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TALKIN’ ‘BOUT OUR GENERATIONS As I sit in my room listening to the Compact Disc of Crosby, Stills & Nash and reading your August issue, I begin to won der what music will be like in another 20 years. In a letter to the editor, John Nagy defends the music of the late '60s, especially the Rolling Stones album Their Satanic Majesties Request. I read the letter and agree with what he is saying. Mark Moses, who replies to the letter, says the following: "The irony about pop records is that they physically outlast the moment they were meant to encapsulate." If this statement is indeed true, then how very ironic pop music is today. I am only seventeen, don't "vomit beer and ludes out of the back window of a car" while listening to Led Zeppelin IV (Mr. Moses's words), and have only six CDs (out of a collection of 45) that were recorded after 1980--and each of the six artists did some thing else before 1980. Now that the summer of '87 is upon us, I find it interesting that music recorded 20 years ago is getting all the attention (i.e., the Beatles). Such groups as the Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, and Crosby, Stills & Nash are now on tour. It looks as if the summer of '67 is beginning to envelop the summer of '87 as well. Mr. Nagy says that anyone under the age of thirty-seven can't truly appreciate the music of the '60s. Yet it doesn't take age to understand music. It takes intelligence and feeling. Maybe 20 years from now, when the bands of today finally learn how to play their instruments and Led Zeppelin IV is still playing on the radio, the Pepsi generation will have finally grown up and figured out what real music is all about: intelligence and feeling, two things that today's music doesn't have. John W. Gosney; Greenfield, Ind. I couldn't agree more with Brian Cary Sokolow's observations on the state of contemporary pop radio and its mindless preoccupation with the music of the '60s and '70s ["Medley," August]. It is indeed ironic that rock acts of that era, however mundane, receive more airplay today than they did when they were viable concerns. What is perhaps more disturbing is the degree to which contemporary acts getting the "big push" either sound like--or in fact are-retreads from bygone days. All of the clamor about what constitutes "real rock 'n' roll" serves only to divert attention away from what often appears to be an absence of creativity and innovation. Should the current trend continue, we'll no doubt witness the hailing of '70s AOR rock as "roots music." Frightening, when you think about it. But then, I never thought I'd have to endure the Monkees again. While the listening public collectively retrogresses, it might spare a passing thought to the plight of young artists trying to break into the business. And all of this at the tail end of a decade that began with such promise. To paraphrase someone else's line, I've seen the future of rock 'n' roll, but not lately. Robert Woods; Chicago, Ill. For more on the '70s as transplanted to the '80s, see this month's BACKBEAT for re views of new albums by Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull. Yes, and Rush. -Ed. POP AND JAZZ INFORMATION, PLEASE As a musician, I can tell from Michael Ullman's review of Trumpet Kings [July] that he, too, is a musician and knows what he is talking about. Now where can I get a VHS copy of the videocassette, and what is the cost? Thanks for your help. Wayne M. Shipe; Reading, Pa. Trumpet Kings should now be available at your local video store. If not. you may buy a copy (either Beta or VHS) directly from Video Artists International, P.O. Box 153, Ansonia Station, New York, N.Y. 10023. The cost is $39.95 plus $2.75 for shipping and handling. ( New York residents, add sales tax.) -Ed. I have a CD of songs by various artists. Included is a track by Vangelis. Can you ad vise me if there are any solo recordings by Vangelis in any format? Please help. Harry Miklasz; Chicago, Ill. According to the SCHWANN COMPACT DISC CATALOG, five solo recordings by Vangelis are available on CD: Ignacio (on the Barclay label, through Polygram Special Imports) and China, The Mask, Opera Sauvage, and Soil Festivities (all on Polydor). Also on CD are Vangelis's sound tracks to La Fete Sauvage (Barclay) and Chariots of Fire (Polydor). Five more recordings are available on LP and cassette from RCA: Albedo, Beaubourg, Heaven and Hell, Spiral, and To the Unknown Man. Polydor's Earth is on LP only. -Ed. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor. HIGH FIDELITY, 825 Seventh Ave.. New York, N. Y. 10019. All letters are subject to editing for brevity and clarity. Also see: Bits & Pieces -- The real reason to want an 18-bit CD player. The CD Spread: Ozawa's Carmina Burana; Mravinsky's Tchaikovsky symphonies; Gould's Goldberg Variations Classical Reviews: Inbal's Mahler cycle continues; two perspectives on Previn's return to Walton's First. |