Review a Music DVD or Special

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Review a Music DVD or Special

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Most likely concerning concert films; musicals of the Broadway or Hard Day's Night variety; or TV specials, or even an old, semi-forgotten VHS release. (What about ____, can ____ be included? Yes, ____ can be included.) Reviews can be anything from interminable to a capsule review; ratings are optional.

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The rating system I generally use here is the Netflix rating system (1 star -- hated it; 2 stars -- didn't like it; 3 stars -- liked it; 4 stars -- I really liked it; 5 stars -- loved it)

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True Stories film (1986)

True Stories is the first Talking Heads album I ever heard, and I'd call it their 2nd-best album of the decade. The "Wild Wild Life" video, maybe the first time the band specifically got on my radar, was essentially pulled from this movie. David Byrne's film desperately needs to be powered by these songs, yet a lot of them are not even utilized well. "Dream Operator" is perhaps the best song here, but is not sung by a professional singer, and it just goes on like this throughout the movie, except for a few times when the Talking Heads record is relied upon. (As a severe cheat, a lady who lives in her bed simply watches the "Love for Sale" video in its entirety. Good song, anyway...) I couldn't tell you what Byrne was trying to accomplish with this thing which consists of little plot, and small town weirdness that is often not even of momentary pleasure. John Goodman, though he wouldn't put anyone out of business as a singer, is good in an early role. But just stick with the Talking Heads record. (There is also a cast record.)

If this was on Netflix, which it isn't, I'd rate this a 2 out of 5. Believe it or not, this thing made it to Blu-ray last year. I have no plans of getting it, but I do sort of wonder what I'd learn about author's intent, observations about filmmaking, why Byrne never made another film, etc. (It was in fact reviewed well, including by Roger Ebert, who I've noticed was little bothered by what might be called atmospheric movies.)

2nd opinion -- My wife, once the credits started: "That movie was terrible."
Last edited by Live in Phoenix on Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Graffiti Bridge (1990)

"Music is the power. Love is the message. Truth is the answer."

In the old pre-Internet days, as a youngster, I used to pore over the movie section of the newspaper; I seemed interested even in the movies that weren't reviewed well, and God knows Graffiti Bridge symbolized Prince's movie career landing with a thud. (Local paper's generous 2-star review: "It's really a string of pumped-up rock videos intercut with shots of Prince looking thoughtfully in the general direction of heaven or riding off on his motorcycle in the general direction of anything lighted with blue neon and splashed with water.")

Maybe if I'd seen this at a young age in 1990 -- instead of so many years later, feeling duty-bound after the man's death to watch "those other Prince films" -- I'd have halfway decent memories of this film, but oh well. Instead, I experienced a flat, amateurish film. The soundtrack received good reviews, but I was only especially impressed by "Thieves in the Temple" and "Round and Round." In particular, I really wanted the first and last song in the movie to blow me away. Hell, one of the songs here, "Tick, Tick, Bang," costs Prince his nightclub in a music battle with The Time. One of the very few nice things I can say about this film is that, thanks to Prince's overwhelming involvement, you at least feel like you're watching Prince, some version of him, compared to Elvis' autopilot films.

When artists are in their legendary phase, even a misstep somehow seems like part of the exciting story -- a testing of boundaries, of the artist's incredible powers. 1990 signaled the end of Prince's legendary run, and he came back strong on the charts with Diamonds and Pearls, but now everything would have to be framed in terms of a comeback. Prince seldom looks back, so I wonder what the point of this loose Purple Rain sequel was -- maybe it was a strategy to get the film made that ultimately hurt its standing and his reputation more. If you want Purple Rain II, go listen to the excellent 2nd disc from the deluxe Purple Rain reissue entitled "From the Vault & Previously Unreleased." (On a side note, Prince once bragged that he had 1999 II sitting around but he wanted to move forward. Michael Howe is now in charge of the vault -- find that thing, Howe!)

Rating: 1 out of 5

Bonus: A transcription of all Siskel and Ebert segments reviewing the four Prince films (including the well-reviewed Sign "O" the Times, the only one I haven't seen ... This film was not really available for a while, but I just noticed that it's sitting around for free on Amazon Prime video.)
https://prince.org/msg/7/396476
Last edited by Live in Phoenix on Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Depeche Mode - 101 (1989)

Ever since I first heard the band they have been my favorite. Their influence is endless and I can go on an on about how their music changed the way music has done a lot of things but I digress. In the early 1980s, Depeche Mode was still ultimately seen as a young teen pop band that wouldn't last but as the decade progressed and the band released Black Celebration in 1986 and Music For The Masses in 1987, and they were beginning to be treated much more serious by both listeners and critics. The 1987-88 Tour that 101 captures was a turning point and changed the band forever.

101 is more than just a concert film as it also follows fans that went on tour with the band. This is probably one of my favorite parts as it represents the bands cult following outside their general fanbase built around just the hits. The concert filmed for 101 was the last show on Depeche Mode's Music For The Masses Tour and was a massive success. The concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA attracted over 60,000 people and proved that in 1988, the band was on top of the world. More impressively, Depeche Mode had yet to ever have a Top 20 album in America at that point, had only one Top 20 American single, and just one #1 US Dance single but still managed to sell out across America. On top of the success of the concert, the band was very tight and on point during this concert. While I believe that their live performances improved in 1990s when they introduced a live drummer, there is no denying that Dave Gahan and Martin Gore's vocals were sounding fantastic here and that Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, and Alan Wilder has their synth parts down to a T. Unfortunately, a few of the songs played that night have not been played since but I hope someday they make a comeback.

While it is not necessarily due to 101, but 101 captured Depeche Mode at a point where they were quite quickly catching on in America and other parts of the world after being relatively isolated in Europe for most of their career. Their popularity was undeniable after the late 80s, especially in America because in 1990, Violator peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 and in 1993, Songs of Faith and Devotion peaked at #1. The film is great at capturing the minds of both the fans and the band as well. Overall, Depeche Mode 101 is by far my all time favorite live video and album. Everything I love about this band and everything they stand for shines bright on this video/album. If you have not watched this, I heavily recommend it.
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies (1993)

If you know about '80s punk, you know that some of it was intentionally tasteless. In a way, Allin simply took that and rock's wild man dynamic a farther step, but to this day, he is known as rock's ultimate degenerate. This documentary consists of some "shows" that only seem to last 1 song before everything falls apart, along with some interviews of Allin, current associates, and people from his dullsville small town past. The tone is set early on when Allin shows up onstage naked, pounding his head with his microphone to make himself bleed and randomly punching a concertgoer. His great, final act is supposed to be that he will die onstage (with some willing or unwilling fans) on a Halloween when presumably he's not in jail or in the hospital. Yet while the documentary is in post-production, he dies in the normal rock and roll fashion, from an overdose.

The "point" of GG Allin is brought up at times -- on the Gerardo show, Allin says "I'm trying to bring danger back into rock and roll." (Can you even imagine how Allin would have reacted to the hipster atmosphere of Vampire Weekend and Sufjan Stevens, or the mindless jock jams of Panic! at the Disco?) The freak show aspect is also mentioned, as well as the idea that you're watching someone vent all his pent-up shit, figuratively and literally. Regardless, you are left with the impression that Allin is a low-life, or maybe mentally ill, when, for instance, he attacks a woman at a "spoken word performance."

The music seems incidental...I hope. I admit that "Bite It You Scum," toward the end of the movie -- which one YouTube comment described as taking shit faced to another level -- seemed a bit catchy. I don't know if I'm prepared to find Allin's legacy more than very marginally redeemable. The Allmusic site actually gives him his own entry, though it doesn't seem to know what to do with him, giving 1988's Freaks, Faggots, Drunks & Junkies album 4 1/2 stars, while also declaring "Allin's entire output ranks as perhaps the worst music ever recorded." His debut album is described as "backed by a competent band playing Stooges-style riffs, and he himself is sometimes tuneful," so it's even possible that a dogged (misguided?) attempt at focusing on his music could yield some fruit. Warren Zevon's "Carmelita" somehow makes it into Allin's repertoire (offstage), and the documentary actually ends on an acoustic country ballad by Allin, "When I Die." (It's not mentioned here, but apparently he felt a kinship with Hank Williams, who lived an even shorter life. Also, even though you'd think that GG was hopelessly buried in his subculture not unlike the banana he at one point shoves up his rectum, a still photo is shown of him visiting a grave marker or such for Elvis -- rock's original danger to the community?)

Todd Phillips directed this documentary, and he has gone on to a surprisingly fruitful movie career -- he made The Hangover movies, for instance, and he directed the upcoming Joker movie. Apparently the Joker movie tries to "explain" the Joker, which I didn't think was a good idea even when the great comic book writer Alan Moore tried that tack. You can't make or know the Joker any more than you can make or know Michael Myers. To an extent, you can't make someone like GG Allin either, even if he is somewhat a product of his time and place. For comparison, Allin's brother and bandmate, who's barely more normal, has managed to stay alive and in music all these years, as has drummer Donald "Dino Sex" Sachs, who's rarely more clothed. The problem is that Allin's legacy is a bit stupid, and he himself is loathsome at times. At any rate, the documentary is not overlong at 50 minutes, and you won't exactly be bored. You can check it out on YouTube.

Rating: 3 out of 5 (original rating: 5/10)
Last edited by Live in Phoenix on Sat Jan 21, 2023 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Live in Phoenix wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:32 pm Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies (1993)

If you know about '80s punk, you know that some of it was intentionally tasteless. In a way, Allin simply took that and rock's wild man dynamic a farther step, but to this day, he is known as rock's ultimate degenerate. This documentary consists of some "shows" that only seem to last 1 song before everything falls apart, along with some interviews of Allin, current associates, and people from his dullsville small town past. The tone is set early on when Allin shows up onstage naked, pounding his head with his microphone to make himself bleed and randomly punching a concertgoer. His great, final act is supposed to be that he will die onstage (with some willing or unwilling fans) on a Halloween when presumably he's not in jail or in the hospital. Yet while the documentary is in post-production, he dies in the normal rock and roll fashion, from an overdose.

The "point" of GG Allin is brought up at times -- on the Gerardo show, Allin says "I'm trying to bring danger back into rock and roll." (Can you even imagine how Allin would have reacted to the hipster atmosphere of Vampire Weekend and Sufjan Stevens, or the mindless jock jams of Panic! at the Disco?) The freak show aspect is also mentioned, as well as the idea that you're watching someone vent all his pent-up shit, figuratively and literally. Regardless, you are left with the impression that Allin is a low-life, or maybe mentally ill, when, for instance, he attacks a woman at a "spoken word performance."

The music seems incidental...I hope. I admit that "Bite It You Scum," toward the end of the movie -- which one YouTube comment described as taking shit faced to another level -- seemed a bit catchy. I don't know if I'm prepared to find Allin's legacy more than very marginally redeemable. The Allmusic site actually gives him his own entry, though it doesn't seem to know what to do with him, giving 1988's Freaks, Faggots, Drunks & Junkies album 4 1/2 stars, while also declaring "Allin's entire output ranks as perhaps the worst music ever recorded." His debut album is described as "backed by a competent band playing Stooges-style riffs, and he himself is sometimes tuneful," so it's even possible that a dogged (misguided?) attempt at focusing on his music could yield some fruit. Warren Zevon's "Carmelita" somehow makes it into Allin's repertoire (offstage), and the documentary actually ends on an acoustic country ballad by Allin, "When I Die." (It's not mentioned here, but apparently he felt a kinship with Hank Williams, who lived an even shorter life. Also, even though you'd think that GG was hopelessly buried in his subculture not unlike the banana he at one point shoves up his rectum, a still photo is shown of him visiting a grave marker or such for Elvis -- rock's original danger to the community?)

Todd Phillips directed this documentary, and he has gone on to a surprisingly fruitful movie career -- he made The Hangover movies, for instance, and he directed the upcoming Joker movie. Apparently the Joker movie tries to "explain" the Joker, which I didn't think was a good idea even when the great comic book writer Alan Moore tried that tack. You can't make or know the Joker any more than you can make or know Michael Myers. To an extent, you can't make someone like GG Allin either, even if he is somewhat a product of his time and place. For comparison, Allin's brother and bandmate, who's barely more normal, has managed to stay alive and in music all these years, as has drummer Donald "Dino Sex" Sachs, who's barely more clothed. The problem is that Allin's legacy is a bit stupid, and he himself is loathsome at times. At any rate, the documentary is not overlong at 50 minutes, and you won't exactly be bored. You can check it out on YouTube.

5/10
My response ins't about the movie per say but GG. A lot of people tend to take most of what he says seriously. That is the problem. In the center of it all, GG Allin is an extreme shock artist that loves to make people go wow. He is also a person with a clear love for hardcore punk and old country music such as Hank Williams. I know some hardcore GG Allin fans, one of them being my cousin, obviously he is not the most reliable source but he knows more than me. He has communicated with GG's brother and has said that according the his brother, GG was no where near as psycho off stage. Obviously he had drug addiction and loads of controversy but the vast majority of it comes from his lyrics and performances. Obviously we will never know how much of a scumbag he actually was but I am sure he was far from perfect.

I wanted to say something I found ironic. When he went on the Springer show in the early 90s, people in the audience were saying that they hope he dies and that they will cheer when the news comes out that he is dead. These people are no better than GG and are just feeding his act. I far from support a lot of his actions and words but would I have wished death upon him? No, because I see through him and it is clear it is all part of his act and character. I find him disgusting but interestingly so as people are so quick to shoot him down and act like he was satan. But even as a person who always stands up for human rights, LGBTQ rights, etc... I do not hate GG Allin.

And in the end, while his music is far from the greatest music, he does have a few well put together songs. "Bite It You Scum" is one of my favorite 80s punk songs and one of the most crazy songs of the 80s. His cover of "Carmelita" is also surprisingly well recorded as is some of the tracks off of the compilation, Hated In The Nation. Should GG Allin be honored for his views, no, but should he be remembered and studied as one of the most insane shock rockers, yes.
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

(Who or what is T.A.M.I.? It means something like "Teen Age Music International.")

This is a concert film, taking place in California on October 28 and 29, 1964, featuring seemingly every pop/rock act of note at the time except for the Beatles: The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown and the Famous Flames, Marvin Gaye, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Rolling Stones, and the Supremes. (And the Barbarians. And major Beatles nerds *cough* will notice a few very minor Lennon/McCartney compositions performed by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, including the hit "Bad to Me.") Jack Nitzsche makes another one of his random cameos in the world of music, here as the show's music director.

I personally found the white acts to generally be less interesting. This is still when white rock is in its surf music phase, or has a "I Want to Hold Your Hand" simplicity; and the Rolling Stones are still a cover band. (I was actually surprised that the Rolling Stones headlined the show. I guess James Brown was too. At the time, these pre-"Satisfaction" Stones didn't have a U.S. Top Ten hit, although one was heading there -- "Time Is On My Side." Keith Richards, not writing the tracks yet, gets an obligatory camera shot in the same way that a drummer will get one camera shot.) I don't know much about Jan and Dean, but I derived particular satisfaction from the Beach Boys following them and blowing them off the stage playing the same genre.

Regardless, just from all the names and talent involved, it's hard not to enjoy this show. The energy level from the crowd is great -- lots of screaming teenagers. There are uhhhhhh some well-developed background dancers. Amidst all the acts, there is one can't-miss performance that you've maybe heard of. I read somewhere or other about Prince once having James Brown's T.A.M.I. performance on a constant loop. Brown has a vocal intensity here that no one else in the concert knows about, and his fast-moving feet seem to be a separate entity from the top half of his body. On "Please Please Please," he takes the crowd that has already been at frenzy level the entire film and just turns everyone bonkers. At least catch Brown's act some time, which is available on YouTube. Going back for a moment to Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, you can make sort of a guess how these songs would have been improved by the Beatles by checking out the CD Lost Songs: Songs the Beatles Wrote But Never Recorded, as done by a tribute act.

4 out of 5
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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The Beatles: Get Back (2021)

The original film made out of this footage -- 60+ hours video, 150+ hours audio -- was Let It Be (1970), which ran 80 minutes, and which I've never seen. (It used to sit there at my local video store on VHS, and before I moved on it, the store sold off all its VHS. Then later, the store burned down, but that's a different story.) There didn't seem to be any interest or effort in making this film available during the DVD age, what with the raw nerves exposed during filming, apparently. This was the project that pretty much broke the Beatles, right? And was someone in or near the Beatles most responsible?

Review (there be spoilers):
With director Peter Jackson involved, the running time is blown up from 80 minutes to 468, over three installments. Gone are the days when my schedule is so free that the Beatles Anthology debuts on TV for three nights and 6 hours, and I just sit down and watch it all like it's nothing. The Anthology was much snappier, also. After an initial burst of energy, getting through the first installment, I settled into watching 20-minute segments, the typical length depicting each day of the project. Perhaps Anthology is the better show -- certainly for non-diehards -- but Get Back is a totally different experience. It's the total opposite of a sound-bite summation.

The film comes off at times as defiantly boring. It's like Peter Jackson is saying, "The original film was supposed to be about the band benignly putting together a new album before your eyes -- so didn't you want that? The remaining Beatles don't have many years left on this Earth -- here's what the group was like." This hurts the replay value, but compared with other specials I've watched -- Anthology, The Compleat Beatles, Imagine: John Lennon, The Making of Sgt. Pepper, Let It Be stuff that I'd heard or read -- you feel like you're hanging around the Beatle(s). Keep in mind I don't think cinéma-vérité applies to "reality programming" (except for nature programs), but you get close enough to feel like a guest in the studio.

Even though I'd seen some classic Beatles interview bits before, I was surprised with how funny the Beatles were on a regular basis. John is often hilarious; Paul is as quick as John; George isn't funny, really, but he hangs fairly well with the two of them. Ringo, long considered the clown and comic relief of the group, is a shocker -- I'm not trying to be mean, and I can only go off of what's put in front of me, but Ringo is pretty much a non-entity in the film. Did he hate being filmed? Ironically, it's Ringo who forces the pace of the project -- everyone is trying to finish it before he leaves for The Magic Christian film. (The great Peter Sellers pops up at one point, on the way to the set. He's given the comically understated description "Actor," and can't make heads or tails of the group.)

The first installment is devoted to the sound stage at Twickenham Film Studios. No one seems to agree how the project should culminate, but Let It Be director Michael Lindsay-Hogg wants an overblown rock god live performance overseas. Ringo, perhaps thinking of the band's totally disastrous visit to the Philippines, looks like he wants to cry. Lindsay-Hogg hard sells this for a while, but by the second installment he practically disappears, once the initial ideas like ending with a TV concert fall through. One of the Get Back themes is that you need all the Beatles to agree, and they're not on the same page very often.

I don't know if it was common knowledge for a while, and I don't think it was included in the 1970 film, but George leaves the band on camera during a song arrangement, after what seem like fairly mild disputes. This may have been a straw breaking the camel's back issue. I don't know if Eric Clapton even knew this, since he's not in the film, but he came fairly close to joining the Beatles -- a little bit of time after George leaves, John says (maybe posturing), “If he doesn't come back by Tuesday we'll get Clapton.” But that avenue isn't pursued. (In a brief moment of pure cinéma-vérité, the original filmmakers unscrupulously mic the cafeteria table that John and Paul sit at, unknown to them, as they discuss George's grievances.)

George comes back in the second installment, at which point the TV concert is killed, and the band is in Apple studios. At this point, the tensions have largely dropped away; you never get a moment again as intense as George telling John to his face that "Don't Let Me Down" is awful. Billy Preston pops over to say hi, and John almost makes him a Beatle. The film starts to plod along at this point, though the writing and recording process goes along well enough. The main issue seems to be trying to beat the clock. Toward the end of the third installment, proceedings get bogged down when no one is quite sure how this should all finish up. The one thing I went back and re-watched is a proposed track selection for the album:

I've Got a Feeling
Don't Let Me Down
Get Back
I'd Like a Love That's Right (a.k.a. Old Brown Shoe)
Long and Winding Road
Let It Be
For You Blue
Two of Us
All I Want Is You (a.k.a. Dig a Pony)
Across the Universe
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
One After 909
[She Came in Through the] Bathroom Window
Teddy Boy
All Things Must Pass. ("That's lucky 13.")
Dig It
("There's no question that we've got an album."
"We've got 'em all."
"...you've got the live album."
"Yeah.")

From these 16 tracks are supposed to be 14 that the band can fully commit to, though the two outcast songs aren't mentioned. I know that the hodgepodge Let It Be album is one of the least set in stone albums you can think of, but it's hard to imagine the tracks above being the album. (There are future Abbey Road and solo album tunes that show up in early form, and even a future Let It Be tune, but they aren't given serious consideration for some reason. For instance, "Something" shows up, though with absurd lyrics mentioning cauliflower and pomegranate.)

The band finally all agrees to play the rooftop concert, which quickly brings the bobbies. One of the officers tries to be helpful and asks if the music can't just be dubbed in later. The concert itself is sort of odd, because some of the songs are done a couple of times, and "Get Back" I think is done three times. It's like they're doing takes for the album (or trying to acquaint the pedestrians below with their new songs). There's one more day in the studio, and to my surprise, the program suddenly ends. Because Get Back starts with a compact history of the Beatles up until 1969, I thought there'd perhaps be a series of captions summing up the end of the project, or the end of the Beatles' run, or the fate of some of the people involved ("Mal Evans died in 1976," that kind of thing). I felt like I was at least owed a wrap-up of why the project didn't see the light of day until the band had basically broken up and an entire extra album was made, Abbey Road. Phil Spector gets zero mention, maybe just as well.

So, there aren't necessarily mysteries uncovered, but some myths are dispelled. There was the low point of George leaving the band, but these just don't seem like lousy sessions, even though John called the recordings "the shittiest load of badly recorded shit, with a lousy feeling toward it, ever." Yoko does one of her screamo jams (she meets her match when Linda Eastman/McCartney's young daughter yells nonsense into the microphone), but she is not depicted as bothersome at all, and the film repeatedly claims that the proceedings are depicted accurately. The line of the whole program is Paul joking, "It's gonna be such a comical thing, like in 50 years' time, 'They broke up because Yoko sat on an amp.'"

Maybe you've heard this criticism of a Peter Jackson project before, but it could have been shorter. One byproduct of the long running time is that the Let It Be album, which already seemed good, seems like a masterpiece after hearing so much farting about -- seemingly hundreds of cover songs, practice takes, utter throwaways, and jams. (Even George Martin becomes a jokester after the ridiculous "stylophone jam.") I've fallen for the super deluxe box set purchase a few too many times, and I think it'd be best if I stayed away from the Get Back set. Probably what killed the project for months was a loss of momentum, and the burden of being the "sneaky Beatles" who always have to move from one conceptual triumph to another. What killed the band is I guess just another topic for another time, although even for an eight-hour film, I found it curious that so many mentions of their future manager, Allen Klein, made it in. You can Google "Allen Klein Beatles contract" and see the contract that Paul McCartney wouldn't even sign. It was one of many factors that spelled doom for the group. The band wouldn't even last 1969 without John leaving; but Get Back captures how, as long as you could point all the Beatles in the right direction, they were still a very potent force. And as far as showing a different side of the Beatles, the program is absolutely essential.

4 out of 5
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 (2022)

My wife and I stumbled upon this on Netflix. It's a three-part series that totals about 2 hours 20 minutes. The original Woodstock was one of those moments where everything lined up; like many sequels, though, the magic couldn't simply be re-captured on command. There were only so many strains of counterculture rock in the late '60s, and by the late '90s, rock was all over the place. Also, there was no pressing, obvious cultural concern like the antiwar movement. (The ill-considered candlelight vigil at the end of the '99 festival was in response to the Columbine shootings, but unfortunately the gun control movement didn't have the momentum it does now. I remember the responses at the time to Columbine being all over the goddamn place.)

If the festival had ended after day one, I wouldn't be typing this, and there wouldn't be any documentary. James Brown opens, and Korn comes off like the nighttime highlight. In a way, they got to have perhaps the best moments of the whole festival. Everything seems okay with the crowds. By day two, everything starts falling apart. The crowd's user experience was awful -- water is scarce, port-a-potties are unusable, and everyone is getting price gouged. For that matter, the women who go crowd-surfing are often being groped.

Limp Bizkit's show is a kind of turning point. One of the interview subjects, a reporter, said you could basically see Fred Durst's id, ego, and superego arguing with each other on stage over how far he should go inciting the crowd. When the band plays "Break Stuff," the crowd takes it literally. Fatboy Slim is playing for the late-night rave crowd, and someone commandeers a vehicle and starts driving into his concert tent. Slim ends up having to leave. Incidentally, the driver was described as totally out of it, and there was a girl in the passenger seat who looked like she'd just been raped. Rock and roll gets its kicks playing with chaos, but by now, the chaos is taking over.

By day three, the festival doesn't have any business continuing. The heat, drugs, unsanitary water, lack of significant security, and everything else mentioned is driving the crowd crazy. When Jewel leaves the stage, it looks like she can't wait to exit. That vaguely ominous feeling in the air finally becomes deadly after the candlelight vigil, when fires start springing up. Limp Bizkit has taken flak for their set, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers (with a totally naked Flea) playing Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" seemed pretty inadvisable.

In an age before social media, before I even used the Internet to check the news, I remember associating Woodstock '99 with rapes and some bad fires. I don't think I understood how bad the fires got -- once the festival was suddenly over (with a rumored special guest act never panning out), a significant portion of the crowd dedicated themselves to total destruction and pillaging of the site. It was a hideous ending chapter to the peace & love Woodstock brand. It seems like a miracle that numerous people didn't end up dying. Actually, a few people did die, though there wasn't any time spent on that. You're told that the medical professionals on-site were overworked, and that their supplies were exhausted, but you also don't get the sense that thousands of fans were medically treated, perhaps as many as 10,000.

There were a lot of bad elements at the festival, but the biggest one was the general lack of tending to a crowd of this size adequately, in terms of supplies and security. The two promoters appear in the documentary: John Scher's corner-cutting and focus on a tidy profit doomed the festival; it's hard to know what to make of Michael Lang, the perpetual Woodstock mainstay. (He just passed away early this year.) There was a morbidly hilarious press conference a few hours before the Red Hot Chili Peppers set, where the promoters and the mayor are pre-emptively patting themselves on the back. There was also a post-disaster press conference that didn't really cut it either. I don't know if Lang was naive, or promoters like to lie even to themselves, or what.

Until the Fyre Festival, Woodstock '99 seemed like the benchmark of festival incompetence in my adult life. (I think Lang wanted to do yet another Woodstock soon after, which I thought was pretty delusional. The closest he got was an attempt at a Woodstock 50. Hell, maybe it could have worked, but it never ended up happening. If you want to price gouge, and cut corners, and still keep people relatively happy, it seems like a one-day festival would be much better. The legendary proportions of a 3-day festival turned into a millstone. Now that the window for Woodstock 50 has come and gone, and the original Woodstock generation itself is starting to die off, the Woodstock brand seems over.) The Fyre Festival is the only festival disaster that just seems comical; Woodstock '99 got ugly pretty quickly, and just got worse and worse. As one of the old school MTV VJs puts it, it showed us who not to be.

Rating: 4 out of 5
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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The Beatles Anthology (1995/1996)

After doing this for a little while (off and on), I thought I might as well post a 5 out of 5 review. It doesn't have to be a mythical unicorn or anything. I started to think of the Top Artists list on our main page -- Bruce Springsteen and Prince, for instance, probably have some concert releases that I'd rate 5 out of 5. Starting at the top, with the Beatles, we have their Anthology TV special from late November 1995 (greatly expanded on home video the following year with music performances). It was originally broadcast in the U.S. on the ABC network, as three 2-hour episodes, with commercials. There is nothing particularly brilliant about the special, but it is very comprehensive, and makes few mistakes. While last year's documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, was in some respects a much better special, it had no idea when to get in and get out (or should I say, Peter Jackson had no idea). That one clocked in at 468 minutes, whereas even with commercials, Anthology was over 100 minutes shorter -- basically the running time that Get Back had when it was written about in June last year.

In Anthology, every phase of the band's career is dutifully covered, and it leaves in the dust something like The Compleat Beatles, which had to cover the same ground in 1982 with only two hours. Even then, Anthology is stuck with what I could call the "soundbite format," where you might just get a choice line or two on a subject. (Ringo: "I hated the Philippines.") Even though Get Back's conversational style blows away the soundbite format, Anthology of course has a lot of ground to cover -- not just one album, but all of the band's albums and career phases. Back in 1995, the first two episodes each concluded with a "new" Beatles track (never mind that "Real Love" was featured in the old Imagine: John Lennon documentary). It was an idiotic marketing gimmick that has thankfully since faded into the background.

As it relates to the Beatles, the term "Anthology" relates to a barrage of releases. The three double-disc Anthology CDs were for diehards, which includes me, but it seemed kind of ridiculous foisting these on the public as blockbuster purchases. There was also an Anthology coffee table book, where the Beatles now have all the time in the world to discuss their lives prior to and during the Beatles. In terms of comprehensiveness, it blows away even the expanded Anthology TV special, and overall is the definitive Anthology release (from what I've read...over the years, I've read quite a lot of it, though I probably haven't totally read the entire damn thing). So, the TV special is not even the best Beatles product named Anthology, but it is a solid project that has aged well. A handful of years later, George Harrison passed away, making the special seem like a kind of last testament from when most of the Beatles were still alive.

Rating: 5 out of 5
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

Whatever you think of him, “Weird Al” has had one of the most unique careers in music history. His shtick would not seem like the stuff of a long career, but he has always managed to survive another day. 30 years after he started, he landed his first top ten single (“White & Nerdy”) and album; then with 2014’s Mandatory Fun (his latest studio album to date), to quote UHF: “Don’t tell me we actually showed up on the list.” “We’re number one.”

The rock biopic genre was a sitting duck for someone like Weird Al. The film, let’s just say, does not take itself too seriously. Regardless, to be honest, I was not getting into this for the first half hour or so. The tone or the humor seemed off, I suppose. It wasn’t going to be as bad as Kristen Bell’s so-called satire “The Woman in the House…”, which I’d just recently sat through, but I was getting faint PTSD vibes. It was around the time of the Dr. Demento jacuzzi scene that the movie changes up, and from then on, I thought it was pretty hilarious. Somehow they even worked in a Doors-playing-Miami reference.

I could go into more detail, but this is still a very new movie (unlike another movie I’m planning to review), and so I’m not going to really say more than if you have any inkling of watching this, I recommend it. This is coming from someone who has never owned a single Weird Al album (I’ve played one or two a little), but has found some of his songs and videos amusing over the years. Better than UHF, which I’d give a 3 out of 5 (and a lot of the good stuff from there was from Michael Richards doing a prototypical Kramer routine).

Rating: 4 out of 5
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Labyrinth (1986)

"For the path you will take will lead to certain destruction..."

I first saw Labyrinth somewhere around my birthday as an 8-year-old kid. I've come across it again every once in a while, including last week. At least as a kid's movie, it feels like part of the movie pantheon of the 1980s. (I’m grading this a little bit on a curve. It wouldn’t be fair to compare this directly with big serious fare like Platoon or whatever, from the same year.) It wasn't a big hit at the box office, but like A Christmas Story or This Is Spinal Tap, it gradually took on a new life. Director Jim Henson only lived for four more years after this, but he still lived long enough to notice the re-appraisal of his movie.

I think you know the story for this one. Sarah selfishly wishes away her crying little baby brother, and she must retrieve him from the Goblin King by navigating a horrendous labyrinth. The Goblin King gave David Bowie another classic persona, and another sex symbol look. (Informally, I’ve noticed that a significant amount of Bowie love is tied to his Goblin King look.) His songs for the film are an easier version of his usual output, which is fine – this isn’t time for “Width of a Circle” lyrics, or “It’s No Game” part 3. "Magic Dance" and "Underground" were good enough to keep his '80s party going, and the movie in general represents a sort of cultural prestige that he would have trouble matching again for quite a while.

Even though this is “just a kid’s film,” there are some clever bits in here. (I've always felt like kid movies never really have to be dumbed down. Most anything for a kid is not a cliché, but if you’re clever enough, you can throw things into a kid film that aren’t that clichéd for adults either. Another great example is Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder.) The threat I quoted above ends up turning into a joke. Bowie, in particular, received (demanded?) some good lines. Just this last viewing, I noticed the lines at the end about a kind of codependency between heroine and frightening villain: “Just fear me, love me. Do as I say and I will be your slave." I probably hadn’t especially dwelt on the tension between Sarah and the Goblin King before. (Who can blame the Goblin King – who wants to just sit around all day with some tiny ugly Muppets? Incidentally, Bowie would release a song in 2002 whose chorus ended with, "And I would be your slave.")

Toward the end of the film, the battles before the Goblin King encounter frankly made my eyes glaze over. I’m not sure I’ve ever been totally sold on Jennifer Connelly’s performance, either. By design, it is a difficult role, unlikable at first, and given to bad choices and exasperation at times. (Hoggle a.k.a. Hogwart[!] is probably the second-most compelling character after the Goblin King -- a lowly coward who doesn't seem to know what to do with the little self-esteem he has.) But let’s put it this way – Neil Gaiman took a pass at this movie, in a way, with MirrorMask, and you’d think it’d inevitably be better -- Neil Gaiman, right? But it didn’t come close to this film.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Aside: When I watched it this last week, I got to watch it through my daughter’s eyes. She’s a little shy of 3-and-a-half. She was worried about Toby throughout the movie; then when Sarah fell under a spell and broke free from the ballroom, my daughter said something like, "Oh no! Princess, she broke her princess." My wife asked her, well, does Sarah have to save the baby, or be princess, and my daughter said, "Be princess." A lady I know who grew up on this movie assured me that this was the right response: “Between baby and Bowie, go Bowie every time.”
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Elvis (2022)

At some point, a cultural icon needs to be successfully re-introduced to a new generation. Whether it's successful is the difference between, say, The Shadow and Batman, or Sessue Hayakawa and Bruce Lee. Sure, not all icons are the same -- Elvis Presley remains the best-selling solo music artist of all time (which is hardly going to change in our streaming era); for that matter, considering his mega-popularity in his lifetime, and his sex appeal, you could also make a very good case that he was the sexiest male recording artist in history. Nevertheless, let's put it this way: I never lived a single day on this earth at the same time as Elvis -- and I'm middle-aged. Rock music hasn't sounded like Elvis for a very long time. I used to have a concern that modern-day music listeners primarily knew Elvis as, "Oh, is he that guy who sings Blue Christmas?", since that alone reliably shows up on the radio, during Christmas time. Forgetting Elvis wouldn't be the first step; not caring would. Did the new generation care about him? This new Elvis film was a hit, and has helped keep him vital; that is the great accomplishment of this film, and it outweighs the various criticisms I have of it, though I thought it was pretty good.

*There are some spoilers*

Surprisingly, the movie is framed as an Amadeus-type story, centered around “Colonel” Tom Parker. The opening question, “Did Salieri kill Mozart?” becomes “Did the Colonel -- a man of unimpressive scruples -- ‘kill’ Elvis?” We largely watch the movie with the Colonel’s take on things.

I’ve kind of stayed away from (serious) music biopics here, because they’re like a deal with the devil. (For that matter, as great as Amadeus was, it probably had its own music biopic problems.) Even if the subject is Elvis or Freddy Mercury, the filmmakers end up making stuff up. How much more of an interesting life could someone have? It’s one thing to not be omniscient, and not know how certain moments played out. But if you basically know what happened, and present something else to audiences anyway, then it’s like, what the @#$% am I even watching? I can’t recite chapter and verse about Elvis’s life, but for any of these sorts of movies, you can just look up “[music biopic] film inaccuracies,” and there is usually a top 10 (i.e., not even an exhaustive list) awaiting you. Some inaccuracies are just amazing, like the Rolling Stones’ Altamont debacle and the Manson killings both being depicted in the wrong year; some are comparatively minor, to the point that they barely register, like did the Colonel first meet Elvis at the Louisiana Hayride, and was Elvis playing in front of an audience there like it was his first trial by fire. (Hilariously, the Colonel's “I Love Elvis” and “I Hate Elvis” buttons were true. A biographer of the Colonel, Alanna Nash, felt that his accomplishments were significantly downplayed in the film; nevertheless, no one has denied that the Colonel, who started in the carnival world, never really left that carny mentality.) There are a few big whoppers, which is especially worse in this film considering that it’s supposed to be about the Colonel’s deceptions. The biggest ones, perhaps, are that Elvis incites a riot at a Memphis charity concert, and gets arrested; and that in his Vegas years, tired of the Colonel’s antics, he brings up the Colonel’s illegal alien status onstage, and announces that he’s fired. At best, the riot, the arrest, the warning of not taking things too far, the remarks Elvis made onstage, and the song he sang are like a composite of numerous incidents. Apparently, Elvis got arrested a couple of times in the mid-‘50s -- that same year, even, and after a fight, to boot. But apparently that was of no interest to the filmmakers. (Incidentally, did Elvis actually hang out with B.B. King in their early years, not just in the ‘70s? This was fact-checked as “inaccurate,” though Wikipedia says otherwise.)

Another huge whopper is that the Colonel has this big winter wonderland TV special all ready to go that Elvis completely “ruins” and turns into his legendary ’68 Comeback Special. There are elements of truth here, such as the Colonel wanting a kind of Bing Crosby Christmas special, and strongly wanting to end on a Christmas song. Of course, I wasn’t there, but I’d only call this half-true. The Colonel could be domineering, but I’d say in relatively subtle ways. For instance, after the special, the Colonel cut off contact with the show’s director. There was resistance behind the scenes to ending the show with “If I Can Dream” (written after the shocking assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.), but as much as anything because it was a totally new song and a late addition. In the movie, the Colonel comes off like a totally out of touch parent or grandpa during the “riot concert," and during the TV show filming, as Elvis goes “rogue.” I’m not saying the Colonel was especially hip, but I’d say he lasted as long as he did in Elvis’s life by largely knowing when to stay out of the way on the artistic side. The controversy that Elvis generated during his first flush of success in the ‘50s was not anything that the Colonel was trying to run away from. And once he saw that Elvis wanted to run with "If I Can Dream," the Colonel adapted, and ran off to secure the publishing rights, as he always did.

In real life, Elvis went to his grave thinking that the Colonel was a West Virginian, not an illegal alien without a passport. (His accent wasn’t supposed to be as thick as you hear it in the movie.) The Colonel did come up with a bunch of Truman Show-level excuses for why Elvis shouldn't head abroad to perform, which ended up robbing Elvis and his overseas audiences of international appearances. There actually was a blow-up where the Colonel ended up seemingly fired (stemming from Elvis chewing out an important Vegas businessman onstage), followed by the Colonel writing up an itemized bill that even Elvis couldn’t pay. But the blow-up wasn’t remotely as conspicuous as how it played out.

We get into the sad drug dependency years. The movie is bookended by the Colonel all but shoving a drug-addled Elvis onto the stage, basically working Elvis until he drops dead. The inaccuracy articles don’t weigh in too much here except to say that Elvis’s singular drive to sing and perform had a lot to do with the awful shape he ended up in. We are fortunately spared a slow crawl to his death in the film. We do get to see one of the most depressing things I’ve watched in entertainment in my life: A real-life clip of a very bloated Elvis singing "Unchained Melody," intended for but left off his 1977 TV special, “Elvis in Concert,” which was filmed just barely before his death, and has been about as available over the years as the Star Wars Holiday Special. Even then, nothing stopped his voice, and nothing stopped his spirit. But the body finally gave out.

I’ve seen Romeo + Juliet by director Baz Luhrmann, plus as much of Moulin Rouge as I could stomach. Despite all of my carping, I’d call this Luhrmann’s best film that I’ve seen. I expected flash, and certainly got it, but it wasn’t taken to sickening levels. Austin Butler has deservedly won a Golden Globe for his depiction of Elvis, capturing all of his intensity. In spite of all the issues, the movie is fun, and well-made. At the end of the day, I recommend it, but boy, just keep some things in mind while you watch it.

Rating: 3 out of 5
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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High Fidelity (2000)

This one hits too close to home! John Cusack plays a music junkie (Rob), working at a record store with Jack Black (playing a character, I guess, Barry), and another employee (Dick), who looks utterly bewildered by human interaction. There is a lot of music junkie talk throughout the movie that I identify with or recognize. Originally, this movie was a book (set in Britain); I haven’t read the book, but I assume this is why the movie can speak “the language.” As much as the movie’s about music, it’s also about the main character’s relationships with women over the years. The whole thing is pretty entertaining, even if there are some iffy moments. (For instance, the Tim Robbins character conveniently disappears, after a hilarious confrontation at the record store; plus, I don’t think anyone has ever been rained on as much in a movie as John Cusack.) I particularly enjoyed watching Cusack. Recently, I’d been complaining that some lead male actors look good, but don’t (or can’t) offer much. Cusack, though, instead of playing it too cool, is a generously emotional actor. The review of the movie ends now. I’m going to go over a bunch of the references at this point.

Rating: 4 out of 5

==========================

Alphabetical Order
"I guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?" "No..." "Not alphabetical..."
I doubt this is a hard rule amongst music junkies. I’ve sometimes managed to have my music in order. The bigger issue is the sheer volume of items to put in order. For a period of time, I used to put a lot of my records in order of how much I’d heard them; right now, my records are intentionally in what I might call “mild order” – the Ms, for instance, are all together, but not in strict order. I think I just got tired of looking at them in the same exact order. My “best” and/or favorite records are in a different section. A few records are on “display.”

The Beta Band
"I will now sell five copies of 'The Three EPs' by The Beta Band."
I’m feeling license to be just a little more snarky than usual. For the ‘90s poll, I was made to listen to “Dry the Rain,” which gets played in the record store here. I would have not been one of the five customers that day for The Beta Band…

The Big Chill
"Immediate disqualification because of its involvement with The Big Chill." "Oh God. You're right!"
I haven’t seen it. (I still haven’t seen Say Anything, for that matter, though that one’s at least in my Netflix queue…which I guess won’t be a thing for long.) I assume the revulsion here is because the film has been pegged as a yuppie sell-out kind of movie, and it would taint their inclusion of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” on their Top Five Songs About Death.

Blonde on Blonde
"Don't tell anybody you don't own fucking Blonde on Blonde. It's gonna be okay."
My wife was the one who put this movie on, out of nowhere. She didn't know that this is a Bob Dylan album.
"Is that real?"
(Exceptionally long pause) "I actually re-organized my top 50 albums today. Blonde on Blonde is in the top 10. Yes, it's real."

Johnny Cash
"But I have to say my all-time favorite book is Johnny Cash's autobiography 'Cash' by Johnny Cash."
I have no idea what my favorite book is. (God, I can’t make everything into a list.) I have Cash by Johnny Cash. I have a lot of music books – too many. Bob Dylan’s is maybe the only one that I’ve read cover to cover; that was pretty great. Some of my favorites that I’ve read some of are Springsteen’s, Johnny Rotten’s, and Keith Richards’ (though he has unreliable narrator issues). I would have loved to have seen a completed Prince book. Some autobiographies have a poetic way to them past relaying facts or anecdotes. Most of these books came out after the High Fidelity film. (Incidentally, “Cash” was only three years old when High Fidelity was released!)

40 Bucks
(An import of Captain Beefheart's Safe As Milk is purchased for forty dollars)
I’ve bought the great majority of my records when vinyl wasn’t cool (starting in late 1994), when it was practically being given away at $1.99 each. I think the most I’ve paid for a record is around $30 for the Wanna Buy a Bridge? compilation. Even back in 1994, I’m sure there were oddities that I could have dropped tons of money on, at a place called in Tracks in Wax that’s still around. I think they had the Beatles’ butcher cover, for example. But my record-buying, per item, has been fairly cheap.

Green Day
Dick mentions that some of Green Day’s influences are The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers. He then holds up a copy of Stiff Little Fingers’ Inflammable Material. I’ve heard the album, though for what it’s worth, I don’t really notice the influence.

Not for Sale
(Captain Beefheart's Safe As Milk initially isn't sold to some record geek because he isn't cool.)
I guess you never know, but I’ve never seen this happen. Maybe there’s a record store where the owners are douchebags, though.

(Un)professional Appreciator
(Rob starts a musical label, of course called Top Five Records, so he doesn't just feel like a professional appreciator.)
Have I ever tried to be more than a (un)professional appreciator? Yes, with the most entertaining example being that I played bass for a little bit in a band called Jumbo Jr. (During this time, I watched the movie Dumbo, and only then realized the copyright issues at stake with this band name.) Bass is not especially my instrument, but I think I acquitted myself well enough. We had 4 drummers pass through; we played 1 show.

Record Store
Have I worked in a record store before? No, I might have applied to one once, but it’s so long ago that I don’t remember if I went through with it. Do I know a record store like this? I heard Eastside Records (now closed) in Tempe was something like this.

Top Five
There are numerous top fives in the movie. Have I ever seen someone “Top Five” something? Yes, when I watched two brothers at a party each give a Top Five…OF ALL TIME. They both started off with Dark Side of the Moon at the top. This was a while ago, but I remember other entries as being What’s Going On, The White Album, and Cody Chesnutt’s The Headphone Masterpiece. Exile on Main St. might have been in there. Usually after the older brother's selection was announced, the response was, “OH MY GOD” (which was only a good thing one time). These guys were more like the movie than Eastside Records probably was. Some women chimed in with Ziggy Stardust and Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends, but were shut down (I don't think by me). I had to be a twit and say that Dark Side of the Moon probably wasn’t even a top 100 album for me, and one of them responded unhappily, “Fuckin' A…” All in good fun, I suppose, at least when you're young.

Unappreciated Scholars
"Yeah, seriously, you're totally elitist. You feel like the unappreciated scholars, so you shit onto people who know lesser than you."
I've been a twit before, to other twits (though not lately), and vice versa. Favorite example to happen to me: It was 2008, I think, I'm at a little music club, and I asked this one guy I know what his favorite album was this year. He casually says, "I'm surprised at you," and then saunters off. If you need your fix of record twits, go find a music zine, or the equivalent of one these days.

“Walking on Sunshine”
(Jack Black's character puts this on, to Rob's chagrin.)
Not especially a fan. For one thing, it’s hard to ever have any kind of day where I’d be as chipper as this song.

Stevie Wonder
"Hi, do you have the song 'I Just Called To Say I Love You?'" "...it's sentimental tacky crap."
I’ve never really gotten the hate for this song. It’s not like Stevie was on the same bill as Black Flag before this, and then he totally “sold out.” This is pretty much the kind of song that Stevie Wonder does. To close out the movie, John Cusack puts on "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)," perhaps as a sort of apology by the filmmakers, and also as an example perhaps of a superior Stevie Wonder love song. (I suppose they’re right.)

Frank Zappa
"I get by because of the people who make a special effort to shop here - mostly young men - who spend all their time looking for deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased - underlined - Frank Zappa albums."
Yes, I understood the reference, at least to some extent. I once bought a CD of We’re Only in It for the Money, and I noticed that "Flower Punk" had an odd, re-recorded rhythm track that didn’t fit well. Back when the ASU Music Library used to have about 20,000 LPs (they're all gone now), I got to play the original version of this song and thought there was no obvious reason to mess with it.
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band -- Thrill Hill Vault Houston '78 Bootleg: House Cut

This 176-minute DVD comes with the Darkness on the Edge of Town box set. As the title suggests, the sound quality is kind of subpar. It doesn't really matter, though. It was fairly late in life that I realized how legendary Bruce Springsteen in concert was, back in the day. Oh, I had his live set release, in LP format. I had even seen him in concert in the latter days, for the Magic and Working on a Dream tours. The Magic concert at least gave me an idea -- he'd fire off one song after another, after another, and I thought he had a lot of energy for a 58-year-old. Well, sure, but cut that age in half, and...holy crap. As we get toward the end of the 3-hour set, Bruce's energy doesn't flag; he becomes MORE ENERGETIC. I can't even really fathom what I'm watching. Every song seems like the performance of his life, but I think this was just an ordinary night for him back then. You are not allowed to die until you see this or the 1980 Tempe concert from his River tour (on The Ties That Bind box set, but there are also clips online for both of these shows).

Rating: 5 out of 5
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Sign o' the Times (1987)

I didn't even notice I was doing it, but I finally got around to this concert film right around the time of the anniversary of Prince's death. It's more like I'm on a fairly regular intake of Prince. My listening material lately is the three discs of outtakes from the Super Deluxe version of this album. The outtakes are pretty good, though as always, the original album release is a step above, which is true here as well. I watched this with my mother, not nearly as acquainted with the album, and I guess she never made much sense of the film. Actually, compared to its reputation (it has a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- not a given for a Prince film; back when the film was sort of unavailable, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone once said something like sleep with whoever you have to to watch this), I was kind of disappointed.

This is, in a sense, not a concert film, if you think of them as the performer gets on stage and just goes through their material. I'd call this a "dramatized concert film." There are some between-song segues, and there are sort of dramatic presentations of the songs. It's a bit like the silliness of a Prince film mashed with a concert performance. "U Got the Look" is represented by its music video, which is only slightly distinguishable from the rest of the film. If the whole show was as slick as the video, I'd probably be rating this higher. There are a couple of long, hypnotic jams, which is fine with me -- if you want the record, go listen to the record -- that seemed to exhaust my mother. A little while after it was over, she asked for his famous "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show. Again, this was not in tribute to Prince's passing; Prince just rules. But having now seen all of his films, I'd say that typically the less involved he was behind the camera, the better.

Rating: 3 out of 5
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Re: Review a Music DVD or Special

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Live in Phoenix wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 10:25 pm High Fidelity (2000)

This one hits too close to home! John Cusack plays a music junkie (Rob), working at a record store with Jack Black (playing a character, I guess, Barry), and another employee (Dick), who looks utterly bewildered by human interaction. There is a lot of music junkie talk throughout the movie that I identify with or recognize. Originally, this movie was a book (set in Britain); I haven’t read the book, but I assume this is why the movie can speak “the language.” As much as the movie’s about music, it’s also about the main character’s relationships with women over the years. The whole thing is pretty entertaining, even if there are some iffy moments. (For instance, the Tim Robbins character conveniently disappears, after a hilarious confrontation at the record store; plus, I don’t think anyone has ever been rained on as much in a movie as John Cusack.) I particularly enjoyed watching Cusack. Recently, I’d been complaining that some lead male actors look good, but don’t (or can’t) offer much. Cusack, though, instead of playing it too cool, is a generously emotional actor. The review of the movie ends now. I’m going to go over a bunch of the references at this point.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Alphabetical Order
"I guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?" "No..." "Not alphabetical..."
I doubt this is a hard rule amongst music junkies. I’ve sometimes managed to have my music in order. The bigger issue is the sheer volume of items to put in order. For a period of time, I used to put a lot of my records in order of how much I’d heard them; right now, my records are intentionally in what I might call “mild order” – the Ms, for instance, are all together, but not in strict order. I think I just got tired of looking at them in the same exact order. My “best” and/or favorite records are in a different section. A few records are on “display.”

The Beta Band
That is a great review that I adore!
"I will now sell five copies of 'The Three EPs' by The Beta Band."
I’m feeling license to be just a little more snarky than usual. For the ‘90s poll, I was made to listen to “Dry the Rain,” which gets played in the record store here. I would have not been one of the five customers that day for The Beta Band…

The Big Chill
"Immediate disqualification because of its involvement with The Big Chill." "Oh God. You're right!"
I haven’t seen it. (I still haven’t seen Say Anything, for that matter, though that one’s at least in my Netflix queue…which I guess won’t be a thing for long.) I assume the revulsion here is because the film has been pegged as a yuppie sell-out kind of movie, and it would taint their inclusion of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” on their Top Five Songs About Death.

Blonde on Blonde
"Don't tell anybody you don't own fucking Blonde on Blonde. It's gonna be okay."
My wife was the one who put this movie on, out of nowhere. She didn't know that this is a Bob Dylan album.
"Is that real?"
(Exceptionally long pause) "I actually re-organized my top 50 albums today. Blonde on Blonde is in the top 10. Yes, it's real."

Johnny Cash
"But I have to say my all-time favorite book is Johnny Cash's autobiography 'Cash' by Johnny Cash."
I have no idea what my favorite book is. (God, I can’t make everything into a list.) I have Cash by Johnny Cash. I have a lot of music books – too many. Bob Dylan’s is maybe the only one that I’ve read cover to cover; that was pretty great. Some of my favorites that I’ve read some of are Springsteen’s, Johnny Rotten’s, and Keith Richards’ (though he has unreliable narrator issues). I would have loved to have seen a completed Prince book. Some autobiographies have a poetic way to them past relaying facts or anecdotes. Most of these books came out after the High Fidelity film. (Incidentally, “Cash” was only three years old when High Fidelity was released!)

40 Bucks
(An import of Captain Beefheart's Safe As Milk is purchased for forty dollars)
I’ve bought the great majority of my records when vinyl wasn’t cool (starting in late 1994), when it was practically being given away at $1.99 each. I think the most I’ve paid for a record is around $30 for the Wanna Buy a Bridge? compilation. Even back in 1994, I’m sure there were oddities that I could have dropped tons of money on, at a place called in Tracks in Wax that’s still around. I think they had the Beatles’ butcher cover, for example. But my record-buying, per item, has been fairly cheap.

Green Day
Dick mentions that some of Green Day’s influences are The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers. He then holds up a copy of Stiff Little Fingers’ Inflammable Material. I’ve heard the album, though for what it’s worth, I don’t really notice the influence.

Not for Sale
(Captain Beefheart's Safe As Milk initially isn't sold to some record geek because he isn't cool.)
I guess you never know, but I’ve never seen this happen. Maybe there’s a record store where the owners are douchebags, though.

(Un)professional Appreciator
(Rob starts a musical label, of course called Top Five Records, so he doesn't just feel like a professional appreciator.)
Have I ever tried to be more than a (un)professional appreciator? Yes, with the most entertaining example being that I played bass for a little bit in a band called Jumbo Jr. (During this time, I watched the movie Dumbo, and only then realized the copyright issues at stake with this band name.) Bass is not especially my instrument, but I think I acquitted myself well enough. We had 4 drummers pass through; we played 1 show.

Record Store
Have I worked in a record store before? No, I might have applied to one once, but it’s so long ago that I don’t remember if I went through with it. Do I know a record store like this? I heard Eastside Records (now closed) in Tempe was something like this.

Top Five
There are numerous top fives in the movie. Have I ever seen someone “Top Five” something? Yes, when I watched two brothers at a party each give a Top Five…OF ALL TIME. They both started off with Dark Side of the Moon at the top. This was a while ago, but I remember other entries as being What’s Going On, The White Album, and Cody Chesnutt’s The Headphone Masterpiece. Exile on Main St. might have been in there. Usually after the older brother's selection was announced, the response was, “OH MY GOD” (which was only a good thing one time). These guys were more like the movie than Eastside Records probably was. Some women chimed in with Ziggy Stardust and Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends, but were shut down (I don't think by me). I had to be a twit and say that Dark Side of the Moon probably wasn’t even a top 100 album for me, and one of them responded unhappily, “Fuckin' A…” All in good fun, I suppose, at least when you're young.

Unappreciated Scholars
"Yeah, seriously, you're totally elitist. You feel like the unappreciated scholars, so you shit onto people who know lesser than you."
I've been a twit before, to other twits (though not lately), and vice versa. Favorite example to happen to me: It was 2008, I think, I'm at a little music club, and I asked this one guy I know what his favorite album was this year. He casually says, "I'm surprised at you," and then saunters off. If you need your fix of record twits, go find a music zine, or the equivalent of one these days.

“Walking on Sunshine”
(Jack Black's character puts this on, to Rob's chagrin.)
Not especially a fan. For one thing, it’s hard to ever have any kind of day where I’d be as chipper as this song.

Stevie Wonder
"Hi, do you have the song 'I Just Called To Say I Love You?'" "...it's sentimental tacky crap."
I’ve never really gotten the hate for this song. It’s not like Stevie was on the same bill as Black Flag before this, and then he totally “sold out.” This is pretty much the kind of song that Stevie Wonder does. To close out the movie, John Cusack puts on "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)," perhaps as a sort of apology by the filmmakers, and also as an example perhaps of a superior Stevie Wonder love song. (I suppose they’re right.)

Frank Zappa
"I get by because of the people who make a special effort to shop here - mostly young men - who spend all their time looking for deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased - underlined - Frank Zappa albums."
Yes, I understood the reference, at least to some extent. I once bought a CD of We’re Only in It for the Money, and I noticed that "Flower Punk" had an odd, re-recorded rhythm track that didn’t fit well. Back when the ASU Music Library used to have about 20,000 LPs (they're all gone now), I got to play the original version of this song and thought there was no obvious reason to mess with it.
That is really great review!
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