European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 19, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 16 the stars and stripes monday May 19,1986 taking America by storm by Stephen Holden new York times it s like a full Force Galo atop Mountain of howls Bob Sewerin american storm i he passionate Iii drug song thai toads off has album. Like a Rock the record currently no. 3 on. Billboards pop album Chart has All the qualities that have made Seger one of. Rock music s working class heroes Tor the last decade Catchy Polkish melodies an unstoppable drive lyrics thai address people s everyday lives and most of All a voice thai inspires Trust. Like Bruce Springsteen and John Cougar Mellencamp Seger exudes the Brawny vocal friendliness of an american every Man. But with a deep and special connection to soul music. Americans Loim Isabul cocaine Seger said. I wrote it alter Reading wide to Bob Woodward s biography of John Belushi that was 2?i years ago when there was a lot of publicity Aboul cocaine abuse in show business at the time. I thought that it was just a trend that would quickly die out. And that the song would be out of Dale when it came Lime to record. But he situation has gotten worse. Maybe cocaine in i quite As fashionable on the East and West coasts these Days but the plague has spread into the heartland into the Middle West and the South. When in comes to drugs. I was warned Early Seger Ca Linued. My lather was an alcoholic who left Home when t was 10. But by thai time i recognized what his problem was and because i d seen the damage first hand it made me drug abuse is Only one of Many topics Seger takes up in his new collodion. The ring his personal Lavoile describes. Irom the Wile s Point of View the bleakly passionless life of a couple who married As teen agers in the old 50s and whose children have grown up. The album s title song the second single released from it has the Hearty. Nostalgic Appeal of a number of Seger s earlier hits that look Back longingly a to Iii. ,. Like a Hack was inspired parity by the end of a relationship i had that had lasted for 11 years Seger reflected. You wonder where All that time went. But beyond thai. It expresses my Leeling thai the Best years of your life Are in your Fate Leens when you have no special commitments and no career. It s your last blast of fun before heading into the cruel Seger who turned 41 on May 6, is one. Of a growing legion of Over-40 rockers who continue to Moke Rock music Long alter hey expected to have Hung up their Rock n Roll shoes. Of course it feels funny being 41 and Seger i actually fell much More embarrassed about it when i was 31 then i left really old. But that was nothing compared to when t was 18. At in to gel big enough so that i would make maybe 20 grand a year Between the Ages of 25 and 30, after that. I figured i would be burned out and go travel through Europe. The revival Ahoi in the 50s and 60s did t make me feel very optimistic abou.1 Fie future of Rock. Even when they featured people i really admired like Seg Trandle Silver Bullet band pm Campbell Lef Tolg front Segur Alto i Chuck Berry and to Duddley it All had the air at a last Hurrah. I m Happy it did t urn out that Way that they re a Lull the Rock pioneers have been Ari especially powerful influence on Seger who grew up performing cover versions of parly Rock n Roll hits with various bar bands in Michigan. I really got in1o James Brown Little Richard and Wilson Pockell he said. It was powerful primitive stuff that spoke to a lower class kid ice Seger was 31 when he had the first major Success with the concert album live Bullet in 1976. It became the Glrst of six consecutive Platinum albums like a Rock is Wel on its Way to becoming the seventh. Now that i m in my 40s, i worry Aboul the physical toll of touring so i m trying to keep myself in top physical shape Seger said. I m also at the age when i d like to have a child. If and when that happens i d like to do what John Lennon did with his second child and be there for the kid for the first five years. In the meantime i m going to keep performing As Long As it feels relevant and 1 feel i can give it my Roy or Bison Back in business by Joe Edwards associated press r of Orbison whose piercing. Voice made him a legend with ballads about lost love has returned to the recording studio after a six year absence. The 50-year-old Orbison has two albums of the great Roy Orbison recur versions of 20 of his hits and class of 55, with Jerry Lee Lewis Johnny. Cash and Carl Perkins. He also has another in the works. For the past six years he concentrated on doing concerts. Alter 25 years singing his mood music he still performs on the Road 10 Days each month. I Don t feel i m the Guy i should be unless i m writing and performing and he said. I remember when i would tour with Guys who had tour or live hits and i had just one a recalled. So i Sang 20 minutes of everyone else s stuff and my one. I said then thai i always wanted to be successful myself i wanted it so badly when i was Young. It s never gotten Orbison has displayed his three octave Range on such hits As pretty woman. Only tha lonely running seared crying. Blue Bayou mean woman blues. Dream baby and it s Over he had 27 straight records on the charts during his heyday in 1he Early 1960s. In 1977, Elvis Presley introduced him As the greatest Singer in the world Bice Springsteen salutes him in his song Thunder Road Orbison estimates that he s sold 30 million records but adds " Don t normally keep he has to be pressed to pick a Ivorite As a writer i m especially proud of the ones that became a Standard like running seared and crying. I be come to appreciate pretty woman As a Ine Rock n Roll song he said. I did t have that much regard or it As 1 do now. It was Only Whan i realized there was a Ballad in the Middle of f he song that i began to appreciate it. He flatters her first then says come go with me and then he pleads. Then he does t care then he s elated when she comes Back. All those emotions. As i got to looking at it ii became a Fine song to me the biggest thrill in his career he said is just being in the business As for being called a legend Orbison said i did say facetiously once that being a legend meant being old. But orb Ion hot returned to the recording studio ofter a tix year Obi Tice. Someone pointed out that not Ell old people Are legends. Anyway it s Nice to have had longevity and to have influenced a Lew people for the Good a native of Vernon Texas Orbison grew up in Wink Texas and was aught to play guitar at age 6 by his father an Oil held worker. He played guitar on a radio station at age 6 and was in a country music band by age 14. A got his Early recording experience in the 1950s with the lamed Sun records of Memphis tenn., the same record company that launched the careers of Presley Cash Lewis Perkins and others. He was one of the first rockabilly singers a hybrid of Rock n Roll and hillbilly music As country music was known in those Days. He began wearing sunglasses publicly All is time in 19g3 when he forgot his regular glasses and had to Wear dark ones instead. He liked the Way they made him stand out and the image they created in combination with his dark clothing. To says he has a halt dozen pair of sunglasses today ranging from $25 to $100 Alleca. The frames Are custom made in Canada. Orbison also was reclusive which combined with his shadowy attire to. Create a mysterious Persona. His career plummeted in the Lala 1960s. In the aftermath of two personal tragedies. His Wile died in a motorcycle Accident in 1968. Two of his three sons Ages 10 and 6, died in a fire that destroyed his $150.000 Lakeside Home in 196b. His third son is now 20. Hie Mott Misc Mafut songs focused on broken Romance and his too soon to know was written Afler the death of his wife. A Little Hurt went a Long Way he said. Orbison has remarried and has two sons irom that marriage. He lives in a flu Calll. In i960, Orbison teamed with Emmylou Harris on the dual. 7rtaf Loving you feeling again and earned his first grammy award. I used to say that i Don t have a grammy emmy or Oscar. Now that i have a grammy Only the emmy and Oscar Are left he said. How would he like to be remembered one Day when they Are mentioning people who had an Impact if they just mention me among the rest of the Guys and gals it would be great c a
