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Station News

Despite really disgusting weather on October 12th, CIMN’s first annual “Fill Yer Face Fest” was pretty suc- cessful. Rodney St.. Pierre was official cook and bun — warmer, but lots and lots of thanks go out to all the D.J.’s who came out to the beef by-products barbeque to drag equipment up and down stairs, hand out pop and hot- dogs, munch on hot—dogs, stand in rain, etc., etc., including Craig Cormier, Troy Gorrill, Tommy Monahan, Ronnie Myers, Sean Robertson, Roberta St. Pierre, Kevin Smith ... (hope we didn’t forget anyone, if we did, Thanks!) Special thanks go out to Dave

Chamberlain of Island Beverages for donating pop for the event.

Top 20 also sponsored by Island Beverages, can be heard Saturday night at 9:00 and again on Wednesday morning at 9:00.

Don’t forget that our request line is 892-CIMN (892-2466). All the DJ’s would love to hear from all listeners out in Radioland, so take 10 seconds out of you life, reach out and touch a DJ.

This is our fourth edition of “Shock Hazard”. If anyone, DJ or non—DJ, has any comments, ideas, suggestions, or slaughter- ing about these pages, please

drop a note with the Gem.

That’s it til next week... .

POLYGRAM LOOSENS UP -

by Andy Riga Canadian Uni- versity Press

MONTREAL (CUP) - Seven weeks after 25 Canadian campus radio stations announced a boy- cott of Polygram records, the in- dustry giant has decided to elimi- nate controversial service fees for some stations.

Members of the National Community Radio Association began the boycott Sept. 1 af- ter the company imposed a $100

per year fee for supplying promo- tional records and press releases.

Since last week, Polygram has been contacting individual cam- pus and community stations and

offering to send albums and pro- motional material for free, Poly- gram official David Freeman said.

He said only stations that ™merit” free service are being contacted.

Chris Migone, a boycott or- ganizer and music director at McGill University’s CKUT, said the NCRA will probably lift the boycott within two weeks. But he said the group is still concerned that not all member stations will be serviced for free.

”We’re still trying to get a clear answer about which stations they’re talking about. We want to make sure all NCRA member

The Black Earth

Trying to fit a certain mold or following a certain trend can as easily spell disaster for an artist as lead to success. The new re- lease from the band The Black Earth is a case in point. Mod- eling themselves as the purvey- ors of some new-age aesthetic(cf. Sinead O’Connor, Kate Bush, My Bloody Valentine) they have im- mersed themselves in an aura of things celtic, mysterious, and pseudo-spiziiual. But, in the case of this album, it is merely clever packa, ‘ng.

The sound of the album is dense. . ass and drums dominate amidst a wash of keyboards. the guitar pla ing is lost in the back- ground, on most songs, like dingy wallpaper. ‘fhere is a lame gui- tar solo in the song Lady Friend which is basically generic filler. Vocalist Jane Rees is submerged in echo throughout and manages

to resurface on only one sone, the album’s las cut, Tonight. Here her voice is at ‘ts most affecting haunting without the use of stu- dio effects.

Most of the writing chores are handled by multi-instrumentalist Dominic McDonald. But, as Rees sings in the song If I Said I was Sorry, “...can you tell me just what it all means,” I found myself asking the same questions after listening to this album. The main themes of the lyrics concern love and relationships (again?) and are dealt with in the most senti- mental and pandering way. The

songs left me cold, for the most

part, except for three stand—outs: Momma’s Boy, Colours, and Tonight. . There may yet be promise for this band if they can only scrape away their glossy veneer and fo-

The Song Retains the Name

“The song retains the name”; what can I say except it’s eleven striggling bands trying to do Led Zeppelin’s songs. It is a good LP, but if you’re a Zep fan like my- self you will find you won’t like some songs. Nobody can do Zep’s songs like Zep does, but these bands make a good try.

There’s a rap version of

“Black Dog” a flok version of “Rock n’ Roll” (makes me sick); and a faster version of Zep’s bal- lad of “What is & what should

never be.”

The song that

STATIONS MAY LIFT BOYCOT

cus themselves to attain some At once sounding like Simple Minds on the song Every Minute Of The Day, like Abba on Lady Friend,or doing an absolute cop of Kate Bush on Dead man Proud,The Black Earth need to find their own identity or else flounder like

consistency.

does stand out is “House of the Holy”; because if Rob Plant was singing, we’d have Led Zeppelin. “Livig loving maid (She’s just a woman)” sounds like Elvis is singing. Maybe Elis is still alive. I’m surprised there’s no oe doig “Stairway ” on here. It’s not worth aywhere over $8.00, but give it a listen to, you might find

so many wanna be’s. This album is merely a passport to obscurity.

John Murray a

it as funny as I did. — The Meanest Man in Show

stations will be getting free sq ”

Polygram appears to be changi its stance.

"The boycott worked. |i beer 4 bit of a hassle, but it w our last recourse. A lot of ener was spent organizing the boyc that could have been used pi moting the artists.”

WEA, another major reco label, started charging camp stations last year, byt bac down after pressure from NCRA.

“Freeman said Polygram only offering its "alternai repertoire” — including arti such as The Pixies, Mich Shocked and Siouxie and Banshees for free. And only tions that are ”responsible” * merit” free service will get it, said.

Polygram decided to cont stations individually because company was being ”misrep sented” by the NCRA, Freen

said. He said Polygram w have waived the fees if stati had contacted the company to plain they couldn’t afford the

”This whole thing has b blown way out of proportio he said. ”Once we realized actly what was being passed to NCRA members, we deci to contact individual stations on one.”

” We have approached 150 stations so far, and the majo have been very positive.”

He said he doesn’t kz whether campus station airp has any effect on sales.

*It’s a very small area quantify. But the bottom lin for us to expose our reperto There is no reason to ignore : tions if they are going to meet. objectives.”

Migone brushed aside P* gram’s complaints about NCRA, saying the group cal the boycott only after month trying to negotiate with the c: pany. .

"What they’re saying nov pretty funny. I think they’re | upset we got our act together

Thursday, October 26, 1989 ==

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