22 -— Wednesday, January 11, 1989 —

music Bane

EE Abr ey

North Shore News

Photo submittes

[| SUPPORT THE efforts of eccentric Canadian singer Mary Margaret

O'Hara before all Canadian talent feel:

s the pressure of ‘‘nor-

matization” brought on by the free trade agreement.

AN ECCENTRIC voice
from Toronto holds back
the encroaching winds of
blandness; Parisian duo
deals in fun; Noise sounds

great.
Mary Margaret O’Hara — Miss
America, Virgin Records 1988

The southern free trade winds
are blowing and J can feel a stars
and stripes warming trend in the
air. Our continental dance part-
ner is already pressuring for
equal footing in matters concern-
ing social safety nets and tax
regulations. Can the world of the
Canadian musician remain un-
sullied? Will Canadian recording
artists eventually sound even
more like domestic clones of
other international successes?

Over the years Canada has
provided the creative grist for
many an eccentric artist. They
find their way just beyond the
well-worn pathways and they
find an accepting audience here.
O'Hara continues in the tradi-
tion.

The Toronto-based sister of
Second City veteran Catherine
O'Hara has developed an inter-
pretive phrasing which she can
honestly call her own. Words are
elongated and lingered over.
Syntax is stretched to the limits.

MARY MARGARET O’HARA

Accompanying instrumentation
lives between jazz and folk-rock
idioms. Imagine Laurie Ander-
son, the McGarrigle sisters and
Brian (Ambient) Eno teaming up
and you have an approximation
of O'Hara’s approach.

Support her debut before the
rot of trans-boundary cultural
normalization sets in and your
powers of discretion are
atrophied.

Les Rita Mitsouko — Marc &

MICHAEL
BECKER

record reviewer

Robert, Virgin Records 1988
This release is one of those
wild finds that defies classifica-
tion. Rita Mitsouko is really two
people — Fred Chichin and
Catherine Ringer. They made it
to the vinyl stage by way of the
live music club scene in Paris.
Together, they arrange, com-
pose, produce, write and record.
Production guru Tony Visconti
adds his genius to the album.
There’s a lot of interesting in-
strumental subtext happening
between the grooves. The music
is fun. On the high end, Ringer's

reative winds from the East

voice sounds as if it’s capable of
shattering beer steins. The songs
are sung mostly in French. But
that’s okay. The few English
lyrics included are nonsensical
throw-aways.

Les Rita Mitsouko is like one of
those yappy little mutts jumping
up your legs, At first it kind of ir-
titates you. But inevitably it wins
you over with dogged
playfulness. This record does just
that.

The Art Of Noise — The Best Of
The Art Of Noise, China Re-
cords/PolyGram 1988

The best of the British sound
sampling masters makes for an
excellent overview of a trio
which has changed the way a lot
of people make music.

Garry Langan, Anne Dudley
and J.J. Jeczalik jelled in 1983
“to orchestrate the cacophony
of modern life.”’

The 10-track release, expanded
to more than 60 minutes on
cassette and CD, features a
motley mix of voices and sounds
headlined by the likes of Tom
(Codpiece} Jones, Max Head-
room, Duane Eddy and Jack
(Dragnet) Webb. :

The Art of Noise arrangement
of Tom Jones singing Prince’s”
Kiss is brilliant. Noise never
sounded so good. Check it out.

A behind-the-scenes look at book reviewing

MY COLUMN this week is:a bit of a departure from what
regular readers might have come to expect: not so much a
review of books as a review of reviewing, a behind-the-
scenes look at this rather odd business and its impact on all

of us. i

One of the odd things about

“book marketing is the brevity of
the new-title season.

It spans some four months
beginning in September and is ef-
fectively over by the time the ritual
turkey sacrifice is being made at
Christmas (the only link between
these twe events is wistful at best).

Publishers disgorge titles.in a
dismaying mass (or at least
dismaying to reviewers attempting
to cope with some 3@ to 40 books
served up each week), vying for _
readers’ interest according to a
time schedule that is dictated
almost wholly by the publishing
industry itself.

Benefits to the consumer are
-doubtful: the broad selection of
new books is now so overpower-
ing that simply choosing several ti- _
tles from among the thousands
(iterally} that are available may be
more of a burden than a boon.

‘Relying on the local book review
pages for guidance is a forlorn

: Teviewers cannot cope with
the annual avalanche that has
_ grown alarmingly in recent years
(one major-market reviewer was
feted a rnonth or so back for
chuming-out descriptions of over
‘400. works in the course of the 4
: H ear, a national recor
: for the ponod — but these repre-
sented lezs than .5 per cent of
North American titles released by
mainstream publishers during that

gift-giving. Hence the book-battle
that erupts unfailingly every year
as the last of summer tans begins
te fade and the pre-Yule blitz

ins. .

The first casualties of this
bookware warfare are the
numerous titles abandoned in
reviewing limbo, shouldered aside
by those penned by authordom’s
‘big guns’ — the mega-sellers
whose previous literary sorties
have met with great commercial
success.

Like decorated heroes, the liter-
ary (or financial) elite are granted
bigger promotion budgets than
new writers relegated, at least in
marketing terms, to rear echelon

status. The front-line ‘troops’ are
therefore the ones first sighted and
engaged by reviewers — and
sometimes the only ones whose
accomplishments are trumpeted io
readers, ;

While this crass, bottom-line
approach to book dealing makes

MIKE
STEELE

book reviewer

fodder of publishing’s foctsoldiers,
the Unknown Writers of the cash
register wars, the escalating vol-
ume of new works has even begun
to threaten the industry's giants
with the swelling surfeit of best-
selling authors clamoring for at-
tention. Herein may lie the salva-

GRAND CONCERT

y The
Student
Prince

by Sigmund Romberg
danuary 13, 15, 1989

8:00 P.M.

tion of writers and readers alike.

No longer able to ignore the fact
that reviewers are incapable of
handling the wealth of available ti-
tles that inundates us in the fall of
each year, publicists and
publishers seem finally willing to
consider expanding their release
period in the hope that more of
their product will find its way into
reviewing pages. While it would
be naive in the extreme to expect
any immediate and radical men-
ding of ways, it is at least cause for
cautious optimism,

Should new titles be spread out
over the course of the year,
everyone will benefit: reviewers
will be able to concentrate on lit-
erary merit instead of playing the
numbers game; new or lesser-

known authors will siand a better *

chance of receiving reviewers’ at-
tention; readers will have a more
comprehensive view of books in
general; publicists may find their

SUSHI ORIGII

AY GGEAR GF ORIGINAL ABD CLASSIC SESMIS LOVINGLY PREPARED

field a little less cut-throat; and
publishers will be unlikely to find
quite as many remaindered books
languishing in discount bins, o7-
phaned for want of public notice.

Yes, Virginia, reviewers too have
a Dream: more space, less in-
dustry hype; more time to sit
down with our literary gurus and
pict: their brains (so that we can of
course put this information to.
good use if and when we write a

k); and oh yes — more money.

Sigh. ae

In the meantime, the struggle
with life’s little i:pperfections will
continue: starting next week,
Books Now will begin bringing .
you some of the great titles you..
didn’t hear about during the fail,

_including many works whose ex-
‘clusion from the best-seller lists :

was a matter of politics and.
altruism, not lack of excellence.
Happy New Year.

span. Your reviewer, despite space
limitations normal for com-
munity-sector newspapers,
managed to bring you some 200
books in that time).
- Compressing the book season -
into so brief a term is rationalized
by publishers as the product of the
public’s perceived purchasing pro-
ile,

Featuring BC's FINEST SOLOISTS
with the LADIES’ CHORUS, NWO. and the
WELSH MALE VOICE CHOIR

Conducted by Bruce Pullan .

CENTENNIAL THEATRE
2300 Lonsdale, Nerth Vancouver

A Tickets available at the Vancouver Ticket Centre y

: TAKE-OUT and
| CATERING AVAILABLE

980-2510 i180 East 2nd, North Van.

According to the industry, we do
most of our book-buying in the fall
with an emphasis on Christmas

SANS