David Essex - Gonna Make You a Star

[1974]

I always thought David Essex did like three singles then died in some kind of tragic motorcycle accident. But he's got over twenty five albums and was in Eastenders a few years back. 

The funny thing is he released eleven singles before releasing his first single Rock On in 1973 when I wasn't even two years old yet. So Gonna Make You A Star was his fourth proper single and some say shoulda been his last. Gonna Make You A Star is unusually produced glam almost yacht rock with synth breaks straight out of a BBC sports theme. Very strange, very emotional and very affective. Jolly good then.

Cliff Richard - Carrie

[1980]

Speaking of Cliff on Kenny Everett. Here he is doin' an old wave into new wave sophisticated sub Steely Dan jam. 80s Saxophone break included. Possibly Cliffford's finest moment. The sound of the radio back then all seemed so adult... it also seemed like there were a lot of songs about where people lived, who lived next door and who had moved away...

Cliff Richard - the girl can't help it

[1970]

Surprisingly convincing slow burning raunchy r&b from our wholesome Clifford. Brilliant funky arrangement from Mike Leander oozing sophisticated sleaze. 

*Sure my dad had old school 1950s Cliff singles but he will always be the really normal for a pop star guy with the cheese-y American teeth from The Kenny Everette Show for me.  

Slade - Coz I Luv You

[1971]

Has there ever been a more threatening love song? Coz I Luv You is a controlled detonation of a tune where Slade really pile on the tension with that persistent menacing throb, the unsettling mayhem of those electronic handclaps, insane violin and underlying stompiness as Noddy gets whipped into a maelstrom all in the name of love or perhaps lust.

MORRICONE - Copkiller (l'assassino dei poliziotti)

[1983]

Morricone rarely rocks out in a jock-rock manner. He might have some twangin' guitars on the spaghetti western soundtracks or have some wah-wah and fuzz infected psychedelic freak-outs on his giallo scores but here the finale is almost a conventional anthemic hard rock lead break. Anyway it's not just about the rockin' last 30 seconds, this track, which I assume is some kind of edited suite, has got all sorts of disparate elements going on - the atmospheric tension of the strings and horns, the haunting harpsichord, an array of swirling sinister bass, ominous drums, disorientating jazz noir lulls and that aforementioned bombastic rock out. A symphonic crime funk masterpiece. 

 

The entire original 1983 vinyl edition of this top ranking Morricone soundtrack. Funnily enough the rock guitar version of Cop Killer is not on here. It's only on the reissue cd from 2002. Some Morricone soundtracks are hard to sit through from go to woah as they are often repetitious variations on a theme. This record however works well as a home listening LP.

John Barry – The Ipcress File

[1965]

The coolest theme tune to a movie ever. Double retro of the mid 60s then this vibe was revived in the mid 90s with all the great trip-hop, lounge and downtempo gear. I have a vague recollection of a trip-hop act sampling this maybe, am I right?

That's not a guitar or a harpsichord no this one's all about the sound of that mysterious cimbalom, a Hungarian hammered dulcimer, giving this sparse spy jazz a sophisticated Euro touch. The moody vibes, creepy flutes and lonesome distant ghost of a trumpet combined with the menacing mellow melody of the cimbalom perfectly evoke a shadowy cold war atmosphere.  

DJ Crazee M - The Message

DJ Crazee M - The Message (1993)

Hardcore going into the darkside but not becoming overtly jungle-y. Bangin atmospheric techno more than anything. Fucking relentless and goes hard with the parapsychological sonics into the transmutating darkness. Totally plugged in to an inescapable visceral force. 

Jaime Mendoza-Nava - The Brotherhood of Satan

[1971]

Fitting creepy end title theme from the regional 70s horror cult movie set in the isolated small desert town of Hillsboro, where deadly accidents are rife, children are disappearing and the elderly residents just might be a coven of satanists. Fits right along side of similarly themed cult flicks of the same era Lets Scare Jessica To Death and Messiah Of Evil but not quite as legendary. 

Oh wait... just discovered the ever reliable Fish Man on youtube has put together a nine minute suite of music from the film... pretty eerie and pretty freaky... 

Jaime Mendoza-Nava seems to be another one of these composers who are so under appreciated they're barely recognised at all yet he is a serious composer with an extensive body of work from the sacred to the profane working with The Bolivian National Orchestra and Madrid Symphony Orchestra to scoring soundtracks for Westerns, B-Movies and even Disney cartoons.

SPORTS TV Themes

BRITISH EDITION

La Soiree - David Ordini

When I was little and used to play pretend soccer in the dining room this was the theme that we would belt out "baba ba baba baba ba baba" while pretending to be either Kenny Dalgliesh or Archibald, the only two British players we knew in 1979 or 80. So i finally figured out it was the theme tune to ITV's The Big Match which must have screened here in the 70s and 80s when it was just the first division English Football League... you know not corporate globalist social justice bull twang that it has become just like our very own Australian rules football league is now.

Grandstand Theme - Keith Mansfield

We got British soccer and snooker shows but we didn't get things like Grandstand as we had our own sports roundup shows so we missed out on this classic theme. It might actually be genius. Sprightly xylophones, triumphant brass, boings, brisk bongos, a searing lead break and a victorious fist pumping finale. A relentlessly upbeat anthem. Winners need only apply. We are all winning. The feel good anthem of our lives. 

The Doug Wood Band - Drag Racer (1976)

Here's a crackin theme tune. This was for BBC Snooker back in the 70s and 80s. I mean they needed a high octane and totally smokin funky blues fuelled jam because it was the snooker right. Many believe this to be the all time great sports tv theme tunes. 

Chase Side Shoot Up - Brian Bennett (1974)

Here's another spectacular theme that the BBC used back in the day. This was the theme for BBC Golf. Brian Bennett, a doyen in the fields of rock, tv themes and library music, is of course best known for being in The Shadows and his legendary theme for Channel 9's Cricket broadcasts. He always delivers. How does he inject so much positivity into a tune? Chase Side Shoot Up is a drivin' funky synth jam of the anthemic variety with forays into daydreamy moods, no wonder everybody loved it and hated it when the retards at the BBC changed it in the 00s after 25 years.  Peak Bennett!

These tunes aren't just kitschy nostalgic fun, no these sports telly themes are some of the greatest music made in the 70s.  

The Doug Wood Band - Cranes 

Some anthemic proggy synth funk goodness for the bbc darts show. It's all done and dusted in under a minute. Incredible stuff. Also darts is fucking great telly entertainment. Actually this is a bit like a horror synth prog jam in the vein of Goblin, Tangerine Dream or John Carpenter. Strange but then again darts is not a particularly normal sport if indeed it's a sport at all. I mean isn't it just a game for pissed people with the added danger of these drunk people handling a potentially dangerous weapon. 

The Big Fight Live Theme

A rip-snorter jock-rock disco anthem for some kind of Friday night boxing show on ITV. This is so plugged into the vibe of being pumped on a Friday night, being pumped for some boxing, being pumped for any old action and being pumped because you're alive living in the moment, it's perfect.  

Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) - Edwin Astley

[1969]

The brilliant theme tune by Edwin Astley. So 60s, so soundtracky, so damp, so English, so good with its moody harpsichord, deluxe sinister horn and string arrangement and downtempo beats. 

Unlike his contemporaries like John Barry, Edwin Astley (Virginia's dad) was quite under-documented for a top notch 50s & 60s British tv composer until 2008 when Network started issuing a series of soundtrack cd compilations. Still a lot of his film work has never seen light of day.

The original British opening credits to this unique occult detective fiction series ie. a show about the antics of a private eye and his ghost-y partner and his lovely widow. Hopkirk being a ghost gives the show a similar madcap quality to shows like I Dream Of Jeanie and Bewitched. The supernatural element lends itself to delicious comic situations.

The American opening credits. 

Here's My Late Lamented Friend And Partner the first episode of Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) from September 1969. It's a good fun show with great cars, vintage interiors, classic furniture and choice locations. I love the bit where they obviously had no budget to be smashing up cool expensive cars so they just parked an un-dinted car up to a pole and opened the bonnet to depict it had crashed. Can you imagine getting empty London streets to film in these days. The time capsule of a London that's never coming back... 

Imprint recently reissued a box set of the entire series on blu-ray. 

More On Movies... the return part V

The House That Vanished (1973)

British giallo directed by Jose Larraz. It's all about the stunning Andrea Allan's hair and well she gets her tits out too. Dilapidated mansions, black gloves, shine-y knives, masks, murder, boobs, sleazy photography, dark rooms, gloomy weather, fog, scrap car yards, shonky dudes, foxy ladies, incest, rape, birds, pet monkeys, the 70s, 70s furniture, 70s cars, 70s fashion, 70s England, 70s hair, 70s busters... 

Hell Or High Water (2016)

Good lil' low-key crime drama in the contemporary noir-western style Good. Written by Taylor Sheridan of Yellowstone fame. 

Somewhere In The Night (1946)

Paranoid amnesia noir. If Joe Mankiewicz had removed half an hour of fat from his flick it would be an all time top 10 of Film Noir instead of the underrated flabby coulda-been a masterpiece that it is. The captivating Nancy Guild shines here yet she was only in a handful of movies. 

Call Northside 777 (1948)  

Tedious ripped from the headlines crime noir... just who fucking cares? Shut up James Stewart!

1984 (1984)

The drab omnipresence of the globalist unaparty is here. When are the thought police catching you? That is the question in 2024. Your nightmare was foretold many years earlier... it's all so obvious now that you're a boring hack for pointing this out.

California Split (1974)

Peak Bob Altman. Peak Elliot Gould. Peak George Segal. Peak 70s. Peak America... even the seedy underbelly was better back then. Peak film-making. 

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

The omnipresent Bond fans are so insufferable it's hard to care one iota about their beloved slice of pop culture but this is a bit of fun if you're in the right mood. Most notable for Barbara Bach's charms and the awesome submarine car. Roger Moore is best Bond, the only Bond really.

Carry On Abroad (1972)

The Carry On movies had been repeated on Aussie telly ad nauseam since I was born then to my surprise Morrissey did an article, in the pages of NME during the 80s, on his love for these movies. I've never had the appetite to investigate wether his point of view was valid or not until until now. 

I could not believe how much I enjoyed Carry On Abroad. Much to my amazement there were some hilarious jokes amongst the lame ones. The ensemble cast and their acting chops is what is really impressive here. Obviously Kenneth Williams is obviously the star, I mean it's obvious but actually they're all stars. 

Carry On Screaming (1966)

This one's all about the foxy Fenella Fielding, she was a goth icon 10 years before Siouxsie. Also stars handsome Harry Corbett as Fielding's love interest. Kenneth Williams as the mad scientist is outstanding. This is a Hammer horror parody with some pretty weird bits, I mean kidnapping young pretty ladies and turning them into mannequins to sell to department stores isn't your usual movie plot line. Probably the best atypical Carry On movie.

 

Carry On Henry (1971)

Sid James as Henry VIII who wont shag his new missus Marie Of Normandy (Joan Sims) because she's got bad breath, let the ribald shenanigans begin. Kenneth Williams plays Thomas Cromwell. It's historic.

Carry On Loving (1970)

A dating agency is run by Sid, Hattie and a room sized computer. Let the romantic misadventures begin. 

Carry On Doctor (1967)

I found this one just tedious... quite unbearable really. I mean Talbot Rothwell wrote 20 scripts in 10 years or something so.... Still the mismatched romance scenes with Kenneth Williams as Dr Tinkle and Hattie Jaques as Matron are brilliant and iconic!

Carry On Camping (1969)

The Carry On movies were way more about sexual repression than anything else although spoiler alert Sid gets his end away at the end of Camping but with his actual girlfriend Joan Sims and not Babs who he'd been ogling for the second half the movie. Also features a scene with a rather delightful disdain for hippies at the end with Kenneth & Hattie spraying a field of hippies with disinfectant - punk! 

The Faculty (1998)

Surprising monster movie from the 90s. I missed this Invasion Of The Body Snatchers meets The Breakfast Club meets The Thing mash-up at the time. Usher is in it. The Faculty though is most notable for possibly the worst haircut on a lead actor in film history on this dude named Josh Hartnett, absolutely shocking, a crime against humanity.

The First Omen (2024)

Spectacularly put together sound and vision experience like a good music video but a pretty daft, incoherent and surprisingly un-horrifying story. Abortion subtext: Nobody cares.

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Managed to avoid seeing this my whole life until now despite it always popping up in books on cult movies. I guess I always thought this kinda shit was for dorks... there are some funny moments like when Conan chucks a devil woman into the fire and when he punches a camel but is that enough though...

Prince of Darkness - John Carpenter & Alan Howarth

tune... the long version no less... 

...ominous...

Alan Howarth released these original unedited long versions on a homemade 2cd back in the 00s via his website just prior to the synthwave kids blowing up with their wholesale appropriation of the Carpenter/Howarth aesthetic.

Now it's the soundtrack of our overlords ordering the suppression of ordinary Aussie citizens into legislation via the misinformation bill.

You are a pleb. You are a deplorable. Your views shall not be heard or thunk, in fact we a going to criminalize them. There is only one viewpoint, the state sanctioned one. No more parody. No more dissent. No more memes. No more thinking for yourself. Your fun and freedom is over and it's about time!

The gloomy Prince Of Darkness theme was also used to great effect in the Adam Curtis' documentary series The Power Of Nightmares (2004) which Academic Agent has recently been commentating on, on his podcast.

NRBQ - Ridin' in My Car

[1977]

The greatest golden oldie that wasn't even a hit. 

Cars and girls: You really can't beat it as a pop song theme/concept/aim. This is a vibe but I feel like it's a lost vibe and it crushes my soul that we all aren't striving to be living this romantic carefree feeling on a daily basis in 2024.

Then when you actually have a think about the lyrics its really kinda sad and not particularly care free. This dude's spent a year and a day thinking about a girl he hardly even had a romance with. She's all he can think about while he's in his car... yet there's a romantic innocence to it all and it seems a bit like he enjoys ridin' in his car thinking about this girl and a love that could have been. Also he seems to really like riding in his car.  

Anyway what a bittersweet tune. It's pop perfection innit.

...can't forget you while I'm ridin' in my car... 

...best outro ever.

Nut-E-1 - Underwater Fireworks

Nut-E-1 - Underwater Fireworks (1993)

A frantic Amen smasher with supreme ghostly eeriness followed by otherworldly change up at 3.11. An industrial dub bass line, philosophical sci-fi dialogue and cracking choppage until its all engulfed into the pitch darkness. Atmosphere provided by two Jean-Michel Jarre samples.

Peak darkside jungle.

The Foot Soldier - Give It to Me Baby

The Foot Soldier - Give It to Me Baby (1993)

Prime uncanny darkside whilst still retaining all the vitality of hardcore. Frantic, hallucinatory darkened delirium... utterly unique. 

The best.

Chimeira - Deeper Life

Chimeira - Deeper Life (Northern Connexion Remix) - (1994)

Classic 94 jungle bizniz (....er sorry but I couldn't help it). Top Amen choppage with added mental pitch-shifted drummage, beautiful bass booms and spectacular time-stretched diva. 

 

Chimeira - I've Got What You Need (1994)

The flip was minimal, meticulous and moody. Rimshot choppage, sneaky skedaddle snares, soothing sub bass plus excellent backwards bits. Total atmosphere without resorting to a long note for five minutes.  

Colon

"No one's heard anything like this before!

They would rather DIE than compromise!

Everything you know is wrong because Colon are here"

Redlights · Salem

Frost - Salem (2009)

Now for some more rumbling bass. This time from the noise-y bass drones and synth sludge of Salem. For a couple of minutes in 08/09 Salem were the most exciting new group on the planet. Frost is still infectious with its occult drones, electro surges, delirious trap beats, insane low end and windy ghost vocals.

Redlights - Salem (2008/2010) 

Even if the hipster faux sordid degeneracy image of the group was way too retarded for you it was impossible to deny a pop tune like Redlights. When I say pop tune, I mean a droning hypnagogic haze of a goth-shoegaze-trap anthem. All of the hypnotic ethereal incantations, grinding bass waves and maximum haunted synth sludge.

 

King Night (2010)

Drum machine rattling trap beats, a distorted haunted choir in a cyclonic squall, dense layers of menacing sombre synths and blasts of blurry in the red bass. King Night is an audacious apocalyptic cathedral of woozy sound.    

Byetone - Plastic Star

Byetone - Plastic Star (2008)

Now for more bass rumble in a more stripped down elemental electronic style. Plastic Star is phenomenal brutal minimal electro techno-rock. Maximum impact from seemingly little input. The children of Pan Sonic, why wasn't there a thousand more...

Extraordinary track really. They make it look so easy...

Music's Hypnotising · PFM/Raw Silk/Psychotropic/DJ Massive/4hero

Hypnotizing - PFM [1995]

I've been playing these jungle/dnb tunes to test out the capacity of these new speakers I got. Having proper bass in my ears seems so deluxe and extravagant in this day and age of not having great quality or beautiful things anymore from cars to shoes to clothes to music to movies to journalism to all the ugly new houses, streets, towns and suburbs and the ugly fuckin' wind/solar farms. Ugly lack of style and quality disguised as refinement. It's just cheap, low expectations, demoralising. Everything has had its bar lowered due to the bottom line and is just not as good as it should and used to be. The demise is here and no-one's even trying to elevate to a higher level. It's like they can't even imagine it so it's just pound shop world. So these speakers which aren't even high end posh have given me some respite amongst the infinite greyness.

Here's another track and I know it's just not hardcore anymore and the jungle is heading into the dnb but the luxurious atmosphere here is undeniably soothing & sweet along with the awesome deep sub bass and good choppage. 

The "Music's Hypnotising" vocal sample was so ubiquitous by this stage it was a cliche in dance tunes, having already been used in many a house, freestyle, garage, bleep and breakbeat hardcore classic from the ultra underground to the chart-busting mainstream. Actually I think it had already been used in a jungle/dnb, maybe 4Hero, tune so PFM wasn't even the first to use it in this new paradigm.

Raw Silk - Do It To The Music (1982)

Speaking of luxurious, this is where the vocal snippet "Music's Hypnotising" comes from. An impeccable slice of early 80s funky post-disco. Peak boogie. 

Psychotropic - Only For The Headstrong (1990) 

The best use of the Raw Silk Music's Hypnotising sample in my book. Is it house, bleep or early hardcore or an intersection thereof. This is something else whatever it is. Dreamy, hypnotic yet real rough, barely functioning. Absolutely fascinating artefact. Hang on! Somebody in the comments on discogs nails it: Tranquil Hardcore.

DJ Massive - Hypnotiser (For The Ladies) (1993)

More music's hypnotising samples. The hardcore rave aesthetic going into 93 seems a bit late but the insanity here is infectious. Sirens, crazy beats, bleeps, some kind of chicken dance and check out that deep torpedoing sub bass. 

4hero - People Always Criticise Us (1994)

Ok this has become way too trainspotter-y! So actually 4Hero sample the line before Music's Hypnotising where it apparently says No time for criticising but it's in the same melody as Hypnotising in this remarkable state of the art tune where nothing seems to actually happen. I guess an ambient stillness is achieved. A blank feeling in the air.  

The Dark Master - Darkness

[1996]

This is pitched black post-apocalypse jungle. Some wicked choppage but any kind of will to survive is thwarted by a dysphoric bleakness that just hangs in the air poisoning everything in its wake. Strange. Quite an achievement.   

PFM ‎– Wash Over Me

Where the ambient jungle becomes the drum and bass but it's still good. Wash Over Me was a played out in 94 tune but not released until 95. The beginning of where the beats don't so much smash but roll, still it is an Amen. Plenty of new age-y sounds with a great flute bit in there. 

MI5 - Experience

[1995]

A DJ Crystl alias MI5 did just the one 12". I Can't Understand/Experience was maybe the last great thing he ever recorded after a stellar run of 12"ers from 92-94. This is a heavier yet more spacey sound than usual. Sometimes the drummage with the double kicks goes toward a metal style or somewhere a bit like ex-metal ambient dub of Scorn. There's some vocal science with a a haunted female(?) so disembodied that it feels lonely. Like it's out on the precipice alone, cold and coming down. Yet there's a warm ambient synth and womblike sub-bass comfort. An inherent paradoxical aesthetic was always part of the charm of ambient jungle but this is definitely on the darker side of darkside.

ABBA - Lay All Your Love On Me

[1980]

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."

When listening on the hi-fi or through headphones all manner of unusual spooky shit reveals 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 certain scenes in horror movies play upon you. 

Interesting.

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 though. Two 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. 

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 MacLaine, Fred 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 aged and 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. 

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.

We won't be forced to change our viewpoints. 

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.