Cabaret Voltaire

A welcome return for the, now impossible to find, original film-noir mini-movie Johnny YesNo by Peter Care and soundtracked by Cabaret Voltaire only now with a new re-imagining of the cult film (transplanted from the grim UK north to the seedy US west coast), plus two hours of bonus material, new mixes and exclusive tracks. Does the film make any more sense with a new redux spin on things? Not really, but then the original was always more of a nod towards writers like William Burroughs and J.G. Ballard so an easily definable story arc was never likely, or indeed necessary, and certainly the soundtrack benefits hugely from all the extra music on offer. That said it would perhaps have been nice to round out the package with the Cab’s original soundtrack album and/or even their other link up with director Peter Care on the 1984 video for ‘Sensoria’, but these are minor gripes in the face of the extensive amount of bonus material on offer (this is after all a 4 disc 2xCD and 2xDVD set) and is a must have for both Cab’s fans and art movie buffs alike.
Josh Marks

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Ozzy Osbourne
God Bless...
(Eagle Vision)

So what do we want from our metal documentaries? Well the USP of all the most successful ones to date (Anvil, Metallica, Lemmy), is they need to be warts an’ all efforts – more so in the case of Lemmy, fnar fnar – and this effort by Ozzy’s son Jack certainly doesn’t shy away from the more unappealing aspects of his father’s life, in fact it is entirely due to this unflinching gaze that God Bless Ozzy Osbourne is so watchable. The down side to this is that Ozzy is revealed to be something of a twat who singularly failed in his duties as a father (all five children from both his marriages are pretty clear about this), a husband (aside from regularly belting her, he actually tried to kill Sharon), in fact as a fully functioning human being (innocent animals are slaughtered, defecation is liberally smeared, oh how we laughed), and is this laughable excuse for a man contrite? Nah, not really, he was a drunken drug-fiend we are repeatedly reminded, that’s just what they do. The fact that his children all seem to still love him seems to be far more about their patience than his penitence and by the end credits you are left with an overwhelming sense of relief that you aren’t related to the man.
The Oracle

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Wishbone Ash
This Is Wishbone Ash A Rockumentary
(Glasgow Productions)

Not to be confused with Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash, this film following Andy Powell’s Wishbone Ash is not actually a rockumetary as such as it really only focuses on the band in the studio during the preparations for their recent album Elegant Stealth as Andy, Bob Skeat, Muddy Manninen and Joseph Crabtree jam, muck around in the back garden, do a little go-karting and play a selection of songs from their back catalogue live in a rather lovely French setting. Clearly there is a story to be told here, with two bands insisting they have the rights to the band name (although to be fair Powell has been the only consistent member throughout the bands forty odd year career), but if you are looking for enlightenment about this acrimonious split you won’t find it here. That said if you are a long term fan of the band you will find an engaging enough hours worth of interviews and songs (including six downloadable tracks on the DVD itself) and will doubtless enjoy the intimate setting and there’s no doubt that Powell and Manninen are keeping the duel lead guitar aspect of the band alive and well.
Ray Harper

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Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against The Eunuchs (BFI Video)

One of the many delights that the patronage of George Harrison ensured didn’t remain an unrealised project for director Stuart Cooper, Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against The Enuchs, based on the celebrated stage play by David Halliwell, finds John Hurt in full flow as a sort of Citizen Smith with knobs on named Malcolm Scrawdyke, an unpleasantly self-obsessed art student desperate to visit retribution upon his nemesis, teacher Mr Allard (who he holds entirely responsible for his being expelled). Enlisting the aid of three dozy malcontents in the formation of the Party Of Dynamic Erection Malcolm rails against… Well what have you got (up north in the mid seventies people had plenty to complain about)? If there is a downside it’s the pacing, although nothing you wouldn’t expect from an ‘art’ film made in this era and if things do crawl on occasion there is a whopping great dénouement that is well worth hanging around for. Extras include a couple of shorts, Put Yourself in My Place and The Contraption plus a fully illustrated booklet featuring original artwork and contributions by Yvonne Tasker, John Hurt, Stuart Cooper and Mike Leigh.
Josh Marks

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Peter Gabriel
New Blood: Live In London
(Eagle Vision)

Sadly we didn’t get the 3D version of this so we can’t tell you how, or indeed if, the 3D aspect of the project works, however 3D is only a part of New Blood: Live In London wherein Peter Gabriel eschews his normal technologically advanced rock line-up, and his career defining tribal rhythms, for a whopping great (forty six piece) orchestra who reinterpreted Gabriel’s back catalogue – plus some of the songs from his recent Scratch My Back covers project - with varying degrees of success at the Hammersmith Apollo over two nights in March 2011. When it works, as on completely revamped oldies like ‘Wallflower’, ‘San Jacinto’, ‘Rhythm Of The Heat’ and ‘Intruder’ it’s tremendous - although the backing vocals are occasionally curiously stilted and texturally, if not musically, flat (why no choir?). However even where it’s less successful, on tracks which are already mood pieces like ‘Red Rain’, Don’t Give Up’ and ‘Mercy Street’, it’s still all rather lovely and Peter Gabriel’s playful stage presence (he can’t stop himself digging out some favourite old stage moves), plus some nice back drop animations, ensure things don’t get too dry. Extras include an interesting, if slight, making of feature Blood Donors.
Ray Harper

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Jon Lord
With Pictures
(earMUSIC)

Mention the words Hammond Organ and Rock Music and the first name that usually springs to mind is Jon Lord – although doubtless some will insist Keith Emerson, Rick Wright or even Ken Hensley have an equal shout in rock’s premier Hammond user stakes – and this is the story of the man whose massive swelling organ (fnar fnar) were so important to bands like Deep Purple and Whitesnake. However those of you hoping for plenty of in depth Purple anecdotes will be disappointed as you can easily get all of that elsewhere, no this is, aside from touching on his final days with the Purps, all about his career après DP, including his blues dates with The Hoochie Coochie Men and his continual forays into classical composition. Not that this dalliance with classical music is a new thing, Lord is both classically trained and was in fact the first in the rock field to try marrying both rock and classical music on Deep Purple's 1969 release Concerto For Group and Orchestra, which is revisited in depth here alongside rehearsal and live footage of Boom Of The Tingling Strings plus loads of interview footage and plenty of bonus material, all in all a fascinating way to spend two hours.
The Oracle

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Tarja Turunen & Harus
In Concert Live At Sibelius Hall: DVD+CD
(earMUSIC)

The classical/rock crossover is not an area that has thus far been covered in glory (with a few notable exceptions, see the recent Jon Lord With Pictures DVD review above for one). So it was with some trepidation that we approached the new project from former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen which she has christened Harus (a Finnish word that may or may not mean tent pegs but is intended to relay the concept of four different approaches being channelled in one direction). Of course Tarja’s classically trained background - she studied singing at the Sibelius Academy and has performed with Argentinean tenor Jose Cura - twinned with her more recent symphonic metal outings place her in the reasonably unique position of understanding the dynamics of both genres and in consequence this live DVD/CD actually works rather well melding operatic vocals, classical percussion, organ and rock guitar in a style that will certainly appeal to fans of Voices period Vangellis. The only real criticism that springs to mind is the lack of subtitles, aside from the between song comments, which, whilst not perhaps expected by rock fans would certainly be something a classical fan will miss.
John Wakely

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Black Country Communion
Live Over Europe (Mascot Records)

There can’t be many rock fans that aren’t already aware that Black Country Communion are a super-group featuring Jason ‘son of John’ Bonham, Glenn ‘Deep Purple’ Hughes, Derek ‘Dream Theatre’ Sherinian, blues rock wunderkind Joe Bonamassa and whilst they might not have the stadium-sized profile of, say, Them Crooked Vultures, what they lack in super-group league positions they more than make up for in chops. A bit like Chickenfoot these guys can really play, however whilst Chickenfoot are great fun BCC have some genuinely fantastic Anglo-centric, old-skool style rock tunes. They are also, if anything, even better live than they are on record, in fact the only slightly lacklustre, albeit crowd pleasing, performance is an ok trot through Deep Purple’s ‘Burn’. What is also immediately apparent is that Glenn Hughes (once you get over the fact that he currently looks alarmingly like Dot Cotton) is positively empowered by his younger band-mates and still in astonishingly fine vocal fettle. None of these guys needs BCC, they all have busy careers outside the band, so the only reason to do it is because they are clearly loving every moment of it and this is a fine document of a band at the height of their powers.
Ray Harper

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Sigur Rós
Inni
(Krunk/XL)

Not a reference to the preferred state of a bellybutton (or less desirous nipple position) Inni actually means ‘inside’, a reference to the extremely focussed, grainy close-up, nature of this follow up to the bands critically acclaimed, and far more widescreen, documentary/performance film Heima (more here), catching the band in their full post-rock majesty live at Alexandra Palace in London in November 2008. Dependent on which of the numerous versions you opt for the very least you will find is a 75-minute film and 105-minute double live album and, as always with Sigur Rós, a huge amount of attention has gone into the visuals, filmed on HD digital, transferred to 16mm film and then projected and re-filmed, again on 16mm, sometimes through glass and other objects, the black and white concert film linked by dislocated full colour interludes and, as with Heima, it’s a thing of genuine beauty, sound-tracked by some of the finest music to come out of anywhere, let alone Iceland, in the last fifteen years. If you already own Heima fear not, the closing ‘Popplagid’ is the only track both films have in common with songs taken from all five of their studio albums plus unreleased studio track ‘Luppalagid’.
Josh Marks

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Kings Of Leon
Talihina Sky
(Revolver Entertainment)

Wherein we follow the Followill clan (three brothers, one cousin), via the odd live show and some studio footage, back home for a family reunion which resembles nothing so much as a cross between the Dukes Of Hazzard and Justified. If ever a documentary threw into sharp relief the huge differences between the UK and the US, then Talihina Sky does just that, and whilst every country on the planet can boast its own fair share of slack jawed yokels, it’s hard to imagine where else you might find a boozed up bevvy of backwoods types stood unsteadily in front of a huge flag whilst slurring their national anthem at a family gathering. As Lynyrd Skynyrd let us know in no uncertain terms, this is the land of 'god and guns' and you just need to lob some booze into the equation and bob’s your uncle (and possibly also your dad and your brother). Welcome to Talihina Oklahoma, a place where you really, really do not want to grow up and yet that is precisely what the warring and conflicted Caleb, Nathan, Jared and Matthew did and this hugely entertaining film, intercut with fascinating old family footage, really is a must see regardless of whether you like the band or not.
The Oracle

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Mott The Hoople
The Ballad Of Mott The Hoople
(Start)

It’s almost impossible to overstate the importance of Mott The Hoople, despite having one of the clunkiest names in the history of rock and roll and struggling, on record at least, to find a style over the course of their first four albums, finally hitting their stride on their overlooked fourth album Brain Capers, a commercial failure that almost destroyed them, but the first album to capture the bands chaotically edgy live vibe, in fact it would be in the live arena that Mott really left a legacy, inadvertently becoming a major dot joining exercise between old skool hard rock, glam and punk. It was a bumpy ride (as with many influential bands they struggled to make headway at the time) and The Ballad Of Mott The Hoople does a terrific job of following this tortuous journey from enthusiastic obscurity to massive, band imploding, success, with everyone but the idiosyncratic Overend Watts pitching in to help tell the tale – present and correct are Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs, Verden Allen, Dale Buffin Griffin, Luther Grosvenor aka Ariel Bender, Morgan Fisher plus high profile fans, including The Clash’s Mick Jones, Queen’s Roger Taylor, Mott Seadivers fanclub president Kris Needs and liner notes from Morrissey.
Ray Harper

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The Ballad Of A J Weberman
(Ghost Ship)

If ever a human being had an over inflated sense of their own importance that man is A J Weberman. Who I hear you ask? Your ignorance is totally excusable as Weberman’s claim to fame is that he insists he invented the word ‘garbolgy’ – in fact the word was first used by waste collectors a decade earlier – which pertains to the ‘study of refuse and trash’, in Webermans case the study of Bob Dylan’s refuse and trash. Weberman also refers to himself as a Dylanologist, picking over his lyrics and playing his records backwards to discover the hidden meanings disguised therein. This hugely entertaining documentary by James Bluemal and Oliver Ralfe follows Weberman around New York, as he pauses to pick dolefully over Woody Allen’s garbage, complaining that Allan must use a shredder, and interacts with various marginal characters like diminutive folk singer Jay Bird and his larger than life paramour Paulette, the housebound man mountain Aaron Kay aka 'The Pieman' and raving nut-bags like David Peel (who briefly found fame due to John Lennon’s patronage and albums like Have a Marijuana). Laugh out loud funny in places, this is a genuinely enjoyable film about a truly pointless human being.
Josh Marks

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New York Dolls
Lookin' Fine On Television
(Wienerworld)

It has to be said that very few bands legacy could be well served by just over an hour of unsteady, grainy black and white footage with a sound quality that can best be described as rough and ready but then the New York Dolls could never have been described as hi-fidelity even on record and, for most fans, it was all about the raucous, ramshackle-racket the band made onstage anyway, so this collection of rare live clips and interviews filmed in the 70s will be just what the doctor ordered. Ludicrously skinny and rocking that seedy glam-tart look the Dolls were a head spinning amalgam of the impossibly cool and the incredibly stupid – interviewing the band proves to be about as easy as eating soup with an angry cat - and lest we forget they were wandering around New York dressed in the sort of outfits that got you a major kicking in the early ‘70s plus there’s no doubt that tracks like ‘Jet Boy’ and ‘Personality Crisis’ were a major influences on the punk movement that would soon follow, so if this was a Genesis video we’d be saying steer clear, but the Dolls? Hey, grab some slap and join the party.
Ray Harper

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L’age D’or
Dual Format DVD + Blu-ray
(BFI Video)

Marketed at the time as A Film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí L’age D’or (1930) was actually filmed by Buñuel alone as he had fallen out with Dali but regardless this remains a remarkable piece of cinematic surrealism. However the package also includes Un Chien Andalou a short film (1928) which was created by both men (and is incidentally one of Frank ‘Black Francis’ Black’s favourite films) - with a choice of audio tracks, a 1960 'Tango' score or a newly commissioned Mordant Music score - including the notorious sliced eyeball scene, although our favourite section revolves around a chap trying to have his evil way with a young lady (she has fled from his amorous groping and is holed up behind a chair across the room with a tennis racket raised in defence), wherein he sets of in pursuit dragging two pianos’, a couple of priests and some dead donkeys behind him only for her to elude his grasp by running through a nearby door, ‘damn’, you imagine him thinking, ‘if only I hadn’t been lugging all this crap I could have had a shag’. Also included is a fascinating documentary about Buñuel, making this a must have collection for any film buff.
The Oracle

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