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!!!