Word: deadpan
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...from European tavern songs through fifties rock 'n' roll up to '80s power riffing and synthopop. On the surface (which counts for a lot with most Europop bands like Trio,) Trio and Error is an enjoyable album with a lot of catchy melodies, some witty choruses, and a spare, deadpan sound. However, this album works only on that surface level, because Trio never tries to capture the depth of feeling or soul present in the rock forms they manipulate. Trio along with other European rock bands (like Flock of Seagulls, etc), is basically the abba of the '80s: they steal...
UNFORTUNATELY ON THE REST of the album, Trio attempts to integrate a wide variety of rock styles into their deadpan, minimalist sound; and here their thinness really shows through. In fact, the farther Trio delves into the past, the more disastrous the results. On "Tooralooralooraloo--Is it Old &Is it New," they aim for a tavern European folk ballad, and end up sounding like Perry Como. In fact, this song is so pathetically and limply delivered that it can't even be savored as good camp. "Drei Mann in doppelbett," on the other hand, links a pub chant with...
...detection, ambiguity challenging reality, that the cubists, Gris included, wanted to install at the center of painting. This game was what Juan Gris' use of collage was really about, and as a result his work in the high cubist years is seeded with puns, cross references and deadpan jokes that will keep art historians busy for some time...
...must be as odd as outer space. By slapping the two decades to gether (in Susanna Moore's knowing decor and costumes), Strange Invaders exposes the banalities and excesses of the popular art they produced. The classy cast (Paul LeMat, Louise Fletcher, Nancy Allen, Diana Scarwid) plays it deadpan but without a hint of derision, and coaxes the movie toward a full-throttle inspirational climax. As an evocation of the American '50s going on '80s, Strange Invaders is what Twilight Zone: The Movie could and should have been...
...happy regard to the court." What happens when these three characters mix, along with their assorted relatives, friends and lovers, is deliberately unbelievable; in extending two stories into a sketchy novel, Hannah creates a sequel as sideshow. The true star is Hannah's protean comic prose. He can deadpan with the best of them. Says Bob Smith, explaining why he has stolen a dead friend's extensive collection of books: "I never had an education except school." Even closer to Hannah's talent is rhetorical display. A description of Levaster: "He was wretched-looking; around...