Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 15, 1991 TAG: 9102150230
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACIE FELLERS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But with "One Simple Word," its latest album, the band hopes to attract a larger audience.
The collection of 13 songs ranges from the guitar-driven "Stone Cold Yesterday" to the acoustic "Waiting My Turn," which features cello and oboe solos.
The Connells will play at the Roanoke Civic Center Auditorium tonight. Tickets are $9 for the 8 p.m. show, part of the second anniversary celebration by Roanoke album-rock station WROV-FM (96.3).
Yams From Outer Space, a Blacksburg band best known on the area college scene, will open the show. And with a name like that, they've gotta be quite a band, right?
"They've been described as everything from a fun college band to twisted and demented," Yams producer Anne Cheney said with a laugh.
The Yams recently released their second album, "Domesticating Your Rhino," which features seven original songs and a cover of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman," Cheney said.
The Connells started with brothers Mike and David Connell in 1984. Now Mike, who plays guitar, David, a bass player, lead vocalist Doug MacMillan, drummer Peele Wimberly and George Huntley on guitar, keyboards and vocals make up the band.
The group released its first single, "Darker Days," in 1985 and followed it up with a 1986 album of the same title.
The Connells' critically acclaimed second album, 1987's "Boylan Heights," was in the top 10 on the Gavin Report/Rolling Stone college albums chart for two months.
A tour to support "Fun and Games," the group's third album, stopped at Roanoke College last February.
"One Simple Word" was recorded in Wales and produced by Hugh Jones, who has worked with Echo & The Bunnymen and other bands that first found success on the college charts. The album reached number 10 on the Gavin Report/Rolling Stone college albums chart in the magazine's Feb. 21 issue.
\ THE CONNELLS:
Tonight, 8 p.m., Roanoke Civic Center Auditorium. $9. 981-1201.
by CNB