Other Arts & Review

the Other Press

Welcome to a new and hellish year at Douglas ! January 24,1992

Spirit of the West, Go Figure

 

ass one the West at 86 Street
Reviewed by Stephen So
- Inthe summer of 86 while I
was walking through the Expo
grounds, my attention wascaught
by the sound of acoustic guitar,
flute, bass, and a big voice. Offin
acorner I sat down with the three
of four other le already there
and watched Spirit of the West.
Whatdrew meintothatlittle kiosk
was the hard.driving celtic rock,
the fresh sound of the
instumentation, and the intense
energy I sensed even before I saw
them. Later I would discover
their political and thoughtful
cs.

On Friday January 17, I
caught thefirstoftwoshowsSpirit
of the West put on at 86 Street. I

hadn't seen them since

their new album, Go Figure, was
released in early 1991. With the
new album the band added a
drummer, Jim McGillveray,a fine
percussionist, steady, lots of
in variationson ups
and rhythm, and good voice to
boot. The show moved with the
usual energy I've always seen the
band bring to performance.

Whatbothered meaboutthe
show was the inclusion of the
drummer. He did everything
right. That wasn’t the problem.

Whatappealed to me about
the original sound of theband was
that they took their pulse from the
music, it drove and sustained
them.

Asa listener, the absence of
the drum kit was refreshing. At

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET TO BEING
PART OF THE ROLLING STONES”

 

Terry David Mulligan - MUCH WEST

Pet . 4
. ~~
BAe Cerne
FILMED IN IMIAX FEATURING IMAX°® DIGITAL SOUND
Ee

rN CANADA PLACE

MON-THU 7 AND 9:15PM _ FRI 7,

SAT AND SUN 4, 7 AND 9:15PM

TICKETS AT THE BOX OFFICE, TICKETMASTER
OR CALL TO CHARGE 280-4444

 

the show I was saddened by how
much more typical the band
sounded with a drummer.
Maybe they’re getting
geared up togosouth. It’stoobad
that drum kits have to make
everything sound the same, but
that’s the sad fact about bass
pedals, toms, high hats, and
cymbals. Asinstrumentation, the
drum kit is very limiting. The
mastersmaketheskinscomealive,
but then that’s why they’re
masters. For the rest, most
professional drummerskeepa fine
beat, band after band, beat after
beat. And on, and on, and on.
The Spirit may be flagging
somewhat, perhaps southward,
to bigger audiences, to a bigger
sound, but it’s not a new sound,
and it’s not even very interesting.

Ah, changes, changes!?

SOC:

The Screaming Treesdon’t
sound likeNirvana,Soundgarden,
Alicein Chains or Jimi Hendrix. If

you will have a golden
opportunity thiscoming Tuesday,
January 28, at the Town Pump.
Screaming Trees

 

{ Town Pump

January 28, 1992

| Previewed by Marianne Berkey —

 

Their own particular brand

of melodicthrash graces their latest

LP, Uncle Anesthesia, a 1991 Epic/
Sony release.
For this mid-week musical

‘ special guests from Minneapolis,

Babes in Toyland.
Doors open early- at 7:30

"| p.m.-and tickets can be had at all

the usual locales or by phoning
280-4444.

 

 

Nightmares cloak
the Cape

Ominous thunder crackson
the horizon the day Max Cady
leaves the Georgia State
Correctional Facility. Andit’slittle
wonder.

Cape Fear
directed byMartin Scorsese
reviewed by George Kaplan

Justasinhisfilms Taxi Driver
and Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese’s
remake of 1962's disturbing little
thriller Cape Fear centers on
salvation through cathartic

 

violence. Cady (Robert De Niro) Opening’

isnolongera ‘real’ ex-con benton
revenge. He is an indestructable
monster in red polyster shirt and
white buck shoes who quotes
Nietzche, the Bible and Supreme
Court decisions. With the tattoo
ofaspine-length crucifixbalancing
the scales of truth and justice cut
into his back, Cady is now a

,, demon, thepsychoticbig bad wolf,

and a self-appointed avenging
angel all rolled into one. After 14
years of deprivation and worse
(“have you ever been a hairy
hillbilly’s wetdream?”) in prison,
Cady. emerges as the relentless
agent of vengeance on the sins of
hisdefenceattorney Sam Bowden
(Nick Nolte). It seems Bowden,
disgusted by Cady’s crimes, may
have su evidence which
would haveaidedhis violentclient.

And unlike the innocent

family stalkedbyRobertMitchum 8°

in the good-vs-evil original,
Nolte’s clan is a troubled lot with

The film’ smurky moral center —
everyone seems to have dark
secrets a Max Cady can stalk —is
very unsettling. So are two
rivetting scenes in which Cady

seduces Bowden’s mistress and
teenage daughter, both of whom
he plans to later victimize. When
Cady tempts Bowden’s 15-year-
old daughter (played brilliantly
by newcomer Juliette Lewis) into
visiting a ‘Black Forest’ on a dim
theatre stage, your flesh almost
crawls. When Cady smiles and
drawls “do you mind if I put my
arm around you?”, it does.

And therelies the drawback.
From the moment you hear the
ing chordsofitschilling score
(Elmer Bernstein reworking
themes of Hitchcock-composer
Bernard Herrmann), Cape Fear
sticksa long, ugly finger into your
chest and never lets you breathe.
Scorsese relentlessly keeps the
suspense as taunt as fishing line
wrapped a teddy bear’s throat,
and then ‘ups’ the ante with long
lashings of graphic violence.

Ultimately, 208 minutes of
never-ending intensity becomes
numbing and slides into self-
parody. By the time sinner and
demon cap their violent feud by
battling hammer-and-tong in the
mud, it’s a black comic opera. At
one point it seems Leigh Bowden
(Jessica Lange) is talking aboutthe
movi sordeal whenshesays:
“Td like to know how strong we
are, or how weak we are. And I
guess to find out we will have to
through this.”

Still, while excessive and
unpleasant, Cape Fear is a roller
coaster ride through terror that
stays with you. The landscapes
and cinematography are haunting,
and so is the cunning of the ‘evil’
stalking the Bowdens. It’s the one
of the best-made nightmares you
will ever see.

 

Montréal,
Tel;:

 

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