Television: Nov. 8, 1968

(2 of 4)

TEA PARTY and THE BASEMENT. In any play by Harold Pinter, the questions are the answers, and the denouement is total uncertainty. The audience knows less at the end than it thought it knew at the beginning. These one-acters are lesser Pinter, but the playgoer is still held in the author's subtle grip. In Tea Party, a successful manufacturer of "sanitary wares" is driven into a catatonic state by the actions of his secretary, his wife and her brother. The Basement presents the members of a menage a trois in an intimate power struggle.

HOW TO STEAL AN ELECTION is unsubtle—an indelicate, exuberant American-style political revue that satirizes all the U.S. Presidents from G.W. to L.B.J.

RECORDINGS

Pop

THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND: THE HANG MAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER (Elektra). These literate, far-out English minstrels—Robin Williamson and Michael Heron—slither and squelch on their ouds, gimbris, Panpipes, water harps and dulcimers like the amoebas they celebrate in A Very Cellular Song ("If I need a friend I just give a wriggle,/ Split right down the middle,/ And when I look there's two of me"). They also sing of water, witches' hats, minotaurs and neon cities ("You see, I think that only the sun knows how to be quietly bright"). All very appealing, but not for dancing.

BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY:

CHEAP THRILLS (Columbia). Few singers put more into the blues than Janis Joplin, whose big raw voice is an instrument in the process of being destroyed by the passion with which she plays it. "Take another little piece of my heart now, baby, you know you've got it if it makes you feel good," she sings in one number. She dispenses her voice with compulsive generosity throughout the album, especially in Ball and Chain, in which, like an alley cat in heat, she yowls, screeches, scratches, moans and wails to an unearthly climax. The song brought an uncommon ovation from the audience at the Fillmore in San Francisco, where it was recorded live.

THE DOORS: WAITING FOR THE SUN (Elektra). Jim Morrison poignantly expresses youth's fear of growing up, in the haunting Summer's Almost Gone ("When summer's gone, where will we be?") and the ironically lilting Wintertime Love ("Winter's so cold this year"). The full depth of his militance and anguish explodes in

The Unknown Soldier, a chilling dramatization of an execution by firing squad, complete with jack boots, drum roll and volley. "Make a grave for the unknown soldier," Morrison croons reverently after the firing. Then he cuts abruptly and savagely back home, where, with bells tolling and crowds cheering, he shouts again and again, "It's all over! The war is over!"

THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS: A NEW TIME-A NEW DAY (Columbia). "Do your thing . . . Lookin' good—sho nuff . . . Have you got the feeling baby? Yeah, yeah," sing the Chambers Brothers. Their rhythm and blues is joyous and earthy, and they've got a boss feeling, sho miff. Their songs are slow and easy (Satisfy You), slow and dirty (Rock Me Mama), fast and hand-clapping (I Can't Turn You Loose).