Monday 9 September 2024

ABBA - Lay All Your Love On Me


[1980]
There's a reason why ABBA continue to be interesting long after they existed. 

People go on about European electro-pop and disco with pioneers like Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, Numan and what have you but do ABBA ever get seriously noticed when it comes to innovation and just plain peak state of the art sound... I dunno. They were always doing something weird or dark in the background that you might not have noticed on initial listening. 

Here's a quote from Carl Magnus Palm taken from his book ABBA: The Complete Recording Sessions (1994):

"Lay All Your Love on Me is known for a descending vocal sound at the end of the verse immediately preceding the refrain. This was achieved by sending the vocal into a harmoniser device, which was set up to produce a slightly lower-pitched version of the vocal. In turn its output was fed back to its input, thereby continually lowering the pitch of the vocal. Andersson and Ulvaeus felt that the chorus of the song sounded like a hymn, so parts of the vocals in the choruses were run through a [[vocoder]], to recreate the sound of a church congregation singing, slightly out of tune."

Now have a good listen on the hi-fi or through headphones and all manner of unusual spooky shit will reveal itself. That's pre-DJ Screw shadowy chopped and screwed shenanigans at the end of the verses innit. Then, I mean, a church choir deliberately being made to sound slightly wrong without you actually realising is pretty perverse, unnerving and kinda sinister. This deleterious to your unassuming mind chicanery is similar to the psychological games that horror movies play upon you. 

Monday 2 September 2024

Mercury Rev - A Bird Of No Address


A Bird Of No Address - Mercury Rev (2024)
This is surprisingly almost very good. I mean it feels like it's gonna go interstellar at any minute but just kind of wimps out with some weak drumming that just doesn't coalesce into the great crescendo you were wishing for but its got hints of past genius in there and sounds a bit like it coulda been on See You On The Other Side (1995). Maybe it needs to be considered just low key not bad for a couple of old fellas. 

I'm still getting over the fact that they'll never be the same as David Baker era Mercury Rev but hey he only left the band thirty years ago. It's not like I didn't love post-Baker cds See You On The Other Side, Deserters Songs and half of All Is A Dream thoughTwo of my favourite early Mercury Rev tunes Blood On The Moon and Frittering were Johnathan and Grasshopper sans David songs anyway. 


Blood On The Moon - Mercury Rev (1990)
This was on the the bonus disc Lego My Ego which was included on a later 1992 version of the Yerself Is Steam cd. I think this is Grasshopper on lead vocals.


Frittering - Mercury Rev (1991)
Hang on, remember this classic! Frittering is an ecstatic blast of a tune. Reinventing the psychedelic space-rock jam for the 90s, Mercury Rev absolutely kill it here and it still sounds fucking great. The ravishing 5.17 moment when mind blowing lift off begins is well worth the wait. When euphoria was the goal and the possibilities seemed endless. 

Tuesday 27 August 2024

More On Movies... the return part IV


Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
A bunch of blowhard actors play a bunch of blowhard real estate salesmen playing macho status games. I mean if you're in the mood this character study has an impeccable ensemble cast where they inhabit these characters in consummate fashion. Jack Lemon's particularly great. Features peak Kevin Spacey. Not really much of a story though. 


The Apartment (1960)
Black comedy pinnacle. With a view to getting promoted, insurance officer Bud Baxter (Jack Lemon) lends out his apartment to a bunch of senior executives so they may participate in their extramarital affairs. Shenanigans ensue but with grim consequences. Whilst The Apartment is funny and clever it presents a bleak vision of urban modernity and the decline of moral values. Written and directed brilliantly by Billy Wilder and co-scripted by IAL Diamond. Jack Lemon pulls off incredible virtuoso performance along with Shirley MacLaineFred MacMurray, the stunning set design, the cinematography, the fashions and... 
 

Con Air (1997)
Absurd OTT action nonsense of the highest calibre. An array of miscreants, some of America's most reprehensible criminals, are gathered together on one aeroplane what could go wrong? Well everything. Some of the silliest action fun to ever be seen on a cinema screen. Action heroes used to be somewhat likeable, here though, the film makers poking fun, deliberately want us to cheer on the twerpiest smug fuck US Marshall (John Cussack) and the relatively unappealing Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage) who is meant to be the movie's hero. Then Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi) the vile evil genius serial killer escapes into the night for a giddy ending, after all it was the 90s.


Great Expectations (1946)
Dickens brought to the screen by the master David Lean. Great set design, costumery, atmosphere, actoring etc. all captured by spectacular cinematography.


This Is England (2006)
With a backdrop of Thatcher, mass unemployment and The Falklands war. A 12 year old working class kid Shaun gets drawn into an older gang who are a loose conglomeration of misfits generally identifying with the skinhead subculture and its adjacent trends of mod, two-tone, oi, new romantic and whatever else. The gang soon becomes divided when Combo is released from prison and appears with his racially divisive views. A tragedy unfolds... it's a credit to the director Shane Meadows that this didn't end up as preachy propaganda. Supreme acting from terrific ensemble and empathetic film making guarantee you are watching some of the best 21st century cinema. 


The Heartbreak Kid (1972) 
A groundbreaking cringe-comedy cult movie written by Neil Simon and directed by Elaine May. Unlikeable characters do unlikeable things in unlikeable black comedy. Surely this can't be as bad as I think it is. Perhaps our appetite for insufferable characters who we'd normally love to hate, has waned because parliament and social media has overloaded us with actual real life living contemptible creatures that we are now at our wits end of tolerance. 


Dead Mans Shoes (2004)
Is this Shane Meadows' masterpiece? A classical depiction of revenge and redemption set in dilapidated and neglected rural England. Week men with no moral integrity commit an atrocity but they will be held accountable for their actions because ultimately they are responsible for them. A peak in early 21st century film making. 


Cinderella Man (2005)
He's Irish, He's a boxer. He's down and out in New York city. It's the great depression. He needs to feed his wife and kids and pay the electric. He gets a second chance for a big fight. He is Russell Crowe and you can't deny he's pretty bloody good at the ole actoring thing... even when it's cheesy shit like this. Also this is just an excellent cinematic boxing spectacle. 




A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Garish, lurid, bawdy, over the top and a whole lotta wrong fun. A bit of the old ultra violence, a little of the old in-out in-out and a bit of the old Ludwig Van. Fifty years later with the election in the Uk of a dull un-statesman-like prime-minister, who hates his own fellow Englishmen, A Clockwork Orange remains relevant as a satire on authoritarian governments and bureaucratic control. Every frame is iconic, Malcom McDowell as Alex is iconic and well the whole thing is iconic.


Brief Encounter (1945)
One of the most perfectly realised movies ever. This is so beautifully made you don't even realise it's doing that noir circular flashback, end at the start thing. It's a diabolical romance without being a diabolical romance. Two ordinary middle class people are caught in a moral dilemma as they are unwittingly swept up in a delicious forbidden romance. Great characters wonderfully portrayed by top actors. Can't really fault this understated and charming film, everything's in the right place. 


Rollerball (1975)
Managerial elites from the ruling corporation control every aspect of rollerball (a cross between handball, roller derby and speedway no less) champion Johnathan E's life, sound familiar? This paranoid futuristic dystopian saga with James Caan roller skating is supreme kitch-a-delia of the most turgid variety. Not as much fun as it used to be now we're living the nightmare where ruling corporations like Black Rock have more wealth and influence than most countries and oligarch's are nefariously pulling all sorts of strings that we are powerless to stop. 

Thursday 15 August 2024

The Smiths - Well I Wonder


[1985]
CardrossManiac was a Thirteen year old doing year 8 at high school in 1985 when Smiths albums entered the home. My older brother left behind a vinyl copy of Hatful Of Hollow. Going from INXS, Models, Mentals, Hoodoo Gurus and u2 to The Smiths might not seem like such a big deal but it was massive. Those other bands were mostly fun, good time music or uplifting. The Smiths however dwelt on uncomfortable and dark themes, not always of course, sometimes they were a great laugh and a lot of the time they were dark and comic during the same song. 

I've never thought about this before but I don't reckon I ever played a Smiths tape around my mates and I doubt any of them knew who they were. I mean we're talking Australia in the mid 80s in a dusty isolated country town 500 kms away from Melbourne. This was a long time before national youth network radio JJJ or the even further away internet. This was Chisel territory mate! Acca Dacca and the Oils too. 

It wasn't until a year later that a girl in the schoolyard recognised me singing Frankly, Mr Shankly that I even realised it was possible that others knew about The Smiths. She had older capital city siblings too. Then by 86/87 The Queen Is Dead and Strangeways Here We Come were in local record stores if you knew what you were looking for. Plus telly-wise, by then, it wasn't just Countdown, Beat Box, Rock Arena and Sounds but the all night music video show Rage had begun showing on ABC on Friday and Saturday nights. So we were all becoming a lot more familiar with little known bands. I recall Smiths coverage in music magazines (that were on country newsstands) from 1984 onwards like Australian Smash Hits, Countdown Magazine, Ram and Juke. 

By 1988 when The Smiths had broken up I even recall chicks, I would have considered uncool, with Smiths tapes at school. By this time they had appeared on John Hughes soundtracks and anyone with a vcr and a keen eye on Rock Arena and Rage would have had a compilation of Smiths film clips on a VHS tape.

Anyway for some reason or other I never had a copy of Meat Is Murder until later. I'd listened to my brother's cassette version many times but something about the production gave me the shits. Also the title irked me. How could I abide supporting an album that had a title that went against my own interests ie. meat pies, sausage rolls, roasts, bangers, burgers, Bolognese and chops! Such people are still annoying me to this day, trying to impose their zealous views about meat consumption on the general steak-loving public. All its gonna take is one authoritarian premier or prime minister to say that's all folks. We've already had meat bans at junior football clubs here in Victoria so... Maybe having our meat-rights taken away is when Aussies will actually wake up and finally get off their arses and stand up to the creeping totalitarianism. I'm all for a meat based revolution...

Anyway the above tune has been very underrated by me and possibly you for thirty nine years. It's been a long time since I've read a Smiths book or ultimate Mojo guide magazine so I don't recall if others rated Now I Wonder highly or not. Surely though it's one of their best. These lovelorn lyrics could easily be seen as a bit histrionic but the group approach the song with such incredible sensitivity it's breathtaking. 

The gorgeous drear driving rain stillness bass of Andy Rourke, the perfect precise pressure of Mike Joyce's snare, the array of Johnny guitar greatness, I mean what is he doing exactly, are there strings in there too and Morrissey's voice in an absurd echo-chamber permeates the entire thing. It's a teenage opera of unrequited love with just the right amount of restraint to make it delicious and not dire. 

Well I Wonder is the Smiths at their most understated and tender. 

Great.

Wednesday 14 August 2024

Saturday 10 August 2024

Blue Oyster Cult: Subhuman


[1974]
So ladies, fish and gentlemen this is a fucking great tune from the excellent Secret Treaties LP. 

The future and the past, the familiar and the uncommon all represent in this sea-breeze-y fluid psychedelia. Mysterious and dark sci-fi subject matter amid some 70s guitar glory. 

A sound sometimes trapped in strange cul-de-sacs then freed into driving flow motion. 

Thursday 1 August 2024

Chrysalis - Definition


Chrysalis - Lacewing (1968)
Chrysalis are off their rockers on this acid-folk gem. 

Back in the day New York's Chrysalis were ultra obscure, barely even a cult group despite having Zappa connections, only appearing on a couple of 90s bootleg compilations. Definition their one and only LP was just a mythical, impossible to find, "collectors scum" album until it finally got a reissue in the 00s by Rev-ola. It's another one of these almost classic records which is sometimes considered a minor masterpiece in certain quarters. There's no doubt that some of Definition's tunes are great stuff. 


Chrysalis - Father's Getting Old (1968)
The classic radio-friendly heavy psychedelic rock tune of the LP. Coulda been a hit. 
 

Chrysalis - Piece Of Sun (1968)
The great psych trick of making weird music totally accessible delicious pop music. Complete with brass and woodwinds not forgetting some insane bass and psych guitar shenanigans of the highest order. 

Monday 29 July 2024

Monserrat Figueras/La Capella Reial de Catalunya - El Cant de la Sibil•la I


[1988]
The other contender for greatest medieval Gregorian chant record of all time. This one's a bit more on the pitch black sombre side compared to the previously mentioned Canticles Of Ecstasy from Sequentia which was a lot more on the er... ecstatic tip. The haunting atmosphere here is unbelievably eerie and solemn so I wasn't surprised to learn that the subject matter covered by these ye olde "in foreign" vocals was of an apocalyptic nature. 

El Cant De La Sibil.la (The Song Of Sibyl) has been a Christmas eve favourite in many churches for a thousand years, even getting banned in the sixteenth century.

The captivating lead vocal performance from Montserrat Figueras i García is absolutely sublime. While La Capella Reial De Catalunya's execution of their ominous choral duties and Crawford Young's consummate oud playing perfectly compliment Montserrat, sending the entire endeavour into the transcendent. 

Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, man and true eternal God, from Heaven will come to judge and to everyone will give what is fair.

Great fire from the heaven will come down; seas, fountains and rivers, all will burn. Fish will scream loudly and in horror losing their natural delights.

Before the Judgement the Antichrist will come and will give suffering to everyone,
and will make himself be served like God, and who does not obey he will make die.

His reign will be very short; in these times under his power will die martyrs, all at once. Those two saints, Elijah and Enoch.

The sun will lose its light showing itself dark and veiled, the moon will give no light and the whole world will be sorrow.

To the evil ones he will say very sourly: —Go, damned, into the torment! Go into the eternal fire with your prince of Hell!

To the good he will say: —My children, come! Lucky ones, you possess the kingdom I have kept for you ever since the world was created!

Oh humble Virgin! May you who have given birth to Child Jesus on this night, pray to your son so he will want to keep us from Hell!

The prophesy has been foretold.

Friday 26 July 2024

The Kinks - Flash's Confession


[1974]
Right, for a start, here's just one tune from Preservation Act 2. How this is not an iconic canonical 70s rock tune is beyond me. So if you're not willing to sit through a double concept album of the rock-opera variety you're just not gonna find it but there are four or five others that are just as great. Really though the entire two record set is a misunderstood quasi minor masterpiece. Some of the tunes might not work out of context but it isn't like they're not accessible or fabulous. You may have to set aside your 60s Kinks expectations but its really not that hard because Ray Davies' genius is on display here too. 

On the instrumental front, Flash's Confession is bizarrely reminiscent of peak 70s Anatolian Psych. This insanely funky wah-wah action is indeed some of Dave Davies' best ever guitar work. Dave is on fire throughout the entire Preservation Act 2. Lyrically it is sung from the point of view of the character Flash who is having a depersonalization experience while he confesses to his evil wrongful ways and awaits his comeuppance. 

"Been a cheat, been a crook
Never gave I always took
Crushed people to acquire
Anything that I desired
Been deceitful and a liar
Now I'm facing Hell Fire
I can't believe that my time has come
For confessing all the evil
And the wrong that I've done
The reckoning's come
And now I'm just a no one
I confess to the timid and the meek
To the cripples and the beggars
And the tramps in the street
I confess my cruelty, my ego and conceit
I've opened up my body and looked inside
And I'm everything that I once despised
I confess for the thieves
The affected and deranged
I confess for the muggers and incurably insane
I confess to the ugly for being so vain
I confess to those I hurt for causing them pain"

A selection of lyrics from Flash's Confession indicating a songwriter who is undeniably on top of his game. 

Wednesday 24 July 2024

Hildegard von Bingen - Canticles Of Ecstasy


Missed this cd at the time, only discovering it this year. As far as 90s atmospheric liturgical jams go this is peak heavenly gear. It might just be the best album of 1994. It's some holy Gregorian chant music from the 12th century. This Hildegard bird was certainly touched by the hand of God. Apparently she was the mbv of her era with her ecstatic yet accessible tunes pushing the boundaries of her genre (monophonic chant) to the outer limits. 

This stunning deeply devotional performance by medieval music ensemble Sequentia is notable for its spectacular soaring heavenly voices and ethereal beauty. Husband and wife team Barbara Thornton (chorus master/lead vocalist) and Benjamin Bagby (arranger/instrumentalist) along with a holy chorus of vocalists seem intent on raising the human spirit to levels near to the divine. 

Take this glorious journey and before you know it you will be closer to God and what a splendid place to be. Canticles Of Ecstasy's a mysterious celestial experience that deserves to be celebrated.  

Friday 19 July 2024

Pavement


Summer Babe (Winter Version) - Pavement (1992)
Before their twerp-iness kicked in, Pavement ruled in 91/92. The perfect anthemic slacker jam for the 19/20 year old I was. Now it's just a nostalgia show for the sad old man I am now. For all their Fall-isms this tune also reminds me of the guitar work on the pop tunes from Bowie's Low (1977), am I right? Holy sonic data representations of remarkable lackadaisical exuberance Batman.

The tunes on Slanted & Enchanted like the Nevermind demos had an airing throughout 1991 on 3PBSFM in Melbourne, where I was, and probably other college and community radio stations throughout the western world, way before getting officially released.


Box Elder - Pavement (1989)
Tunes from the earlier eps would get an airing too. Two things got them noticed outside that pushed them into the limelight, maybe... was it?... Melody Maker's Everette True praising one of their eps then Wedding Present doing a cover of this on a b-side. At this stage Pavement were just Malkmus and Spiral Stairs with contributions and production duties from the one and only Gary Young. Once this classic line-up ended they went shit ie. post-Slanted & Enchanted

Box Elder's actually got a clear narrative of someone who's being held back by his girlfriend but he's gonna make a break and he's glad. I guess in the vein of The Byrds I Feel A Whole Lot Better. Pavement really capture the essence of this scenario in one of the great defiant break-up songs. Poignant yet invigorating, incredibly contagious stuff.


From Now On - Pavement (1991)
...er they were Swell Maps fans you know...


Trigger Cut - Pavement (1992)
Cool sounding words with cool sounding guitars is always a winning combination. Not to diminish the strange rhythmic stylings of Gary Young either. The whole thing has that classic low key cardboard pyrotechnical sound. 

I don't know what most of their songs were ever really about due their surreal/cut up/non sequitur style but they just had this air of "jolly to be wasting your youthful days" kinda vibe, which was a chief principle at the time. I guess that's more of a perverted or inverse principle... 


In The Mouth A Desert - Pavement (1992)
I guess this is like a quasi Pixies tribute innit. Somebody once wrote in Mojo that The Pixies were the last original rock band and no truer word has been spoken in that magazine. It isn't quite as rip off-y as Smells Like Teen Spirit or A Good Idea but hat bass-line is straight outa Kim Deal's playbook. Chuck in a bit of quiet/loud and Santiago-isms but then's it's fused with a Slint-esque darkness and a sprinkling Beefheart-esque guitar sounds. There's just enough that's intrinsically Pavement-y to make this all time 90s rock classic all their own.

Peak slacker rock right here folks! 

Tuesday 16 July 2024

Preservation Act 1 - The Kinks


Sweet Lady Genevieve - The Kinks (1973)
Speaking of harmonica on outlier fan favourite records, how about this number from the 1973 Kinks record Preservation Act 1. I mean the following year's Preservation Act 2 is the real Kinks outlier but you know critics hated the fairly accessible Act 1 as well. 

Sweet Lady Genevieve is an absolute Kinks classic. 


Sitting In The Midday Sun - The Kinks (1973)
But wait this one might even be better. The great slacker jam of all time innit. 

It's my absolute anthem. Although as opposed to Ray Davies saying he's sitting in the midday sun for no particular purpose I have a very specific purpose whilst doing it. I've recovered from my ailments recently mostly by sitting in the midday sun every day. For years I was just resigned to the reality that I was just going to be perpetually ill and in a state of malaise and spiritual demise, much like Charles Darwin was for many years, for the rest of my life. But this sunshine lark has been an absolute winner. I'm sometimes spending over four hours every day in the sun. Luckily I live in one of the sunniest regions in Australia. So even in the middle of winter I'm still getting a lot of sunshine in my life. It has made everything so much better. As the song goes along you actually realize Ray does see particular benefits and purposes of lazing in the midday sun too. Getting off anti-depressants, doing daily exercise, eating more eggs, meat & veggies and cutting back on carbs has also helped. Don't get sucked into the trauma/therapy/psychology/big pharma complex, they are cultivating weakness moreover want you sick and not thriving. Soon every aspect of our personalities will be pathologized. Your existential dilemmas don't need a psychiatric diagnosis. Just Nah! That's my rant. it's probably phobic or racist or sexist or something now that we've reached peak cultural left-ism, fringe bullshit, globalist retardation and poison ideas. 
 

Daylight - The Kinks (1973)
This too... actually all of Preservation Act 1 is ace. Even on other tracks when it goes into esoteric conceptual prog rock opera territory, it's still Ray Davies and band at the top of their game.


Cricket - The Kinks (1973)
The critics who dislike the music hall aspects of The Kinks don't truly understand the band. Honestly entire records of this absurd comedic jazz would be a splendid things to these ears. Listen a little closer and you realise this a philosophical tune with cricket as the battlefield between good and evil. 


One Of The Survivors -The Kinks (1973)
One of their great rockin tunes. Steve Jones surely lifted some riffage elements here didn't he. This goes as hard as any Iggy, Ziggy, Lobby or Lou tunes of the era. I suppose Johnny Thunders got his name from The Kinks. The character Johnny Thunder, who first appeared on Village Green Preservation Society (1968), is fleshed out further as he makes a reprise appearance here as a greying, overweight old rock'n'roller biker. 


Money And Corruption/I Am Your Man - The Kinks (1973)
I guess you can't really discuss Preservation Act 1 without mention of its centrepiece. This is where the prog-folk theatrical rock opera stylings get an airing. Once you get past the fear of a tune being in that vein you will realise it still beautiful Ray Davies melodies, emotionally poignant, peak storytelling lyrics and a lovely arrangement. 

What could actually be problematic is the subject matter that veers into almost cringe naivety Imagine zones where the narrator in the second half of the song is promising classlessness and yet also great wealth. We all know where all that tragically leads in reality. Then you realise this is a song, a story, and this proposal is being presented by a character by the name of Mr Black who may well be just another charlatan with big promises. 

Mr Black turns up in the second half of the tune after the chorus of the people had been complaining "Money and corruption are ruining the land/Crooked politicians betray the working man" but then the chorus naively sing "Show us a man who'll be our Saviour" instead of just asking for some actual democracy where your hard earned money isn't stolen by corruption, given to undeserving competing victim groups or wasted on retarded governmental programmes/rorts.

I mean this is prescient to this day in the UK. Why are the people being dealt absurd shitful hands where the immigration is so insanely high for housing construction to keep up, not that anyone can afford it once it's built anyway. Setting the population up for failure, a possible collapse and sectarian violence. This isn't just happening in England either it's in Australia, USA etc... back in 1973 it might have seemed possible to get a fair go but 50 years later whatever remaining illusion of democracy has been totally shattered. The globalists, oligarchs, NGOs, multinational mega-corps, deep states etc. are not allowing western democracies to act in their own interests. Our countries don't belong to us and our overlords hate us. Sorry 'bout the bleaknesss... but...

David Bowie - Never Let Me Down


[1987]
An underrated Bowie tune from his floundering era. I guess it fits with the sophist-pop scene of the age though. You tend to forget how often he used harmonica which always seems so anachronistic because it just so early Bob. Anyway Never Let Me Down was a slight bit of a relief after terrible singles like Blue Jean, Day In Day Out, all these soundtrack things and the bloody shemozzles he did with Tina Turner and Mick Jagger. I don't think anyone in my family ever had a copy of this album but it was pretty ubiquitous in other households at the time despite its poor critical reception but according to AA it's maybe one of these outlier fan favourite records like The Kinks Preservation Act  2 (1974). 

Monday 15 July 2024

Cornucopia ► Day of a Daydreambeliever


[1973]
A psychedelic kraut-prog freakout of epic proportionings. For some this sprawling ott jam is gonna be way too much but others are going to enjoy the too much is just enough vibe. 

Wednesday 10 July 2024

Loverboy - Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti


So Glad - Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti (2002)
Wait... just checking.... Ariel still a genius. 

Loverboy's so daydreamy/night-dreamy/hallucinatory. All the amorphous intergalactic synth-y seepage//brainwave spillage/melodic rowboats in soda-waves/haunted hypno-fogggy spray-painted air/mixed lolly loitering/unhinged hazy baby psych/glow-y neon phantasms/pop unrealities you could ask for.

*This goes out to those who can't see past their dogmatic ideologically captured media sources. The aesthetic and material properties of AP's music didn't change between 2002 and 2021.


GHost - Areil Pink's Haunted Grafiitti (2002)
One of the great Haunted Grafitti moments. A barmy baroque bee gee barbershop pet sound spirals into glaring off kilter overdrive with added intergalactic Jed Clampett-isms. 

Absolute Ariel anthem.


Let's Get Married Tonight - Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti (2002)
A blistering bananas bubblegum psych-pop bonanza. Even the most unlikely, unfathomable and absurd Ariel tunes are pulled off with such aplomb it's hard to deny them. 

Thursday 4 July 2024

More On Movies...The Return III



Murder My Sweet (1944)
Is this the best movie ever or incoherent nonsense? I tend to think a statement made from an amalgamation of those two questions is correct. A confusing journey of going nowhere but cutely summarised at the end is this film's MO. You can either enjoy the ride or opt out.


King Boxer aka Five Fingers Of Death (1972)
Is this the most beautifully photographed 70s kung Fu flick? It is absolutely stunning to look and the story is ace too. This is the kinda kung fu movie I would recommend to those who enjoyed Crouching Tiger Hidden Camera.


A Woman's Vengeance (1948)
A murder mystery from the pen of Aldous Huxley, directed with an unbearably heavy hand. Still it's not a bad story but I couldn't recommend it unless you're a womens picture enthusiast or a noir completist. 



Cops V Thugs (1975)
Kinji Fukasaku directed Yakuza soap opera about real estate deal disputes and corruption in society. Hard to recommend this to anybody unless you're a Yakuza fanatic. 


After Dark My Sweet (1990)
This adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel is a flawed cult neo-noir. California's relentless glaring sunshine and desert mountains as the backdrop make this cinematically epic. Thirty five years later Rachel Ward's acting is still a bit ropey but I now think that maybe-perhaps Jason Patric's performance is genius and hey Bruce Dern never misses.

An escaped mental patient a Punch-drunk ex boxer meets actual drunk in a bar and uh-oh all of a sudden he's involved in a kidnapping conspiracy. He is coerced by a femme fatale and her uncle to kidnap a rich kid. A perplexing study of one man's mental turmoil.  


Larceny (1948)
Good fun little crime con story. Underrated noir with legends Dan Duryea and Shelley Winters.


Mr Vampire (1985)
Vampire-zombie-ghost comedy kinda thing that could have only come from Hong Kong in the 80s! So much fun if you can surrender to its silly charms, otherwise you're gonna hate it.


Under The Silver Lake (2018)
David Robert Mitchell, director of 2012's It Follows, very obvious homage to Altman's Long Goodbye and other sprawling noirs. In the first half hour I thought this was gonna be the great neo-noir of the new millennium. I was cursed from the moment that notion entered my head as it started quite the drastic downslide in quality from then on. In a word bloated. However Elvis' grand daughter Riley Keogh does make an unforgettable appearance.


Deported (1950)
An Italian-American crook is deported back to Italy after spending time in prison for a bankroll heist? How will he ever be able to live off the spoils of the loot without the American and Italian authorities catching him doing so? Includes romance with a wealthy countess, hang on just what is a countess. Unusual crime/noir from legendary director Robert Siodmak


Violent Cop (1989)
Takeshi Kitano's auspicious directing debut. There's a doomed slow burning inevitability about this grim nihilistic tale. Does what it says on the tin in a very strange and effective manner. This outsider cosmic cop is fed up of the criminal degeneracy and corrupt police force and aims to stamp some of it out but is he a goodie or a baddie?



Taken (2008)
Somehow I managed to miss this pop culture moment at the time. A tale of a daughter's kidnapping by an illegal immigrant in a foreign country and her fathers relentless crusade to track her down then exact revenge. Prescient themes to this day. No holds barred visceral filmmaking. Absolutely entertaining. 




Casino Raiders (1989)
An epic romantic saga disguised as a crime action flick. Gambling themes were a big thing in 80s Hong Kong gangster movies and it makes perfect cinematic sense as this device is a gift to visceral suspense.  


Romancing The Stone (1984)
This could only have been made in one decade. Once you suspend your disbelief and submit to the silliness, this is whole lotta fun. Romance, adventure, exotic jungles, lost treasure, über 80s-ness and Michael Douglas dancing: What more do you need?



Wheels On Meals (1984)
More great Hong Kong 80s comedy action fun. This one's set in Spain with two mates who own a food truck, a detective, a mysterious pickpocket lady, swords and a looney bin. Let the shenanigans ensue.


This Gun For Hire (1942)
There aren't many iconic films from the noir cannon I can't get on board with, there's The Asphalt Jungle, The Big Clock and This Gun For Hire, otherwise... 



A Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
A deadly assassin with amnesia living a quiet suburban life starts getting flashbacks of her former life. Then the supreme action and absurd storyline unfurls. Some of the best ott action sequences and banter from the 90s. Charisma galore with Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson plus top villainous performance from David Morse. Written by Shane Black. Entertainment!