The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 43

1 i i i 111 i i 111 L. ni r--- i i mtw Twin-iMiiiM-i -x wrnmwir-j-T-r -x 'The Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, May 20, 1995 E3 Soundtracks COUNTRY WORLD BEAT collection worth exploring Ireland, however, is ahead of'v the game. The Irish renewal of' interest in their own music started in the 1970s, leading to the glories of such ensembles of virtuosity as the Bothy Band and Clannad. Out of that came stars like Donal Lunny and Paul Brady, people who were more infprpstprl in healthy experimentation than purity. The beat goes on in Ireland i Emmylou Harris on harmony, it sounds as old as the hills.

It's followed by a laid-back Stuff That Works, co-written with Crowell, who has previously recorded it. Shut Up And Talk To Me and Baby Took A Limo to Memphis are both acoustic blues shuffles with a Lyle Lovett feel. Hank Williams Said It Best is a long philosophical meander along the lines of "one man's grief is another man's joy." Clark's most poignant moments come in the closing tune, The Randall Knife, a remembrance of his father. Pirates capture energy, enthusiasm Pirates of the Mississippi Paradise (Giant) Pirates of the Mississippi are back with a strong outing that reasserts their place among the top contemporary country groups. They made their debut in 1990, won a lot of honors, had a hit with Feed Jake, and then seemed to fade.

Between record deals, the Pirates spent a lot of time on the road. It shows: On this set they're playing hit songs with energy, heart and enthusiasm. Most of the tunes are songs of class consciousness, focusing on everyday attitudes of the not-so-rich-and-famous. Songs about working hard, line dancing, visits to fortune tellers, and calls to 911 to stop a man from proposing marriage figure in the repertoire. The only song which mars the set is the Hank Williams, I Think Locally.

The rest all are quite good. Lead singer Bill McCorvey has a wonderful voice that is capable of great tenderness and power. He's convincing on every track, including a live version of the strange and haunting Feed Jake. This is a real group making music sound fun. Susan Beyer is an Ottawa freelance writer SWEDISH MUSICIANS: Lena Willemark and Ale Moller little homesick.

It feels, somehow, nmtliern, and that may explain its appeal. It's difficult territory, but worth exploring. Best of Ireland well worth a listen Various Artists Celtic Graces: A Best of Ireland (EMI) The Celtic epidemic in Canada 1 7 BY PHIL JENKINS Swedish Lena Willemark and Ale Moller Nordan (ECM) Once upon a time, the bagpipes were the instrument of choice in Sweden, but in the 17th Century the French imported the fiddle, and it gave the bagpipes the squeeze. Three hundred years later, the modern wave of Swedish folk musicians are still fiddling away. You can hear the best of them on this revivalist, 16-track collection of older Swedish songs, a third of them instrumentals.

All the tunes have been rearranged by Ale Moller to include both traditional and modern acoustic instruments, like the saxophone, most of which Moller seems to be able to play. The bagpipes make a guest appearance. Lena Willemark has a pure folk voice, each note struck like a bell, but unless you speak Swedish you'll have no idea what she is singing about, apart from the brief synopsis in the liner notes. The instrumentation ranges from a brief burst of three-part harmony at the beginning to a full seven-piece band. The photograph on the CD cover shows two little people in boat on a big windy Swedish sea, and tint is kind of how the music feels, spare, gently rolling and a ROCK BY MIKE BLANCHFIELD Limp Thank You from Duran Duran Duran Duran Thank You (EMI 8 31879 2) This desperate lunge at the pocketbooks of its loyal fans is a terrible waste of time and money by those pretty '80s poster boys.

Duran Duran, the pioneers of style over substance, are billing this collection of covers as a Thank You to all their fans. And they still seem to have a few, witness the throngs outside a Yonge Street record store recently when the band showed up to plug this limp release. It makes the transparent cash grab of Thank You all the more appalling. In the '80s, Simon Le Bon and company used video, the music medium of the day. to elevate their vacuous songs into pop mania.

Time has passed them by. What few bursts of creativity the band had have how been spent and discarded. Pop music is ruled by alienated and jaded, garage-band nerds with bad skin and bad clothes. But wait, there's hope. This is the age of unplugged, greatest hits and, most importantly, this new phenomenon of cover albums bands paying homage to their roots by playing the music that influenced them.

What better way to rake in a few more bucks at the fans expense, Vl with the work ol people like piper Davy Spillane. Recently the very big music company EMI got in on the world beat act with a series, eight so far, of CD compilations they are calling Hemisphere (get Celtic Graces: A Best of Ireland is the only one from north of the equator, and it is well worth a lis- ten, with 15 tracks from--1976 to 1991, from bands to man and his guitar, and from the .1 pipes to the bouzouki. There is-!" even a song about Lord Franklin. who was in Ottawa in 1827. This album is also worth a read; J-the liner notes by Gerald Selig man are what great liner notes should be a mini-essay.

As he says, the "phenomenally musicians presented here "expanded Irish music, broad-, -ened its horizons, travelled without ever losing sight of home." Phil Jenkins is a musician and freelance writer approach that's helped along with a string backing. Not a bad attempt to show off its mellow side, but unfortunately the songs. aren't highly memorable or mov-. ing. Unlike B.C.'s explosive Moist, another great Canadian young alternative rockin' outfit, sandbox excels because they've carefully harnessed their energy and ideas.

They've presented them with the poise of a veteran band, which probably says as much about the, East Coast bar circuit as a proving ground than anything else. Guitarists overdo psychedelic tendencies Maids of Gravity (Virgin V2 40178) This dreamy self titled debut is. the product of two young, southern, California guitarists who have let their psychedelic tendencies run amok in overdubbing heaven. Lots of flowing, mellow guitars from Ed Ruscha and Jim Putnam. There's even a twinge of bombastic '70s progressive rock with its Genesis- esque plodding and some breathy, vocals reminiscent of Pink Floyd.

This project is actually quite fun on tracks like 20th Century Zen and Introverted Skies. Ed and Jim probably spent a lot of time con ceiving their intricate guitar inter- play and thoughtful lyrics so it wouldn't be nice to make fun of them without good reason. So here's to overworked tube amps, layered sounds and south-' ern California art institutes, like the one in L.A. that brought Ed and Jim together. while still looking unbelievably now, while expending the least bit of creative energy (there's none there anyway)? Even with the above complaints, give Duran Duran one last shot.

OK boys, as they said in the movie The Commitments. "What are your influences?" Dylan. Costello. Led Zepplin. Bowie and Iggy Pop.

The Doors. Public No way. Don't believe it for a second. And the proof is in the performances. What Rich Little is to comedy and impersonation, so Duran Duran is to the art of interpretation and song styling.

Le Bon turns his limited vocal abilities to what amounts to aping of Dylan, Morrison and Plant. Drunken karaoke players bring more sparkle to this tricky art form. If Duran Duran really wanted to record a cover version of a song that sums up the disposable, transparent nature of their career, they BY SUSAN BEYER CLARK: Crisp delivery Guy Clark delivers full-bodied set Guy Clark Dublin Blues (Elektra) of Nashville's most respected songwriters, noted for his easy craft and emotional depth, Guy Clark delivers a full-bodied acoustic set of recent songs. Clark's vocal delivery is like woodsmoke on a crisp night in early fall, that familiar and that comfortable. The whole package has' a natural feel to it as the fine arrangements weave around Clark's voice and words.

There are many fine guest players and singers along, including Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas and Nanci Griffith. The title track, Dublin Blues, is a tale about a lovelorn cowboy in Ireland. Rather than pour on a Celtic jamboree, Clark captures a keening mood with Griffith doing harmony on the choruses. The blend of Austin and Dublin is potent. Black Diamond Strings follows, an old-timey tune about Rodney Crowell's family and their early use- of cheap guitars.

With TEST TRACKS ON OHLTJELTJESIEIQ After you read the reviews, you 1 can' listen to selected tracks from this weeks discs. To do so, call Touchline at 721-1990 and choose from the codes listed here. You can listen to up to five selections. Press to move to another number. ROCK Sill: Duran Duran, Success 5112: sandbox, Curious 5113: Maids of Gravity, 20th Century Zen COUNTRY 5121: Guy Clark, Stuff That Works 5122: Pirates of the Mississippi, 911 WORLD BEAT 5131: Lena WillemarkAle Moller, Gulharpan 5132: Celtic Graces, The Ballymun Regatta, Bill Whelan Le Theatre Ivrique de Hull 1 Le Theatre lyrique de Hull prsente La Fille de 1 Madame Angot Opera comique de Charles Lecocq Canadian Museum of Civilization 10Q, Laurier, Hull May 25, 26 27 at 8:00 Costs: Adults $20 Studentschildren $15 Reservations: Ticketmaster 755-1 1 1 1 Tickets on Sale at the Canadian Museum of Civilization Big Sisters of Ottawa-Carleton.

729-2242. sleepover -for yoy 3 friends T-shirts Masses to the opening EarthQuest i mien rot onans in rut I tmnn on imiftsoM. mm hi Made poeelble by 0 IBM Qnaturr OML' ,,.,.1 i i. in nuwu If i I 0 TOP OF THE CHARTS Here are the weekly lists from The Record. Bracketed numbers refer to last week's position.

ALBUMS 1. Live Throwing Copper (2) 2. The Cranberries No Need To Argue (1) 3. Annie Lennox Medusa (3) 4. Hootie The Blowflsh -Cracked Rear View (4) 5.

Eagles Hell Freezes Over (7) SINGLES 1. Bryan Adams Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman (1) 2. Madonna Take A Bow (2) 3. Elton John Believe (3) 4. Yakoo Boyz Pipe Dreamz (5) 5.

BKS Ashley Maclsaac -Square Dance Song (6) COUNTRY 1. George Strait Adalida (5) 2. Clint Black Summer's Comin" (10) 3. Ty Herndon What Mattered Most (1) 4. John Berry Standing On The Edge Of Goodbye (4) 5.

Joel Feeney What Kind Of Man (8) has been going on for the last five years, and it has been a blessing and a curse. A lot of well-buried music has been disinterred and not much done with the corpse, although the Rankins and other assorted Maritimers are getting bits of meat off the bones, and Spirit of the West did some worthwhile pillaging. The interesting stuff that, as folk music should, spreads new life onto mouldy traditions has yet to arrive. i COVER ACT: Duran Duran, the pioneers of style over substance, bill this collection of covers as a Thank You to their fans should have looked to last year's exceptional Neil Young album, Sleeps With Angels. The song? Piece of Crap.

Sandbox debut shows promise sandbox Bionic (Latitude Records 02 50323) This quintet from New Glasgow, N.S., has broken out of the cover-band bar circuit with a strong debut of fairly mainstream guitar-driven rock, with enough melodic flare to show great promise for the future. The band's single, Curious, is catchy and moody, with an edge of adolescent anguish the band sustains on the 12 original tracks here. Decisions, Here and There and Lustre show off sandbox's ability to pair catchy hooks with rough-hewn rock. On Three Balloons and a Trapdoor and Weatherman, the band unplugs for an acoustic 380 Sussex Drii. Ottawa, Ontario KL 9iV Free Admission Panya Panya Clark of the actual of her exhibit senses and Thursday, Grandmother's Paraskeva, Chartotte mJulj her grandmother never threw cmyiAtM out.

Microcomputer Applications (DAT2217) An introduction to business microcomputer systems: the operating basics of DOS and Windows systems the concepts and capabilities of electronic spreadsheets practical experience with a word processor package MonWed (Sec 511) July 3-August 23 pm $129.60 Information Processing (DAT2213) Examine: data processing terminology hardware for data entry, processing, storage and output basic systems concepts, number systems, and character representation and learn how to express the structure and logic of a problem solution using flowcharts TueThu (Sec521) July 4-August 24 $129.60 Programming Language (DAT2357) extend your understanding of the program development process to function-based languages develop knowledge of the structure and syntax of ANSI acquire skill in the use of a computer-based development environment for code-entry, compilation, testing, and debugging Prerequisite: DAT2331 Mon (Sec 511) June 5-August 28 pm $129.60 Introduction to Computer Programming (DAT2332) Learn structured programming principles and techniques: pseudocode structured English Dbase IV Plus command language programming Prerequisites: DAT2322, DAT2312 Thu (Sec 541) June 1-August24 pm $129.60 3 EASY WAYS TO REGISTER 1. By Phone: Use your VISA or MASTERCARD call 727-9565 Monday to Friday, from to 2. By Fax: Fax us your request and include your VISA OR MASTERCARD NUMBER at 727-7754, 24 hours a day. 3. ln-Peron: Visit Room C-150, Woodroffe Campus Monday to Thursday, from to 8pm, and from to on Friday.

Clark: Re Appearances National-Gallery Of Canada until 3 July i995 presents the paintings by her grandmother, Paraskeva Clark, placed alongside some objects she painted. Set in a mock-up grandmother's living room, this explores the world as perceived by our the world represented in images. 25 May at 6 pm don't miss In Footsteps: Panya Clark and a special lecture by curator and writer Townsend-Gault. In the Lecture Hall. ''i 0 TTv- JJV Panya Clark, ffe Appearances (detail), 1993, Private collections National Gallery Musre lies beaux-art of Canada du Canada (613) 990-1985 Canada backs.

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