From: sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog)
Subject: Reviews: Propaganda, Murray Head & Simon and Garfunkel
Organization: Enea Data AB
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 17:02:49 GMT
Followup-To: rec.music.misc



Propaganda - 1234 - +2 - UK/Germany - 1990
Murray Head - Shade - +0.5 - UK - 1982
Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water - 0 - USA - 1970


Propaganda - 1234 - +2 - UK/Germany - 1990
They're calling themselves Propaganda, but they could just as well
use the name Simple Minds. Of the quartet who made up Propaganda at
the time of the classic "The Secret Wish", only one, Michael Mertens
remains. On the other hand, Derek Forbes and Brian McGee have both
played in Simple Minds.
  In comparison with "A Secret Wish", "1234" is pale. The basic
patterns are the same, but the maniacal creativity is not there.
Perhaps, this is mostly evident with the vocals. Betsi Miller has
clean voice, but also without the cold craziness of Suzanne Freytag
or the wild passion of Claudia Bruecken. Miller is just anonymous. 
Particularly the difference to Freytag is noticeable as she appears 
in a few places on the album. (In the liner notes, it says: "To Suzanne 
Freytag: we miss you". Does that mean that she passed away?)
  Nevertheless, the album is not without qualities. The vocal tracks 
are not much to say about, maybe "Your Wildlife" is the song which 
comes closest to the Propaganda ideals. But there are two instrumentals,
"Ministry of Fear" and "La carne, la morte e il diavolo", which stand
out as the clearly best tracks on the album. "Ministry of Fear" has
some of that craziness I've mentioned, while "La carne..." is a slow,
very carefully composed piece. Had they scrapped a couple of the vocal 
numbers in favour of developping the ideas in the two instrumentals,
this album could have been really great.


Murray Head - Shade - +0.5 - UK - 1982
Murray Head is mainly known for his appearances in Jesus Christ
Superstar and Chess. But beside these events he has made a couple
of solo albums, of which I found "Shade" for 15 SEK in one of
Stockholm's second-hand stores.
  Not much to say, really. The attitude is honest, his lyrics are
not trite. But the song-writing is uneven. The closing "Shades of
the Prison House" is a slow surging song with some qualities. The 
rest is not really bad, but there is something missing. Maybe that 
is an explanation why Murray Head big successes has been with other
people's songs, and not his own ones.


Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water - 0 - USA - 1970
Seriously, I didn't own this album before. But of course, many of
the songs were familliar to me, before I got the album. (2nd hand
of course.)
  What surprised me is that I don't find this album as good as I
expected. And, while this is undeniably an albums of classics, I 
can't help but finding some of the tracks dated. And that includes 
a song like "El Condor Pasa", although when you think of it the song 
was long ahead of the current wave of "world music". The problem is 
that the song is more an idea and experiment than a song and doesn't 
really work in the long run. Or a song like "Cecilia", nothing special 
at all.
  The one song which still feels really strong to me is "The Boxer"
which does not seem to have worn over the years. And a pleasant
"new" acquaintance is "Keep the Customer Satisfied". But beyond that
it is fairly uninteresting, may I even say trite?
-- 
Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - sommar@enea.se
Jag gav en k{ck tjeck en check.
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