W♥M

Words for the Dying DVD

Words for the Dying DVD (09/30/08)

Words for the Dying MC-845, 1990 microcinema exclusive $US 24.95 $US 50.00 Format: DVD, NTSC, Region 0 (All), European List Prices: £16.99 / 24.95€ License for theatrical exhibition

 

NOTE: I wrote the following three weeks ago, and in retrospect, I was rather harsh. The more I thought about it (and re-watching it recently to get a good frame still for this article), this is really meant for fans that've been waiting for the original documentary to finally be made available as a cleaned up version on DVD. There are a ton of old movies and documentaries that are not available on DVD, so I applaud Provocateur for making this happen.

>>>
We don't normally get 'screener' DVD copies for review (I think the last one I got was for Negativland's DVD), so I was pretty excited to get Words for the Dying DVD.

Being an early adopter of the DVD format (I own over 2,000 DVDs), I do appreciate the higher visual and audio quality that DVD had over VHS. I am starting to get into Bluray (I also have a handful of HD-DVDs), so as far as movie snobbery goes, I'm up there. Keep this in mind when I talk about the poor visual and audio later.

First of all, for introductory purposes, both John Cale and Brian Eno are very accomplished musicians. Cale's history with the Velvet Underground, Eno is regarded by many as the "father of ambient music" and his work with Roxy Music. This DVD release, it seems to me, was for fans' services/demands. Documentary fans might also want to check this out but, to be honest, if you don't like music documentary, you should skip this one.

This documentary, by director Rob Nilsson, is about the recording of John Cale's album, also of the same name. Although the cover art clearly depicts and credits Brian Eno, it would seem whenever he's conscious of the camera's presence, he's either covering his face and/or giving the viewer the finger. He makes it known that he did not want to be part of the documentary (although he does appear with a formal interview at the very end of the album talking about the mix).

According to the DVD box, there are four parts to this documentary, revolving around four Dylan Thomas poems. However, watching it, it felt to me that there were only three parts (Cale in Moscow, in London, and Wales). Moscow and Wales are shot in black and white, which leads me to believe that either it's done for artistic reasons and/or the footage they had (with poor lighting) was unusable in color. Sometimes the poor audio and visual made it hard for me to watch on my high definition television.  Maybe I'm just spoiled but, speaking for myself, I like seeing movies in color.

At the beginning of the documentary I had trouble understanding what was going on. Why were they going to see these various Moscow bands? I eventually concluded that they were talent, but there are random things like playing racquetball that I felt didn't belong in a music-making documentary. Overall, it felt like the journey of recording the album was really epic and squeezing all of that in an hour and a half documentary is quite an achievement.

For their defense, they did have 1987 film equipment (probably VHS recorders) and considering that the original 1990 is long out of print, having it re-released on quality DVD by Provocateur DVD is well worth your time if you are a fan of John Cale or Brian Eno. The DVD price listing is $24.95 but obviously you can find it at a cheaper online price. As a long-time DVD buyer, I can tell you that usually Deep Discount DVDs usually has the best prices ($16.47 includes free shipping).

Links: provocateurdvd.com john-cale.com enoshop.co.uk

Words for the Dying DVD

Words for the Dying DVD (09/30/08)

Words for the Dying MC-845, 1990 microcinema exclusive $US 24.95 $US 50.00 Format: DVD, NTSC, Region 0 (All), European List Prices: £16.99 / 24.95€ License for theatrical exhibition

 

NOTE: I wrote the following three weeks ago, and in retrospect, I was rather harsh. The more I thought about it (and re-watching it recently to get a good frame still for this article), this is really meant for fans that've been waiting for the original documentary to finally be made available as a cleaned up version on DVD. There are a ton of old movies and documentaries that are not available on DVD, so I applaud Provocateur for making this happen.

>>>
We don't normally get 'screener' DVD copies for review (I think the last one I got was for Negativland's DVD), so I was pretty excited to get Words for the Dying DVD.

Being an early adopter of the DVD format (I own over 2,000 DVDs), I do appreciate the higher visual and audio quality that DVD had over VHS. I am starting to get into Bluray (I also have a handful of HD-DVDs), so as far as movie snobbery goes, I'm up there. Keep this in mind when I talk about the poor visual and audio later.

First of all, for introductory purposes, both John Cale and Brian Eno are very accomplished musicians. Cale's history with the Velvet Underground, Eno is regarded by many as the "father of ambient music" and his work with Roxy Music. This DVD release, it seems to me, was for fans' services/demands. Documentary fans might also want to check this out but, to be honest, if you don't like music documentary, you should skip this one.

This documentary, by director Rob Nilsson, is about the recording of John Cale's album, also of the same name. Although the cover art clearly depicts and credits Brian Eno, it would seem whenever he's conscious of the camera's presence, he's either covering his face and/or giving the viewer the finger. He makes it known that he did not want to be part of the documentary (although he does appear with a formal interview at the very end of the album talking about the mix).

According to the DVD box, there are four parts to this documentary, revolving around four Dylan Thomas poems. However, watching it, it felt to me that there were only three parts (Cale in Moscow, in London, and Wales). Moscow and Wales are shot in black and white, which leads me to believe that either it's done for artistic reasons and/or the footage they had (with poor lighting) was unusable in color. Sometimes the poor audio and visual made it hard for me to watch on my high definition television.  Maybe I'm just spoiled but, speaking for myself, I like seeing movies in color.

At the beginning of the documentary I had trouble understanding what was going on. Why were they going to see these various Moscow bands? I eventually concluded that they were talent, but there are random things like playing racquetball that I felt didn't belong in a music-making documentary. Overall, it felt like the journey of recording the album was really epic and squeezing all of that in an hour and a half documentary is quite an achievement.

For their defense, they did have 1987 film equipment (probably VHS recorders) and considering that the original 1990 is long out of print, having it re-released on quality DVD by Provocateur DVD is well worth your time if you are a fan of John Cale or Brian Eno. The DVD price listing is $24.95 but obviously you can find it at a cheaper online price. As a long-time DVD buyer, I can tell you that usually Deep Discount DVDs usually has the best prices ($16.47 includes free shipping).

Links: provocateurdvd.com john-cale.com enoshop.co.uk

The New Romantic movement

Spandau Ballet - The Freeze	Visage - Fade to Grey
Halloween	Ultravox - Vienna
Landscape - Einstein A Go-Go	Duran Duran - Girls on Film

My favorite genre of music growing up as a teenager in the late 1970's and early 1980's was the stylistic New Romantic movement beginning primarily in the UK. Typical musical proponents of the New Romantic movement were Spandau Ballet, Visage, Japan, Ultravox, Landscape, Adam & The Ants, Culture Club, and Duran Duran - especially during the period from mid-1979 to mid-1983. Some other bands include (to some extent) Simple Minds, A Flock Of Seagulls, Kajagoogoo, Classix Nouveaux, Naked Eyes, and ABC.

The New Romantic movement was similar to that of the glam rock movement in the UK during the early 1970's, in that (male) New Romantics often dressed in caricaturally counter-sexual or androgynous clothing and wore cosmetics in the New Wave extension of (or reply to) punk fashion, with frilly "fop" shirts from the English Romantic period. David Bowie was an obvious influence and interestingly his 1980 single "Fashion" was influenced by and was simultaneously considered to be something of an anthem for the New Romantics, as were Brian Eno and Roxy Music.

The genre's genesis took place largely through clubs such as Billy's in London, which ran David Bowie and Roxy Music nights in the aftermath of punk. This evolved into the Blitz Club and later Hell, which were hosted by Steve Strange (the doorman) and Rusty Egan (the DJ) and in many ways defined the sound of the movement. Boy George was the cloakroom attendant who was fired by Steve Strange for stealing money.

Of the many differences from glam, however, was that instead of guitar rock, the music was largely synthesizer based electronic music. Now from my understanding as I recall, the Danceteria in NYC was an early champion for spotting the movement, and the Underground in NY had Spandau Ballet for a performance in 1981. As I recall, this was the beginning of the movement in America.

By 1983, California saw a slight shortening and "New Ro" (newro) became a trend among teens looking for synthetic medium between the surf and ska inspired "Mod", and the rougher guitar-based punk scene with the Dead Kennedys, the Adolescents, etc.

 

Fischerspooner - Danse En France

As with many trends in fashion and music, New Romantic was revived in England in the mid-1990's as a movement called Romo (romantic modern) in clubs such as Club Skinny. Orlando is generally seen to have been the most successful Romo group, and Electroclash, Fischerspooner and others were briefly popular. Personally, I am always looking for new ways and places to help keep the spirit of the music alive!

 04/05/2008 09:38:46  todd my♥posts www.weheartmusic.com