b By Mike Roth anice Kulyk Keefer, twice winner of the CBC Literary Competition (1985, 1986), was the Writer in Res- idence at Douglas College from February 2 - 7. Her basic function as the Writer in Resi- dence was to give inexperienced writers the chance to have a person with more expertise go over any nfanuscripts and to answer any else which anyone may have. Aside from doing text work, Janice also gave several public readings over the course of the last week, during which she read some excerpts from both her book of short stories and her book of poetry. Janice began to write seriously while doing her under-graduate and _ graduate studies in English, “I was writing my thesis and to keep my sanity, I would scribble down a poem or sketch out a short story. And it was only after | had got my doctorate that I had time to look over all this stuff.” It was about six years ago when Janice had her first short story published by a small lit- “Gaudi” (Arista Records) Reviewed by Colin Turkington the beginning there was a band alled The Beatles. Then came an al- “bum called “Seargent Pepper’s Lonely hearts Club Band“. Then there was a lad who was impressed by this album. He was so impres- sed that he wanted to work for Abbey Road Studios, so he could engineer The Beatles’ next album. Alan Parsons. 9” », that engin- ecring job. After engineering The Beatle’s classic ‘“‘Ab- bey Road”, Alan worked with Pink Floyd on many albums such as the timeless “Dark Side of the Moon”, “The Final Cut” and others. After his work with Pink Floyd, Parsons teamed up with Eric Woolfson to work under the name Alan Parsons Project. Their first album, “Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allen Poe” failed, but after a switch from Polygram to Arista records, the rest was history. “Gaudi” is the Project’s latest venture. Like all of their preceding albums, it is con- ceptual in nature, inspired by the life and behind the Barcelona. The album starts with “La Sangroa Gracia Familia”, a song of only moderate quality. Unfortunately, that song is indicative of the Sangroa family cathedral in questions about writing, or about anything TT No.7035 THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT works of Antonio Gaudi, a Catalan architect crary press. Ever since then, she “kept sending stuff off, getting it rejected, but one or two pieces would get published.” One of the high points of her career was winning the CBC Literary Competition for the first time in 1985 (which she went on to repeat by winning it again in 1986). Last year she pub- lished her first book of short stories, “‘The Paris-Napoli Express”, and just recently her book of poetry, “White of the Lesser Angel’’. Regarding .the current Canadian literary scene, Janice feels that it is “incredibly rich and exciting” and she believes that “until the government forced the big chain stores to carry 10% or 15% Canadian books, and not just René Levesque’s memoirs or Pierre Burton, but people like me and my con- temporaries -- until that happens, we are just not going to get recognition. We aren’t going to get known.” Finally, with regard to new or struggling writers, she offers some sound advice, “Develop a thick skin, never mind the rejec- tion slips and keep going.” Both of her books, “The Paris - Napoli Ex- press” and “‘White of the Lesser Angels”, are available in the college bookstore. rest of the first side. The second side springs to life with’ the first single release off the album, “Standing on Higher Ground”, featuring a good per- formance by new vocalist Geoff Barradale. Next comes “Money Talks”, a good song per- meated with a funky sound and ripping bass lines. Another noteable track on the second side is “Inside Looking Out”, showcasing Eric Woolfson’s strongest ‘vocal perform- ance since “Eye In the Sky”. Like all Alan Parsons Project albums, this one contains an instrumental track. “Paseo de Gracia” which starts slow and ends great, the guitar taking on a traditional Spanish sound complementing the concept. Repeating myself, the only weak points of the album are the final two songs on the first side. Overall “Gaudi” is a step closer to Alan Parsons’ goal of creating a classic album such as “Abbey Road’’. DISCOGRAPHY “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” (1976) “T Robot” (1977) “Pyramid” (1978) “Eve” (1979) “Turn of a Friendly Card’ (1980) “Eye in the Sky” (1981) “The Best of The Alan Parsons Project” (1983) “Andrew Powell and the Philharmonic Orchestra Play the Best of The Alan Parsons Project” (1983) “Ammonia Avenue” (1984) “Vulture Culture” (1984) “Stereotomy” (1985) “Gaudi” (1987) “1980 - 1985: The New Mix in One Go” (Vertigo Records) Reviewed by Jeff House Well, after 4 albums, one might think that it is time for Yello to release a “Best-of” al- bum”, and so they have. “1980 - 1985: The New Mix in One Go”, a double album clad in a single sleeve, combines 18 of their best songs into two finely engineered LP’s. The result is, put mildly, an eclectic listening ex- perience. Although the songs are all wildly diver- sive and, many times, can hardly be identi- fied as the same band, one things binds them together: their colorful, entertaining, engaging and entrancing sound. Many of the sounds are sampled and replayed at whim and the others are supplied by synthesizers. All of the songs on the album have been re-recorded, so the quality is much higher than that of their first two albums. Many of the songs have also been re-mixed, °gener- ally speaking this is for the better, un- fortunately this isn’t always the case. “De- sire” is just such an occurence, losing something along the way. Luckily the whole tends more toward the positive. The compilation includes a majority of the songs from their last release, “Stella”, in- cluding “Oh Yeah” ~~ which figured prominently in the 1986 film, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’. Also included is a track recorded live in 1983. “Live at the Roxy” is a tribute to how well music of this nature can be played live. Boris Blank and Deiter Meier have recon- structed the best of Yello’s works and made them better. They have come a long way Other Press February 25, 1987 Page 9: —Other ENnTERTAINMENF— ; y Yello’s come a long way W rit ep i ence YELLO from their 4-track basement studio and sounds sampled from a car-crushing plant. The sound is clean, there is a better use of stereo, ‘bigger’ sounds replace the often tin- ny ones of their previous efforts. The only down-fall is their lack of new material, which would have completely rounded off the album. A good job all around, and with the double album priced as a single, a better deal is hard to find. A YELLO DISCOGRAPHY “].T. Splash/Gluehead” (Single - 1980) “Solid Pleasure” (1980) “Claro Que Si” (1981) “You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess” (1983) “Yello Live At the Roxy“ (1983) “Stella” (1985) “1980 - 1985: The New Mix in One Go” (1986) ist Prize - $100.00 * 2nd Prize - $75.00 * 3rd Prize - $50.00 Judges to be announced The contest is open to all registe- red Douglas College students. Sub- missions must be typed, double spa- ced, on a 60 stroke line with author’s name, phone number and student number. Submit to Rm. 1602 by March Ist, 1987 ¢/e Kirstin Shaw. Winners will be announced April 5th, 1987 in the Other Press. THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL ALL FOOD ITEMS HALF PRICE 10:00 PM TILL CLOSE ef NEW WESTMINSTER PUBLIC MARKET (604) 526-7848 a