Dr. Feelgood

If you have even a passing fondness for Dr. Feelgood then you will doubtless already be aware of this little gem of a music documentary – directed by the current music-doc go-to man Julian Temple who’s previous two efforts dedicated to the Pistols and Joe Strummer were equally as good. This review is aimed at those of you who know little or nothing about the band as this really is worth catching regardless, as the narrative of a band from Canvey Island who burned briefly but brightly (or more truthfully the ‘classic’ line-up of said band as they still exist today in a karaoke form with no original members) interspersed with fantastic old footage and the smart use of cleverly edited film clips, is just plain, old fashioned, entertaining, and that’s before you factor in the engaging band members, crew, friends, family (including a stellar turn by Lee Brilleaux’ lovely old mum), and of course the legendary bumper car stage maniac that is Wilko Johnson. This, by turns funny, moving and exhilarating, film also firmly slots the Feelgood’s into their richly deserved historic musical context, a pre-punk pride of place which has to date criminally eluded them. Now go out and get the early albums...
Ray Harper

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Animal Collective
Oddsac
(Plexi Film)

How do you follow an album that more or less swept the board in last year’s best of 2009 roundups (more here) – although to be fair this is actually the culmination of four years’ work between the quartet and director Danny Perez? How about a film, because we all know how well that worked out for Neil Young and The Flaming Lips don’t we? Described recently by the bands Panda Bear as 'an attempt to capture what the listener might see if they close their eyes while listening to Animal Collective' the results do leave you fearing for the sanity of the Collective’s audience but then surely no-one really expected any sort of narrative flow, plot or perspective from these guys. That said, and unlike the efforts mentioned above, this film actually works very well (although little of the soundtrack would be suitable listening shorn of the visuals), and ranges from the hypnotic to the downright disturbing (remind me never to go camping in a dark forest and toast marshmallows), in fact it’s not at all dissimilar to much of the Residents better output. Lord only knows what the deuce it all means but it’s an entertaining, if occasionally disconcerting, way to spend an hour.
The Oracle

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The Doors
When You’re Strange
(Universal)

You may think that pretty much all there is to say about the Doors has already been said, and in all honesty there is little here that long time Doors fans will not already be aware of, the real draw of this film by Tom DiCillo (narrated by Johnny Depp) is the fantastic amount of seldom and never seen footage on offer. How important a band the Doors would be in 2010 had Morrison not died is debateable – their back catalogue is full of both wonderful and awful moments - and whilst opinion is certainly divided as to whether Morrison was an underrated poet or an overrated arsehole, opinion is pretty much consistent about the fact that he was a complete bloody nightmare to work with, something this film does not shy away from. It’s also really good to see Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore get a look in (a lot of that wonderful music was entirely down to them), but when all is said and done this remains the Jim show from the beautiful young man to the bloated alcoholic, the electric performer to the self obsessed sham all of Morrison’s life is to be found in this tremendous film. You be the judge.
Josh Marks

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The Last Poets
Made In Amerikkka
(Wienerworld)

Those of you keen to trace the roots of hip hop, particularly rap acts of the more socially aware stripe (like Public Enemy or The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy), need look no further than Gary Byrd, Gil Scott Heron and, perhaps the most incendiary of them all, The Last Poets, a group of poets and musicians who arose from the black nationalist wing of the late 1960s African American civil rights movement. Rock fans will probably know them best from the track ‘Wake Up Niggers’ from the Performance film soundtrack, and this DVD of Claude Santiago’s documentary – which brings together the original surviving members Felipe Luciano, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, Umar Bin Hassan, Abiodun Oyewale and Dahveed Nelson in the studio and live onstage to reflect on the past, their legacy and their respective subsequent journeys as well as deliver a freestyle set of, what is now considered to be, classic ‘jazzoetry’ - looks at their radical (and often fractious) forty year musical journey. With Gil Scott Heron releasing I’m New Here, his best album in decades, the time is also clearly rife to rediscover these other great lodestones of hip hop, and this DVD does a spectacularly fine job of doing just that.
Drew Bass

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Rush
Beyond The Lighted Stage
(UMC)

If Dave Grohl is officially the nicest man in rock then Rush must certainly be in the running for the nicest band, and we’re not talking ‘nice’ in that damning with faint praise way people are prone to use when they actually have nothing really nice to say, but the proper friendly, self deprecating kind of nice, just genuinely down-to-earth blokes (and I’m certainly struggling to think of a band who have been together for this length of time that would manage such an obviously enjoyably squiffy evening talking engaging nonsense over dinner - see the bonus disc for this little gem). If you hate proggy style rock this probably won’t make you want to rush (ha!) out and buy their albums, but I defy anyone to see this and not say ‘good luck to ‘em’. If however you do like your rock a little on the bombastic side then this is definitely for you, from the early days with, now sadly deceased, drummer John Rutsey, to the huge success of 2112 which more or less guaranteed them independence, the tragic loss of Neil Peart’as daughter and wife that almost spelled the end of the band and beyond, this is yet another fine addition to the premier league of rock-docs.
Josh Marks

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The Rolling Stones
Stones In Exile
(Eagle Rock)

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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