Films of the 60s, Part 8: Feelin' Like a Criminal

“What I need is a good defense, ‘cause I’m feelin’ like a criminal.” – Fiona Apple



Ocean’s Eleven (1960, Lewis Milestone)

Now that there are three movies in the recent Ocean’s franchise, some people may tend to forget that the Clooney / Pitt / Damon / et al film was a remake. Okay, so maybe nobody forgot, but the slick packaging of the Soderbergh trilogy has somehow outshined what was once a Rat Pack cult classic. The main five members of the 1960s version of the Rat Pack (which stemmed from the 50s version as headed by Humphrey Bogart) all appear together, as five of eleven former members of the World War II 82nd Airborne Division. Together, they hatch a plan to rob five different Las Vegas casinos in one night. At the time, it must have been the height of cool, at least to some. But, in hindsight, it was a little goofy, yet with a more realistic ending.

Seeing as the lead trio of the film are all crooners, it was perhaps inevitable that Ocean’s Eleven would be part musical. Dean Martin performs one of his signature numbers, “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” this performance marking the first time that many heard the song. Sammy Davis, Jr. sings the weird “almost” title track, “Ee-O-Eleven,” breaking the fourth wall by looking into the camera, and with lyrics that reference the plot of the film. Oddly, Sinatra has no performance of his own, unless you count his prank phone calls where he “imitates” people’s voices in some of the worst dubbing instances I’ve ever seen. Whereas the Soderbergh remake is relatively fast-paced and dynamic, the 1960 version takes its time, especially in the Seven Samurai / Magnificent Seven inspired “getting the group” together sequences.

It takes a full hour until we arrive at the planning meeting for the heist. Up until then, we spend a great deal of time and energy on getting to know each member of the team when that may not be entirely necessary. Of course, another big difference is the discrepancy between five casinos and three, as well as the much more impenetrable technologically driven safeguards of today. Soderbergh further makes things easy on himself by consolidating all of the casino targets into one central vault. This additionally makes the plan, and everyone’s part in it, more refined and like a well-oiled clockwork machine. The eleven military vets (why are they doing this again? Is this a commentary on military pay?) must hit five separate casinos, splitting their members up into two each, with Sammy left over to drive the garbage truck.

The biggest difference is in the outcomes of the heists. Hollywood may love a happy ending, but one of these versions doesn’t end in the criminals’ favor. Clooney and Pitt tend to always come out smelling like roses, ending up one step ahead of businessmen, authorities, and rival thieves. They can’t lose. The Rat Pack, on the other hand, are forced to hide their loot once Richard Conte’s character has a heart attack, and a former gangster offers to help the cops capture the remaining ten robbers. In a rather ingenious twist of fate, the cops outwit the criminals who are left right where they started. The way that the film is put together may be a bit clunky, but the remakes proved that the premise is sound. The film ends with a little meta note, with the group walking down the strip in front of the Sands marquis, with the names of the Rat Packers in larger than life letters, possibly intimating that they tried to rob the hands that fed them.



High and Low (1963, Akira Kurosawa)

Akira Kurosawa is known for his astounding samurai films, inspired by westerns, but he was also a big fan of noir and crime. Although it may be difficult for me, as a big Kurosawa fan, to point to one exceptional example, High and Low certainly does stand out. Adapted from an Ed McBain novel of the 87th Precinct, Kurosawa turned what might have been an ordinary police procedural into a psychological study of ethics in a capitalist society. Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai star as Gondo and Chief Detective Tokura, respectively, a powerhouse one-two punch of actors at that time. Gondo is an executive at a women’s shoe company who refuses to make shoes more cheaply, sacrificing quality, in order to boost profits. This uncharacteristic display of morals in a world of rampant capitalism is rare and, of course, puts him at odds with the other executives. While they try to oust him from the company, Gondo launches a counteroffensive, trying to buyout a majority of the company stock.

That night, an attempt is made to kidnap Gondo’s son. When the kidnapper calls, Gondo and his wife are inconsolable and he quickly makes the decision to use the money set aside to take over the company for the ransom. In a shocking twist, it turns out that the son’s playmate was kidnapped, not the son. Suddenly, Gondo has to think twice about using the money for the ransom. The ethical debate between self-interest and the interest of a neighbor or community could be talked about forever, and Kurosawa certainly makes his point with this scene and the following action. In other words, it turns out that Gondo might not be the ethical dynamo we once thought he was. Gondo finally agrees and they make an incredibly well shot money drop from a train window.

The remaining portion of the film is pretty much all police procedural. There is a great “sum-up” scene in which the precinct detectives run down all the information from the case, step by step, bit by bit, with each one covering one particular aspect. The first half is quite Hitchcockian in nature, with much of the action taking place in a boardroom, a small living room in a house, or a train, reminding us (at least) of Rope and Strangers on a Train. The second half lets us into the world of the police and their intelligent pursuit of a kidnapper. Though many of us may have guessed that Gondo’s business rivals were behind the kidnapping, it turns out that it was perpetrated by someone who lived in the poor village below Gondo’s richly appointed abode, the discrepancy of wealth proving too much for the unbalanced and jealous villager. In that way, High and Low is not just crime procedural, but also incisive social commentary. The title itself becomes clear once the kidnapper's motivation is revealed, made even more artistic by the closer translation of the Japanese title, Heaven and Hell. I wouldn’t expect anything less from such a master.



Bonnie & Clyde (1967, Arthur Penn)

Arthur Penn’s classic, Bonnie and Clyde, was originally thought to be only drive-in theater fodder; a quick yet entertaining romp without artistic value. What ended up happening is evident in the film’s legacy. Nominated for nine Oscars, and taking home two, Bonnie and Clyde is a masterful look at crime, friendship, love, loyalty, and economics in the Depression era. Warren Beatty plays Clyde Barrow, while Faye Dunaway plays his paramour, Bonnie Parker. While the two are magnetic, capturing frailty, passion, and complexity in every scene, other newcomers tend to steal the show, such as the two young Genes, Hackman and Wilder. Those two built careers out of their roles in this film, showcasing their wondrous talent, especially evident in Hackman’s early whoops of joy and Wilder’s petrified expressions of fear.

Bonnie and Clyde is particularly relevant today considering our current financial crisis. The young felons may have inspired later film characters such as Natural Born Killers’ Mickey and Mallory, but where the latter pair were sociopaths, Bonnie and Clyde were more tragic heroes, victims of a country’s bad policies gone wrong, merely trying to fend for themselves. Just like Mallory, however, Bonnie falls immediately for Clyde, even in the midst of a crime against her mother as he attempts to steal her car. Of course, even though the circumstances of the Depression somewhat forced their hands, that’s not to say they didn’t have psychological problems, nor that they were completely virtuous, or even that the notorious lovebirds didn’t enjoy their crimes. But, the history behind it reveals just as much culpability on the part of the government as the robbers. To the public and the press, Bonnie and Clyde are like modern day Robin Hoods, especially after allowing one bank customer to retain his funds. What started as small time heists to make money that would help to make ends meet quickly escalates into violence. Once it crosses that threshold, there is no turning back.

Bonnie and Clyde ends just how one might expect, with a bloody shootout, one of the most vivid and stark in film history. The doomed pair, in their hubris, are riddled with bullets, unable to evade the law forever. The events are fairly historically accurate, even recreating famous photos of the famous culprits, including the shots of the death scene. However, the film took liberties with the characters’ inner motivations and psyches, giving Barrow a case of impotence. Bonnie and Clyde is beautifully shot, a landmark of cinema in terms of stark violence, glorifying flawed anti-heroes, and presenting multi-dimensional and debatable issues. While taking an American History class, I was given the option to receive extra credit by watching Bonnie and Clyde and then writing a short review. I wasn’t able to take it on then, but hopefully this will suffice for karmic extra credit.

Sunday's Playlist: 7-31-11

Phil Lynott – “Old Town”
Sigur Rós – “Fljotavik”
Outkast – “SpottieOttieDopalicious”
Aimee Mann – “Satellite”
Tennis – “Pigeon”
The Twilight Sad – “That Birthday Present”
Wye Oak – “Plains”
Queen – “Seven Seas of Rhye”
The Smiths – “Frankly Mr. Shankly”
Jay-Zeezer – “Yeah in the Sun”
Red Sparowes – “A Mutiny”
Small Sins – “Why Don’t You Believe Me?”
R.E.M. – “What If We Give It Away?”
The Kinks – “You’re Looking Fine”
Eels – “What I Have to Offer”
The Turtles – “Elenore”
Blitzen Trapper – “Below the Hurricane”
Scritti Politti – “Perfect Way”
Spoon – “Before Destruction”
Marion – “Sleep”
Big Pink – “Crystal Visions”
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros – “40 Day Dream”
Art Brut – “Lost Weekend”
Fleet Foxes – “Quiet Houses”
LCD Soundsystem – “Live Alone”
Sigur Rós – “Ara Batur”
Placebo – “Taste in Men”
Bear in Heaven – “Ultimate Satisfaction”
Public Enemy – “Bring The Noise”
Def Leppard – “Billy’s Got a Gun (Live)”
Menswe@r – “Daydreamer”
Simian Mobile Disco – “Thousand Year Egg”
R.E.M. – “Wait (Demo)”
The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Never Understand”
The Hot Rats – “Big Sky”
The Smithereens – “Any Other Way (Live)”
Kylie Minogue – “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”
Van Morrison – “Brand New Day”
Echo & the Bunnymen – “People are Strange”
Engineers – “Song for Andy”
Gorillaz – “El Mañana”
Bomba Estéreo – “Música Acción”
Frightened Rabbit – “Man / Bag of Sand”
Arcade Fire – “Cold Wind”
Pixies – “Caribou”
Robyn – “Don’t F#@$ing Tell Me What to Do”
Deerhoof – “Flower”
Iggy Pop & James Williamson – “Master Charge”

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 34

Simple Minds - "Don't You (Forget About Me)"



(Single Release: February 1985)
I feel as though if a poll were taken of the pop culture loving public, asking them to name a song that represents the 80s, more often than not this Simple MInds song would be mentioned. The story behind the song has been often told, but is still worth mentioning. The writer / producer of the song (yes, Simple Minds did not write this track) went through several options of performers before approaching this Glaswegian group, Billy Idol among those earlier considered. If you'd like to hear what that might have sounded like, one need only go as far as Idol's greatest hits compilation, on which he covers the song. Jim Kerr and company weren't too happy about recording a song they didn't write, recorded it in a quick 3-hour session, and promptly dismissed it. It would, of course, end up to be the biggest song of their career, and arguably, one of the biggest hits of the 80s. The song was buoyed by the juggernaut that was John Hughes. With Sixteen Candles under his belt, as the first of his legendary series of films ensconced in the teenage realm, Hughes came back with The Breakfast Club in 1985. Hughes became known for having great film soundtracks, with a melange of a whopping 35 songs on Candles, an iconic soundtrack album for Pretty in Pink with a lot of cutting edge alternative music, and the tragedy that was the missing soundtrack album for Ferris Bueller's Day Off (the actual music was a triumph, it was a tragedy that it never saw release). But, it was definitely "Don't You" that became synonymous with John Hughes' oeuvre, with the remaining songs on the Breakfast Club soundtrack becoming an inspiration for acts such as M83. Back in junior high and high school, I was a big fan of the earnestness of bands like U2 and Simple Minds. They didn't do anything halfway. Even though they may not have originally cared for the song, it doesn't show in the recording, with Kerr belting out the "hey hey heys" with abandon. The lyrics may have been a bit schmaltzy and adolescent, but then again, so was I. "Don't You" is probably the best yearbook inscription put to music. I don't even want to think about how many proms used this as a theme after its release, even to this day. As such, the song is anything but dated. While some music from 1985 may sound as if trapped in the amber created by that mid-decade year ("We are the World" or "We Built This City," anyone? I think the lesson here is don't start a song title with "We."), "Don't You (Forget About Me)" has a timeless quality, as if it were written for not just one generation. Instead, it captures the sentiments of teens during any point in recent history. Someday the song's popularity may fade, but I'm okay with that not happening any time soon.

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 33

The Smiths - "How Soon is Now?" & "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side"





(Single Releases: January & September 1985)
As an adolescent, I was filled with existential angst. I was questioning everything from religion to sociology, politics, human nature, and everything beyond and all points in between. Naturally, the best soundtrack music for existential angst was The Smiths. Morrissey and Marr were my philosophical guides, providing musical poetry as the backdrop to every agonizing exploration of my psyche. Though The Smiths were not exactly carefree music material (I was once roundly chastised for putting Hatful of Hollow into a tape deck at a junior high school party), they were important in far too many other ways. As I've written earlier, The Smiths are part of my holy triumvirate of favorite bands. I even did a school report on Morrissey that completely exposed my "sensitive poetic teen" side. Sometimes it is hard for me to pinpoint a favorite song or even album, but there is no denying how important "How Soon is Now?" was and is in my life. First of all, it is called "How Soon is Now?" and not "I am Human." Despite my empathic and sensitive nature, the next goth kid, vampire nerd, or witchcraft obsessed dork who calls it the latter will get a punch in the tooth. Though the lyrics of the song are often painfully self-aware and overwrought, there is no doubt of its universal themes and feelings. We all feel that need to be loved. But, some of us are more painfully shy than others, and I certainly related with Moz on that count. Even our best intentions often turned out badly, reflected in the lines, "There's a club if you'd like to go / You could meet somebody who really loves you / So you go and you stand on your own and you leave on your own / And you go home and you cry and you want to die." Been there. All this is set to the backdrop of Johnny Marr's incredible guitar work. The vibrato bed that he created for the track is now somewhat lost to time, making it even more mythic and, in turn, unique. While "How Soon is Now?" was a non-album single, only later appended to copies of Meat is Murder, "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side" was the first salvo from what was sure to be one of the band's most recognized and popular albums, The Queen is Dead. Yet again loaded with angst, Morrissey claims that the song is about the music industry and its lack of faith in him. That being said, it is difficult to ignore this as a possible anthem of homosexual solidarity and pride. "How can they look into our eyes and still they don't believe us? / And after all this time, they don't want to believe us / And if they don't believe us now, will they ever believe us?" Those lyrics seem too perfectly crafted to be simply about the music industry. With references to having a "desire for love" and "love in our eyes," I think Morrissey might have been obfuscating. If you remember, Morrissey wasn't entirely up front and out back then. Plus, the inclusion of an exuberant and playful Truman Capote as the cover model for the single lends additional credibility to this interpretation. I am usually both awed and amused by the Mozzer's lyrics and these were certainly no exception. The lines, "And when you want to live / How do you start? / Where do you go? / Who do you need to know?" held particular fascination in my mind. Though this song and others like it might indeed be specifically related to Morrissey's sexual orientation, they were always written to be more inclusive and open to interpretation. For instance, you could imagine the "us" and "our" in the latter song to be about a young straight couple in love, a la Romeo and Juliet, whose peers and parents could never understand or believe in their union. The Smiths is one of those bands that I could listen to at any time in almost any situation. I just heard that they are releasing a huge vinyl box set with all their albums and 25 singles, but alas, as a grad student I won't have the equivalent of £150 by October 3rd. Birthday donations are accepted...

Highlights from My Vinyl Collection, Part 10

This is the tenth installment of "Highlights from My Vinyl Collection," an appreciation of great music, not necessarily rare finds or expensive imports. This is not about "deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased - underlined - Frank Zappa albums," as Rob Gordon so eloquently put it, though a small few select gems might appear every now and again.



Bill Cosby - Wonderfulness

Those of you who have read this blog with any kind of regularity (which would be amazing since I have a problem writing with regularity) know that I am a comedy nerd ... in the best way. I've always been a fan, from SNL to SCTV, Kids in the Hall to the Young Comedians Specials, and frankly everything in between. It seems to be a golden age of comedy, with great podcasts, wide recognition of innovative institutions such as the UCB, and the return of television comedy (Parks & Rec, Community, Childrens Hospital, The Green Room, etc.) after everyone thought reality shows had long since left the genre for dead. I have my parents to thank for my comedy nerddom. Bill Cosby's Wonderfulness is just one of a handful of albums I liberated from my parents. It was the perfect introduction to stand-up comedy: family friendly, observational, and universal. Two long bits open up each side of the album. The first side features "Tonsils," about his own experiences getting his tonsils out and being promised all the ice cream he could eat. The second side featured one of my favorite Cosby bits, "Chicken Heart," about listening to a scary radio show called "Lights Out." I'm not sure I've ever heard a comedian present such a riveting, detailed, captivating, and hilarious piece since. Listening to "Chicken Heart" reveals a true master at work. Someone once said about comedy that you don't have to be funny for every second on stage, just interesting, and Cosby manages both. The shorter bits are just as good, with the dangers of "The Playround," an overview of "Shop" and "Special Class," but one that always stays with me is alluded to on the cover, called "Go Carts," in which Cosby does an amazing, breakneck speed bit, with great theme music for each go-cart. It was hilarious, yet incredibly innocent and nostalgic. Want to relive your childhood all over again? Listen to Wonderfulness. Later, I would be exposed to the incredible with of the Smothers Brothers, and the daring genius of George Carlin. Whoa.

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 32

Talking Heads - "Road to Nowhere," "And She Was," & "Stay Up Late"







(Album Release: July 1985)
There is no doubt in my mind that, if you accept the premise that Morrissey and Ian McCulloch are modern poets, while Robert Smith and Martin Gore are of the Romantics, then Talking Heads are postmodern novelists. David Byrne and company always seemed a bit too smart to gain mass appeal, but they somehow did it anyway. I suppose, like Shakespeare, they presented several different layers of material to appeal to different sensibilities. Case in point, the above three songs from their 1985 album, Little Creatures. "Road to Nowhere," the second single from the record, is seemingly a photo negative of David Bowie's "Changes," with similar sentiments, yet either ironic in its nihilism or purposefully non-optimistic. This may be why several politicians and causes have tried to co-opt the song for their own purposes. It is a metaphor, symbolic, and I doubt meant to be taken at its literal word. "And She Was," the album's second single, is apparently written about a girl in Byrne's high school class who took acid in a field, but as all well written art does, it can be taken outside of that setting and adapted to mean different things, such as a love and appreciation for nature, a kind of existentialism, or perhaps pantheism. "Stay Up Late" was never a single, but it got major airplay, at least on the stations I used to listen to. Like the others, the song seems deceptively simple. I've seen many an internet interpretation of it that is way too literal. And, hey, I could be totally wrong, but I really don't think it's about the joy of having babies. Rather, it could either be a scathing remark upon people in America having kids just for the "fun" of it, without realizing the consequences, or could be one lover treating another like a child. Either way, the silliness of the lyrics and the sound of the music belie the actual serious or sarcastic message within. That pretty much sums up all three of these songs. All three feel like sunny, optimistic tunes, but are really deep and somewhat dark ideas hidden behind the trappings of a hit song. Yeah, take that mass audience, you're going to learn something while you're listening to Top 40 radio. I bet you never saw that coming!

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 31

Tears for Fears - "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" & "Head Over Heels"





(Single Releases: March & June 1985)
Tears for Fears was always a dark horse candidate to be one of my favorite bands in 1985. They never cracked the holy triumvirate of Smiths, Echo, and New Order, nor the top five if you include DM and the Cure, but they were not far behind. Truth be told, if you had asked me in 1983, with the release of The Hurting (soon to be a "Highlights from my Vinyl Collection" entry), they would have easily been higher ranked. It's not that I don't like Songs from the Big Chair, far from it. Like everyone else, I loved that album, but rather than an individual passion, they were a collective love. We all owned that album in some format, didn't we? Weren't we issued this one in 1985 once "Shout" hit #1 on the US pop charts? I like that song and would have included it had it not been issued as a single in 1984. But, the above two singles were issued in 1985, along with the album, and remain among my favorite TFF tracks. The opening guitar notes of "Rule the World" are unmistakable, leading into Curt Smith's great falsetto. Though Roland Orzabal later came to be known as the more prominent "voice" of TFF, I was always a Curt Smith fan. His vocals on "Pale Shelter" and "Change," as well as other shared vocal tracks on that first album, showcased a wonderful dynamic between the two, and a more sensitive side to the band. Later, I would become even more of a Curt Smith fan when he would appear on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show and Psych. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was Tears For Fears' second #1 hit single, deservedly so, but my favorite was always "Head Over Heels," especially as it appears on the album, with a live version of "Broken" as a capstone. The video, as presented above, is somewhat absurdist, which prompted a fairly funny version with "literal lyrics," but I think the song is fine without it. Now, many are reminded of Donnie Darko when they hear "Head Over Heels," and at one time, The Dennis Miller Show when they heard "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." I am just reminded at how amazingly rich in music 1985 really was.

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 30

'Til Tuesday - "Voices Carry



(Single Release: March 1985)
I fell deeply and hopelessly in love with Aimee Mann in 1985. Guess what? 26 years later, and I'm still deeply and hopelessly in love with Aimee Mann. I've followed every step of her career since that stellar debut, Voices Carry. The voice, the look, the sound, the hair, I was head over heels about all of it. According to legend, the original version of this hit single, pegged unfairly as a "one hit wonder" (the whole album is great, trust me), had a lesbian slant to it. The song was being directed at a female companion rather than an overbearing male. But, I suppose pressure from the record company had Aimee and her bandmates change it, which, in turn, spawned a great video, but also somewhat presaged a later rebellion against the industry. Mann's transformation within the song, from the more calm, reserved, and quiet narrator, to the energetic, spirited, pissed off, and scorned woman was, and still is, powerful. Plus, Mann got to show off some fairly astounding acting skills in the video. The closing visual, of Mann ripping off her formal hat, exposing the spiky coif and rattail, making a stand and a scene all at the same time, amidst a crowd of the stuffy "elite," will stick with me forever, like a grade school crush. Maybe because that is exactly what it was. I have a friend who always thought Mann was singing "This is scary" instead of "Voices Carry," which always makes me laugh. But, in 1985, and stretching up until today, I've actually known every single lyric of the song. Though she may look back in embarrassment at stuff from this era (as I've heard her intimate on podcasts such as Comedy Bang Bang nee Death Ray), I still revere everything she's created. In fact, ever since iPods have existed in my house, "Voices Carry" has never been removed from it.

Highlights from My Vinyl Collection, Part 9

This is the ninth installment of "Highlights from My Vinyl Collection," an appreciation of great music, not necessarily rare finds or expensive imports. This is not about "deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased - underlined - Frank Zappa albums," as Rob Gordon so eloquently put it, though a small few select gems might appear every now and again.



America - History: America's Greatest Hits

I felt the need to highlight America due to the recent passing of Dan Peek, one of the band's cofounders. I picked up this compilation recently for only $1.99, which is only a fraction of the nostalgic price I'd put on it. America was one of the staples that we'd listen to in my father's car. Along with other classic A.M. radio greats, America would be on regular rotation. Everyone knows and loves "A Horse with No Name," but my favorite was always "Ventura Highway." The Southern California locale, the reference to alligator lizards, resonant acoustic guitars, and gorgeous vocal harmonies all lend to the song's magic. "Sister Golden Hair" is another great track, making at least three indispensable America songs. Though I like the other tracks, too, I really paid about seventy cents per track on vinyl, a better deal than iTunes, plus bonus songs! I've expressed my issues with compilation records in the past, but this and other classic rock greatest hits comps are an exception. America, Little River Band, Chicago, and many other of the 70s radio mainstays pack a lot of punch by collecting the hits on one volume. Every time I hear "Ventura Highway" or "A Horse with No Name," I am immediately transported back to being in my dad's car. I treasure those times, and the music my dad played. Whether he knew it or not, he was priming us for a lifetime of loving great music. Though we might not agree on everything, we see eye to eye on the important stuff. America is one of the important ones. R.I.P. Dan Peek, "There ain't no one for to give you no pain..."

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 29

Tom Waits - "Jockey Full of Bourbon"



(Album Release: September 30, 1985)
Yes, it's another one that was released on my fourteenth birthday. And what gift could have as equally thrilled me as freaked me the heck out? Why, Rain Dogs, of course! Alas, however, I was introduced to the tin pan alley meets New Orleans clapboard shack meets drunken Bowery saloon magic that is Tom Waits quite a bit after that time. But, my actual introduction to Waits' gravel-voiced poetry of debauchery and woe, as if Charles Bukowski somehow channeled Louis Armstrong, was through Rain Dogs. Normally, it's difficult and disappointing, in a way, to start with an artist's best album. Despite the sprawling gutter beauty of Rain Dogs, this was somehow not the case with mining Waits' catalog and acquiring later releases. Real Gone and Mule Variations are arguably just as good as anything else he's ever recorded. In other words, I love everything Tom Waits does. I'm a devotee. Listening to Tom Waits is like walking through a carnival after closing, not quite sure whether or not there is a roustabout with a knife hiding behind the flap of a tent, or a clown sitting alone in the lowest ferris wheel carriage, inviting you to partake in a nightcap from a flask secreted in his polka-dotted jumpsuit. Very few other lyricists could come up with something as sublimely depraved as "Bloody fingers on a purple knife / Flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass / I'm on the lawn with someone else's wife / Admire the view from up on top of the mast." Marc Ribot's guitar and Tom Waits' voice came together in this song serendipitously. It was as if they had been longing for each other throughout history. And it took Waits' oddball production directions, such as "Play it like a midget's bar mitzvah" to make it all work. The video above, with two brief interruptions including an appearance by Waits himself, is how the song appears at the outset of Jim Jarmusch's film, Down by Law. The imagery of New Orleans seems to enhance the song's power and vice versa.

Monday's Playlist: 7-25-11

Michael Nyman – “The Sacrifice”
Smith Westerns – “Dreams”
Eels – “Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues”
Women – “Can’t You See”
The Black Keys – “Heavy Soul”
The Cult – “Rain”
Radiohead – “Life in a Glass House”
Jay-Zeezer – “Justify Mykel and Carli”
The xx – “Intro”
The Decemberists – “Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect”
Cream – “Tales of Brave Ulysses”
Matt Pond PA – “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”
ESG – “Moody (Spaced Out”
Glasvegas – “The World is Yours”
Hooray for Earth – “Last Minute”
Delays – “The Sun Always Shines on TV”
The Pretenders – “Talk of the Town”
F#$@ed Up – “Remember My Name”
Missing Persons – “Words”
The Swell Season – “If You Want Me (Live)”
ESG – “Get Funky”
Digital Underground – “Flowin’ on the D-Line”
The Rosebuds – “Waiting for You”
Midlake – “Bring Down”
Belle & Sebastian – “I Didn’t See It Coming”
Ben Folds & Nick Hornby – “Belinda”
Happy Mondays – “Bob’s Yer Uncle”
The Cure – “Lovesong (Instrumental)”
AC/DC – “Highway to Hell”
The xx – “Shelter”
The Smiths – “Suffer Little Children”
King Khan & BBQ Show – “I’ll Be Loving You”
Danzig – “Twist of Cain”
The Like – “He’s Not a Boy”
Matt Pond PA – “Snow Day”
Cut Copy – “Out There on the Ice”
Miles Davis – “My Funny Valentine”
Shudder to Think feat. Jeff Buckley – “I Want Someone Badly”
Sun Kil Moon – “Carry Me Ohio”
The Kinks – “Party Line”
Darker My Love – “Split Minute”
Blonde Redhead – “In an Expression of the Inexpressible”
Metric – “Blindness”
LCD Soundsystem – “Beat Connection”
Torche – “Across the Shields”
Sufjan Stevens – “Size Too Small”
Bis – “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side”
Liturgy – “Sun of Light”
OMD – “History of Modern (Part II)”
Laura Veirs – “I Can See Your Tracks”
Delta Spirit – “Golden State”

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 28

The Waterboys - "The Whole of the Moon" & "This is the Sea"





(Album Release: September 1985)
In my opinion, if there is such a thing as a "perfect" album, it is the Waterboys' This is the Sea. And when I say "perfect," I don't necessarily mean for everyone. It is perfect for me, specifically. Filled with literary imagery, allusions, spirituality without getting overly "religious," and poetic lyrics. In fact, Bono once said about this album that the word poetry is thrown around too often in rock, but is entirely apt here. He further cites it as being in his top ten favorites. I share this passion for the album. Though I have heard and own other Waterboys albums, none quite stack up to this one. Even Mike Scott, the visionary leader of the band, said that it was "the record on which I achieved all my youthful musical ambitions" (Wikipedia, 2003 citation). "The Whole of the Moon" one of two singles from the album, is an exuberant celebration. Its lyrics exalt an unnamed visionary whom the narrator envies. Comparisons are made between the two throughout the song, with "I saw the rain dirty valley, you saw Brigadoon" as just one profoundly poetic example. Many have tried to guess the target of Scott's praise, offering forth C.S. Lewis, Prince, and Mark Helprin, and musician Nikki Sudden even claimed the song was about him, but it is still somewhat a mystery. I've always envisioned it being a lover who simply has a joie de vivre and vivid imagination. The song builds into intense crescendos, swelling into majestic symphonies of guitar, keys, violin, and horns as Scott unleashes even more lyrical beauty, such as "Unicorns and cannonballs / palaces and piers / trumpets, towers, and tenements / wide oceans full of tears / flags, rags, ferryboats / scimitars and scarves / every precious dream and vision / underneath the stars." The song is simply breathtaking. Even more stunning is the title track and closer of the album. "This is the Sea" rivals "The Whole of the Moon" in every department. I can connect with it on a number of different levels. At its core, I feel the song is about starting over, about making positive changes, leaving darkness behind and moving on into better realms. I'm not sure if this is exactly what Mike Scott was going for on this song, but that is what it means to me, and it means a lot. The concept of "that was the river, this is the sea" makes a simple yet profound comparison that runs throughout the song, reassuring us that even though we may experience trouble and pain, there is always time to alter our course. As such, this track has been a comfort through many points in my life, from the river of small-town life to the sea of college, from the river of loneliness to the sea of self-reliance, and from the river of divorce to the sea of a new direction in life. For these songs, these magical, wonderful, beautiful songs, I will forever be grateful to Mike Scott and the Waterboys. It's not often that rock and roll can change lives, but Mike Scott certainly changed mine.

For more of my writing on This is the Sea, check out this Treblezine review.

Highlights from My Vinyl Collection, Part 8

This is the eighth installment of "Highlights from My Vinyl Collection," an appreciation of great music, not necessarily rare finds or expensive imports. This is not about "deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased - underlined - Frank Zappa albums," as Rob Gordon so eloquently put it, though a small few select gems might appear every now and again.



Echo & the Bunnymen - Songs to Learn and Sing

While I'm surveying great songs from 1985 through this blog, I might as well highlight albums I bought in 1985, as well. Songs to Learn and Sing is the first "greatest hits" compilation from Liverpool band, Echo & the Bunnymen. I've written before about how 1985 introduced me to a whole new world of music and Echo was part of that new world. I was so green in my knowledge of Echo, that I had no idea this was a "hits" album, nor that they had four entire albums under their belts. I normally avoid compilations, but they become magical when they open up an entirely new catalog to explore. One new song brought me to this album, that being one of my favorite songs that year, "Bring on the Dancing Horses." To me, this track rivaled "How Soon is Now," "Blue Monday," and "People are People" in terms of being one of the best songs of that era. "Bring on the Dancing Horses" even transcends that era, still remaining a personal favorite. But, Songs to Learn and Sing also introduced me to "Rescue," "Do it Clean," "The Back of Love," and above all, "The Killing Moon." I'd say that every song on the album is great, but I suppose that's to be expected from a greatest hits collection. On top of that, there is the incredibly gorgeous cover image, as photographed by Anton Corbijn. That record cover has graced my wall for the last five or so years, and it comforts me every time I look at it.

Films of the 60s, Part 7: When I Look to the West

“There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west…” – Led Zeppelin



As I wrote in my piece on westerns in the 50s, this one time ubiquitous genre now only peppers the pop culture landscape, if at all. Auteurs such as the Coen brothers have lent a bit of credibility to a once thriving style of film, which had its heyday in the first half of the 20th century, and its last strong breaths in the 60s. The late part of that decade and especially the 70s brought about a dramatic sea change in style. Stories became less about adventures and characters that were disconnected from the audience. Instead, they became personal, psychological, intimate, and eminently real portraits of life, no matter how stark and uncomfortable. But, the 60s still had some great western adventure stories left to tell, some with humor, some with tragedy, and some that seemed vaguely familiar…



The Magnificent Seven (1960, John Sturges)

The Magnificent Seven is that film that might seem familiar. You see, it’s a photograph of a drawing of a photocopy. Though that might be slightly unfair, let’s look at where it came from. The film is a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Seven Samurai is, itself, greatly inspired by the style of American westerns and noir films. But, for a remake of an homage, it’s pretty darn entertaining. It’s at least cast well, with Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn as some of the cowboy specialists hired to defend a beleaguered Mexican town, targeted by bandits.

Seven Samurai practically invented the “getting the team together” trope, which was co-opted by The Magnificent Seven, and then employed throughout decades of American adventure and caper films. But, whereas Kurosawa made most of his samurai characters honorable and skilled, director John Sturges made his cowboys skilled, but perhaps not all as honorable. Vin and Bernardo, played by McQueen and Bronson respectively, are both broke, Vin from gambling. Lee, played by Robert Vaughn, has gotten himself into some kind of trouble and has to lay low. The one constant is Chico, played by German actor Horst Buchholz, who is a direct correlation to the scene-stealer of Seven Samurai, Toshiro Mifune’s similarly named, Kikuchiyo.

Whereas The Magnificent Seven clocks in at a relatively fast-paced 128 minutes, Seven Samurai takes an extra hour and a half to build the drama and let its story unfold. Another difference is in how the American version perhaps gives its characters more “larger-than-life” personalities, pushing the characteristics to be near cartoonish. After that, the films are very much alike. The real appeal of The Magnificent Seven is in its Hollywood heavyweight movie stars, its incredible score by Elmer Bernstein, and little flavorful touches, such as James Coburn’s knife throwing and fighting abilities, somehow mirroring the katana duel of Kyuzo, a pivotal scene in Seven Samurai. This wouldn’t be the last time that Hollywood would adapt a foreign film for its audience, but not many since have done it as engagingly.



Cat Ballou (1965, Elliot Silverstein)

This is a really strange film, still somehow stuck in between eras, genres, and messages. It’s a western, but also a comedy. It’s a comedy, but also had dark themes and imagery. It seemed conflicted about feminism, diversity, and sexuality. One look at that movie poster above will give you some clue as to its irreverence. But, it has somehow continued to be revered throughout the decades as an example of great silliness and concise storytelling. My complaints have nothing to do with irreverence. I revere irreverence. I liked Cat Ballou, I just think it’s a strange, strange film. A young Jane Fonda, or should I say, a young and incredibly beautiful Jane Fonda plays the titular character (no pun intended), a schoolteacher headed to Wolf City, Wyoming to visit her father. What ensues, from the train trip on, is a series of mishaps, succeeding events, and revenge plots that escalate and build, carried along by the dual role performance of Lee Marvin.

Marvin plays both drunk and washed up, yet legendary gunfighter, Kid Shelleen and the villainous Tim Strawn, aka Silvernose. Cat gets involved in her father’s fight against a greedy development corporation and enlists the help of Shelleen to battle the injustices they face. In a not-so-comedic moment, Cat’s father is killed. Later, there is literal gallows humor, with jokes surrounding a public hanging. There are definitely funny moments in the film, especially surrounding Marvin’s drunken character of Kid Shelleen, such as when he actually misses shooting the broad side of a barn. Further, there is a great scene in which Kid’s horse appears drunk as well, crossing its legs and leaning up against a shed. Horses don’t cross their legs, and it apparently took the trainer quite a bit of time to train the horse to do something so unnatural.

But, the American Film Institute named Cat Ballou as one of the top ten western films of all time. Though I liked the film, I can easily name probably 20 other westerns I enjoyed more. I’ve seen six of the other nine on the list and think they are appropriate, but I’d probably replace Cat Ballou with either version of True Grit, Tombstone, Silverado, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, or any one of Eastwood’s films, which, except for the later Unforgiven, were mysteriously absent from this list. The greek chorus of Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye, singing songs about our heroine, were simply weird. I understand that a musical aspect was present in many early westerns, but by this point they were somewhat out of date. But, that didn’t stop the Farrelly brothers from being inspired by their presence. While Cat Ballou was entertaining, it wouldn’t be in my own top ten.



The Way West (1967, Andrew McLaglen)

Most people’s knowledge of the Oregon Trail has come from a video game in junior high social studies. But, that journey was so much more than simply, “You have died of dysentery.” Seventeen years after the novel by A.B. Guthrie won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Hollywood came calling with the promise of an adaptation of The Way West. Veteran actor and director Andrew McLaglen helmed the picture, casting the great Kirk Douglas, Richard Widmark, and Robert Mitchum as the trio of male leads, and featuring a young Sally Field in a somewhat risqué role for a one-time surfer girl, and soon-to-be flying nun. The Way West depicts exactly what the title promises, a wagon train of farmers and ranchers heading to the Oregon territory to find independence and fortune.

Widmark plays the novel’s central character, Lije Evans, but he is given somewhat of a backseat role to the somewhat bigger stars for the film adaptation. Douglas plays William Tadlock, a politician traveling with his young son, driven both to get to the west as soon as possible as well as lead a group he finds malleable and lesser than. Along for the ride is Dick Summers, played by Mitchum, the loner Han Solo character, standoffish and silent, but more experienced than anyone else in the party. This film illustrates the hardships these travelers faced, including fording deep and dangerous rivers, encounters with Native Americans (played less politically correct in the film than in the book, more on that later), stampedes, lack of medical attention, and anything else you can name from this period. The film doesn’t even bother to replicate the rattlesnake bite that one child dies from in the book, maybe because it would have been overkill.

In the novel, Native American tribes act only after being provoked, with one of their own killed by one of the travelers who was sniping from a tree. In the film, they attack for no reason, perpetuating the stereotype of the savage. Even further, they make the Indians fairly ineffectual, firing arrows at near point blank range and having no effect whatsoever. These are skilled hunters and survivalists! Yeesh. Other than that, The Way West is a well-made film, well acted, and with incredible cinematography. Sally Field’s portrayal as the somewhat loose and easy Mercy McBee may surprise some, knowing her usual casting as the girl next door. But, in this, she seduces a married man and becomes pregnant with his child! Gasp! At least Guthrie and Hollywood each decided to present situations as they happened in reality, refusing to whitewash it with political correctness. It’s just a shame that they didn’t see the reality of the Native Americans in the same way, defaulting toward what was more “entertaining.”

Sunday's Playlist: 7-24-11

Blueprint – “Wanna Be Like You”
Torche – “Fat Waves”
Oneohtrix Point Never – “Russian Mind”
R.E.M. – “Dream (All I Have to Do Is Dream)”
R.E.M. – “Just a Touch”
The Yardbirds – “For Your Love”
KISS – “Beth”
Propellerheads – “Spybreak!”
OMD – “Pulse”
The Smiths – “Well I Wonder”
Caribou – “Irene”
The Association – “Cherish”
Jane Wiedlin – “Rush Hour”
Marcy Playground – “Poppies”
Gorillaz – “The Parish of Space Dust”
Rick Springfield – “Everybody’s Girl”
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – “Happy Hi!”
Crawling Chaos – “Sex Machine”
Matt & Kim – “I Wanna”
Led Zeppelin – “The Rain Song”
Dirty Projectors – “Rise Above”
Les Savy Fav – “Meet Me in the Dollar Bin”
Phosphorescent – “Wolves”
White Denim – “Tony Fatti”
Phoenix – “1901 (Bo Flex’d Passion Pit Rmx)”
Harvey Danger – “Flagpole Sitta”
Boston – “Hitch a Ride”
Iron & Wine – “Big Burned Hand”
Hothouse Flowers – “Seoladh Na Ngamhna”
Aimee Mann – “Nobody Does it Better”
Oneohtrix Point Never – “Format & Journey North”
Bangles – “Down Your Street”
Childish Gambino – “Glory”
KISS – “I Want You”
Ra Ra Riot – “Shadowcasting”
Depeche Mode – “I Want it All (Roland M. Dill Remix)”
Maxence Cyrin – “Crazy in Love”

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 27

Scritti Politti - "Word Girl" & "Perfect Way"





(Single Releases: May & December 1985)
Here, in one specific album, we have a multitude of layers. At this point, 27 posts into 1985, I shouldn't have to declare my love for these songs. It should be apparent that I have an affection for every song I post in this list. However, in the summer of 1985, Green Gartside's voice was a revelation. While there may not have been a stigma to fey vocals in the alternative music sphere in the 80s, it was still shocking to hear the wispy nature of Green's delivery. Nearly every track on Cupid & Psyche 85 was worthy of being a single, and five out of the ten original tracks were indeed released as singles. For as obscure as Scritti Politti seems now, this feat was amazing and very seldom paralleled. Think about it, that's how many singles Purple Rain spawned. Wow. Aside from the two presented above, the other three were "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)," "Hypnotize," and "Absolute." So, we have the layer of pop single prolificity. But, we also have the layers of style. Starting out as a political punk band, a la the Clash, Green Gartside took the band (himself) in a different direction in the 80s, which paid off in chart success. He started to fall in love with the music coming out of New York, and adored hip-hop. He, in fact, paid tribute to hip-hop in his more recent single, "The Boom Boom Bap" to great effect. Cupid & Psyche 85 was more of a hybrid of R&B, soul, and pop, as though he were the 80s male version of Dusty Springfield. Judging from the title, you could probably guess that all the songs have to do with love, the end or tragedy of love, and every other parallel that can be made with the classic tale from mythology. But let's take a look at these two songs in particular. They immediately present a comparison of tastes, one with a slower-paced ska or reggae kind of beat, the other a swift and busy synth-pop dance tune. Perhaps ironically, "Word Girl" has lyrics that all hang together perfectly into a narrative, whereas "Perfect Way" is almost a thesaurus heavy word salad. "Word Girl" was the highest charter in the UK at #6, while "Perfect Way" barely registered. It was the opposite in the US, where "Word Girl" never charted and "Perfect Way" hit #11. Yes, there are many layers to Scritti Politti, but really, Green Gartside just writes and performs great music.

Highlights from My Vinyl Collection, Part 7

This is the seventh installment of "Highlights from My Vinyl Collection," an appreciation of great music, not necessarily rare finds or expensive imports. This is not about "deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased - underlined - Frank Zappa albums," as Rob Gordon so eloquently put it, though a small few select gems might appear every now and again.



Eagles - One of These Nights

One of These Nights is another record I picked up on the cheap, but continues to fill my life with riches. Eagles is one of the first bands I remember hearing as I grew up. That's how some music works. Some you discover on your own, some you gather through friends, and the earliest music you hear is gained through your parents. My dad used to play a whole mess of great stuff, including the Doobie Brothers, America, Little River Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Boston, and many more, some of which will come up later in this ongoing survey of my record collection. When I was between the ages of five and ten, I was constantly listening to the Eagles' first volume of greatest hits, including three tracks from this 1975 album. The title track, sung by Don Henley, "Lyin' Eyes," sung by Glenn Frey, and "Take it to the Limit" with vocals by Randy Meisner, were those tracks, showcasing the band's versatility, depth of talent, and songwriting prowess. I love these songs. Meisner's falsetto on two of these songs alone is worth hearing on the original vinyl. I remember talking to Blake Sennett in an interview at the Crocodile Cafe, in which he revealed to me his love of "One of These Nights," the song and the album. He said that a lot of The Elected's second album, Sun, Sun, Sun, was somewhat an attempt to capture that kind of California AM rock sound. I hope I can find the other albums in the band's catalog for the same prices, as I'd love to hear songs like "Take it Easy," "Witchy Woman," "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Tequila Sunrise," "Desperado," "Already Gone," and "Best of My Love" on gloriously warm vinyl. Or, maybe I can just pick up one of the several million copies of the Greatest Hits, Vol.1 again.

Saturday's Playlist: 7-23-11

Erykah Badu – “Incense”
Depeche Mode – “Master and Servant (U.S. Black and Blue Version)”
Def Leppard – “Switch 625 (Live)”
The Tough Alliance – “Something Special”
Ella Fitzgerald – “Angel Eyes (Layo & Bushwacka Remix)”
Talking Heads – “Once in a Lifetime”
The Black Keys – “Just a Little Heat”
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – “Sweat”
Metric – “Gimme Sympathy (Acoustic)”
The 88 – “It’s a Lot”
Nada Surf – “Evolution”
Red Sparowes – “Buildings Began to Stretch Wide Across the Sky, and the Air Filled With a Reddish Glow”
Art vs. Science – “I See Red”
Destroyer – “Blue Eyes”
Blur – “Out of Time”
Jesse Johnson – “Get to Know Ya”
The Smithereens – “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
Big Star – “You Can’t Have Me”
The Like – “Fair Game”
The Cure – “Delirious Night (Vocal)”
Prince – “When You Were Mine”
Suede – “My Insatiable One”
Iceage – “Remember”
Underworld – “Diamond Jigsaw”
Stevie Wonder – “Never in Your Sun”
Mumford & Sons – “Little Lion Man”
Tallest Man on Earth – “Pistol Dreams”
The Kinks – “Plastic Man”
Wolf Parade – “Two Men in New Tuxedos”
Dusty Springfield – “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Thru His Eyes”
The Smiths – “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle”
De La Soul – “Potholes in My Lawn”
Tombs – “To Cross the Land”
A Certain Ratio – “Sounds Like Something Dirty”
Ladytron – “International Dateline”
The White Stripes – “Death Letter”
Clint Mansell – “Nina’s Dream”
The Cure – “Disintegration (Live)”
Sunny Day Real Estate – “Round”
Kate Bush – “Why Should I Love You”
Gene – “Your Love, It Lies”

Films of the 60s, Part 6: On a holiday, so many miles...

“On a Holiday, so many miles, looking for a place to stay near some friendly star.” - The Pixies, "Motorway to Roswell"

While the first half of the decade continued the traditions of 50s pulp (which I also love), the second half of the 60s took the genre of science fiction in brand new directions, inspired by a wave of daring and creative authors. I’ve always felt that the best science fiction is not based around starship battles, lasers, and impractical things like flying cars and jetpacks, but is instead either heavily rooted in actual science or merely humanistic philosophical writings with sci-fi as a template. The following three movies are great examples of this distinction, having since become iconic in the genre.



Alphaville (1965, Jean-Luc Godard)

“What?” you may be asking, “a sci-fi film without special effects?” Yes, that’s exactly what Alphaville is. Jean-Luc Godard’s prescient look at the increasing rise of technology was way ahead of its time, and all without using advanced technology. Is that a paradox? Not really, at least according to some of the underlying messages within. Eddie Constantine is perfect as Lemmy Caution, an established hard-boiled noir detective in a strange new world. Constantine had already been playing the detective in a series of noir films, which is probably why the role seemed so effortless and fitting. Caution is meant to appear as a fish out of water, however, a stranger in a strange land, to appropriate another science fiction touchstone. He has a few little missions in Alphaville, a city run by a computer, called “Alpha 60.”

There is very little in this film to denote that this is science fiction, other than literary and visual devices. For instance, we consistently get images of flashing lights, blinking at different variables, and many arrows pointing to the right, as if into the future, signifying progress. The future of Alphaville is more the future of Huxley and Orwell, awash in bureaucracy, in which Caution is consistently told to check in with Civil Control, which he then consistently blows off. But, the most disconcerting, jarring, and uncomfortable sci-fi trope is the voice of Alpha 60, performed by a man with a mechanical voice-box, like those provided to former smokers who have completely destroyed their larynges. Sounds of swallowing and hitches in the breath accompany the mechanical voice, which is almost too horrifying to listen to, but is ever present. This can’t be accidental. It’s as if Godard is signifying that this is incredibly wrong.

The people who inhabit Alphaville are equally curious, devoid of emotion, as that is the law of Alpha 60, and ending every conversation with “I’m very well, thank you, you’re welcome,” or “Yes, I’m fine. Don’t mention it.” They keep a book they call “The Bible,” that is filled with the words that have been outlawed from human usage as they evoke too much emotion. Natasha Von Braun, played by the exquisitely beautiful Anna Karina, watches Eddie being abused and is asked if she is crying. “No,” she says, as a tear rolls down her cheek, “because that’s forbidden.” One person says to Caution, “Never say why, only because.” And what happens when people cross the line, showing too much emotion? They are executed, with the killings watched as sport.

This might have been the fist mix of sci-fi and noir mystery (don’t hold me to that), but it certainly wasn’t the last. Jonathan Lethem, Philip K. Dick, and many others continued this great blend of genres. Parts of this film reminded me of La Jetée, Gattaca, Children of Men, and other sci-fi films that were more warnings of the present than warnings of the future. At a certain point, Alpha 60 questions Caution in a brilliant scene of masterful dialogue. “What is the privilege of the dead,” asks Alpha 60. “To die no more,” answers Caution. “What transforms darkness into light?” “Poetry,” responds our hard-boiled hero in a moment of surprising vulnerability. Four years later, as we will see, Stanley Kubrick presented a take on the self-realized computer, though his voice was much easier to listen to, if equally as chilling.



Planet of the Apes (1968, Franklin J. Schaffner)

The ending of Planet of the Apes has been parodied so many times that it had lost the power of its twist ending, like Citizen Kane or Psycho. Amazingly, as I had never seen the film until just before writing this, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the movie. Based on a French novel, by Pierre Boulle, this film has become part of the sci-fi canon. Equal parts Twilight Zone narrative, allegory of race relations, and commentary on the debate of religion vs. evolution, Planet of the Apes is a film that has everything, plus a generous amount of camp. After resisting seeing this movie for as long as I have, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, even to the point of considering buying it on Blu-Ray.

Charlton Heston is perfect as ANSA (a not so clever version of NASA) mission leader, Taylor. His brash machismo and self-righteous demeanor make him the ideal “captured savage.” While he may be the central figure, he has to battle for screen time with the costumed simians, as played wonderfully by Malcolm McDowell, Kim Hunter, and Maurice Evans, as Cornelius, Zira, and Dr. Zaius, respectively. Their carefully arranged hierarchy is riveting to watch and analyze. The chimpanzees, of which Cornelius and Zira are members, are smaller and smarter, scientists and open thinkers. The orangutans are rigid followers of the law and religion, constantly quoting the sacred scrolls. The gorillas are the military force, rounding up the primitive humans and rarely speaking. I’ll let you make your own connections to real world counterparts, in both stereotypes and actual correlatives, including coloration.

In this way, Planet of the Apes is a much deeper film than I at first surmised it to be. Sure, there are over the top moments, such as Heston’s maniacal laugh near the beginning of the film, when Landon plants an American flag in the desert sand, or the fact that he smokes a cigar in a spacecraft. Sure, that could happen. Even more out of place in later viewings, like my own, are the 60s, flower child, hippie slogans, such as when Heston tells young Lucius, “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” But, Planet of the Apes has more going for it than not. Despite the primitive costumes, in which the mouths of the monkeys hardly move at all, one loses oneself in the world envisioned by the author and filmmakers. The score by Jerry Goldsmith is suspenseful and engaging. The performances are wonderful, even by the hammy Heston. The cinematography is breathtaking, especially in the opening moments of the film, with long shots of our astronauts walking through the desert, and overhead shots of the gorillas closing in on the primitive humans in the tall fields. And, without giving anything away, though it is simply part of the social consciousness, there is not much in this film in the way of special effects to denote science fiction, just like Alphaville.

The Simpsons has parodied this movie dozens of times, possibly as many times as they have The Godfather, The Graduate, and Citizen Kane. My favorite, however, has to be when Homer is picked to be an astronaut and then pieces together the symbolic twist ending, much later than any reasonable man should, finally replicating Heston's final exclamations in hilarious fashion.



2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)

It is still amazing to me that 2001: A Space Odyssey was released a full year before man actually even landed on the moon. Its visions of space travel, space stations, and other leaps in technology and science were more than prescient, they were staggeringly accurate. Okay, so maybe we don't have Pan-Am passenger space flights, but we do have video phones. So, how much longer is it going to be until we actually see passenger space flights? I'm looking at you, Paul Allen.

Unlike the previous two films, 2001 does employ special effects, and they are mind-blowing, though not in the way that we are accustomed to today, in 3-D, CGI, and digital animation. Instead, Kubrick uses both old school camera trickery and newfound techniques to display such things as altering gravity, gyroscopic satellite runs, and trips through a “Star Gate.” Co-written with sci-fi master, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001 was and still remains one of the best examples of the artistic and philosophical side of this genre. Because of input from Clarke and luminary figures in science, such as Carl Sagan, everything in 2001 feels somehow real. There are no sounds in space. There are no humanoid aliens. There is both a beauty and precision to scenes in which ships dock with space stations. Some may call Star Wars a space opera, but 2001 is far more classically operatic than Star Wars, even to the point of being divided into four separate movements.

The first movement involves the dawn of man, the moment when monkey-like primitive humans first learn how to wield tools. The second features a scientist traveling to a space station orbiting the moon who is summoned to explain a found anomaly. The third is likely the most remembered and most quoted, featuring space travelers headed on a mission to Jupiter some eighteen months later, on a ship run by a computer called “HAL 9000.” The fourth and final movement centers around one of those astronauts, Bowman, and his final journey of discovery. The common through line amongst these individual parts is the monolith, a large black rectangle that keeps mysteriously popping up, with many, including the audience, wondering just what it may mean.

Kubrick and Clarke purposefully set out to write a story that would have to be viewed again and again, mined each time for meaning, philosophically and existentially. This is certainly not a straightforward story. Perhaps this is why the third movement, with HAL, is the most remembered, being a somewhat self-contained story of a computer that becomes self-actualized. By the way, the idea that the name HAL came from the three letters preceding IBM is apocryphal. It actually stands for Heuristic Algorithmic Computer. Much of the reason I love 2001, and can watch it repeatedly is in its enigmatic nature. Philosophy is personal, it is not meant to provide ready answers and simple solutions to our most difficult questions. Instead, 2001 presents those difficult questions in a particular setting and then asks questions those scientists and futurists are asking about life in the cosmos. A sci-fi film this intelligent had never been made before, and I’d argue that it hasn’t been duplicated since. Do I have my own take on what is happening here? Sure I do! Am I going to tell you? I’m afraid I can’t do that, Dave.

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 26

The Replacements - "Bastards of Young" & "Here Comes a Regular"





(Album Release: October 1985)
Man, am I glad I'm a 'Mats fan. While I was in the midst of a British immersion, enjoying the likes of DM, the Cure, Smiths, Echo, and New Order, the Replacements released an album that would prove to me that America still had a stake in the game. Tim was the band's major label debut and one could argue that the songs on the record were more accessible, but the 'Mats (as their fans call them) seemed to rebel against their success at every turn. They were rock and roll bad boys, getting drunk, cursing on television, and making videos like the one for "Bastards" above, in which there is one static shot of a stereo speaker, a phonograph, and a milk crate. A figure picks up the sleeve for the album in the blink of an eye, wiping off the cigarette butts, as if to spit in the face of product placement and marketing. "Bastards of Young" is an anthem for not just my generation, but for every new younger generation that follows. Just as the youth in the song belong to no one, the song is equally sans ownership. It belongs to whomever might embrace the ideas behind it. "Here Comes a Regular" showed Paul Westerberg's range, as he emulated his idol, Big Star's Alex Chilton, in showing that he could write acoustic ballads just as well as anthemic rebellious rock tracks. That both of these are on the same album, bookends of the second side of the record, is remarkable. "Here Comes a Regular" is the yang to "Bastard's" yin. While "Bastards of Young" is a call to arms, "Here Comes a Regular" is a surrender. Instead of the young man who leaves home for new adventures, it provides the perspective of the young man who just can't leave his hometown, still working the same dead-end blue collar job, and still drinking at the same bar with all of his school buddies. Westerberg captures an atmosphere in this song-story that is as reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen as the music is reminiscent of Bob Dylan. Yeah, it's that good. There are very few bands that could pull off this kind of depth, but Paul Westerberg is no ordinary songwriter.

p.s. The "Bastards of Young" video directs viewers to YouTube because they don't allow embedding on this one, but watch out, there's an ad for an ultra-right wing, Tea Party-like group that is so antithetical to the Replacements, that this type of ad-matching should be a crime.

Friday's Playlist: 7-22-11

Paul Kelly & Angus Stone – “Four Seasons in One Day”
Echo & the Bunnymen – “Action Woman (Live)”
Fountains of Wayne – “Valley Winter Song”
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – “Ice-Breaker”
Oneohtrix Point Never – “Immanence”
Male Bonding – “T.U.F.F.”
The Mission – “Kingdom Come (Heavenly Mix)”
Broken Social Scene – “Sweetest Kill”
Sigur Rós – “Untitled 1 (aka Vaka)”
The Hooters – “Day by Day”
Gravenhurst – “The Ice Tree”
Broken Bells – “Your Head is on Fire”
Washed Out – “Soft”
Marvin Gaye – “God is Love”
Mogwai – “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong (Live)”
Robyn – “Hang With Me”
Thin Lizzy – “Don’t Believe a Word”
Lansing-Dreiden – “An Effect of the Night”
Sara Watkins – “Give Me Jesus”
The Boxer Rebellion – “Caught by the Light”
Squeeze – “Heaven”
Ryan Adams – “Sweet Lil’ Gal (23rd / 1st)”
Underworld – “Hamburg Hotel”
The Killers – “Smile Like You Mean It”
Alexander Robotnick – “Problems D’Amour”
Underworld – “Always Loved a Film”
Rival Schools – “On Vacation”
New Order – “As It Is When It Was”
Oneohtrix Point Never – “Transmat Memories”
Jay-Z – “Can I Get A…”
The Futureheads – “Stop the Noise”
Kate Bush – “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)”
The Thermals – “Not Like any Other Feeling”
Belle & Sebastian – “Sunday’s Pretty Icons”
Stina Nordenstam – “Like a Swallow”
Kool Moe Dee – “Look at Me Now”
The Knack – “Let Me Out”
The Waterboys – “This is the Sea”
R.E.M. – “Catapult (Demo)”
Gin Blossoms – “Til I Hear It From You”
Tom Waits – “Strange Weather (Live)”
Nina Simone – “Sinnerman (Housecat’s Heavenly House Mix)”
Girls – “God Damned”
ESG – “UFO”
Tom Waits – “Step Right Up”
Missing Persons – “Hello, I Love You”
The Mountain Goats – “Age of Kings”
Robyn – “Dancing On My Own”
The Eels – “The Morning”
The Smiths – “There is a Light that Never Goes Out”
Ladytron – “Runaway”
The Dears – “Unsung”

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 25

R.E.M. - "Driver 8"



(Single Release: September 1985)
I think "Driver 8" can be pinpointed as being the moment when I fell in love with R.E.M. I can't attribute that love to any one element of the song. Peter Buck's country rock guitar jangle, the almost Schoolhouse Rock quality to the lyrics, Mike MIlls' backup vocals, and the glorified rural imagery became enmeshed in a memorable and powerful song. Further, all of these things seemed to be rehearsal for even more great songs to come, such as the Mills backup vocals in "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."

And the train conductor says, "Take a break, Driver 8. Driver 8, take a break, we can reach our destination...but we're still a ways away."

These lyrics, to me, seemed mythic. We get so much to read into with so few words. We know there's an engine driver and we can assume he's been working too long or too hard and needs to rest up because it's a long journey that is nowhere near completion. There is almost a John Henry or Paul Bunyan aspect to the story. The anonymous Driver 8 is our hero, or at least a symbol of a bygone age. The world is rapidly changing around the time of the song. Things are being built, there are now devices for airplanes, and the age of rail is coming to an end. Anyone who has seen power lines with floaters are immediately taken to that image when Michael Stipe mentions them. I remember seeing them on power lines across California Interstate 15. My mind goes there every time I hear this song. I also remember the first time I put together the Southern rural imagery of this song, and the age of rail, with the title of the album, Fables of the Reconstruction. Yes, it took me longer than I care to admit. But, these tales of the post-Civil War Industrial Age are all part of a larger mosaic. Does anybody really do this anymore? The answer is yes (see: Titus Andronicus), but not nearly as often as it should. Especially now, in this a la carte digital era of music, what is the point of making an album if the songs don't hang together in some way and become larger as the sum than as individual pieces? But, I digress. "Driver 8" sent me on a lifelong journey with R.E.M., metaphorically gazing out the window at wheat and corn fields whizzing by, row ends stretching into a single horizon point, telephone poles blurring in the foreground. The South has, at least musically, risen again, and a lot of it thanks to R.E.M., but has also seen great hip-hop, a metal renaissance, and blistering post-rock.

"Bells are ringing through the town again..."

Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 24

Prince - "Raspberry Beret" & Pop Life"





(Single Releases: May & July 1985)
I feel the first thing I have to do on this post is comment on the videos above. You see, Prince doesn't allow his artistic properties to be presented on YouTube. Frankly, I'm not even sure how this poster got away with it, other than by mentioning fair use. I don't blame Prince. His battles with record companies and intermediaries are well documented. But, it makes it difficult to do a survey like these. In these instances, I merely suggest you take in the music and not worry so much about the visuals, which is somewhat a shame since Prince is known for making great videos. In 1985, I was still riding high on the wave created by Purple Rain, an album that is easily one in my top 5 album of all-time list. Like another of my favorite artists, David Bowie, Prince would continually reinvent himself and his music. Prince had always been versatile, but his follow-up album to his biggest success was a surprise to some. He went from dramatic funk-rock and erotic imagery to the hippie-aesthetic of Around the World in a Day. There was a Sgt. Peppers vibe ever-present throughout the tracks on the album, while still maintaining Prince's masterful ability to craft universally great pop melodies. In other words, Prince keeps changing, but is always constant. Is that contradictory? With Prince, I'd argue that it isn't. "Raspberry Beret" and "Pop Life" were the two most popular singles from the album, hitting #'s 1 and 7 respectively. Though I love "Beret," I actually prefer the smooth ride of "Pop Life," with great Purple Rain-esque backup vocals from Wendy and Lisa. It also touched on social issues, in somewhat of a rehearsal for Sign o' the Times. While his 1985 album didn't have as much resonant cachet as Purple Rain, or the consistent groove of Parade, it deserves notice and attention for these two songs alone.

Wednesday's Playlist 7-20-11

PJ Harvey – “The Glorious Land”
Glasser – “Plane Temp”
Phosphorescent – “Heaven, Sittin’ Down”
Obits – “Naked to the World”
Tim DeLaughter – “Move Away and Shine”
Stereolab – “Neon Beanbag (Atlas Sound Mix)”
The Go-Go’s – “Let’s Have a Party”
Scritti Politti – “Is and Ought the Western World”
Twin Shadow – “At My Heels”
Orbital – “Out There Somewhere 1”
The Smiths – “Unloveable”
Scritti Politti – “The Boom Boom Bap”
The Smiths – “Golden Lights”
Raphael Saadiq – “Go to Hell”
Ladytron – “Playgirl”
Styx – “Renegade”
Jesu – “Broken Home”
The Bird & the Bee – “Sara Smile”
Tom Waits – “Jockey Full of Bourbon”
The Dismemberment Plan – “Come Home”
Danger Mouse – “December 4th”
Elbow – “Friend of Ours”
The Cure – “Homesick”
The Go! Team – “Yosemite Theme”
James Brown – “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine”
Obits – “Standards”
The Pretenders – “Brass in Pocket”
Weezer – “No Other One”
The Hold Steady – “Hurricane J”
R.E.M. – “Just a Touch”
Gorillaz – “The Sounder (Edit)”
Duran Duran – “Planet Earth (Night Version)”
Spoon – “Back to the Life”
First Aid Kit – “Pervigilo”
Nada Surf – “Bye Bye Beaute”
Randy Newman – “Louisiana, 1927 (KCRW)”
Brigitte Bardot et Serge Gainsbourg – “Bonnie and Clyde”
De La Soul – “Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)”
Trail of Dead – “The Wasteland”
Loch Lomond – “Stripe II”

Highlights from My Vinyl Collection, Part 6

This is the sixth installment of "Highlights from My Vinyl Collection," an appreciation of great music, not necessarily rare finds or expensive imports. This is not about "deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased - underlined - Frank Zappa albums," as Rob Gordon so eloquently put it, though a small few select gems might appear every now and again.



The Beatles - Meet the Beatles!

Not all of the albums in my collection were acquired through a personal cash transaction. I suppose a more succinct way of saying that would be, "I didn't buy all of my albums." Oh well. I've never claimed to be economical with language. No, this is one of maybe 20 or so albums that I inherited (or took from a sibling under the cover of night because they didn't own a record player). I have no idea if Meet the Beatles!, in this Capitol Records American edition is worth any money. Actually, that's not true. I just looked it up between sentences and it's worth about $20, even though it this particular pressing is declared as "rare." But, that is not what is so special about this. I just love that I have a copy of "Meet the Beatles!" Plus, the condition that the record is in speaks volumes, and is not necessarily in the prime condition for getting the highest price. The vinyl itself is in decent condition, but I'm talking about the cover. My name is on the cover in thick black marker because at one time, I liked to put my name on everything, much to my parents' chagrin. On the back, in thin pencil writing that I presume is my father's, though it could have been my uncle's, are "real" running times next to the official ones. You see, my dad (again presuming) added the silence between tracks to get a true running time per side. There is something comforting about that. It shows me that this record was loved, and it captures a quality of those who owned it before, something that can't be replicated. And in the meantime, um, hello...

Side 1:
1. I Want to Hold Your Hand
2. I Saw Her Standing There
3. This Boy
4. It Won't Be Long
5. All I've Got to Do
6. All My Loving

Side 2:
1. Don't Bother Me
2. Little Child
3. Till There Was You
4. Hold Me Tight
5. I Wanna Be Your Man
6. Not a Second Time

Heck, "This Boy" and "Till There Was You" are amazing by themselves, but surrounded by all these powerhouse songs? Growing up, I always seemed to prefer the later Beatles work, but now have begun to fully appreciate just how mindblowingly good these guys were. And man, that iconic album cover. Sometimes, I just pull this record out and look at it, not even bothering to play it. It has that much power.