DVDs


Black Mass Rising Black Mass Rising DVD Black Mass Rising is an intriguing film of various loosely- linked occult scenes soundtracked by some great experimental artists such as The Entrance Band, Sylvester Anfang II


and Burial Hex. All the filming was done on a camera phone with the music to each scene provided by a different band. The most obvious influence is Kenneth Anger and the link is further strengthened by the appearance on the soundtrack of Bobby Beausoleil, who contributes an unreleased track from Anger’s Lucifer Rising.


The film is split into two parts – starting in colour and finishing in black and white. The first is a more subtle blend of imagery and is an enjoyably gothic hallucinatory experience. The second is much starker and disquieting with blackened noise to match. Occasionally the images lapse into cultish cliché though the schlock is never laid on too thick at any point. I had obvious reservations about the use of a camera phone though all the footage is heavily subjected to post- production effects and is highly evocative throughout. However, the number of actual visual tricks on offer is pretty measly and after you’ve seem them a few times you’ll most probably be yawning. Moreover as most of the songs featured are five minutes plus in length I was frequently bored waiting for the next cut. Ultimately, I can see this movie


providing a reasonable backdrop to a narcotic experience but as something to focus on for a two-hour duration you’ll get rigor mortis in your bum. Austin Matthews


The Byrds: The Lost Broadcasts Iron Butterfly: The Lost Broadcasts Incredible String Band: The Lost Broadcasts All Gonzo Multimedia DVDs With the Byrd brothers all sporting fabulously flowing locks and serious amounts of facial hair and with the then current line up


of Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Skip Battin and Gene Parsons, augmented by their tour manager helping out on percussion, the Beat Club footage from May 1971 and October ’72 featured on The Lost Broadcasts is a world away from the more regularly seen mid-60s footage of the band. From the opening ‘Chestnut Mare’ through a lengthy instrumental version of ‘Eight Miles High’ to a rootsy acoustic version of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and the multiple takes of ‘Black Mountain Rag’ and ‘So You Wanna Be A Rock ’n’ Roll Star’, the long-awaited appearance of this material marks the first time these performances have made it out of the vaults since being recorded. Filmed in January ’71 a matter of months before the final break-up of the band, The Iron Butterfly Beat Club


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footage isn’t of the ubiquitous ‘In-A- Gadda-Da-Vida’ but instead, two songs from the band’s fourth album Metamorphosis – ‘Easy Rider’ and the unapologetically kitchen sink and all 20-minute-plus blow-out of ‘Butterfly Bleu’. Finally, we turn the calendar back to September ’70 for The Incredible String Band’s session which comprises three songs performed by the four-piece line-up of the group, only one of which (‘Everything Is Fine Right Now’) was later broadcast on Beat Club. Grahame Bent


Strange Fruit: The Beatles Apple Records Chrome Dreams DVD


BOOKS


THE A TO Z OF MOD Paulo Hewitt & Mark Baxter Prestel This 300- page


book is a colourful, visual treat


capturing our


enduring obsession with the mod look and


lifestyle. Mod


means many things for many people but you can’t argue that the faces, music, bands, drugs, clothes and hairstyles illustrated here fit like a bespoke mohair suit. If knowing the difference between a three-button Fred Perry polo shirt and two- buttoned one is as important to you as the air you breathe then this is the book for you. It’s like a scrapbook for the boy (and it will be boys who buy this!) who never grew up. Actor Martin Freeman hits the nail on the head in his foreword, describing the mod ethic as “having great taste, knowing where to look and more importantly what to look for.” “Mod,” he states, “is a rejection of the obvious.” A mindset that should speak volumes to Shindig! readers. There’s a slight London-centric bias in


At long last – a high quality feature length documentary offering an in-depth examination of the mix of heady idealism and creative confusion that typified the eventful world of Apple records. To this end, Strange Fruit brings to the screen a diverse cast of characters including the effervescent Jackie Lomax, former label manager Tony Bramwell, members of The Iveys, Badfinger and Elephant’s Memory, David Peel, Brute Force, Beatles biographer Chris Ingham, Mark Paytress and Apple specialist Stefan Granados to tell the story of The Fab Four’s adventure in the fast money world of the record business. From the launching of the Apple brand with the broadcast of The Magical Mystery Tour TV film in December 1967 to the divisive involvement of Allen Klein and the arguably unremarkable later years of the label, Strange Fruit entertainingly unravels the complete Apple saga across its generous two hours and 40 minutes running time. For all Apple’s successes – Mary Hopkin, Badfinger, the later Beatles releases and their debut solo albums – the lasting impression here is of a label sunk by an unworkable A&R policy which not only fell some way short of its avowed goal of operating along the lines of “western communism” but which also failed to fully exploit the potential of an artist roster that at various points included such diverse talents as Jackie Lomax, Billy Preston, James Taylor and Yoko Ono. And that’s to say nothing of missing out on lucrative signings that apparently could have included Yes, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and Crosby, Stills & Nash! Grahame Bent


the book’s overall coverage. The Acid Jazz operation features heavily with separate entries for Galliano and The Young Disciples. Meanwhile, entries such as “Glam & Pub Rock” will split the camps like a Steve Marriott centre-parting. The authors should know all too well, these fine details matter.


From a visual perspective, The A-Z Of


Mod has a similar appeal to Terry Rawlings’ equally attractive Mod: Clean Living Under Very Difficult Circumstances – A Very British Phenomenon. If you are expecting a literary classic then head for Hewitt’s excellent anthology of mod- related writing, The Sharper Word. Paul Ritchie


ANIMAL TRACKS: THE STORY OF THE ANIMALS,


NEWCASTLE’S RISING SONS Sean Hagan Askill Publishing


Originally published by Helter Skelter in 2001 and now newly updated and expanded with the incorporation of extra interview material with surviving members of both the original Animals and their


successors from the ranks of The New Animals, Animal Tracks gives its subject the depth of coverage and critical evaluation they have long served as one of the principal trailblazers of the first wave of British invasion acts alongside The Beatles and the Stones. More than living up to its title Egan’s tome runs every officially released Animals track (both in


the UK and the US) under the critical microscope via his detailed and considered evaluation of every Animals single and album while documenting the unravelling saga of Newcastle’s finest. It’s all here – the early days backing


Sonny Boy Williamson in their home town in ’63, the estrangement with Alan Price over the mysterious spiriting away of the royalties from ‘House Of The Rising Sun’, Eric Burdon’s heart and soul embracing of all things Haight-Ashbury, nightmare Japanese tours and a series of troubled reunions. Throughout the book there’s a sense that The Animals’ place in the pantheon of ’60s greats could have been even more prominent had the band not been plagued by serious internal divisions – principally between Burdon, Price and Chas Chandler, the creative accountancy of the notorious Mike Jeffrey (later to manage Jimi Hendrix) and Burdon’s famous unpredictability and volatility both on and off stage.


This then is an absorbing tale of golden


moments, creative under-achievement, botched business deals and lost opportunities from the very epicentre of the Anglo-American ’60s pop explosion. Grahame Bent


THE DOORS: A LIFETIME OF LISTENING TO FIVE MEAN YEARS Greil Marcus Public Affairs NY Taking his cue from a remark made by Jim Morrison to Greg Shaw, Greil Marcus presents 21 critical essays on the music of The Doors. At times stimulating, even inspired – at others controversial but


never less than interesting, Marcus eschews the excesses and baggage surrounding the band and their lead singer to focus in on the songs that made their name and which are still played today. Selecting key songs both from the studio recordings and especially from the Rhino Handmade release, Boot Yer Butt, Marcus examines not only the social and cultural mores prevailing when they were recorded but the resonance they have today as a historical document of the age.


Starting with ‘Light My Fire’ he analyses the phrasing of each word. ‘LA Woman’ is seen as the soundtrack to Thomas Pynchon’s wonderful LA based dark novel Inherent Vice. The chapter on the song ‘Strange Days’ focuses only on the first seven seconds of the song. In ‘The Unknown Soldier’ he concentrates on the gunshots from the firing squad seeing it as a symbol for what was happening in Vietnam and in Europe in 1968. ‘End Of The Night’ is seen as a prophecy of the Manson murders. I could go on and on. Each chapter is illuminating in that it makes you return to the music and not only hear but see each song in a new light. Truly a remarkable book. Pat Curran


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