22 - Wednesday, February 8, 1989 -

music Feyig

Berry

North Shore News

CHUCK BERRY is cele- B

‘
su brated with definitive &

collection
released by MCA.

MCA produces great
package of R&B hits

BERRY !S boxed; Cowboy
Junkies take shadowy excursions;
Small is a big talent.
Cuack Berry — The Chess Box,
MCA/Chess Records 1988

“The blues hed a baby, and they
called it rock ’n’ roll’? — Muddy
Waters.

The blues were kicked into
overdrive when Chuck Berry fizst

MICHAEL
BECKER

music reviewer

duck-walked into the Chicago of-
fice of Chess Records in 1955 and
put down the tracks for
Maybellene with the assistance of
blues master Willie Dixon on bass.

Betry was counting on the clari-
ty of his diction to distinguish him
from other black R&B-rock 'n’ roll
artists attempting to crack the pop
market. :

But the lurching guitar runs,

MCA’s rummage through the
Chess vault of recordings is pro-
ducing some great packages. The
Berry box of 71 songs includes a
nicely put together 56-page booklet
losded with vintege pictures,
Statis-ics and history.

The sound quality is good, with
each cut digitally remastered from
Chess mono and stereo masters.
The tunes are presented chronolog-
ically. Sandwiched in between the
familiar are previously unreleased
numbers including some unex-

pected blues ballads and twangy
guitar instrumentals.

Cowboy Junkies — The Trinity
Session, BMIG/RCA 1988

**Country had a baby, and they
called it the blues’’ -—~ Me.

The tracks are haunted by the
whispering, mournful voice of
Margo Timmins. Her deliberate
phrasing works as a bridge for the
band’s shadowy excursions into
musical melancholia. As with the
introspection-inducing originals,
songs from Lou Reed, Patsy Cline,
Hank (I’m So Lonesome I Could
Cry) Williams and Rodgers and
Hast are explored and mined for
the forlorn motherlode at the core
of cach.

The collection was recorded live
at the Church of the Holy Trinity
in Toronto during 1987 and was
released fast year. A new album is
in the works for this year. The
band appears live with Michelle
Shocked March 1 at the Com-
modore.
gaudy Small — Home Frost, Red-
wood Records 1988

Vancouver Folk Music festival
followers will be familiar with
Small’s work. For those not in the
know, Small is a top-notch folks-
inger-songwriter from Australia.

On Home Front, Small gives full
range to her natural ability as a
story-teller with an unerring sense
of getting to the nub ef moral
truths.

Nationalism, racism, war-
mongering and globe-straddling
gokien arches are among the
targets of her well-honed wit. In an
especially poignant song, How
Many Times, Small celebrates the
common person soldiering on
through a lifetime of unsung
triumphs and setbacks.

Small appears at the Vancouver
Bast Cultural Centre, Feb. 19.

recently §

“Now | don’t have to look like a Penguin
te study one, thanks te my
fully automatic, zoom equipped Sony
Handycam Gamcorder.”

GEORGE “TUX” MUSHINTER

SAVE $209.

High performance Sony Handycam with’
built-in playback deck. Variable shut-
ter speed up to 1/2000 second,
extreme low light sensitivi
auto focus, 6x zoom lens
with Macro, and full =
fidelity audio.

1799. cow

Reg. $1999.

2

SAVE = 1499,

$2 00. CCDF30

Newly styled Handycam with fully
automatic operating features. Point,
shoot and get great results, even in low
light. Built-in superimposer with 2-page
memory lets you add titles or graphics -
to your recording. Linear time counter
for tape position readout in hours,
minutes, and seconds. 6x zoom lens
with macro, high fidelity sound, and
advanced edit search and insert edit
functions.

1799.3"

Newly styled Sony Handycam with
fully automatic operation and vari-
able shutter speed. Catch even the
fleetest of images with 1/4000
shutter speed. 6x zoom lens
with Macro, 2-page digital
superimposer, linear
tape counter, remote
control capability,
Gate and time insert,
and auto focus. f

= * SAVE
1999. $300

Reg. $2299, CCDSP7
New splash resistant. ever-so-
yellow, Sony SPORTS
Handycam with digital super-
imposer for ttling and graphics.
Vanable shutter speed up to
1/4000 second, 6x zoom lens
with Macro, noiseless siow/stil/
frame, and dale/time iasert.

2 aM.
a j WARE CRIT
USE GUS

Park Royal North Mall, 925-2622