KWSAN REVIEWS
Records: Good, Bad and Ugly
By WILL HARDESTY
The SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO sound pervades the Byrds latest album on Columbia called DR. BYRDS AND MR. HYDE. The group even goes sofar as to the ancient folk standard "Old Blue."
The Byrds have always had a mystical control over my mind. They have been at least a step ahead of their time from when they were doing liturgical-rock things like "Turn, Turn, Turn."
The Byrds are a group whose style hasn't changed all that much since they first became popular—but their music has been and is some of the very best in rock. This is another superb album by them.
"Wow!" I thought when I saw THE BERKELEY CONCERT by Lenny Bruce on Bizzare released through Reprise. "An album full of four-letter words, some of which stand for forcible unlawful carnal knowledge. And 12-letter words having to do with the Oedipus complex (or however it is the Kansan says those nasties so no one knows what people really say and what we really all say anyway)."
But not so. This is an album by one of the first great new left spokesmen. He has a lot to say. A lot of which is true. A lot of which makes some of today's rules and regs seem pretty stupid. A lot of which is funny. All of which should be heard by all those who are, or who think themselves to be, liberals.
LEADBELLY by Huddie Leadbetter on Capitol is outta sight.
The dean of the folk-soul-blues singers originally recorded these songs for Capitol in 1944, but they are still as good and as current as the day he recorded them.
The album is worth the price just to read the short biography on the jacket of the man who sang his way to gubernatorial pardons in two different prisons in two different states and then went on to being the demonstration part of a lecture series which played such great schools as Harvard.
The songs include "Goodnight, Irene," "Take This Hammer," "Rock Island Line," and "Ella Speed." Not only does he sing but the plays some rag-time piano.
Neil Young, the former lead guitarist for the Buffalo Springfield, now has his own first album out called NEIL YOUNG on Reprise.
A lyrical album about loneliness and women-of-the-past-still-remembered and tearing down the old to build up the new. A folk-rock scene that lacks the critical bit of snap and uniqueness to make it big. A good album but not a great album.
En ifn u lak thek kinda gud ol C&W soun, u'll lak UNDER YOUR SPELL AGAIN by Buck Owens on Capitol.
Ah 'spose Buck's the king of them twangy singin', twangy playin' cowboy fellers. Innywaye, he shore duz gud fer that kinds music en this har nu album is gud country music.
BIRTH OF THE COOL by Miles Davis on Capitol is jazz for fans and non-fans.
Fans will revel in these old (1949-50) recordings of Davis' group when it included J. J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Gerry Mulligan, et al. The jazz is impeccable and great.
Jazz non-fans will appreciate the jazz-but-not-jazz sounds. There are none of those interminable solos where each member takes a whack at seeing how many notes he can play in a given amount of time. There is none of this mess where the original theme is hammered, pummelled, trod and tooted into oblivion and nothing is left but one of those never-ending solos.
This is, as the title says, cool music. Music to turn the lights down, have a cigarette and drink and talk.
Excellent.
Books:
IN THE MATTER OF J. ROBERT OPENHEIMER, by Heinar Kipphardt (Spotlight Dramabooks, $1.75)—Though its success on Broadway is still not a matter for the records this play makes powerful reading. It comes with a shock to anyone old enough to remember the witch-hunting atmosphere of the 1950s, and it reminds us that we easily could return to similar days of accusation and counter-accusation. The play is based freely upon the hearing of atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer before a Personnel Security Board in 1954. Oppenheimer, chairman of the general advisory committee of the Atomic Engergy Commission, came to oppose development of the hydrogen bomb. And his past, particularly that part of it relating to leftwing associations, came under scrutiny. Accordingly he was removed from his position. The play reads as though it is the hearing itself, and actual persons are portrayed. Though it bogs down in some of the long passages it appears to a work that, on the stage, could have great impact.
THE CLINIC, by James Kerr (Crest, 95 cents)]-A sensational thing about life in the hospital that could make the AMA as angry as the recent cover story in Time. By a doctor, too-at least that's the information on the cover. It deals with a young intern and his attempts to prove malpractice in a big clinic in California. Fans of the old Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey shows will love it.
WE ARE THE PEOPLE OUR PARENTS WARNED US AGAINST, by Nicholas von Hoffman (Crest, 75 cents)—An analysis of the hippie scene, "telling it like it is," "right where it's at," and other contemporary violations of grammar. Von Hoffman is a reporter for the Washington Post and interviewed many young people to tell his story. The author spent enough time among youth in Hashbury and elsewhere to provide what is at least an interesting study.
THE SOPHOMORE, by Barry Spacks (Crest, 75 cents)—Suddenly the "in" book is the novel about campus life, especially the campus rebels and the oversexed youths like the charming young people of "Three in the Attic." All of the contemporary themes we keep reading about (in the UDK and elsewhere)—sex, pot, violence and alienation—are in this one. And it's probably headed for American International Pictures.
Pauline Kael speaking tonight
Pauline Kael, film critic for The New Yorker magazine, will give KU audiences her opinions on the state of the cinema today in the second part of the Festival of the Arts, 8 p.m. tonight in Hoch Auditorium.
A graduate of Berkeley, Miss Kael now lives in New York. Her activities as a film critic and lecturer, however, take her all over the United States and Canada.
Since the publication of her first book, I Lost It At the Movies, she has written about films for The Atlantic, Holiday, Life, Vogue, Mademoiselle, The New Republic and The New Yorker. She has held a Guggenheim Fellowship, lectured at many schools and has made numerous television and radio appearances.
Her latest book, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang "is an examination of the state of the movies now, and a consideration of what they threaten to become in the TV future."
Miss Kael will not present a formal lecture tonight but will answer questions from a panel
Pauline Kael
consisting of Richard McCann, professor of radio-television-film, Edward Ruhe, professor of English, Peter Dart, professor of radio-television-film, Philip Weiss, graduate student in American studies, and John Tibbetts, president of the KU Film Society.
Miss Kael will also accept questions from the audience.
Kansan Arts Calendar
Today
8 p.m.—FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS—Pauline Kael, film critic, The New Yorker-Hoch Auditorium
8 p.m.-Chamber Music Series-Czech Nonet-Swarthout Recital Hall
Tuesday
8 p.m.-FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS-National Pantomime Theatre "Beyond Words" - Hoch Auditorium
Wednesday
7 p.m.—Carillon Recital—Albert Gerken
8 p.m.-Faculty Recital-Gary Kirkpatrick, pianist-Swarthout Recital Hall
8 p.m.-FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS-Dave Brubeck Trio with Gerry Mulligan-Hoch Auditorium
8:20 p.m.-University Theatre-"The Imaginary Invalid"
8 p.m.-FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS-Jones Mekas-Robert Kramer, a survey of underground films-Hoch Auditorium 8:20 p.m.-University Theatre-"The Imaginary Invalid"
Thursday
Friday
7 & 9:30 p.m.—Popular Film—"Darling"—Dyche Auditorium
7:30 p.m.—Folk Dance Club—173 Robinson
8 p.m.—Sigma Alpha Iota concert—Swarthout Recital Hall
8:20 p.m.—University Theatre—"The Imaginary Invalid"
Saturday
7 & 9:30 p.m.-Popular Film-"Darling"-Dyche Auditorium
7 & 9.50 p.m.-Popular Film-"Darling"-Dyche Auditorium
8 p.m.-FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS-Lou Rawls, jazz-Hoch
Auditorium
8:20 p.m. University Theatre—"The Imaginary Invalid"
Sunday
3 p.m.—Carillon Recital—Albert Gerken
6 p.m.—International Festival Exhibits—Second Floor, Kansas Union
3:30 p.m.—University Symphony—University Theatre
7 & 9:30 p.m.-Popular Film-"Darling"-Dyche Auditorium
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
RAGE OF DESIRE, by Charles Mergendahl (Dell, 75 cents)—A book as trashy as the title, about a fellow who is hired by a wealthy couple to serve as a guide in the Maine woods. There is murder, and much love-making, and it'll sell fast for about two weeks.
I, LUCIFER, by Peter O'Donnell (Crest, 75 cents) a new one about Modesty Blaise. Even though the James Bond brook is running dry there's still a little fun in these corny and over-sexed spy adventures, and Modesty Blaise is a good kid, taking on, this time, a gang of mean blackmailers who go in for the black arts.
Books:
TO BE A MAN, by William Decker (Crest, 75 cents)—A western, but one of real authenticity and wit, with the quality of Andy Adams or Will James. It is, quite simply, a description of the life of a cowboy on the West ranges. It is, also, a book likely to last.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Mar. 17
1969 KANSAN 5