The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 74

4-tf "Thursday. March 24, 1988 The Philadelphia Inquirer NEW RECORDINGS Latest from Strait; eclectic jazz; a new reading of Beethoven Pop Reviewed by Ken Tucker Top pop albums Top compact discs 1. DIRTY DANCING 1. DIRTY DANCING Sound track (12 weeks at No. 1) Sound track Great Savings on the Best Names Ever to Hit the Road 2.

GEORGE MICHAEL 2. GEORGE MICHAEL Faith Faith 3. MICHAEL JACKSON 3. INXS Bad Kick H. 4.

INXS 4. ROBERT PLANT Kick Now and Zen 5. TIFFANY 5. STING Tiffany Nothinp, like the Sun 6. DAVID LEE ROTH 6.

JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP Skyscraper Lonesome Jubilee 7. DEF LEPPARD 7. MICHAEL JACKSON Hysteria Bad 8. DEBBIE GIBSON 8. DAVID LEE ROTH Out of the Blue Skyscraper 9.

JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP 9. THE BEATLES The Lonesome Jubilee Past Masters, Vol. II 10. GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM 10. GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM Soundtrack Soundtrack mm TV High Powered AMFM Digital Auto-Reverse Cassette Receiver REG.

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There is nothing routine or predictable melodic phrases that have become such a part of the language that they are scarcely heard in performance come out with new force and accent. The mystery of the opening phrase is something pianists will want to study, for his is a different mood. It is darker, slower, richer, less the concerto at the end of the classical era and more the seminal romantic work for brilliant pianist with orchestra. Michelangeli also has found within the music his own thematic connections and ideological relationships, which challenge other accepted readings. BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO No.

1 Alfred Brendel, piano; Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Claudio Abbado (Philips 420071-1 Brendel's analytical touch contrasts with Abbado's tumultuous and rather ponderous orchestral view of this concerto. The pianist has thought through every note, the voicing of every big handful of notes and the intense series of cross references within the work. The recording has the feeling of an essay about the concerto, a serious discussion of the work rather than a daring performance of it. Abbado moves the ensemble vigorously and creates sonorities and instrumental moments, particularly in the first movement, that may be possible only with this orchestra. The second movement brings the points of view together in a serious reading that touches deep resonances in the music.

In the other movements, however, the differences in the approach of conductor and pianist are just clear enough to divert the ear from the 5" Multi-directional Speaker Kit REG. $1 39.95pr NOW DIN Mount AMFM Auto-Reverse Cassette Deck REG. $529.00 NOW $469.00 Model RD 450 1 8 Presets Dolby BC Noise Reduction High Power 12 Watts per Channel Model MD 5054 Adjustable Midrange Tweeter Element Great Bass Handling Mounts in 1-316" Depth Mobile Speaker System REG. NOW Model SP 200 2-Way Polypropylene Drivers Fits in 5" Cut-outs Great Sound! Seattle SQR 27 AMFM Cassette REG. $229.95 NOW $199.00 Microprocessor-Controlled Tuning Auto-Reverse Manual and Seek Tuning LED Display Power Amplifier REG.

$250.00 NOW $219.00 Model PA 200 30 Watts per Channel at 003 THD Cleanest 30 Watt Amplifier Available For the Person Who Wants Everything The Ultimate in Car Electronics AMFM Digital Auto-Reverse Cassette Receiver "If You Ain't Lovin' GEORGE STRAIT You Ain't Lovin', You Ain't Livin' (MCA The biggest name in current country music suggests, over the course of his latest release, why he's so popular and why he'll probably never be a great country artist. In a word, it's consistency Strait delivers warm, smooth vocals on every one of these 10 songs; there are no emotional high points, no pro forma low points. He's also a singer at the mercy of his material, which ranges from the jaunty title song, written two decades ago by Tommy Collins, to Aaron Barker's wispy lament "Baby Blue." Only once, on "Famous Last Words of a Fool," does Strait blow his famous cool and sing like a man possessed. DON GIBSON A Legend in My Time (Bear Family Records CD Best known in the late '50s for such pleasant pop-country hits as "Oh Lonesome Me" and "Blue, Blue Day," Gibson is revealed on this compact disc retrospective as a fine balladeer who frequently tested the limits of mere pleasantness. Both "I Couldn't Care Less" and "Give Myself a Party" are models of manic-depressive country, with added melancholy provided by pianist Floyd Cramer.

The 26 songs on this disc won't confirm him as a legend, but it gives Gibson the credit he deserves. ACDC Blow Up Your Video (Atlantic Vulgar boys with a gift for melodic noise, ACDC has come up with a series of songs that betray no sense of complacency in this prolific act. Both "Heatseeker" and "Mean Streak" do without the jangling guitar solos that make so much hard rock tedious this is pop heavy metal that deserves to be more widely played on the radio. THE BHUNDU BOYS Shabini (DiscAfriqueCarthage Marvelous harmonies characterize this collection of the most popular songs by a vocal group from Zimbabwe that is a longtime star attraction there. The guitars chatter happily while the five voices convey something more than happiness joy, despair, anger and wit.

VARIOUS ARTISTS Live for Ireland (MCA This album offers music from a May 1986 concert given by Irish pop musicians to benefit struggling small businesses and the unemployed in Ireland. The performers range from U2, who sing their fevered version of Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," to Elvis Costello, who sings Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" as if it were a classic soul ballad. Also includes Van Morrison, the Pogues and the Chieftains. Jazz Reviewed by Francis Davis "Ebony" RICHARD STOLTZMAN WOODY HERMAN'S THUNDERING HERD Ebony (RCA Victor Red Seal Better known for his classical interpretations, clarinetist Stoltzman here plays an eclectic program, including "Ebony Concerto" (Igor Stravinsky's valentine to the Herman Herd), "Igor" (the Herd's valentine to Stravinsky), Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday," a quartet of songs from West Side Story and a medley of religious and patriotic anthems. The drawbacks are the shrillness that overtakes Stoltzman when he attempts to improvise and the funked-up bass line that arranger John Oddo needlessly grafts on "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Even so, this is stirring music, and Stoltzman deserves credit for approaching vernacular material without an ounce of condescension.

The album is also a welcome reminder that the Herman Herd remains a potent outfit despite its leader's death. THE DAN BARRETT OCTET Strictly Instrumental (Concord Jazz If trombonist Barrett and his co- mk. rmmrt: i I A I AMFM Digital Auto-Reverse Cassette Receiver REG. $219.95 NOW $159.00 Model RX 505 1 2 Presets High Power Locking Fast Forward and Rewind Clock Separate Bass and Treble From Billboard Magazine 32688 1988 star, guitarist Harold Alden, fail to generate as much publicity as Scott Hamilton and Warren Vache did 10 years ago, it's because young players adept at classic swing are no longer regarded as novelties. But Barrett and Alden deserve recognition for the grace and imagination with which they play this music.

And Barrett, in particular, deserves kudos for his harmonious arrangements and wide-ranging choice of material (everything from Charlie Parker's "Quasimodo" to "There's Honey on the Moon Tonight," a delightful trifle co-written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, the composers of "You Go to My The supporting cast includes Vache and the late Dick Wellstood, a pianist with an encyclopedic grasp of jazz keyboard styles from James P. Johnson to Cecil Taylor, who was unfairly stereotyped as a moldy fig. "Saxotic Stomp" RICKY FORD Saxotic Stomp (Muse It looks as though this tenor saxophonist's commitment to hard-bop basics is going to keep him from realizing the greatness many predicted for him when he was a teenage prodigy with Charles Min-gus in the 1970s. Ford is no explorer, perhaps because the status quo was so easy for him to master that he felt no need to look beyond it, the way that the slow starters who grow up to be innovators are fortunate in having to do genius takes longer to develop than talent.

Still, talent as sizable as Ford's is worth celebrating. His latest release shows him to be an always-efficient and frequently inspired composer and arranger. And as a soloist, he is blessed with a rich, chuckling tone that allows him to evoke John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and Ben Webster without resorting to slavish imitation (Bran-ford Marsalis, take note). One side spotlights Ford with pianist Kirk Lightsey, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Jimmy Cobb. The other side boasts the same tight rhythm section plus saxophonists James Spaulding and Charles Davis, and features a rousing variation on the chords of Coltrane's "Giant Steps." Classical Reviewed by Daniel Webster ft? BtvUtovm KlmwrfioriMTi 4 1 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.

3 BEETHOVEN: PIANO CONCERTO No. 3 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano; Vienna Symphony, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini (Deutsche Grammophon 423 230-2 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, the Italian pianist and recluse, has only rarely performed on this continent. Even his scheduled appearances often have been disappointments, because he regularly has canceled concerts. He has, however, found recording congenial to his fragile art, and his followers can find his distinctive performances reissued on CD One of these, recorded in 1979 in Vienna, brought Michelangeli together with conductor Carlo Maria Giulini in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.

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BRAHMS SYMtfiOVfNol Brahms: Symphony No. 1 BRAHMS: SYMPHONY No. 1 Halle Orchestra, conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (MCA Classics MCAD -2S188 Skrowaczewski has taken the venerable Halle Orchestra and given it a new, clear voice in the romantic repertoire. This performance is sensible, free of excess and uncommonly coherent. The ensemble has a dark quality that is apt in Brahms, and it plays with a sense of tradition.

The conductor avoids heaviness by deft instrumental balancing, which gives the impression of lifting a curtain on parts of the music that are often lost. The record also includes a seriously jubilant reading of the Academic Festival Overture, in which the rhythmical details are set firmly in place. RATINGS: Exc.ll.nt Good Fair Poor Classical albums rated on performance and sound. MTV playlist HEAVY ROTATION Aerosmith, Angel. Terence Trent D'Arby.

Wishing Well. Rick Astley, Never Gonna Give You Up. Michael Bolton, (Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay. Belinda Carlisle, Get Weak. Cher, Found Someone.

Def Leppard, Hysteria. Debbie Gibson, Out of the Blue. George Harrison, When We Was Fab INXS. Devil Inside. Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror.

Kiss, Reason to Live. Richard Marx, Endless Summer Nights. John Cougar Mellencamp, Check It Out. George Michael, Father Figure. Pet Shop Boys, What Have I Done to Deserve This.

David Lee Roth, Just Like Paradise. Hick Springfield, Hock of Life. Sting, Be Still My Beating Heart. George Thorogood, You Talk Too Much. White Lion, Wait.

ACTIVE AND SNEAK PREVIEW AC DC. Heat Seeker. Icehouse, Electric Blue. Tami Show, She's Only Twenty. Jody Watley, Some Kind Lover Eurythmics, You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart Robert Plant, Heaven Knows.

Robbie Robertson, Somewhere Down the Crazy River. Bruce Springsteen, One Step Up. Whitesnake, Give Me All Your Love. UfSWS" AMFM Auto-Reverse Cassette Receiver REG. $400.00 NOW $339.00 Model DCR 5320 High Power 12 Watts per Channel Dolby BC Theft Protection Pull Out REG.

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