfully should.