1981 $1.25 Review. RECORD OF THE YEAR AWARDS FOR 1980 AARON COPLAND: an American composer looks back at eighty JAPAN AUDIO FAIR: o report on the new products in your future DIGITAL COUNTDOWN: the all -digital disc heods for the marketplace PRIMER FOR AUDIOPHILES: a short course in how digital oudio works EQUIPMENT TEST REPORTS: Koss K/4DS Digital Delay System Celestion Ditton 130 Speaker Thorens TD 160 Super Turntable Akai AM -U06 Amplifier and AT-VO4 Tuner Astatic MF 200 Phono Cartridge INTEREVIEW: Steely Dan DISC SPECIALS: BOBBY BARE ARETHA FRANKLIN JOHNNY CASH CARLENE CARTER JIM CARROLL IRA SULLIVAN RAVEL: a digital Alborada SCHUBERT: Winterreise VERDI: Karajan's new Aida WEILL: Silverlake TOTIV ON,J1HSU ID enTD AdiNnODS092 eo N3FMH0118 oiAoo du .8F4L;If fIVL 9600S092 HD8868EFr $7.98, © NBL5 7228 $7.98, ® NBL8 7228 BROS. BSK 3462 $7.98, © M5 3462 $7.98, ILPS 9595 $7.98, © M5 9595 $7.98, ® M8 $7.98. ® M8 3462 $7.98. 9595 $7.98. Performance Good Performance Mystic moods Performance: Good Recording Very good Recording Very good Recording: Good Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil made upWhat Van Morrison apparently tried for I'm undecided about Robert Palmer's mu- one of the heavy -hitter songwriting teams in here, and sometimes achieved, was a kind of sic; he's good, but I'm not clear about what the Fifties/Sixties. Along with the Gerry pastoral mysticism. As usual, he derives he is trying to do.Looking for Cluesand his Goffin/Carole King and Jeff Barry/Ellie content largely from style-there is nothing hit singleJohnny and Maryare about Greenwich teams, they operated out of the much of significance in the words if youpeople who can'tfindthemselves, and Brill Building in New York, then the ad- take them literally-but this time he takes Palmer's performances of them are as me- dress of Tin Pan Alley. Mann is in his late the method further than ever before. Two andering as the characters.Sulky Girlis forties now, and he is still a skilled song - pieces, Summertime in EnglandandWhen more focused, but it reminds me too much smith and performer. That his new material Heart Is Open,run longer than fifteen min- of the Stones'Stupid Girl(though Palmer's is more in the night-club line should be no utes, and the others meander and chant and song isn't as vicious). Palmer's version of surprise-Neil Sedaka, another contempo- doodle about for quite some time too. Gary Numan's /Dream of Wiresis better rary, has moved in the same direction. Car- Summertimeis a sort of stream -of -con- than the author's (Numan plays keyboards ole King duets with Mann here onYou're sciousness outpouring that puts a slow -mov- on it here), but then Palmer can sing and the Only OneandSlow Motion,and Cyn- ing cascade of pictures in your head. But Numan can't. Palmer and Numan co -wrote thia Weil is listed as executive producer, so what it and most of the others suggest more the closing cut,Found You Now,which the album is something of a class reunion. lurches about without landing anywhere. Nothing in it is surprising, but most of it is Most surprising, though, is Palmer's cov- solid and enjoyable. J.V. er of the Beatles'Not a Second Time.This contains an extra verse by Palmer thatI JONI MITCHELL:Shadows and Light. find makes the song fuller, and I prefer his Joni Mitchell (vocals, guitar); vocal and in- a version to the Fab Four's original. As a strumentalaccompaniment.InFrance matter of fact,Ienjoy a lot of Palmer's They Kiss on Main Street; Edith and the work, but I would like more, er,cluesabout Kingpin; Coyote; Goodbye Pork Pie Hat; what he's up to. J. V. The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines; Wood- stock;Amelia;Hejira;Black Crow; Dreamland;and nine others. ASYLUM BB - RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT 704 two discs $13.98, © BC5-704 $13.98, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT:The Turn of ® BT8-704 $13.98. a Friendly Card.Alan Parsons Project (vo- Performance Joni jazz cals and instrumentals).May Be a Price to Recording. Good remote Pay; I Don't Wanna Go Home; The Gold Bug; Nothing Left to Lose;and five others. Joni Mitchell was quoted as saying her ARISTA AL 9518 $8.98, 0 ATC 9518 $8.98, work would never be the same after her col- 0 AT8 9518 $8.98. laboration with Charles Mingus. Some of us are wondering whether there will be more Performance: Electro-pop magic work of any sort; it's been a long time since Recording: Simply sensational "Mingus," and this double -size live album If, like me, you still have a soft spot for the of "old" material seems mostly a showcase symphonic sound of the Moody Blues, then for the ensemble she put together for it. Ac- you'll have a lot of fun with this latest al- tually, her work hasn't been "the same" VAN MORRISON bum from the Alan Parsons Project. It's since "The Hissing of Summer Lawns," Spiritual qualities beyond words vastly more accessible than "Eve," the pre- wherein a sort of sound aesthetic started to vious release by this "group"-essentially shove the folk -song muse out of the spot- Parsons and Eric Woolfson, who write and light. Most of the songs in this collection strongly is a kind of preaching; they remind produce the material-and harks back to come from that album and later, although me, in fact, of the chant -like pitch a Baptist their enormously successful "Pyramid." It there are a few other things here, such as preacher makes when the invitation hymn :s is crammed full of delicious music, fascinat- Woodstockand a guest shot by the Persua- being sung and the attention is turned to ing and somewhat surreal lyrics, and multi - sions (Joni, by the way, does not sound very getting people "saved." I used to think in layered productions of the sort we used to persuasive imitating Frankie Lymon). church that it was a sort of body -count sit- call "trippy." The instrumentalists seem to be what uation with the preacher's ego the main The album's highlight is a group of five makes this album distinct from those that thing on the line. Morrison, let me quickly connected tracks on side two, totaling six- introduced the various songs. Yet the ar-say, does not convey that attitude. He has teen minutes, that opens and closes with the rangements aren't all that distinct; oftenjust incorporated something from the form: haunting titlesong, The Turn of a Friendly what you have is Michael Brecker playing phrases are repeated in nonlinear fashion Card.The theme of gambling is carried pretty close to the old Tom Scott lines on not for their meaning per se but for their through the rock -accented, up -tempo the sax and Jaco Pastorius, of course, play-cadence and its contribution to the mood,Snake Eyes-whichhas vocals by Chris ing a more active bass than anyone else did which is the main thing.Summertimehas Rainbow and a Billy Joel kind of energy, behind her. And, oh, yes, Joni plays an elec- upwards of three hundred words, perhaps a and which is, overall, the best cut on the tric guitar instead of an acoustic one. There record, and it mostly seems ad-libbed. "It album-and two lush instrumentals,The are some nice sounds, and itis a decent - ain't why," Morrison says, "it just is." That Ace of SwordsandNothing Left to Lose. enough product to put on the market,I seems to be the gist of the verbal part of the The production piles layer upon layer of suppose, but nothing is redefined, no greatmessage. But most of the message, for all music in Parsons' familiar style. The reprise revelations occur. I assume that what she'sthe album's wordiness, is nonverbal, and a of the title song at the end suggests a movie - really up tois either taking time off or lot depends on the moodyoubring to it.I soundtrack close, butitneverquitebe- working on a blockbuster. If you want a live don't recommend this as a party record, but comes either hysterical or sappy. Joni album, "Miles of Aisles" is a more in- in private it can take on spiritual qualities in It might be charged that this music is all teresting one. N.C. ways its own words can't describe. N.C. effect, that it lacks spontaneity, soul, emo- tion. But Parsons and Woolfson are not bal- VAN MORRISON:Common One.Van ROBERT PALMER:Clues.Robert Palmer ladeers or rockers, and they don't try to be. Morrison(vocals);instrumental accom- (vocals, guitar, bass, percussion); instru- They are craftsmen, and if you like the genre paniment.Haunts of Ancient Peace; Sum- mental accompaniment.Looking for Clues; they work in, you'll like this album. I.C. mertimeinEngland;Satisfied;When Not a Second Time; Johnny and Mary; I Heart Is Open;and two others. WARNER Dream of Wires;and four others. ISLAND (Continued on page 96) 92 STEREO REVIEW.