The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 134

N6 THE SUN, Sunday, September ZZ, 1979 Pop beat Six major groups in area this week 1 the remaining eight cuts lack the lyrical hook of "Lonesome Loser." Indeed, too many of the songs on the album "Hard Life," "Man on the Run," "Mistress of Mine" contain a surfeit of platitudinous moralizing. Next to "Lonesome Loser," the best cut on "First Under the Wire" is "It's Not Without Wonder," on which lead singer Glenn Shorrock displays more of an edge than on any of the other songs on the disc. Saturday night, the Clash, which played the Ontario Theatre in Washington last winter as part of its first United States tour, makes a return appearance at the University of Maryland's Ritchie Coliseum. This quartet is heir to England's punk rock throne, and as such its music and sentiments are harsh and heavy. It's two-fisted rock 'n' roll demanding of attention but not for the faint-hearted.

That same night, the Doobie Brothers are scheduled to appear at the Capital Centre. For the last few years, or since the release of "Takin' It to the Streets," the Doobies have been one of the more interesting aggregations around, but one that none the less has often seemed less than totally satisfying. The Doobies scored their biggest hit this year with "What a Fool Believes" off the group's "Minute By Minute" album, a rhythmically insistent song that straddles the pop-jazz line. Since then, the group has added a new drummer, guitarist and horn player. But guitarist Patrick Simmons and keyboard- Earth, Wind Fire bring their mixture of jazz, rock and soul to the Capital Centre in Landover, on Wednesday and Thursday.

ist-sicger-songwriter Michael McDonald remain as the group's guiding forces, the straight-ahead rock sentiments of the former counterbalancing the more jazz-oriented intricacies of the latter. Finally, next Sunday, Blue Oyster Cult is scheduled to perform at the Civic Center. Blue Oyster Cult has tended to attract more attention for its light show than its music. But it is just out with an album, "Mirrors," which displays a decent enough versatility within what is basically a hard rock frame. On the title cut, which explores the themes of vanity and introspection, avant-garde-ists Genya Ravan and Ellen Foley provide an interesting backup and backdrop.

One of the more interesting cuts is "I Am the Storm" "When you see the clouds blackenRemember you've been warnedNo shelter from my fierce windsBecause I am the storm" though the song's Heart-like portentousness falls a bit flat. But oddly, given the group's orientation, the one I found most effective and appealing is the pop-flavored "In Thee," where a string section added a perfect note of plaintiveness to the lonely lament of the chorus: "Well I wrapped myself in cities I traveledI wrapped myself in dreamsI wrapped myself in solitudeBut I wish I could wrap myself in thee." OPEN TODAY SUNDAY 10 A.M. TIL MIDNIGHT Pratt films this week By ERIC SIEGEL The Bee Gees' two-night stand at Capital Center tomorrow and Tuesday is sure to rapture the lion's share of attention from concertgoers this week. But in addition to showcasing what is most certainly the pre-eminent pop group of the latter Seventies, the shows will also serve as a kind of unofficial grand opening for the area fall concert season. And, despite reports of decreased tour support by record companies because of slumping sales, the season is shaping up as a relatively rich and varied one.

Among the highlights already announced are an October 15 appearance at the Capital Centre by the Cars, whose power-pop sound has made the group one of the hottest new acts around; appearances by Stanley Clarke, the jazz bassist who toured with Ron Wood and the New Barbarians earner this year, at Constitution Hall in Washington October 16 and the Baltimore Convention Center November 3, and Billy Joel at the Capital Centre on November 1. Also announced are appearances by Michael Jackson, once the 11 -year-old lead singer of the Jackson Five, now 21 and embarking on a successful solo career that embodies elements of pop, jazz and rhythm and blues, at the Civic Center on November the Grateful Dead, one of the Forum showing Russian, French and U.S. films Films from Russia, France and the United States will be shown by the Baltimore Film Forum this week. The "Rebels With A Cause" series continues Tuesday with Sergei Paradzhanov's "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (Ukraine, U.S.S.R., 1964). This panorama of Nineteenth Century peasant life centers on a man who enters into a loveless marriage after the death of his sweetheart, and the attempts of his new wife to create a loving union with the aid of an ominous soothsayer.

In Russian with English subtitles, the film will be screened in Remsen One, the Johns Hopkins University, at 8 A minimum of four admissions will be available at the door. Wednesday, "The 400 Blows" (France, 1952), the first in an eight-film series, will be shown at Essex Community College. Francois Truffaut directed this story of a 12-year-old who turns to delinquency after prolonged parental and educational neglect. In French with English subtitles, the film will be shown at 8 P.M. in the Instruction and Administration Lecture Hall.

General admission is 1.50; $1 for Film Forum subscribers and ECC students. "Shanghai Express" (U.S., 1932), the third film in the 10-film "Primal Queen" series, will be shown Thursday at 8 P.M. in the Baltimore Museum of Art auditorium. Marlene Dietrich stars as the notorious Shanghai Lily, who rides the rails from Peking to Shanghai with a motley crew of companions. A minimum of four admissions will be available at the door.

For further information on any Film Forum showing, call 685-4170. last remaining holdovers from the San Francisco music scene of the Sixties and possessors of perhaps the largest cult following of any group going, at the Capital Centre November 8, and Bob Seger, a versatile and energetic rock 'n' roller whose "Night Moves" and "Stranger In Town" albums are among the finest wrought LP's of the last several years, at the Civic Center November 17. And the Who, one of the very few groups to which the adjective "legendary" can be applied without seeming to be misplaced, is scheduled to appear at the Capital Centre December 13. Microcosm of current pop In fact, this week no fewer than five major groups besides the Bee Gees are scheduled to make area appearances. Together they represent a microcosm of the season's offering and, indeed, of the spectrum of current pop music.

Following the Bee Gees into Capital Centre for a two-night stand of its own Wednesday and Thursday is Earth, Wind Fire. With brothers Maurice and Verdine White as creative mainstays, Earth, Wind Fire has been among the first, and most commercially successful, of Seventies groups to employ a fusion of jazz, rock and soul. Over the years. Earth. Wind Fire has maintained a rare high-quality consistency.

Even the group's contribution to the ill-fated, Robert Stigwood-inspired remake of the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's" album, "Got to Get You Into My Life," was first rate. The group's current album, "I Am," is no exception. In the Top Ten of BiUboard, the album is faultlessly produced and enhances the group's position as the country's top black party band. The album features a horn and string section, synthesizers, congas and kalimbas and the material ranges from straight boogie to soulful ballads.

Lyrically, some of the numbers leave something to be desired, but Earth, Wind Fire is one group where the musicianship is so sharp and vibrant that the words don't seem to matter quite so much. Musical virtuosity "Boogie Wonderland," recorded with the Emotions, has received most of the attention of all the cuts on the album. But the songs I find the strongest are "Rock That," an instrumental which clearly shows off the group's musical virtuosity, particularly that of its horn section, and "Let Your Feelings Show," which features a long instrumental lead that is, quite simply, faultless funk. Another group making its presence felt on the record charts in this case, the singles charts is scheduled to appear at Constitution Hall Thursday night. The group is the Little River Band.

Its hit single is "Lonesome Loser," off its current album, "First Under the Wire." If you haven't "heard about the lonesome loser Beaten by the queen of hearts every time" by now, your radio has probably been unplugged. The success this Australian sextet has enjoyed with "Lonesome Loser" is evidence that there will probably always be a market for good, catchy Top 40 pop. "Lonesome Loser" is, indeed, pleasant enough pop, not terribly inspiring, but not especially insipid, either. The problem with "First Under the Wire," however, is that an entire album of such pleasantries becomes a bit much, particularly when 8 HAC3(GS U' ve no? to see if The Enoch Pratt library is showing the following films this week. They are free and open to all.

to believe it! 0 A Day in the Life of Bonnie Con-solo, about a mother and home-maker who was born without arms, and Mimi, the story of a handicapped but happy and resourceful teen-ager, will be presented for teen-agers at 6.30 P.M. tomorrow at Light street branch; at 3.30 P.M. Tuesday at Broadway branch; at 3.30 PM Wednesday at Herring Run branch, and at 3.30 P.M. Thursday at Highlandtown center. Who Are the DeBolts and Where Did Thev Get Nineteen Kids? A family of adopted handicapped children is the subiect of film to be shown for teen-agers at 7 P.M.

tomorrow at Hamilton branch; at 6.30 P.M. Tuesday at Pimlico branch; at 6.30 P.M. Wednesday at Hampden center, and at 7 P.M Thursday at Wa- verly branch. The Third Man, mystery-romance starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, at 7 P.M. Wednesday at the Fells Point center.

OUR ALREADY LOW PRICES ON OUR ENTIRE STOCK OF CLASSICAL ALBUMS, 8-TRACKS AND Bill tosDy on Preiudice, whicn examines various forms of bigotry and their effects on people, will be shown along with The Seven Wishes of Joanna Pea-body at 3 P.M. Friday at Pennsylvania avenue branch. Brief Encounter, the 1946 film classic based on Noel Coward's play "Still Life," at 2 P.M. Saturday at central library. fiNCHl RAMPALS GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2 CjleeHiUevei PERLMAN ioli ZUKERMAN YIOL.4 HARRELL CELLO DOHNANYI SERESADE OP.

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