RECORDS: reminiscent experience
By KENNETH CUMMINS Kansan Reviewer
The album, Morning, recorded by Joe Brooks and his partner who simply calls himself Rosco, reminds me of a lot of things. The music at times reminds me of a combination of Simon and Garfunkel, The Seekers, Rod McKuen and nameless folksingers from the past. But the album also reminds me of childhood days lost forever, of the early moments of spring and the haunting softness of summer, of that first moment when I recognized love.
The poetry is some of the best I have read or heard in a long time. The style and imagery remins me of nothing that I have read before which, I guess, says a lot about its originality.
On much of the album, Rosco speaks the poetry while Brooks plays a folk guitar and sings in the background. Sometimes what he sings is the same verse that Rosco is reciting.
BOOKS
In the title song, "The Morning of Your Life," Rosco gives the impression that the past is too painful for him and the future is coming on too quick. He speaks of the simple things of life, such as the world in early morning, saying "That's all there is." We must not take refuge in the past but in the present. This theme, the futility of past experiences, is the spirit that binds the album together. We must search for happiness in the simple thing, and within ourselves.
One song on the first side, "Special Kind of Morning," is reminiscent of the early Seekers. The lively folk song is somewhat of a departure from the album, but it still carries the theme. "There's not time to waste in worry," Rosco says. "Today's the day you patch up the dreams that went astray."
THE VINES OF YARRABEE, by Dorothy Eden (Crest, 95 cents)
—In the romantic tradition of such people as Daphne du Maurier and Mary Stewart is Dorothy Eden, her new novel taking place in 19th Century Australia—a young English bride, the master of Yarrabee, a servant girl, a young artist. This is not Gothic in the sense of the author's earlier works; it is more like the romantic historical novels so popular about two decades ago, after "Gone with the Wind" paved the way for them.
The second side of the album is the better side. It is created as an entity with three songs featuring the singing and guitar playing of Brooks. Three short poems by
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Rosco, each entitled, "Indian Summer," provide the transition between the songs.
The poetry recalls the reckless, free days of summer at a time when summer is dying. And then everything is dying. It is also an end to something in everyone's life. And although it is also a beginning, the despair of the poem reveals that the ending is more real. "Somewhere outside the smallest township of South Dakota . . . beneath a 1947 Cheverlolet lying at the bottom of the
junk heap . . . Here, is where is where it ends."
The album ends with the song, "A Different Side to the Morning Rain." Brooks sings that "in the playgrounds of uncertainty is where we have to play." When the album ends, the listener knows that he must go and find a different side to the morning rain.
The words are the most important in this album, but Rosco and Brooks have created some good material to advance their art. The poetry invokes and the imagery cuts through many different listening preferences. Unfortunately, I doubt whether you will be able to find this album in this area. It was released on an obscure label out of New York.
University of Kansas Theatre
presents
KYOGEN: Comic Theatre of Japan
EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE
Murphy Hall
8:20 p.m.
April 2 thru 11
Tickets $1.50
Students $ .75