The Rolling Stones

Fans of the sort of documentaries where the record producer hovers over the mixing desk, fading tracks and dropping out instruments (the ‘Classic Rock Album’ series a being prime example), are likely to find this, frequently fascinating, documentary on the Rolling Stones circa 1971-1972, a bit frustrating. How certain tracks fell together are certainly alluded to (Jagger getting the ‘Tumbling Dice’ lyrics from a maid who liked gambling etc.), but if you’re after fine-tooth-comb detective work you won’t find it here. What you will find however are all the main players recollections of mismanagement, ninety three pence in the pound tax issues, exile in the South of France, trying to record in Keith Richards hot, damp basement at Villa Nellcôte in Villefranche-sur-Mer whilst surrounded by too many drugs and too many hangers on (so much so that one night someone walked in picked up six guitars and a sax and promptly strolled back out with them). The resultant album, Exile on Main Street, was largely derided at the time for being an unfocused mix of rock, blues, gospel and country-&-western, but has since become one of the bands most popular efforts, and this archive footage packed DVD is a fine additional document.
Ray Harper

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Porcupine Tree
Anesthetize
(KScope)

If, like many here at TM-O towers, you hanker for the days when people could actually play and sing live and if, once again like many here at etc., you also enjoy loads of King Crimson-esque fiddly stuff, songs haring off in unexpected directions and very, very noisy bits then this DVD is very likely going to be right up your alley. Filmed in the Netherlands in 2008 when they were still touring the Fear Of A Blank Planet album (which kicks off the show in its entirety), this is a particularly well filmed and recorded document of what was clearly a cracking show (or couple of shows actually). Stand out track is the seventeen minute plus version of the title track, a monumental racket which careers around in a heroically mind boggling fashion and had me reaching for the replay button immediately it finished. Obviously if you are hoping for Lady Gaga style theatrics then this ain’t the show for you, it is after all just a bunch of pretty average looking blokes playing their instruments really well, something, in this scribes view, we could do with a great deal more of. Also available in Blu-ray format.
Ray Harper

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Dire Straits
Alchemy Live
(UMG)

Let’s just get something straight up front here, Dire Straits were a very good band and a song like ‘Brothers In Arms’ (sadly not performed here) belongs right up there in the pantheon of greats, but lordy it’s hard to get past the headbands, pixie boots – in fact the whole tragic wardrobe department needs a full page review of its own - bad ‘80s keyboard sounds (and there’s two of the buggers), awful location shots (two spotty teenage lovers lean against a wall looking pensive at the beginning of ‘Romeo And Juliet’) and prolonged musical ‘workouts’ in most of the songs (ninety minutes, just ten songs!). Basically there are those bands that are musically adept and can perform, more or less perfectly, what they create on record, but are a bit of a ho-hum prospect live (for example Level 42), and there are bands that are a bloody shambles live but as exciting as all get go (for example The Pogues), and it is to the former group that Dire Straits belong. Fans will be happy to see ‘Sultans Of Swing’, ‘Tunnel Of Love’, ‘Solid Rock’, ‘Private Investigations and if you saw, and enjoyed them live, you will probably love this, the rest of us should probably stick with the records.
The Oracle

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Man
Tapes of the Unexpected
(voiceprint)

Boasting well in excess of twenty different band members down the years (aside from a brief break from the late ‘70s to early ‘80s the band have been active since 1968, and previously to that as the Bystanders since 1962), the version of Man that hold memories for many – and certainly the greyer members of the office staff here – could be found traipsing all around Europe in the late ‘60s early ‘70s and featured, variously, Mickey Jones, Martin Ace, Clive John, Jeff Jones, Deke Leonard, Terry Williams and Ray Williams and it is these hairy Welsh types that can be found on this cracking little bundle of nuggets discovered in German TV archives (once again the amount of great old material sourced from Germany puts UK TV archives to shame), and for fans of the band this material is genuine buried treasure including black and white footage of the impromptu jam ‘Definitely’ and ‘Arnold's Red and White Striped Tent’ from the magnificently named 2ozs of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle album, colour film of ‘Daughter Of The Fireplace’ and ‘Will The Christians Wait Five Minutes’ and live favourite ‘Angel Easy’. Rather short perhaps, but once again Voiceprint have done a sterling job of tracking down some exceedingly rare material.
Ray Harper

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Can't Stop the Music
(Optimum Home Entertainment)

From the opening scene’s roller-skating record shop assistant Jack (Steve Guttenberg) - an aspiring disco composer who finds it hard to get his music recorded – you know you are slap bang in the middle of the late ‘70s early ‘80s disco boom. For the uninitiated the story revolves around a retired model who invites friends from Greenwich Village to a party to help the career of her, previously mentioned, room-mate, and also stars The Village People who I’m happy to report spend their time fully costumed up – the first time you encounter the ‘Native American Indian’ he’s watching telly in full headdress. Yes, the script would probably struggle to fill the back of a fag packet, yes the acting is abysmal (none of the Village People can act for toffee) and yes the dialogue makes your toes curl but if you still have that shirt with the huge collar, a manhole cover sized medallion, ankle-flapper flares, clonking great platform shoes or any of that skin tight shiny stuff the laydees used to wear, and fancy a night of idiotic, camp as a tent shop, escapist nostalgia then you really can’t go wrong with this.
Josh Marks

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The Kinks
You Really Got me: The Story Of The Kinks (Voiceprint)

Given the importance of the Kinks in the overall scheme of all things pop-tastic you could spend a great deal of time looking for a documentary film of note and come up empty. Crazy eh – although no less crazy than the way this quintessentially English of bands struggled to make any impact in the UK charts in their later years? Now at last we have this, although it has to be said that it looks, and occasionally sounds, like it was edited by someone wearing boxing gloves with only the most rudimentary knowledge of the Davis brothers and company, but UK fans will be delighted with the great early live footage and US fans will doubtless enjoy the later videos and live cuts for tracks that hit big in the states but failed to worry the UK charts at all (and of course we can all enjoy Dave Davis’ increasingly ludicrous togs). If you are looking for a definitive Kinks documentary this really isn’t it, if however you are looking for some cool, seldom seen, early footage with the emphasis on plenty of music rather than in depth story then you could do a lot worse than pick this up.
Ray Harper

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Nowhere Boy
(Icon Home Entertainment)

Is there anything left to be said about John Lennon or the Beatles? Everything there is to know concerning the history of the scouse moptops has been picked over with a fine toothcomb until every last nit has been uncovered. Unless you were born in the last twenty years there is surely nothing more to be said? Well, no there isn’t, if you’re remotely interested in the Beatles this is all pretty old news, but since when did knowing the outcome have anything to do with how good or bad a film is? The Germans lost the war, Native Americans lost their homeland, Frodo beat Sauron and John Lennon came from an extremely broken home, was something of a git in his early years and became one of the most famous pop-stars of all time, and if you have a spare hour and half odd this is a well researched look at the tug of war between the two women in Lennon’s early life, his wayward mother Julia and his staid but reliable Aunt Mimi which is both understated and yet moving, and if it adds nothing new to the legend it tells the story well and with feeling.
Josh Marks

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Ian Dury
Rare And Unseen
(Wienerworld)

The latest in Wienerworld’s ‘Rare And Unseen’ series - which basically collates rare footage, film interviews, videos, newsreels and photographs from private collections - features much missed geezer Ian Dury in a series of interviews and live performances including his earliest known TV performance from the London Programme in 1976 with Kilburn and the High Roads (alongside the Kilburn’s ‘England's Glory’, ‘Rough Kids’, ‘Billy Bentley’ and ‘Upminster Kid’, we also get the Blockhead’s ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’, ‘Blockheads’ and ‘Geraldine’ and a solo ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’ from the Tube). But, good as the music is, it’s the collection of interview material that really impresses, including three different interviews with the equally missed Tony Wilson and Dury’s last interview on Richard and Judy (how the hell did the abysmal Richard Madeley ever become a prime time interviewer?), these interviews ably document the man’s lightning fast mind, sometimes so lightning fast he leaves the listener desperately trying to keep up. He is also, needless to say, very, very funny. The recent feature film may have revealed to the world that Dury was an awkward cuss, but this reinforces his unsurpassed talent for entertaining. What a waste.
Ray Harper

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Bodysong: Collectors Edition (BFI)

The clue’s in the title, from the opening shots of legions of sperm doing their best to dock with a death-star sized egg to the closing stages of death and the beyond Bodysong cherry picks images and archive footage from the past 100 years and weaves them into one, thought-provoking, hypnotic and mesmerising whole accompanied by a soundtrack by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood – which it has to be said is worth the price of admission alone. Split into chapters documenting birth, growth and play, sexual discovery, nourishment, war, death, and transcendence, but be warned, those of you with a nervous or prudish disposition should know that this gets pretty graphic in places (the chapters on sex and violence pull no punches), but there’s nothing prurient here, just all of life, and then some. Extra Features include an interview and two early shorts by director Simon Pummell, Blinded by Light (2000) and How Long is a Minute? (2001) and commentary featuring Jonny Greenwood and Simon Pummell on the process of composing the score and comes with a 200 page accompanying book containing stills and a written history of the films development (Limited to 1000 copies).
Josh Marks

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Permissive
(BFI)

Christ on a crutch this is grim, mind you the old lags in the office that recall trailing up and down the country in a Transit throughout the early ‘70s certainly attest to the verisimilitude of some of the scenes (although I am reliably assured that they certainly laughed a good deal more than this sorry bunch of misery-guts). The truth of the matter is that the free love generation morphed rather quickly into the take advantage of any available women generation and few who experienced it would not admit to at least some regrets, and this grim tale of wannabe groupie Suzy, whilst decidedly on the heavy handed side, will doubtless still strike a chord with many an old hairy loon-pant refugee. However it’s the soundtrack by prog rock legends Comus, and starring roles for Forever More and Titus Groan, that will excite many lovers of obscure old acid folk rock as will the bonus film Bread – a rather more ‘confessions of a…’ take on the whole groupie thing featuring none other than Juicy Lucy. Also guaranteed to raise a smile is the 1973 safe sex bonus feature 'Ave You Got a Male Assistant Please Miss? And the whole shebang comes beautifully packaged with a booklet filled with oodles of fascinating background info.
Josh Marks

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