by Ron Medvin

”Now I’ve been happy lately/think-
ing about the good things to come/
and I believe it could be/something
good has begun." These lines are
from Cat Stevens’ song “Peace
Train” from his new album, and
Cat Stevens has a good reason to be
happy. Aiter iive years oi being
relatively unknown, he is now be:
coming one Oi the most respected
names in the music world. His new
album, ”Teaser and the Firecat"
is even better than'“Tea for the
Tillerman” and it has the poten-
tial of becoming a late contender
tor the album or the year.

The above-quoted song. “Peace
Train" is that one you’ve been
hearing constantly on AM radio ii
you don’t have an FM to tune in
KDIC. In spite of its overrexpOr
sure the song is superb. it is hard
to label a Cat Stevens’ song; his
’style is unique. “Peace Train” is
sort of a folk-rock sound, With
Stevens singing a syncopated tour-
line verse. His guitar is sharp but,
like his Voice, has a mellow tone
throughout The end at “Peace
Train" (the part you never get
to hear on AM) has an enchanting,
ly beautiful violin/guitar duet. The
slow end or this song contrasting
with the rest of the song is eXr
tremely etiective, and the song
leaves you ieeling as happy and
optimistic about everything as Cat
Stevens is.

The album begins with a slow,
gently rocking number called simp-
ly, ”The Wind". Stevens' voice is
no doubt one reason for his suc-
cess, and this song is a fine exam-
ple of the mellow and fantastically
rich quality which he has. The song
is essentially a simple one, but his
guitar mirrors the richness of his
voice with gentle picking,

”Ruby Love" is strictly for fun.
It’s a song sounding likeaGreek folk
song. The melody is lively, with a
bouzoukia in the background to give
the song a definite Greek touch.
(The bouzoukia is the same instru-
ment you hear in “Never on Sun-
day“) To add to the eilect, Ste»
vehs sings the middle oi the song
in Greek.

“1! l Laugh” is a slow, easy song,
another gentle rock sound. The mel-
ody suggests a folk Beatle song,
such as “Mother Nature’s Son”.
Things liven up with “Changes
IV”. It’s a driving hard»rock num-
ber which is similar to“Milesfrom
Nowhere” on “Tea [or the Tille -
man”. Stevens surprises the lis—
tener with many sudden rhythm
changes and broken rhythms occurr»
ing in just the right places. His

, ,
lowness to a hard and gruff style,
still keeping its richness,

Another “Tea for the Tillerman”
sounding number is “How Can I
Tell You". It's a quiet love song,
with the same hypnotic melodic
sound as ”Sad Lisa” on ...Tillerr
man. The lyrics seem almost
banal when read from the album,
but when you hear them in the song,
they become Sad and beautiful.

Side Two opens with a Latin-
American type oi song. “Tuesday’s
Dead” is a number where you ex-
pect Harry Belefonte to come in
laughing and singing at any moment.
But Stevens Carries on fine on his
town, of course. The words aremore
serious than the music suggests:
“Yesrrwe must try to shake it
down/ do our best to break the
ground/ Try to turn the world
around/one more time.” But the
song works in spite oi the apparent
disconnection of the words and the
music.

“Morning has Broken" begins with
a beautilul, melodious piano begin
ning. It’s a song simply honoring the
beauty 0fthe new morning. It is simir
lar to Hllow Can I Tell You" on the
first side; they are both quiet songs,
although this one is a waltz. The
lyrics keep the optimistic happy tone
of most of the album: “Praise for
the singing/praise tor the morning/
praise ior them springing/ lresh
from the word."

“Bitterblue” is another hard-rock
sound, and while it is good, there is
nothing special that can he said about
it. His voice again takes on the rough
quality which he uses tor his harder
numbers. There is excellent bass
and drum backing on this song; he
backing on the whole album is su»
perb, but the listeneris more aware
oi it in the harder and louder num»
bers.

“Moonshadow”, I feel, is the best
song on the album. It’s very simple,
but very beautiful. It’sadelicate folk
song, and it has a childlike quality
to it. The words, too, are childlike.
”I’m being tollowed by a moonv
shadow /moon-shadow, moonrshar
dow/ leaping and hoppin on a moonr
shadow/ moon-shadow. moonrshar
dow.” The melody is hauntingly
beautiful in its simplicity;it’sasong
which you will sing all day after
hearing it once or twice

1 hate to label people, but Cat Ste-
vens is probably the man you‘d call
a superstar it you’re looking ior one
in 1971. With “Tea for the Tiller-
man” and “Teaser andthe Firecat”
there is no doubt that he has proven
himsell to be a superior songwriter

The Labowitz Report

(Editors' Note: When J. C. Labo-
witz, star columnist for last year’s
son and “Mister Pinball" oi Grin-
nell, was back on campus last month,
we asked him for a column of his
reﬂections on Coming back from
grad school. We received it last
week with the note, "i am only about
a month late, but thenlhave never
made an Shl; deadline in my life,
so why change now?" But with
l, C. that can be excused, his
unique blend oi light and serious
comments on college lite has imr
proved, if anything, inthe six months
since graduation.)

by J. C. Labowitz

Coming back to Grinnell as an old
grad can be OK, as long as youdon’t
take coming back, Grinnell, or your—
seli too seriously tor the occasion.
Having been an old grad {or almost
five months, I came backfora couple
of days, just to savor the essence oi
a Grinnell Friday night (“I don’t
know, what do you wanna do?”), sip
a tall, cool one at El Longhorn
(strictly lnr Old Times Sake) and
generally get into being at Grinnell
again

Coming back to Grinnell is a lot
like never having leit Or maybe
it's like riding a bicycles-once you

learn how to relate to Grinnell, you
never really iorget how to spend
tour hours sitting in tthorum,jhst
grooving to the whole thing Some
new laces around (ireshmen who
don’t know there ever was a Gl'ln»
nell without a PE complex or tu-
torials) and some old ones gone--
Florence at the Grill, Mr, Belts,
HumanitieSrthe Ancient World(gonc
to the Great Catalog in the Sky).
The country club/health spa that
has been an illusion so long is now
a reality, and the Reception Center
is really useiul tor something be:
sides midnight jags But mostly
Grinnell is a lot like Grinnell.

Which is good. Alterhaving spent
nine weeks at Southern Methodist
University School oi Law (“The
Harvard oi the Southwest"), I think
a Grinnell continuing as Grinnell
should is all right Having witneSr
sed some A-mazing bureaucracy,
smallmindedness and apathy(to-
wards everything but iralernities
and iootball)to an incredible degree,
1 found Grinnell provided a neces-
sary iolt to my mind, as it can be
reireshing to have to justiiy your
existence six times within the iirst
litteen minutes back at Grinnell
(“SMU?” “SMU.”). And thatkiud
oi intensity and questioning is some
thing which is easy to readjust to

f The Graduate I

Return 0

when you return to Grinnell, where
it iS accepted and expected by every-
one. That is delinucly not the norm
in the Outside World.

For instance, 1 otter a quote, irom
the 1971 Slvlu Homecoming Queen,
Miss Bev Kuck (bats and throws
Chi Omega): “SMU has a lot or
individuals, but individuality takes
away from the cohesion oi the
school l' Tell it like it is, sweet—
heart, because it is stuil like that
that made the Outside World what
it is today.

So much for the attempt to re
late an SMU education to Grinnell.
All in all, there is a lotto go back
to Grinnell tor, basically because
that is where we spent a lot oi time
for a iew years But you can’t play
pinball machines all your liie (I
had to mention them somehow). It
is interesting to note that alter
leaving Grinnell a lot oi grads end
up congregating together, as it ior
saiety or something. And every
once in a while, the urge hits and
the old Grad types return to cam-
pus and wander aimlessly, babbling
oi Yesteryear, Please be patient,
they were in 1970, and girls live in
the Norrises all the time now, and
the “GIRLS“ sign on the john is
serious

 

by Nada Mangialetti

Opera Comes To

Eleven Grinnell Voice students will
make their debut in opera next week.

The Music Department is presentr
ing two complete one-acts, and two
scenes from longer operas on
Thursday, Friday and Saturday,
November 18, 15 and 20.

The periormance on Thursday will
begin at 3:30 PM, and on Friday
and Saturday at 3:00 PM, with Gianr
Carlo Menotti’s ”The Telephone,"
a comedy about a longrdistance
marriage proposal. Following that
will he a scene from Mozart's “All
Women Are Like That,” and ascene
from Bizet's famous ”Carmen."
The program will end with a dance
and the opera "Bastien And
Bastienne,” a romance written by
Mozart at the age at twelve.

The operas will be sung in English.

The Opera Workshop is the brain-
child ot Assistant Professor of
Music James Fudge, who is alsothe
dramatic director. David Montgom-
ery, Assistant Professor of Music,
jack oral! musicaltrades and master
of most, is the vocal director and
also the accompanist.

Tickets will be required, due tothe
limited seating capacity oi Arena
Theatre,

The Opera Workshop is funded bya
grant from the Ford Foundation.

 

Chris l-lumy (leit) and Julie Layer (right) re-
hearse a scene irom Mozart's "All Women Are

Like That "

photo by Nada Manglaletti

voice changes from the low me], and singer.

A Grinnell Fable: The Idea Flowers

can’t arrord to strangle them out. You're
a liberal school and liberality implies a
broad-minded attitude which can accept
many diiierent ideas. Allow a few oi the
outer world idea flowers to survive. It's
ecologically sound, at any rate."Sosayr
lug, he departed.

The students were interested in his
theories, and they tried to apply them to
gardening, but u was a strain on them,
because they soon realized that they
weren’t as liberal as they had believed,
But they persevered
Soon most or their plants were thriving
again The students took their healthy
plants with them when they graduated
and when they wcnt home ior vacations,
and they planted them in the outer world
And some of them lived happily ever
after * Goodnight

. A lot of them didn't, or course. We
have to be realistic, even in fairy tales.
But enough more bithem lived than had
before that the students dccided to try
the experiment again, in respect tor
your intelligence, 1 will deter the moral
until next week.

November 12, 1971

sun, fertilizers, vitamins, everything
But nothing worked Finally in desperzir
tion they Called in a specmllst from the
outer world. (This was practically heresy
for the students made a particular effort
to invite only those people to the campus
whose ideas were “liberal" alldtllls was
just an ordinary gardener.) He examined
all plants in turn and finally he turnedto
the students gathered around hinl.
“Children,” he said, [or they seemed
like Children to him, “your plants are not
strong enough because they lack hybrid
vigor. it you want your plants to survive
in the outer world, they must be bred a
little with those ordinary plants that
you’ve been stomping out Those plants
have survived hy virtue Oltheil‘ strength,
and your ideas need that Strength With
judicious care you may be able to com-
bine the two ﬂowers, retaining the bril—
liance oi your idearilowers while on-
]oying the vigol‘ oi the ordinary ones. in
any case, don’t trampleonthosecommon
idea-flowers with such purposeful steps.
Save them. You won’t have to nurture
them, they’ll survive just line, but you

The Scarlet and Black

by an SillE stait writer Anyway, the exotic ideaellowersthrived

at Grinnell and the place turned into 2i
veritable jungle andpenple could immed-
iately recognize those idearflowers
which had come from Grinnell and green-
houses like it. Once inawhile,acommdn
idea, of which there were millions inthe
outer world, would try to get into the
Grinnell hot house, but no chance. “We
can’t let ordinary idea ilowers into our
greenhouse. They’d soon multiply and
crush out our delicate little flowers,”
the students declared.

"Even the strong, sturdy environmental
pollution plant (so to speak) or the
Women's lib bush?” a meek voiceasked.
“They’re beginning to take root 3 little
in the outer world, At least people watch
out a bit and try not to step on them.”
“We can‘t take any chances," said the
Great Majority, and so they systematir
cally stamped out all the common idea
ﬂowers that they could find.

The greenhouse nourished iora while
but the flowers began to look a bit
peaked and then they were downright
sick. The students tried everything to
revive the poor plants, more sun, less

My children,

Now that you‘re all scrubbed and in
your clean pajamas, I’lltellyou abedtime
story and then I’ll tuck you ln.Would you
like to hear a iairytale70kay,then, here
we go.

Once upon a time there was a little
school called Grinnell, nestled inthe {err
tile prairies of Iowa, teeming with bucolic
pleasures. (Shush Sara, I’ll explain what
bucolic means when l finish.) it was a
lovely little school and it prided itseli
on its liberality, The students would
pluck every new and ditierent idea oil
its vine, tor ideas grew on vines like
ﬂowers, and take them up to their little
ivory-towered green houses and nurture
them until they were big and healthy.
Almost all of these exotic idearflowers
survived; the climate was right, you
know. Some of them even grew so large
that they could be seen outside of Grinr
hell, and they were taken to the outer
world and transplanted, but these ideas
didn’t take root quite so well intheouter
world; the climate wasn’tright, you know.

 

