Paes

ree,

Yellow
Moon
rich with
texture

YELLOW MOON shines;
girls romp in the realm of
young sexist pigs; Raitt rates
well; a sweet new voice
pops up on the country
scene.

%9%9 The Neville Brothers -—-
‘Yellow Moon, A&M Records 1989
~ Yellow Moon is a big fat magical
moon. A moon of substance. A
nourishing moon. Hotshot Ca-
nadian producer (U2, Peter
Gabriel} Daniel Lanois and Brian
Eno imbue the proceedings with
an airy, shimmering resonance.

MICHAEL
BECKER

music reviewer

Call it the ambience factor.
Whatever, the meshing of this ap-
proach to shaping sound with the
Neville Brothers’ more earth-
grounded mix of world-beat, funk,
blues and solidarity politics makes
for some uplifting moments.

There are a couple of haunting
Bob Dylan covers to be found in
Hollis Blown and God On Our
Side. And brother Aaron warbles a
soul solid version of Sam Cooke's
A Change Is Gonna Come.

Lots of musical colors and tex-
tures in this one.

* Girlschoo!l — Take A Bite, In-
igma Records 1989

This steely sonic wall of -
derous and mindless metallic
mayhem bears mentioning
because it originates from an all-
woman outfit. The slash and burn
guitar-chording school of music is

predominantly peopled by young

sexist pigs in training.

But these galvanized gals have
turned the tables. Womanly air
punchers take note: You have
nothing to fose but your heavy
metal chains. Girlschool threatens
to stir up the status quo with tunes
like Girls On Top. But you also get
a purgative earful in the process.
The world is not seady for a rehash
of Sweet's mid-70s bowel buster,

well
balanced

Canada's Music Channe!

Fram ballads to soul, to rock and roll

PLUS interviews, top hits, golden oldies, live
concerts, special musical tributes and the tinest

music videos
from around Shaw.
cable

the word!
Quality choice for
today's selective viewer.

THE NEVILLE Brothers give the goods in their latest release.

Fox On The Run.
**©* Bonnie Raitt — Nick Of
Time, Capitol Records 1989

Raitt’s still doing her blues-coun-
try-rock shtick but this time she’s
polished it up with the assistance
of producer Don Was of Was (Not
Was). Was doesn’t have her walk-
ing funky dinosaurs. Instead, the
producer takes a calculated back
seat to allow Raitt’s pleasantly
raspy voice and impeccable guitar
picking to drive the record.

A varied roster of contributing
songwriters, including John Hiatt,
and an equally wide-ranging list of
guest musicians like David Crosby,
Graham Nash, Herbie Hancock
and Was (Not Was) band
members, help to keep things in-
teresting.

Top cuts on Nick Of Time are
Hiatt’s rollicking country sizzler
Thing Called Love, the reggae-
flavored Have A Heart and the ti-
tle tune, Nick Of Time — a great
song for those grasping for mean-
ing in the middle years.

*** Suzy Bogguss — Somewhere
Between, Capito! Records 1989

There’s nothing bogus (a cheap
yuk-yuk, I’m sorry) about Bogguss’
debut. The country music industry
validated this fresh voice by nam-
ing her top new female vocalist at
the recently-held 24th Academy of
Country Music Awards show.

Suzy can really yodel and she
sings songs about being at home
on the range and songs about
cowboys and night riders. And she
does it all with a clear, sweet voice
supported by tastefully simple in-
strumental accompaniment.

New-fangled electronic instru-
ments have no place in the sage
brush and sandy-mesa heartland.
The excellent Nashvillians backing
Bogguss play it straight with ac-
cordion, steel guitar, fiddle and
mandolin.

Give a hearty yip-yip-yahoo for
the resurgent country-music tradi-
tionalism rearing its head as the
new country artists begin to make
themselves heard.

Dream Team should
have stayed in bed

The Dream Team ** (Universal) Rated M (at the Granville, Scott 72,
Coquitlam, Station Square, Park & Tilford, West Van, Clearbrook)

“CHAOS IS O.K.,” explains Dr. Weizman (Dennis Bart-
sakis) to his therapy group. He should have added, ‘’...but
only if it happens to someone else.”

When he takes his quartet of pa-
tients on a field trip to Yankee
Stadium, the following 24 hours
almost kill him.

It seemed like a harmless idea to
gently re-introduce these recov-
ering residents of a New Jersey
hospital back into society. But
along the way, the men lose their
doctor who has been attacked and
hospitalized after witnessing a
murder.

Fortunately, their self-appointed
leader, Biily Caulfeild (Michael
Keaton) is relatively stable and
comes up with a plan of action te
track down Dr. Weizman. If he
can keep his hair-trigger violence
under control, they might even
pull it off.

This would have been a better
comedy without the hackneyed
pursued-by-the-killers plot and if
the characters had been fleshed
out a little more (possibly the
result of filming during the
screenwriters’ strike).

As it is, Christopher Lloyd comes
across the best as the rigid control
freak (‘‘no one likes a Mr. ;
Messy”), his tightly wound body
moving in brisk jerks with a clip-
board clutched under his arm.

Less interesting is Peter Boyle as
Jack-the-Stripper with a Son of
God delusion and Stephen Furst as
a borderline catatonic who speaks
only in brief snatches of commer-
cials and baseball lingo.

Keaton is as quick with a
wisecrack as he is with his fists,
but these characteristics are more
befitting a New York cabbie than a
sociopath. ce

With a lazy pace, the filin: makes
a passable but hardly great diver-
sion. .

Frantic ** (Warner Home Video)
Rated M

‘Wednesday; April 26

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SECRETARY'S “DAY >

Roman Polanski leads us into the
shadows of the city of light in his
latest thriller.

Dr. Richard Walker (Harrison
Ford) arrives in Paris with his wife,
Sondra (Betty Buckley), for a con-
vention and romance. But jet lag,
morning traffic snarls and a Jug-
gage mix-up don’t put him in the
mood.

TIM
BELL

film reviewer

Maybe a shower would help?
Maybe not.

While he's towelling off, he
notices something is missing...his
wife.

The heart surgeon gradually
pieces together that his wife was
kidnapped by some Arabs who
think she knows more than she
does.

Receiving the usual bureaucratic
shrugs, he is forced to explore the
seamy side of French nightlife to
find her. instead, he hooks up with
the key to the mystery, a cash-
driven mademoiselle named
Michele (Emmanuelle Seigner).

All this makes for a nice looking
but only marginally engaging film.

NORTH SHORE VIEWS
West Van Odeon: Mississippi
Burning, Dream Team, Working
Girl
Park Royal: The Rescuers,
Disorganized Crime, Rain Man,
Cousins .

Park & Tilford: Say Anything...,
Winter People, She’s Out of Con-
trol, Dangerous Liaisons, Cyborg,
Drearn Team

a

tare