Sliding Into Oblivion-Sliders Season 3

In the mid-1990s, I was a fan of the FOX television show, Sliders.  For the record, I didn't think it was the best show ever made.  Some of the plots, in fact, were very derivative of other films and television shows.  But the cast (Jerry O'Connell, Sabrina Lloyd, Cleavant Derricks, and especially veteran character actor John Rhys-Davies) were an ensemble that worked well together even as I had initial misgivings about the viability of Derricks' character Rembrandt Brown.  They had chemistry.  And watching the third season on DVD made the power of that chemistry abundantly clear.

Sliders, for the uninitiated, is a show about a young scientist who accidentally creates a technology that allows the travel between parallel universes (each having its own earth).  The problem is that they are lost without their originating coordinates and unable to return to their own version of Earth (Earth Prime).

So even as the plots became extremely derivative (one episode involves tornados which were popular due to the film Twister, another is a blatant rip-off of the film Tremors), the chemistry between the characters Quinn Mallory, Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown and especially Professor Maximilian Arturo made the show, at its worst, entertaining.

Having started graduate school around the beginning of the third season, I started to lose track of the show. It also didn't help the the FOX network had started to randomly shuffle the program around in its schedule (a sure sign that a network was trying to eliminate a show by making sure its fans had problems finding it (thereby lowering its ratings).  It became very surrealistic as one week I witnessed the death of main character Professor Arturo, and another week he appeared back in a new episode (this mystery was solved for me as I watched season three and the opening of the episode, which I had previously missed, set the episode up as a flashback).  Then the show was cancelled on FOX and moved to the Sci-Fi network which was unavailable on my cable provider at the time.

The demise of Arturo (brought about by John Rhys-Davies firing due to having insulted new producer David Peckinpah's wife at a party years earlier), and the introduction of Kari Wuhrer's Maggie Beckett character, destroyed that chemistry.  Maggie Beckett was an annoying character, Wade Welles becomes petty and annoying, and Quinn Mallory moves from likable nerd to an unlikable character full of angst.  Even Rembrandt Brown, the one character who remains ironically the most likable is occasionally tetchy.

I found this destruction of a very likable show, with a very flexible premise, very sad.

Be Kind Rewind

I think I am becoming a Michel Gondry fan.

So much so that I very much enjoyed Be Kind Rewind despite the fact that it was not the best received of films by the critics and the public.

Gondry first came to my attention when I was teaching, for the first time, an animation class using traditional (non-computer-based) techniques.  I was introducing stop motion animation when my teaching assistant brought Gondry's music videos for The White Stripes to my attention.  Needless to say, I was amazed by the animation and the visual style of these music videos (particularly the one for "Fell in Love with a Girl".  It also made me a fan of The White Stripes.

Then I viewed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  While a significant portion of the creativity of that film does fall to screenwriter Charles Kaufman (as evidenced as well by his screenplay for Being John Malkovich), it was an amazing film with jumbled the narrative structure in a way that was reminiscent of films such as George Roy Hill's Slaughterhouse Five, but managed to remain a visually stunning, but sweet love story.

Be Kind Rewind is clearly not at the creative level of Eternal Sunshine, but manages to be just as sweet in its nostalgic examinations of Passaic, New Jersey, Fats Waller and the era of VHS narratives.  Mos Def worked well for me as a low-key character (as opposed to his portrayal as Ford Prefect in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).  And no, I didn't find Jack Black the annoyance that many others did.  

Is Be Kind Rewind a great film?  No.  But it is a very enjoyable film, and a heart-felt one at that, if you happen to be in the right mood.  It made me nostalgic in all the right ways, made Passaic come alive as a community (check out the documentary included on the DVD as well; it is very good), and gave me a laugh or two.  I also smiled the whole way through the film.

I give it a VC ranking of 6.5/10.

The film rankings:

1: Even Mystery Science Theater 3000 cannot save this film!!! 

2: Only watch if it is on MST3K.

3: Why did you watch this film?

4: Mediocre, but not a bad film.

5: Average film.

6: Good film.

7: Excellent film.

8: Why don't you own this film?

9: You don't have this film (there must be some good reason, right)!?!

10: I wouldn't be caught dead without this film!!!

Choice Track Saturday#3

(3) Wicked and Weird - Buck 65

The title of the song "Wicked and Weird" is not only reflected in the songs' "chorus", it is also an appropriate description for the track itself. Buck 65 (born Richard Terfry) is a Canadian hip-hop artist from Nova Scotia who mixes blues, country, and rock influences in his music. So while Buck 65 raps, his voice cracks and creaks in such a way that his voice seems more suited to country music, yet it is perfect in this track, as well as the rest of the Talkin' Honky Blues album it comes from. Continuing the country influences, one hears slide guitars and rock organs amidst the synthesized beat. And the subject matter of Buck 65's rap details his aging car, forty parking tickets and "the Good Book", subject matter normally more in tune with its country influences. All in all, an addictive track that somehow makes me wish that, like Buck 65, that the heavenly gates will ultimately provide excellent car service and great old music played at 78 r.p.m.

...a political suggestion.

The subtitle of my blog is "Music, Movies and More".  The more can be any number of issues including, but not restricted to, political issues.   In that spirit, I would like to talk about one of the most ridiculous political moves in recent history.

I am a fairly partisan democrat.  Which sometimes makes me feel like I have masochistic tendencies.  Its not because I have issues with what most of the democratic party stands for.  It is more that I am frustrated by how easily the democrats in the Congress and in the Senate fold under pressure in not supporting their ideology.  The most recent example is the debate surrounding extending the Bush era tax cuts which are set to expire this year.

Now, the tax cuts, as they are currently written, themselves are causing serious problems with the national budget increasing the national debt (the eight years of the Bush administration after these cut saw the national debt increase four trillion (with a "t") dollars.  So the democrats initially supported continuing the tax cuts for those making under $250,000 while allowing them to expire and return to Clinton era tax rates for those making over $250,000.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that businesses both large and small managed to do all right under the tax rates from the Clinton era.  But now, what used to be the middle class, is hurting and needs help.  So the republican insistence that they will filibuster any tax cut that doesn't include cutting taxes for those who are making a very comfortable living seems extremely ridiculous.

So why won't the democrats push this legislation?  Why won't they bring it up for a vote?  Why are they scared of republicans filibustering a tax cut bill in the Senate?  Isn't this what the democrats need to not only keep seats in November, but maybe even increase their majorities?  Either they will give the American people a popular tax cut for those who need it, or make the republican look foolish and elitist blocking its passage.

I have an even better idea.  Let's introduce a tax bill that completely cuts income taxes for those making under $250,000.  No taxes.  No withholding for taxes.  Then, let's make up the lost revenue by increasing the taxes on any money earned over $250,000.  Basically for everyone, the first $250,000 will be completely tax free.  Need an economic stimulus?  How about all those millions of working class people having more money in their pocket.  The economy will recover quickly.  Worried about increasing the national debt?  Make the tax cuts expire in ten years, unless Congress decides to extend them.

Can you imagine the republicans campaigning against these tax cuts?  Even if they do, so what?  What the democrats will have done is to take the tax cut issue away from the republicans.  It will be harder for republicans to campaign effectively by painting their opposition as "tax and spend".  If the bill passes, the democrats benefit.  If the bill fails because of republican opposition, the democrats benefit.  It seems a win-win situation.  Why the politicos in Washington cannot see this (apologies to those in Washington who aren't blocking this legislative effort), defies any reasonable explanation.

I am afraid that Jon Stewart was correct when The Daily Show talked about how will democrats [screw] up the tea party gifts they were being presented with during the midterm elections.

Defending Your Life

Sometimes you take a chance when purchasing movies on DVD.  You may find a movie that has a particular actor whose work you find compelling.  Or maybe you are a fan of the director or screenwriter.  Or maybe you heard good things about a film from the critics.  Whatever the reason, you decide to take a chance.  And sometimes the movie lets you down; it was a risk that didn't pan out...

...but sometimes you are pleasantly surprised.  This was the case for me when I purchased Albert Brook's Defending Your Life.  Now I have always like the self-depricating personae that Albert Brook plays from film to film; he is like a Woody Allen without all of the depressing baggage.  And I was a fan of Brooks' other films such as Lost in America despite the fact that that film plays out like a film with a terrific first and second act, but Brooks decided that writing a third act was too much trouble; that film seems to end prematurely.  

This is most definitely not true with Defending Your Life, the most complete and likable Albert Brooks film to date.  Co-starring Meryl Streep, Defending your Life has a unique premise.  When you die, as Brooks' character does at the beginning of the film, you are sent to Judgement City where they determine whether you lived a fearless life, and deserve to move on to the next level, or whether you have let fear rule your life and need to be sent back to Earth to try again.  Within this premise, Brooks manages his usual string of witty, sarcastic lines guaranteed to run the gamut from simply amusing to full, out-right belly laughs.  Unlike his other films, however, Brooks manages a sweetness that tempers his most sarcastic outbursts, and the ending of the film is justifiably sentimental and touching without descending into maudlin melodrama.

It is a wonderful film, and one of the best $5.00 I have ever spent in the cut-out bin at Walmart.

I give it a VC ranking of 10/10.

The film rankings:

1: Even Mystery Science Theater 3000 cannot save this film!!! 

2: Only watch if it is on MST3K.

3: Why did you watch this film?

4: Mediocre, but not a bad film.

5: Average film.

6: Good film.

7: Excellent film.

8: Why don't you own this film?

9: You don't have this film (there must be some good reason, right)!?!

10: I wouldn't be caught dead without this film!!!

The Beatles, Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964

Just finished watching the first Beatles appearance on the old Ed Sullivan Show.  What a schizophrenic experience.

First of all, whenever The Beatles take the stage, the energy level in the program expands exponentially, despite the fact that it is obvious that John, Paul, George and Ringo are visibly nervous on their first American television appearance.

Ed Sullivan himself is fine, and one can understand why he was on the air for twenty-five seasons.  This episode, by the way, was the nineteenth episode of the seventeenth season.

Most of the remaining entertainment was remnants from previous eras of entertainment.  Outside of The Beatles, the most interesting act was the celebrity impressions of actor Frank Gorshin (who would later become The Riddler on the 1960s Adam West-Burt Ward Batman series).

In particular, Gorshin's Kirk Douglas impression was spectacular (and one he repeats later for the short stop motion animation, The Big Story [Daid Stoten & Tim Watts,1994])

Outside of The Beatles and Gorshin, one of the most entertaining parts of the program is the minute long Anacin commercial (pain, depression, tension, anxiety, fatigue, pain indeed).

The scene from the stage production of Oliver! was typical of musicals from the era, and this style would be functionally dead by the end of the decade (with the box office failures of Star! and Dr. Dolittle).  It is, however, interesting to see future Monkee Davy Jones as the Artful Dodger.

Far worse are magician Fred Kaps and the comedy team McCall and Brill.  These acts have not aged well at all.  Wells and the Four Fays, the acrobatic group, are fine, but are very anti-climatic after The Beatles second set.

The Beatles perform their biggest hits of 1964 including "All My Loving", "'Til There Was You", "SHe Loves You", "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand".  The Beatles prove what a great live band they were here.

Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band

Once again this weekend, the advantages of the iTunes store became apparent to me.  I was able to pick up No Roses by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band.  This album was listed as a four star album in both the red and blue versions of the Rolling Stone Record Guide.  It is also listed as being out of print in both of these reference books, as of 1978 and 1983 respectively.  Yet, there is was on the iTunes store as digital downloads.  After sampling a few thirty second clips of songs on the album, I took the plunge.

What I found was an album featuring much of the sound that made the first several Fairport Convention albums so appealing.  This is perhaps not so surprising in that Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings and Simon Nicol appear among the twenty-four other musician from the English folk-rock scene of the late-1960s and early-1970s.

If there is a flaw in this album, it is that Shirley Collins voice does not mesh as well with the electric backing tracks as, say, Sandy Denny's voice drives the classic Fairport Convention albums.  Collins, who in her youth travelled with Alan Lomax collecting folk song information in the southern states of the United States, was an expert in English folk music.  She also was instrumental in combining folk and jazz mediums prior to No Roses, so she definitely had the music experience for such a recording.  And yet her fine voice does not alway appear comfortable in such company.

All in all, though, this is a worthy recording and one I recommend to 1960s and 1970s folk-rock fans.

On a scale of 1 to 10, No Roses ranks an 7/10 

The VC movie and music rating system works like this (ranking from worst to best):

1: I wouldn't be caught dead with this album!!! 

2: You have this album (there must be some good reason, right)!?!

3: Why do you have this album?

4: Mediocre, but not bad album.

5: Average album.

6: Good album.

7: Excellent album.

8: Why don't you have this album?

9: You don't have this album (there must be some good reason, right)!?!

10: I wouldn't be caught dead without this album!!!

Choice Track Saturday#2

(2) Love Makes a Woman - Barbara Acklin

A wonderful number from 1968 that was #3 on the R&B chart and #15 nationwide, this song epitomizes the importance of the hook with a groove.  The structure of the song revolves around a repeated musical riff.  Starting out with a simple drums and rhythm guitar interplay, the musical motif is almost immediate introduced with soulful horns and organ.  Once Acklin starts to sing, the repetition is carried by organ and guitar interplay.  Even as the chorus is introduce the riff continues.  The song effectively breaks away from its groove for a few bars before continuing with the intoxicating repetition.  At this point the horns join in along with a female chorus.  Despite other forays away from the central phrase of this song, the basic groove continues to define it right until the fade out ending.

The lyrics effectively follow a "Can't Buy Me Love" narrative, equating female identity with basic emotions rather than material possessions.  Quite the opposite from the "Money Changes Everything" ethic that appears in Cyndi Lauper's popular music only fifteen years later.

Impressive Impressions

As I'm writing this blog entry tonight, I'm listening to my recent acquisition from the iTunes store, Complete A and B Sides 1961-1968 by The Impressions.  I have been looking for some time for a comprehensive Impressions anthology.  Previously, my vinyl collection contain a wonderful Impression compilation entitled The Vintage Years.  The advantage of this vinyl compilation was its inclusion of key songs from the Impressions period with Jerry Butler as the lead singer ("For Your Precious Love"), solo Jerry Butler ("Hey Western Union Man") and solo Curtis Mayfield ("Freddie's Dead" and "Superfly").

Complete A and B Sides contains none of this material.  However, this is not as tragic as it might seem.  The Jerry Butler sides are easy to come by, and his various collections are essential listening in their own right (especially the material from The Iceman Cometh and Ice on Ice).  Similarly, Curtis Mayfield's Superfly, once difficult to come by, it available in multiple editions.  Most tragic though, is the absence of the Curtom labels' Impressions material (Curtom being Curtis Mayfield's record label).


Having said that, this is an amazing and amazingly consistent collection of great tunes both well known ("Gypsy Woman", "It's All Right", "Amen", "People Get Ready") and obscure.  By the way, the audio on "It's All Right" has never sounded better.  Sixty great tunes for thirty bucks is quite a deal; and you can alway purchase the Curtom material separately.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Complete A and B Sides ranks an amazing 9.5/10 (only the inclusion of the key Curtom tracks would improve it). The VC movie and music rating system works like this (ranking from worst to best):

1: I wouldn't be caught dead with this album!!! 

2: You have this album (there must be some good reason, right)!?!

3: Why do you have this album?

4: Mediocre, but not bad album.

5: Average album.

6: Good album.

7: Excellent album.

8: Why don't you have this album?

9: You don't have this album (there must be some good reason, right)!?!

10: I wouldn't be caught dead without this album!!!

The difficulty of making art

  As I prepare to shoot a small scene in one of my classes, I am reminded at how difficult it is to create art of any type.  I have had to spend hours writing this scene.  After this, I needed to secure a location, cast two actors (one of whom became ill one day before the scheduled shoot and I had to come up with a replacement actor at the last minute).  I had to find the appropriate props.  This morning I will be spending my time drawing storyboards, purchasing snacks and drinks for the crew, and familiarizing myself with the material.  This all occurs before one frame of video will be shot.  In fact, once production begins the lights will have to be set, the camera angles will have to be determined (utilizing the storyboard as a plan, but having to adjust it for the reality of the set), and the sound will have to be adequately recorded.  Any error is any one of these steps can literally destroy the art.  All of this ignores the fact that the actors hold the key to how well a film works.  Good writing is very important, because without it you cannot make a good film, but bad acting can ruin even the best written script.  Once production is done, the material is at the mercy of the editing.  Good editing may not be able to save a bad film, but bad editing can destroy a potentially great film.  And editing itself is not an easy process.  Even in a short four minute film, like I am shooting tonight, means that there will probably be at least an hours worth of footage to sift through.  This footage will contain errors that the editor will have to figure out how to cut around to make the footage work.  It is very clear that film is very labor intensive.  All other art forms share this burden of hard work.

 This, of course, flies in the face of the general public's perception that making art is "play".  It is true that many of those in the arts find enjoyment in the production of art (whether it is music, film, painting, sculpture, dance or creative writing [and any other art form I may have forgotten here]).  Yet, to deny how much effort is expended is a fantasy.  Artists, who often due not benefit financially from the fruits of their labors as much as those who market these works, work very hard for a living.  Art may not provide the basics for survival (food, clothing, shelter), but it does serve to make that life worthwhile.  Art educates us, entertains us, makes us think, all of which helps us in our everyday life.  Art has always been present in human existence because it is important for human existence.

So while it is perfectly appropriate to criticize any art form when it fails to achieve its goals, it is also important to remember that, with very few exceptions, no one tries to make a bad film, bad album or bad painting.  Even the worst films and worst music are the projects of a lot of effort (which makes coming across bad films and music a tragic situation).  While I criticize art, I also keep these facts in the back of my mind.  It helps to keep a perspective on things, and a little bit of empathy is not a bad thing even as you hate that film your are watching or album your are listening to.

12 Angry Men

Of all the feature films that I have presented in my class, the one film that I have shown more than any other in Sidney Lumet's 1957 film 12 Angry Men.  It is not because it is my favorite film (although it is fair to say that it is one of my favorites); it is because it is a film that I have yet to become distanced from due to overviewing, which is remarkable considering that I end up watching it two times per year.  The only other feature film that I can think of that I can consistently watch on this level is Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night; which admittedly has the added advantage of featuring The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania.  For the record, the two films I have probably seen more that any other films, due to my class rather than due to personal preference, are Edwin Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1902) and Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1903).  This is not to say that I don't like these two early films, by the way.

But 12 Angry Men maintains a special place in my heart, despite being overly familiar with the plot.  Based on a live television drama originally directed by Franklin Schaffner for the Studio One program, the film takes Reginald Rose's teleplay almost verbatim (Rose also wrote the screenplay).  Lumet himself came from television, and his reluctance to cut when he can move the camera instead effectively betrays his live television background.  Lumet himself maintains control of the camera technology in service to his narrative (ably abetted by UFA-trained director of photography Boris Kaufman).  For example, the camera begins above eye level.  As the film progresses, the camera moves to eye level and descends to view the characters from below as the tension between characters increases.  Similarly, Lumet starts with wider angle lenses at the beginning of the film granting the jury room that occupies all but two or three  minutes of the film's running time more apparent space.  As the tension increases, Lumet moves to normal lenses finally utilizing telephoto lenses to squash space making the jury room uncomfortably claustrophobic.

But what makes 12 Angry Men really work, and what makes it a hard film to get sick of, is the actor's performances that bring these well-written characters to life.  It is an amazing film that ends up putting the acting skills of Henry Fonda as one of the weakest in the film (which is not the same as saying that his performance is weak).  The performances of Jack Warden, Jack Klugman, Martin Balsam, E. G. Marshall, John Fieldler, Ed Begley and especially Lee J. Cobb are stunning.  Also strong are the performances of Edwin Binns, George Voskovec, and Joseph Sweeney (the latter two actors also coming from the live television version of 12 Angry Men).  Only Robert Webber's performance occasionally seems forced, but it is hardly a fatal flaw (and this is not to say that his performance is bad, it just pales in comparison to his competition).  These performances make 12 Angry Men a very entertaining film despite the absence of special effects, explosions or gunplay (though there is a knife).

As a side, the original television version was thought to be lost except for the first one-half hour, but a complete copy showed up in 2003.  It seem to me that it is time that this teleplay deserves a video release.

Never Mind the Sex PIstols

There is one significant moment of my life where I can look back and honestly say that my life changed, and it changed for the better.  This moment was when I first heard Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.

Earlier, I had watched the 60 Minutes news segment on the emergence of punk (and the Sex Pistols were prominently featured), and the segment horrified me, as a young teen, on where music was heading.  Then, the first Rolling Stone Record Guide (with the Red Cover) was published.  In this book, the reviewer gave the Sex Pistols album four stars.

The attitude of the establishment media towards this new musical movement conflicted with those charged with critiquing music as their profession.  In order to resolve this conflict, I impulsively purchased the record from a long, lost record store names Harpo's that existed in Bloomington, Minnesota (and who's demise will likely form another blog posting in the near future).

And what I found is that the Sex Pistols music was not simply noise.  In fact the music contain memorable hooks, melodies and chord progressions.  In other words, it was a more abrasive form of pop music.  I also found that while not every lyric was one that I could agree with (the anti-abortion, anti-woman "Bodies" was a particular problem), I empathized with the anger seething from virtually every song.

In other words, the Sex Pistols changed my worldview, for which I am eternally grateful.  I became open to music that was not only from the mainstream, but music that pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable.  Never Mind the Bollocks was to me what Highway 61 Revisited must have been to a teenager in the mid-1960s.

As a side-note, the Sex Pistols was such an influence that it lead to the end of my high school deejaying career when I played it during "punk day" in 1981.  I had exactly one show, when fundamentalist Christian students in my high school complained that the music I played (including "Anarchy in the U.K.") sounded like (the decidedly non-punk) AC/DC.  Yeah, I know, go figure.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I finally unwrapped the plastic from Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and popped it in the DVD player last night.  It left me somewhat cold and uninvolved.  As I write this I am still struggling to figure out why.

First of all, it is not the subject matter that is off-putting.  The legend of Jesse James and his death at the hands of Robert Ford is the stuff of American mythology, a mythology based on fact (though not usually factually represented by Hollywood movies).  The Assassination of Jesse James is probably the most historically accurate film based on the lives of these two characters.  The film looks as if modern film technology were somehow magically transported back in time to capture the look and feel of the era.


Second, it is not the not the look of the film.  In fact, it is probably one of the most beautiful looking films I have ever seen, with its flawless time-lapse photography of clouds and its sepia-toned images.


Third, it is most definitely not the acting.  Although Sam Rockwell, to me, remains one of the great unheralded actors and his performance here is top notch as Charley Ford, Both Brad Pitt as Jesse James, and Casey Affleck as Robert Ford truly embody their characters making the viewer forget that they are watching actors instead of the real historical figures.


Last, it is not the length and pacing of the film.  While 160 minutes is a long running time for a film, and the pace is very slow, it does seem appropriate for the funeral-like atmosphere as these two characters inevitably head toward their final fates.  By the way, since my favorite film is 2001: A Space Odyssey, I am no stranger to slow, atmospheric films and do not necessarily find it off-putting.


Ultimately, if I had to hazard a guess as to what the film's problem was (for me at least since many other intelligent people find this film fascinating), I would say that the film does not know who the protagonist truly is.  It seems to want to place both Jesse James and Robert Ford at the center of the narrative.  To me, this explains how the last twenty or so minutes of the film were more involving than the previous 140 minutes.  Once Jesse James is killed, the focus is solely on Robert Ford.  I would argue that is where it belonged right from the beginning.


All-in-all, not bad. I would give it a VC ranking of 6/10.

1: Even Mystery Science Theater 3000 cannot save this film!!! 

2: Only watch if it is on MST3K.

3: Why did you watch this film?

4: Mediocre, but not a bad film.

5: Average film.

6: Good film.

7: Excellent film.

8: Why don't you own this film?

9: You don't have this film (there must be some good reason, right)!?!

10: I wouldn't be caught dead without this film!!!

Cornell Dupree's Teasin'

There are days that I really miss the thrill of the hunt.  The challenge at appearing at a record store, whether it be one previously unexplored or one that is comfortably familiar, and finding a long-sought treasure.  My record hunting days were at its height during the vinyl years, CDs diminished that role significantly (although late in the CD age I revived my skills hunting for obscurities in the $ .50 bins).  The emergence online sales of music through iTunes in particular, seems to have finally killed off this impulse. 

This has not, however, been a completely negative experience.  Occasionally, iTunes has afforded me the opportunity to sample obscure, but excellent music that would have never appeared in any of the local shops regardless of how new or old the music was.  An example of this occurred late last week as I was finally able to purchase a digital copy of Cornell Dupree's Teasin' album (originally released in 1974, but now re-released by Rhino).  The first discussion of this record I came across was in the original red-covered Rolling Stone Record Guide from 1978.

Teasin' was listed as a four-star record; excellent, but not essential.  My experience in buying albums over the year is the while five-star records are the essential recordings; oftentimes four-star records are more fun to listen to.  In this regard, Dupree's all-instrumental Teasin' does not disappoint.

The title track, for example, smokes as a Meter's style funk tune with just a slight bluesy edge.  The second track "Blue Nocturne" skip straight into a silky smoothy blues structure, starting out in a very standard manner, but adding wonderful organ with fights for space with the Dupree's guitar, eventually adding in a wonderful horn section.  "Jamaican Lady", despite its title, has only a difficult to hear hint of the third beat emphasis found in reggae music, and sound more like the MOR jazz fusion of the era (although it is expertly played).  Not a bad track, but perhaps the weakest cut on the record.  Fortunately, "Feel All Right", the next track, cooks as an upbeat blues; it is something one could imagine B. B. King playing on one of his late 1970s albums (and it has a killer saxophone solo).  The disco beat propelling "How Long Will It Last" amazingly sounds less dated that "Jamaican Lady", although horrible flashbacks to sitting and watching episodes of The Love Boat do persist.  We are back into slow smokey blues territory with "What Would I Do Without You"; once again Dupree's articulate guitar playing dominates.  "Okie Dokie Stops" simply rocks, and album closes with the "Plain Ol' Blues".  All-in-all a worthy album to add to your collection, and one I'm glad to have when I am in the mood.


On a scale of 1 to 10, Teasin' ranks a healthy 7.5. The VC movie and music rating system works like this (ranking from worst to best):


1: I wouldn't be caught dead with this album!!! 
2: You have this album (there must be some good reason, right)!?!
3: Why do you have this album?
4: Mediocre, but not bad album.
5: Average album.
6: Good album.
7: Excellent album.
8: Why don't you have this album?
9: You don't have this album (there must be some good reason, right)!?!
10: I wouldn't be caught dead without this album!!!

Choice Track Saturday#1

When Dave Marsh wrote his The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made book, originally released in 1989 and revised in 1999, he postulated that while critics tended to define music in terms of the album, the single song was the better medium to study and critique.  While there are many great albums that I enjoy listening to from the first track to the last, I believe Marsh was on to something here.  Long before playlists in iTunes made it easy, I constantly made mix tapes starting in the late-1970s.  While searching for the elusive vinyl record became my shopping obsession, I tended to gravitate around certain tracks.  Even The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd's masterpiece, in which songs flowed from track to track and which was held together as a concept album contained "Money" which stood out as an obvious single.

In the spirit, I have decided that on Saturdays, I should highlight one track that I will always listen to and treasure.  There is no implied order in terms of quality; these are only tracks that I believe are enjoyable and significant.  Having set the ground rules the first track I will detail and promote is:

(1) "Over and Over" by Hot Chip

This track can be found, as the fourth track, on their The Warning album.  In many ways, this song should not work at all.  The beat starts out clunky and amateurish; it is the kind of beats that emerge when new users start to play with a program like Apple's Garageband.  The song structure is very repetitive, echoing the lyrics.  And yet, this song is compulsively listenable.  This tune is sealed as a great track the moment that the electric guitar solo kicks in.  Finally, there is the clever moment when words are spelled-out, and each word is one letter shorter than the previous word.  This, for the record, are those spelled-out words, repeated in the middle and end of the song:

K-I-S-S-I-N-G
 S-E-X-I-N-G
  C-A-S-I-O
   P-O-K-E
    Y-O-U
     M-E
      I

Featured in the background of the Torchwood episode "Combat" from the first season, "Over and Over" is a tune that will spice up any playlist.

Strangers on a Train (the two film versions)

Strangers on a Train, from 1951, is one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films.  It is the film that starts his classic late period that extends through his television show up to The Birds from 1963.  I recently showed this film in a film studies class, and was surprised at how much I still enjoyed this work despite having seen it several times.  Strangers on a Train is a film that provided the basis for another film, the comedy Throw Momma from the Train from 1987, and it consistently referenced in other media, the most recent example being The Simpson's "Treehouse of Horror XX" episode in the segment entitled "Dial M for Murder or Press # to Return to the Main Menu" (Mrs Krabappel's reaching for her lighter is more that a little reminiscent of Bruno Antony's attempt to rescue Guy Haine's lighter from the storm drain).  It is, as of this date, listed as the 125th most popular film by those who frequent the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com), and has achieved an astounding 98% favorable rating on rottentomatoes.com.

And yet this film provides me with a dilemma.  First of all there are now two versions of this film, the edit that was officially released and a pre-release edit that has become known as the "British version" since it was discovered in England in 1991 (and released to theaters in 1996).  The "British version" is two minutes longer, and spends more time in the beginning of the film establishing Bruno's character and  implied homosexual attraction to Guy Haines.  While this does slow down the pace of the film somewhat at the beginning of the film, it adds extra dimensions to Bruno's character [spoilers ahead] which I find enhances the pleasurable sequences later in the film culminating in Marion's murder by Bruno, and the final conflict on the merry-go-round.  So for the most part I feel that Jack Warner (one of the Warner Brothers) suggestion that Hitchcock trim this from the released film was absolutely a mistake.

On the other hand, I found that having watched the "British version", I really missed the humor of last scene of the happy couple on the train found in the released version.  Despite being added against Hitchcock's initial misgivings, this is an exclamation mark (!) to the story that serves as an effective catharsis, and is sorely missing in the original edit.  This ending was also suggested by Jack Warner, and in this case the studio executive made the correct call.  At some point, it would be nice to have a third version of the film: one with all the extra footage found in the pre-release print plus the original ending.  Until then one has to watch one side of the DVD and flip it over to the other side to watch the ending (unless one has access to editing and ripping software and can make their own version).

Missing in Action#1-The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl

Last night I stayed up way too late in order to watch a laserdisc copy of The Beatles Compleat documentary.  While it has been long surpassed by the Beatles Anthology specials from the  mid-1990s, it efficiently recaps the whirlwind history of The Beatles from the formation of John Lennon's first skiffle band to the groups dissolution around the time of the release of Let It Be and Paul McCartney's first album.  

The most interesting aspect of this documentary is, despite its wonderful Malcolm McDowell voice-over narration, is that it has yet to be released on DVD.  The Beatles remain one of the most popular musical artists, even as the band has now lost two members (John Lennon and George Harrison) and the band disbanded forty years ago.  One would think that there would be nothing from the group's history that would be out of print.

One of the most significant omissions from The Beatles catalogue is the absence of a CD or a digital release of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl.  Released in 1977 on vinyl, it remains the only officially released live album of The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania (of course, live songs of The Beatles have since been released in Anthology 1, 2 and 3 which makes the loss of this album a little less painful).  Nevertheless, this is an exciting album featuring The Beatles at the height of their powers as a live band (and disproving the late 1970s assertions by members of the public that The Beatles did not rock).  Despite the protestation by the former members of the band, and George Martin, the audio quality of the recordings was quite good having been recorded on a three track recorder (the three track recorder was probably a 35mm magstock three stripe film recorder from the period, quite capable of excellent analog sound).  And, outside of Cheap Trick's Budokan albums, there are no better examples of the sustained screaming, from mostly female fans, long since gone from the contemporary concern scene.

It is time for an official release of this album (or even better the complete 1964 and 1965 Hollywood Bowl concerts that were compiled for this album).  I know that Capitol Records were disappointed in the sales of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, but it still was a #1 record in the United Kingdom and a #2 record in the United States.  It is inexcusable that this important historical document, as well as a very entertaining album to listen to, has been out of print for all these years.

Elton John Revisited

The first major influence on me, as far as music was concerned, was the music of Elton John. Elton is, and always has been, a very messy musician. Most of his albums have at least a couple of great songs. However, even at his artistic and commercial height, these great songs would share space on the same album (even the same side of the album) with awful songs; his records are notoriously uneven. This is the aspect of Elton's music that most respected music critics have always agreed on. What is more interesting, however, is that these same critics cannot agree on which songs are the good songs and which albums are the good albums. This makes Elton John intriguing.


To me, however, the best aspect of Elton John's music is the fact that he would tackle virtually every possible music genre. I credit my diverse musical tastes at this late point in my life with being exposed to the soul-type songs, reggae-type songs, disco-type songs, rock songs and the ballads found in Elton's albums. Starting with Elton John as an obsession led me to The Beatles (especially since Elton dueted live with John Lennon on the B-Side of "Philadelphia Freedom"), and from The Beatles I was able to easily expand to Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. And once I did that, there was no stopping me. Which is why, even though the following picture should be embarrassing to me, it is not:

For my money, the best Elton John albums (from his classic period) are Honky Château, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Rock of the Westies.

Honky Château is perhaps the most stylistically consistent of Elton's works. The hard-rocking, blusey piano dominates all of the songs, including the ballads, and there isn't a bad song on the record. In fact many of the "lesser" songs ("Amy", "Salvation" "Suzie" "I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself" and "Hercules") are as good as the two hits from the album, "Rocket Man" and "Honky Cat". Even Robert Christgau liked the record and gave it an "A-" (**** in the Red Rolling Stone Record Guide, *** in the Blue New Rolling Stone Record Guide, **** in the Rolling Stone Album Guide, and ***** in the New Rolling Stone Album Guide).

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is perhaps the most stylistically messy of all of Elton John's records ("B" in Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide, **** in the Red Rolling Stone Record Guide, **** in the Blue New Rolling Stone Record Guide, ***and 1/2 in the Rolling Stone Album Guide, and ***** in the New Rolling Stone Album Guide). And in this case, the messiness is a good thing. While there are those who have argued that this record would have been more effective as a single rather than double record (see the Robert Christgau review), it simple would be hard to condense this album down without destroying its essence. The jumping from one musical genre to another, mixing good songs with great songs, is simply the point; it is a celebration of the diversity of contemporary (1970s) popular music. And even the critics do not agree on what the good songs are; Dave Marsh, for example, would probably have left "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and "Candle in the Wind" (his wonderful tribute to Marilyn Monroe) off of the record. Finally, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road includes some of Elton's best and biggest hits including the title track, the aforementioned songs and "Bennie and the Jets". All in all, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is perhaps the best Elton John album to purchase first (for the record, the first Elton John album I ever owned was Caribou).

Finally, there is Rock of the Westies, Elton John's hardest rocking album of his classic (1970-1976) period. Including the hits "Island Girl", "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" and "I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford"), Elton John never again had a backing band as goo as the one featured here. And it is doubtful that Bernie Taupin ever wrote a better set of lyrics. Once again, even Robert Christgau liked this record ("A-" in Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide, **** in the Red Rolling Stone Record Guide, *** in the Blue New Rolling Stone Record Guide, *** and 1/2 in the Rolling Stone Album Guide, and **** in the New Rolling Stone Album Guide).


Finally, I must mention Elton's courage in coming out as bisexual (and later as homosexual) at the height of career even knowing that the revelation could have destroyed it. Though not gay myself, it taught me tolerance at an early age, even as I had to suffer the taunts of an obnoxious family friend one this revelation hit the media. For that reason alone, the following picture is not as embarrassing as it probably should be: