European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 02, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A. Stewart by Deedee Arrington Doke staff writer troubadour Al Stewart spends eight months of the year dining at los Angeles Best restaurants and collecting Fine wines. To support those tasteful but expensive habits the Man whose hit song and album year of the cat made him an omnipresent voice on the radio in 1977 Tours the remaining four months and occasionally turns out a new Alburn from a relative but comfortable obscurity. �. " year of the cat was a total aberration in my life and in my career Stewart said _ during a recent conversation in Frankfurt Germany i mean it happened for a couple of years and then. It went away again. Normal service has been  a cult favorite from the late 60s through the mid-1970s, Stewart spun Story songs from history roads to Moscow and whimsy accompanied by his wry nasal delivery and a shifting lineup of musicians. Then came year of the cat which found him a broader if More fickle audience and _ time passages another hot Selling album that served up several More hit singles including song on the Aeo and the title track. _ .,.-. When the record year of the cat went into the top 10, i was in a Holiday inn in Kentucky or something Stewart recalled. I was on a never ending tour i thought i be been waiting All my life for this should feel really Happy and All. I Felt was really Tirera ?.-.the wider popularity brought him wealth and recognition but it did nothing for him creatively he said. Stewart was t satisfied with the music he turned out to satiate the demands of a hit focused record company. The music made at the company s request was aimed at a Public attuned More to beat and easily memorable lyrics than to the Quirky material that had made him a cult favorite. -. /. ". If you listen to time passages which is a record that i Don t like Imean it s a horrible record i like one track out of what 10 it s obviously a record Nide by someone who has t a clue Stewart said. _ w -.--�. After year of the cat the record company decided they knew what was what Stewart said of Arista records and company head Clive Davis. He gives you a blueprint this was amazing 120 beat per minute the chorus and title repeated 1 slimes and we must have a saxophone Solo. Out came time passages. Thought this is easy but then radio changed completely it got much harder edged. Even though i had the formula the formula was t uie formula anymore. So i made one other attempt. I threw the Bop away and went Back to doing just the guitar music which is what i understood. Itu " was very  even the recorded version of Stewart s ironic melodic year the cat leaves the genial briton a bit cold. The song s soaring saxophone Solo for instance was added at Deere Arringt Onoke Al Stewart would rather perform the music that made him a Quirky cult favorite than the songs that produced a spell of mass popularity. The insistence of producer Alan Parsons against Stewart s wishes. I be always thought that a saxophone sounded like a wounded cow said Stewart a bit  i be never like them. But Alan Parsons made me put it on year the at and it became a hit. So As it s still paying my mortgage i be warmed a Little. But it s still not my favorite  _ when Stewart Tours he sometimes takes a full band. Other times he performs As a duo with guitarist Peter White who played with him during the Peak of Stewart s Fame. Audiences get a Sample of Stewart s latest tunes his current album is famous last words but they also hear the songs that kept him on a Star s Perch for two years. That his new material has failed to find As devout an audience As the songs that Are less close to his heart half amuses half galls him. He joked that his Tours spawn greater sales of year of the cat but do Little for his current album at the time. On the other hand the fans who preferred Stewart in his Little known state Are returning to his fold  now they know that i m not commercial they be started buying my records again it s very Odd said Stewart adding i m just the same. I tend to buy records by people who Aren t successful. \ mean if my favourites become successful i get very annoyed. You feel personally betrayed when your favorite Singer has a /hit."--. Although he would t mind Selling a few More copies of the albums made since his bout with Fame he prefers living very quietly in los Angeles where he can find say afghan food at 3 . And add wines to his  is addictive. There s a Rush. It was fun while it was happening but it was. Nice when it stopped Stewart said. Occasionally i pass poor burned out Rock stars eating in Denny a and i m so glad i did t do  pop singles 1. I la make love to you Boyz ii men 2. Stay i missed you Lisa Loeb and nine stories 3. Wild night John Mellencamp and me Shell Ndege Ocello 4. Fantastic voyage coolie 5. Can you feel the love tonight Elton John 6.1 swear Aii-one 7. Stroke you up changing faces 8. When can i see you baby face 9. Fund fled a brat. 10. Don t turn around Ace of base top albums 1. The lion King soundtrack various artists. 2. Forrest Gump soundtrack various artists3. The sign Ace of base 4. Purple Stone Temple pilots 5, Tab joke Green Day 6. August & everything after counting crows " 7. Regulate. G Funk Era Warren g 8. Candle Box Candle box9. Sleeps with Angels Neil Young and crazy horse 10. Smash offspring country singles 1. Whisper my name Randy Travis 2. Dreaming with my eyes open Clay Walker 3. Xxx s and too s an american girl Trisha Yearwood 4. Hanglin in Tanya Tucker 5. She can t say i did t cry Rick Trevino 6. What the cowgirls do Vince Gill 7. Be my baby tonight John Michael Montgomery ". 8. Half the Man Clint Black 9. The Man in love with you George Strait 10. Third Rock from the Sun Joe Diffie dance Maxi singles re singles Dow set spreading anti violence rap \ by Deedee Arrington Dok staff writer f the five song up our suffocation by los Angeles Metal rappers Dow set sounds More like a manifesto than a Call to party it s intentional. You could Call Dow set s anguished angry blend of guitars Drums and open ended poetry anti gangsta rap. / in Oslo Norway a kid came up to me a kid who wanted to Start a gang said Dow set s Rey of opera. I told him if we put you in la for an hour you would be begging to come Back i wish i had what you had but a lot of the kids Here really want to know what s going on Over  Dow set recently emerged from los Angeles underground after seven years in the hardcore scene under the name social Justice. Band members All residents of hard Luck districts of the City of Angels say their Mission is to get out the word that gang life in t Cool that life on their Home streets is rough and that it s High time people began dealing with Street issues. People in this band have seen enough Oropeza said referring to the indiscriminate violence of their Home City. A new record contract with major Label Mercury records makes the band even More determined to disseminate its message said Rhembert James Morris. That makes us want to work Ever harder Morris said earnestly. It makes us want to have an opposing Point of View so people get two sides of the  not Only does the band rail against physical violence it also shouts put against sexual violence and what Oropeza Calls the mass sexual propaganda of gangsta rap in which women Are objectified and subject to casual use and abuse. In the band s rap spoken protest Oropeza counts Down a Litany of . Rape statistics and castigates use of words like Bitch slut and to whore As casual references to women. I cry in enthusiastic opposition against the celebrated rape ritual he shouts our Sisters suffocate in this tradition that s something that trips people out Oropeza said during an interview before a concert in Neu Isenburg Germany in which Dow set opened for Bio Hazard. That s something people need to hear. We re not just paying lip service to this. I mean we got mothers we got Sisters we got girlfriends. What we re saying is not  european youths want to hear what Dow set has to say. And the band which also includes guitarists Rogelio Lozano and ares and drummer Chris Lee is counting on a Broad forum thanks to its major Label Deal to Pound out their words of warning to other americans. Said Morris people Are starting to Wake up and  Rio Dow set from left ares James Morris Rey Oropeza Rogelio Lozano and Chris Lee. Album Rock tracks gospel albums on disc Dulcinea Toad the wet sprocket Columbia t looks like Toad the wet sprocket s Southern i California roots Are showing. Three years after its last release the Santa Barbara quartet has decided to emphasize its Folk and pop element. The result is Dulcinea an album that alternates Between the foreboding rockers of fear the band s 1991 breakthrough and harmonizing tunes reminiscent of Jackson Browne. On fall Down Todd Nichols chiming guitars make the song about a mental collapse one of the top rockers this year. Yet for every dark song there Are tunes rooted in pure 1970s _ sunlight and songs such As something s always wrong and windmills Are tinged Browne. John Pacenti the associated pres she Harry Connick or. Columbia after presenting himself As the great White Hope for Sinatra style pop on his last several albums i Harry Connick or. Will undoubtedly leave listeners puzzled and disappointed with she. Instead of the suave big band sound he essayed on we Are in love and when Harry met sally., this new album opts for a Funky new Orleans style Groove an approach Connick claims is actually closer to his roots. Maybe so after All he does seem to have a genuine affection for the music of the meters and the late James Booker. Trouble is Connick s attempts to pay tribute to Booker Lack the manic wit and offhand virtuosity that marked Booker s Best work while not even the presence of meters rhythm men 7 ". George Porter and Ziggy Modeliste can breathe life into the likes of honestly now or the big Parade. . Cons done the Baltimore Sun endangered species Lynyrd sky nerd Capricorn to s unplugged has worked for Eric Clapton Rod Stewart 10,000 maniacs and a Host of other Rock acts. Now comes Lynyrd sky Hyrd of acoustic endangered species a sort of unplugged without the mtg. It is a departure for a group that s. Created some of the Best electric guitar driven Southern Rock in history. The format puts the focus on Johnny Van Zant s voice. His singing is sure passionate playful most everything brother Ronnie s was before the 1977 plane crash that claimed his life. While the sound May be a big change for sky nerd s fans it is the perfect vehicle to Point up Van Zant s continuing maturity and Confidence As the group s frontman. _ pc 7 Joel Stanenko the associated press Connick 1. Flava in a ear Craig Mack \ 2. Juicy the notorious 3. Take it easy mad lion 4. Do you Wanna get Funky a music factory 5. Romantic Call Patra 6. Nuttln1 but love heavy a the Boyz 7. Boot Call backstreet 8. Bop gun ice cube 9. No guns no murder Rayvon 10. Fund fled a brat 1. I la make love to you Byrll men 2. Stroke you up changing faces 3. Any time any place and on and on Janet Jackson. ,. 4. I d give anything Gerald Levert 5. Funk Rafeld a brat6. Body & soul Anita Baker 7. Never be immature8.whencanlseeyou, 9.1 miss you Aaron hall10. At your Best Aaliyah 1. Basket Case Green pay 2. Einstein on the Beach counting crows 3. Am i wrong love spit love 4. All i Wanna do Sheryl Crow 5. Sometimes always the Jesus and Mary Chain 6. Undone the sweater song Geezer  7. Fade into you mazzy star8. Vaseline Stone Temple pilots 9. Far behind Candle Box 10. Self esteem offspring 1. It remains to be seen Mississippi mass choir to 2. Kirk Franklin & family Kirk Franklin the family3. Live in Atlanta at Morehouse College Hezekiah Walker & the Fellowship crusade choir 4. Excellent Bishop Norman l Wagner my Calvary concert choir 5. Colo Blind John p. Kee 6.1 will Trust in the lord Rev. James moore7. Live and in Praise a Rudolph Stanfield & new revelation 8.1 shall not be Defeated la. Mass choir 9. Save the world Yolanda Adams 10. Africa to America the journey of the drum sounds of blackness latin tracks 1. Qui Siera Ricardo Montaner 2. Pero que Neces Idad Juan Gabriel 3. Site Vas Jon Secada 4. Bidi Bidi bom bom Selena 5. Ella que me a Leras Luis Miguel 6. Diablo los fugitives 7. La cos Quillina Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 8. Mls Erla Vicente Fernandez 9. La Nina Fresa Banda z 10. Celina los fantasias Del Caribe complied by billboard focus entertainment editor. Deedee Arrington Doke editorial assistant Sandee Jones listing contributors staff writers Marian Hamilton Cindee Morrison sue Palumbo Nancy l. Torner also Ferenc Pajtas Joe Olano. Send entertainment news tips Story ideas and listings to the stars and stripes entertainment unit 29480, Apo a 09211 or civilian Postrach 1114 37, 64278 Darmstadt Germany. Telephone Dan 348-8350, Civ. 06155-601350, Tel fax 06155-601416 outside Germany the country code is 49 drop the 0 from the prefix. 20 the stars and stripes Friday september 2, 1994 the stars and stripes 21