Category: review

Zodiac – A Study of Obsession

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A review of another film that I love.  Just me and my new kitten sitting here on a dreary Friday morning.  It’s either write a review… or write a song.  I’m not in the mood to write a song… so, I’ll try to convince you to watch another film that I think is worthy of your time.  That pretty much explains my consistent high scores.  I’m only reviewing films that I like.  If I was reviewing the latest releases you would see a whole different world of scoring pain.

Zodiac is based on the true events concerning a 60s/70s America based serial killer.  The distinguishing fact about this particular killer was that he chose to write letters to the papers, ‘Jack the Ripper’ stylee.  He also used coded messages that required deciphering. He named himself ‘Zodiac’.

The film opens with a shock first kill before the opening credits.  The first thing you notice is the gorgeous pastel shades and the beautiful lighting.  Make no mistake, this is a pretty film – a very stylistic film, almost fake looking in the way that Edward Scissor Hands was.  I’m watching on BluRay and the whole experience is stunning!  Zodiac is directed by David Fincher, a favourite of mine, and his hallmarks are all over every scene.  The opening credits warp you through a psychedelic 60’s drug induced haze into the film proper.  And the film proper is a piece of 1970’s American cinema.  The tone, aspects of the look, and especially the pacing are bang on 1970s modern American Cinema. This film is a kind of companion piece to movies such as All The President’s Men and The Conversation.

The film centres around the San Francisco Chronicle.  The office of the paper actually reminds me of the office in All The President’s Men… you kind of know the path this film is going to take immediately.  We are introduced to Paul Avery, the Chronicle’s crime reporter, played by Robert Downey Jr.  Avery is a troubled individual and Downey Jr plays him with downtrodden style.  I think this is a tour de force by Downey Jr.  He nails the role.

We are also introduced to cartoonist, Robert Graysmith, played by Jake Gyllenhaal.  Graysmith is an oddly introverted character and in this respect Gyllenhaal is an example of perfect casting.  Graysmith becomes obsessed during the course of the film with identifying the Zodiac killer.  In fact the book he eventually writes is the source of inspiration for this film.

I just have to hark back to the visuals again.  This is a stunningly shot film.  The effects work is superb throughout and is so subtly done that a lot of the audience would probably be unaware of its existence!  25 minutes into the film we are subjected to an awesome ‘original Grand Theft Auto-esque’ top down shot of a taxi ride.  This plan view tracking shot is like a living video game… absolutely phenomenal.   You can probably pick up on the fact that I like the look of this film!

Let’s mention the music.  Fantastic choices of rock music to indicate the passing of time and beautiful interconnecting piano pieces.  The soundtrack is consistent with the film’s 70’s leanings.

I mentioned the passing of time.  This film is very much about time.  The film spans decades and Fincher’s use of visual and audio techniques to show the passage of time is incredible.  Of course, with the passing of time comes the progression of character.  Avery disintegrates, Graysmith disintegrates and integrates … not sure that reads right!  Ha ha!  Graysmith’s life crumbles and yet his personal resolve builds.

On the police side of things we have Dave Toschi (played by Dave Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (played by Anthony Edwards).  At one point Toschi is wearing a Columbo style mac.  This film is just my kind of film!!!  The obsession with the Zodiac killer drives both men to despair.  You can see similarities between Avery and Toschi.  Personal destruction brought about by obsessive behaviour.  In fact you can almost think of this film as a study of obsession.

So… the Zodiac killer.  This film is similar to All The President’s Men in its depiction of the progress of a story based on fact.  There are also hints of Stone’s JFK in that Fincher seems to point us towards a suspect.  A suspect that is made out by the film to be the true suspect.  This reminds me of all those ‘Jack the Ripper’ documentaries that each purport to have finally identified the killer.  What, for me lifts this film above other ‘crime’ thrillers is the showing of the forensic detail.  This may be as a result of a decade of CSI on the television… but I believe that it’s really just Fincher wanting to present the case as is.  For me, this film presents the minutiae of the forensic case brilliantly.  Footwear mark evidence, so often to this day the ugly, neglected sibling of the fingerprint, is brought to the fore.  Fingerprints, ballistics, similarities in modus operandi and thorough research are shown in all their dry, drawn out glory.

What interests me the most is the weight of  ‘truth’ and ‘value’ placed purely upon questioned document evidence in the Zodiac case.  The film shows suspects being ruled out purely because their handwriting does not match the letters attributed to the Zodiac killer.  Even when a whole wealth of other circumstantial evidence would appear to make someone a prime suspect, the opinion of the handwriting expert is the be all and end all.  Okay, I accept that the police at the time only really had the letters as a solid link between the crimes.  The surviving witnesses all described different looking people as being the killer.  Also, there was no DNA evidence back then.  All the killer really had to do was wear a pair of gloves, be careful, and he would have had very few problems with evading capture.  But the killer chose to write those letters.  Therefore I do understand how those letters became so important in establishing a case against any suspect.  However, there are so many flaws with using handwriting evidence as a bedrock for an investigation.  I really found this aspect of the film rather good.  I was impressed by the fact that so much time was given to the discussion of this evidence – evidence that may have in fact hindered rather than helped all concerned.

In the end the film can be viewed in two ways:  One, as the accurate-ish depiction of behind the scenes work on a serial killer case. Two, as the destruction of people’s lives as the result of an obsession.

So, I feel like I should trot out my usual positive/negative paragraphs as I work towards a score.

Positives: Robert Downey Jr is superb.  I’m a fan of his anyway, but he does excel here!  The acting in general is just outstanding.  Brian Cox gives a mountain of a performance and all the leads act their hearts out!  I think I need to single out the actor who plays the ‘main suspect’.  He is terrifying.  Great job!  I love the visuals of the film and the marvellous representation of the passing of time.  I love the ruthless intelligence and the trust of the director that the audience will be ‘fit for purpose’ regarding the forensic detail.

Negatives:  Hmmmm.  If I’m going to be picky I’d rather Robert Downey Jr had actually talked during the film rather than mumbled.  On a 10th watch I have no problems with it… but recalling my first viewing I do remember shouting “What? .. WHAT?!?” at the screen a few times! 😉

I am not a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal, so that should be enough to knock a point off right there.  However, I am man enough to admit that he’s good in this film… so… I’ll put that complaint on the back burner.

Also, a lot of the actors in the film have now cropped up on TV shows.  They are all excellent… and it’s not the film’s fault.  This is my problem!  I see the handwriting expert and think “Hey, it’s Larry David’s doctor!!!”.  This is my problem.  For example, in this specific case, the actor who plays the handwriting expert is an excellent old guy.  He is brilliant in this and Curb.  He improves the film.  Therefore this negative is my problem!  For me to live with and get over!!!

The end.  It’s kind of unsatisfying… but again, not really a fault of the film.  More a fault of reality!!!  I’ll also call a negative at a great scare towards the end which turns out to be a cinematic, story-telling trick.  The kind of scare a horror film throws at you when it just SUDDENLY SCREAMS REALLY LOUDLY in a quiet bit!  Ha ha!  But the scare in this film is at least carried out with some panache.  And if I was gonna re-cut the film I’d leave the section in… so, really, how much of a negative do I consider it?

So…  who was the Zodiac killer?  The film puts enough circumstantial evidence forward for their prime suspect – enough for me to buy into it.  However, having read around the case the whole thing is a bit of a minefield.  DNA evidence here, fingerprints there.  I think, to be honest, it’s all too long ago to ever get a handle on now… unless some new evidence is one day uncovered.

Hmmmm.  So, a score, a score…

Zodiac – 9/10

Raging Bull – A Study of Jealousy

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Another day another review.  Another Martin Scorcese film.  Perhaps THE Martin Scorcese film.

Raging Bull opened the 1980s.  Filmed in gritty black and white and shot in an authentic documentary style, this film is an artistic marvel.  Scorcese is at his best here, filling every frame with total, uncompromising power.

This is a truly brutal film.  Physically and emotionally brutal.  There are devastating scenes of emotional and physical abuse… make no mistake, this is not a popcorn flick.  This film is no Shutter Island.  In fact it shares more with a film I have reviewed previously, Taxi Driver.  For this film too is like an essay on relationships and violence.  This film is, more specifically, a study of jealousy.

Raging Bull is, at face value, a film about boxing.  However, it is actually nothing of the sort.  Let me explain.  Raging Bull tells the story of middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta and his battles with the people around him, and most importantly the war with himself.  You see, Jake LaMotta is a jealous guy.  He is also an intensely unlike-able character.  Whereas, for all his faults, I could relate in many ways to Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver and find a modicum of  ‘goodness’ deep within,  Jake LaMotta is a more detestable prospect.  There are parallels between Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and perhaps we are viewing portrayals of men with mental health issues.  These films are studies.  And for my money, Raging Bull is the ultimate character study.  Boxing takes a back seat.  Boxing is the vehicle used to forward the story, but this is not a boxing film.

I love the Rocky films.  I regard the first film in the series extremely highly.  And in some ways, Rocky wasn’t actually a film about boxing either.  Rocky was the story of a loveable loser who overcame the odds to make something of his personal life.  Raging Bull is the story of an unlovable loser who overcomes the odds stacked very much in his favour, to destroy himself.  I try to give nothing away in my reviews.  I want you to be able to watch the film and experience it for the ‘first time’.  Safe to say though that you can expect a rough ride with the story of Jake LaMotta.  The film is based on the memoir ‘written’ by LaMotta himself.  It has been adapted by Paul Schrader who also wrote Taxi Driver.  Between the recollections of LaMotta, the known facts, and the filter of Schrader’s very much opinionated mind we get one of the bleakest portrayals of a jealous man ever committed to celluloid.

The film’s opening titles are an amazing sequence combining classical music with a boxer in the ring.  The story itself is bookended by an older LaMotta, a cabaret LaMotta, going through the motions backstage at a comedy club.  This allows the flashback for the main film.  Robert De Niro plays LaMotta and this is probably De Niro’s best performance.  He is gripping, scary, brutal and awe-inspiring.  It is one of those ‘movie clichés’ that in preparing for the role, De Niro became so good at boxing that people suggested he could have won the middleweight title for real.  I don’t know about that… but I do know that I wouldn’t have wanted to have met Di Niro in a back alley in 1980!  (besides which, I would only have been 5 or something!!!).  This is truly De Niro’s film, his tour de force.  LaMotta’s intense violence is shocking.  De Niro’s playing of that violence is magnificent.  Who the hell could play a supporting role to this majesty of acting? Step forward one Joe Pesci.

Joe Pesci is absolutely outstanding in the role of LaMotta’s brother.  Anyone who has seen him in action in Casino or Goodfellas perhaps knows what to expect.  I think this is the first time Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci had worked together.  Joe Pesci is a frightening presence.  Even cowering in the huge shadow of LaMotta, Pesci’s character Joey is a scarily violent, knife-edge presence.  De Niro and Pesci are like a double act… a shocking double act.  In fact, for the two lead performances alone this film should be a 10 out of 10.  Hmmmm… 10 out of 10.  This film could be a 10 out of 10!

Brutal boxing scenes.  I haven’t even really mentioned the brutal boxing scenes.  These scenes of carnage litter the movie to advance the story – to show the onward march of LaMotta’s career.  They are filmed with so much trickery, so much magic. Scorcese is at the very top of his game.  The boxing is so real it hurts to watch.  The documentary style of cinematography is absolutely fitting for this film.  I have been watching the Blu-ray disc and I’ve got to say it looks superb.  The film grain and the searing black and white makes the film leap from the screen.

The scene where LaMotta asks his brother to punch him in the face is one of those classic moments of cinema.  10 out of 10 written all over it.  This film is a complete study of dysfunctional relationships, jealousy and violence.

So far so good… any negatives?  Hmmmm.  Well, I have to mention Cathy Moriarty as LaMotta’s abused wife Vicky.  I’ve just never been sure about her performance.  She’s stunning to look at… but, well… I just don’t know.  At the start of the film I think she’s supposed to be about 15.  I just don’t buy it.  Her acting seems out of sorts too.  I could draw comparisons to Cybil Shepherd in Taxi Driver – a similar kind of detached playing of a role.  But whereas I buy into Cybil Shepherd, I just remain unconvinced by Moriarty.  This is not a huge negative for there are points in the film where she excels.  I just don’t think she quite competes with De Niro and Pesci…. but then, realistically, who could?

Some of the make-up worn by De Niro throughout the film, the prosthetics perhaps rather than the make-up, to give him a beat up look do not always totally convince.  Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t gonna knock a mark off the score, and most of the time it looks excellent… it’s just that ‘sometimes’ it looks to me a little odd.

And… what is up with Joe Pesci’s hair?!?  Again, not enough to knock a mark off… but his hair is just mad!!!

I think my main concern with the film would be the pacing.  This is a slow film.  I like it.  I love it.  But I can imagine others finding it really tough going.  I would compare it to Bladerunner, a similarly slow film.  I love the building of layers in film.  I love the intensity created by having the freedom to linger on a subject.  The kind of lingering that was tolerated in 70s cinema.  But others won’t love the linger… they will just turn off.  Consider the type of films that you like.  If you like Transformers you will HATE Raging Bull!!!  I am not joking.  One of the best films of all time or not… you will HATE it!  For me, I would have liked the pace to have been tightened a little… but this is not a film you watch for fun.  This film is an educational experience!

Overall… this is a monumental film.  A work of art.  As I said with Taxi Driver… if you want to read the score as a 10 out of 10 then go ahead.  It really is that good.  However, due to Cathy Moriarty and the issues with pacing I have to knock two marks off.  Remember though… I use the whole scale.  I have no issue with giving a film 5 if it’s average.  I don’t know where the idea of only using the 7 – 10 range of a ten point scale came from?!?

Raging Bull – 8/10

Taxi Driver // Rain

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It’s late and it has been a tiring few days.  Everything has caught up with me and I feel like I’m running on empty.  So it seems kind of apt that I’m about to write my thoughts on one of my favourite films, Taxi Driver.  Taxi Driver is one of those films that spawned a poster that adorned every teenage male’s wall.  Well, it was certainly on my wall!  Taxi Driver is a film that could in many ways be considered ‘cult’ and yet it is actually pretty mainstream.  It is a film that can appeal very specifically to the loners, the lost, the angry, the bitter, the disillusioned, the pessimistic, the betrayed, the ‘insert your descriptive word here’.  Taxi Driver is an extremely important film… but one that was lost to me for many a year.  I picked it up on Blu-ray recently and checked it out again.  I rediscovered it!  Taxi Driver is a very influencial film.  Taxi Driver is a film that I’m going to write about without giving too many spoilers.  You can read this and then watch the film in relative safety!!!  The basic story can be summed up as follows (without spoiling it!):  Loner played by Robert De Niro can’t sleep.  Gets a job as a Taxi Driver by night.  Falls for girls that are in different ways not right for him (to say the least!).  Tries to hurt/save the girls.  Ends up becoming a kind of vigilante character – the ‘typical’ loner who goes psycho.

First, and slightly off topic, I gotta say that the Blu-ray transfer itself is majestic.  Absolutely superb.  Anyone who has doubts about the difference between DVD and Blu-ray should simply take a look at Taxi Driver.  It just drips class.  The rain, the grime, the paintwork, the neon lights… just beautiful.  The darkness has never looked so alive.

The Taxi Driver I remember from my youth was a film that very much appealed to the unsocial side of me.  Let’s be clear here. Taxi Driver is a pretty dark film.  It has been compared to other ‘loner’ films such as Falling Down or First Blood.  But Taxi Driver is very much its own man.  It has so many levels… only one of which is the level that appeals to the teenage boy.  Taxi Driver is just as much a journey into the heart of darkness as Apocalypse Now.  Taxi Driver is a film that kinda defines the ’70s.  And you have to remember that the ’70s were already defined by grime and realism.  The ’70s marked a foray into great BIG meaningful, intelligent films.  All the President’s Men.  The Conversation.  Deliverance.  Even Rocky (if you don’t agree then you obviously haven’t watched it recently).  In fact, Rocky actually beat Taxi Driver at the Oscars that year – a decision that could drive home another whole article!

Taxi Driver was directed by Martin Scorsese.   I would find it hard to name my favourite director.  It would be like having to name a favourite band or album.  They are decisions that are affected by mood, time and space.  But Scorsese would certainly be in my top one or two!  Ha ha!  I think Taxi Driver is a defining Scorsese film.  Unlike certain other great directors Scorsese has many great films.  You could pick Raging Bull or Goodfellas for example and no-one would dispute their challenge for the title of “Greatest Scorsese Movie”tm.  But, whilst I would agree with their greatness, and possibly that they are even greater than Taxi Driver… I would still say that Taxi Driver is the defining moment of Martin Scorsese’s career.  I can already sense that my writing here is sloppy.  I’m drifting around the subject without hitting the facts home.  I’m not firing on all cylinders here.  Bear with me.  I’m just typing what I’m thinking.  Hmmmm…. key points of note:

1) The amazing score.  This was Bernard Herrmann’s final score, completed shortly before he died.  Herrmann was responsible for some of the greatest soundtracks in movie history.  I adore his work with Hitchcock, and even those who aren’t familiar with film would recognise some of his signature pieces.  His screeching strings from Psycho are perhaps the best known in cinema history (alongside Jaws‘?).  I love his work on Vertigo too.  But for me… nothing surpasses his final work.  The masterpiece that is the score for Taxi Driver.

2) Robert De Niro.  This is a tour de force performance.  De Niro plays the insomniac Vietnam vet Travis Bickle.  Travis is a loner.  De Niro gets the portrayal spot on.  He IS Travis Bickle.  There is no acting.  You get that ‘method’ thing.

3) Cybill Shepherd. Now, here’s the thing.  I’m pretty sure that Cybill Shepherd is generally derided as an actress.  But I’ve gotta stick up for her.  She was great in The Last Picture Show and I thought she was cool in Moonlighting.  But she is something else in Taxi Driver.  The criticism of her acting tends to be that if she was standing in a forest you really wouldn’t be able to distinguish her from amongst the rest of the trunks.  Saw her in half and you could probably count the rings.  Well… okay, in fact, in Taxi Driver she is indeed a little stilted.  But, and it’s a big but… she is totally radiant.  Absolutely stunning looking.  She plays the part of Betsy, a woman sooooo out of Travis’ league.  And she plays it well.  Betsy benefits from being slightly dislocated from Travis’ world.  I wouldn’t change Shepherd for anyone else. Pretty simple really.

4) Jodie Foster.  Foster was a good little actress.  I think she was only 12 when she played the part of Iris in this film.  12!!!  If you’ve seen the film you’ll know why I’ve put all those exclamation marks!  This is a really adult role.  And Jodie Foster proves that she had the makings of one of the greatest actresses of all time.  I’m not much of a fan of her to be honest, but in this film she is outstanding.

5) Martin Scorsese.  There are moments in this film that are directed with intelligence and beauty.  The phone call where the camera seems embarrassed to be eavesdropping.  It actually wanders off mid shot.  You’ll know it when you see it.  It’s touches of class like this that raise the bar with this film.

6) “You talkin’ to me?”  Say no more.

7)  The beautiful irony/madness of Travis’ outlook on life.  On the one hand he is so self-righteous.  He wants proper order.  He denounces the drugs and the criminality.  He comes across as such a moral guardian.  … And yet… he stays up all day and all night.  He basks in pornography and takes drugs.  He IS the seedy side of life that he so appears to despise! I like that Travis is such a difficult character to interpret.  Taxi Driver is a much more ‘difficult’ film than, say, Falling Down.

8 ) New York.  The setting, the scenery.  You can almost smell the grime of the streets.

9) The duality of Travis’ relationships with Betsy and Iris.  This is a man who wants what he can’t have.  And then when he can’t have it he wants to destroy it.  For better or for worse.  It takes some thinking about.  And it has taken me many viewings and many years to fully appreciate.

10) The ending.  This is a film from a time before ‘twist endings’.  Yet, there is certainly an intriguing end to the film.  The final moments make you question whether Travis is a hero or a villain.  And it makes you question the society that creates such a man as Travis, and then crowns him a hero.  Or a villain?  For you see the ending all depended on which of the father figures Travis succeeded on destroying.  Betsy’s or Iris’.  One makes him a hero, the other a villain.  Or do they both make him a villain?  I like the uncertainty of the film’s tone.

Hmmm…. I’m not keen on writing a ‘review’ as a series of bullet points… but I’ve started so I’ll finish.  It’s getting late and I’m knackered!

There are a few things about the film that I’m not so keen about.

1) The carnage at the end.  The censors apparently would not let the violence at the finale go without cuts.  So, instead Scorsese just drained the colour from the ending.  Drained the visceral red from the blood.  This was enough to satisfy the censors.  And when you hear Marty explain the colour drain you can both understand, and appreciate how in some ways it actually improves the end.  But… I’ve never been too enamoured with it… so it probably loses the film a point.

2) The ending.  As a teenager I never truly understood the very end of Taxi Driver – the coda after the violence.  I didn’t know if it was a dream sequence, some kind of heaven, some kind of hell, or just an unlikely reality.  Having watched it again on Blu-ray 5 times I can now appreciate that it’s probably meant to be taken pretty literally.  I think in the past I was trying to be too clever.  I was trying to project upon the film a whole host of levels that just weren’t actually there.  I now see that the ending is more a scathing social commentary.  I can appreciate the view that the film has an uncertain tone.  And yet I now think that the film is actually quite certain with its tone.  I think the film has a single point to make and it is all very simple.  And I now see that the film could be viewed as a recurring loop.  If you started watching Taxi Driver again as soon as it finished everything would make perfect sense!!!  Anyway… the film loses a point.

3) The forcing of the “Everything is viewed by Travis.  Everything is observed.”. Basically the film sets out to show everything as a kind of first person, ‘as happens to Travis’ point of view.  So when other events need to be seen, Travis is shown as ‘observing them’ in his Taxi – usually sitting outside where the scene we need to see is happening.  Marty has explained the need for this approach many times.  I’m just not sure that it actually works.  However, certainly not bad enough to knock a point off the final score.  And I’ve got to say that the scene between Iris and her Pimp is indeed probably necessary and quite touching.

Let’s be clear.  This is probably the closest you’re gonna get to a ten out of ten film from me.  So, if that’s what you want to read the score as I’m happy for you to read it!  This film is a towering work of art.  A dissection of a troubled soul.

Taxi Driver – 8/10

I used Taxi Driver as the source of inspiration for the opening track of my new album “The Galton Detail“.  The song is called Rain.  I think I’ve captured the essence of the film.

Album Review: PULP – ‘HIS ‘N’ HERS’

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I’ll be honest right from the start.  I’ve drunk a fair bit of wine.  So much so that my fingers look like lightning across the keyboard.  A FrEnZy I tell thee!!!!  Ha ha!!!!

London is burning.  The rioting is spreading.  Don’t get me started on my feelings about the cretins involved in this mindless nonsense!  All I hear on the news channels is people sticking up for the behaviour of these idiots of society.  Well… as people in my own city plan their own riots (for possessions you understand… looting for POSSESSIONS… there is no political ideology on display here!!! 😐 ) I shall sink into the deepest recesses of music.  You will all know me by now.  You will know I can ramble.  Well… I have precisely one hour to put some thoughts onto the interweb.  This will be stream of consciousness stuff so expect wrongness.  And inconsequence!

What comes to mind then…. I mean to write about.  Hmmm.  More wine first vicar!

How about a ‘discussion’ of an album.  Hmmmm.  What album though.  I get the feeling that in my time with you – and I hope it will be years – I will discuss a huge variety of albums!  Rubber Soul seems the next  ‘apt’ album to discuss in terms of my recent road trip.  Or perhaps a punk album, maybe the Sex Pistols in light of the riots.  Or the Kaiser Chiefs… clever blokes 😉

No… I shall write about an album that is important to me.  An album that changed my life – for a while.  Perhaps for ever really. His ‘n’ Hers by Pulp.

Back-story.  I was well into rock music in my youth.  You could even go so far as to call me a ‘metaller’.  Ha ha!  Seriously… I was well into my Sabbath, Maiden, Aerosmith etc etc ad infinitum.  That wasn’t a problem.  I enjoyed it.  It was important to me.  Then along came grunge.  And grunge changed everything.  So much so that I’m sure I’ll write some entries about certain grunge albums in the future!  I started a band.   I drafted in someone I met at school.  He approached me one day with an armful of grunge albums and lent them to me no questions asked.  He’d just moved into the area and I’m sure it was a way to make a friend (the guy with long hair and a leather jacket was probably the safest bet for him!!!).  Ha ha!  Anyway… I did indeed borrow those albums… and I loved them.  I think it was stuff like Nevermind and Ten, pretty mainstream really…. but do you remember those times – were you even born then?!?  It was refreshing.  It changed the landscape of music.  Me and ‘the guy who lent me those albums’ became great friends.  Hmmm… perhaps warrants a new paragraph?

So we started a band.  I claimed I could play the guitar.  Well, compared to him and his mates I was like a flippin’ guitar hero.  Ha ha!  What we needed was a bass player… so he bought a cheap bass.  I taught him to play it and a band was in the making.  He went on to become a really great bass player, perhaps I’ll get a cheque in the post one day!  Ha ha!  No, seriously, that guy had talent and we actually made a great partnership.   I went to Uni and converted a couple more people to my cause.  A keyboard player (who I at least converted, if not actually taught, to play the guitar) and a drummer.  We were a punk band I suppose.  Punk in as much as we couldn’t play… but also punk in as much as I was well into the Pistols and the Buzzcocks at the time.  And elements of Nirvana’s first album, Bleach, came into play.  Nirvana… remember Nirvana?   The frightening thing is that some people genuinely think that Dave Grohl is just the front-man of the Foo Fighters.  They don’t even know he was the drummer of a really important rock band?!?  But that’s just the way of the world.  Isn’t it?  Memories fade.  And sometimes memories are poured onto a computer screen when one is drinking wine!!!

So I was a rocker in a punk band.  I was rocker in a punk band with all the trappings.  Easy.  Very easy.  Then Brit-Pop happened.  I was slowly converted to the likes of Blur and pretty much instantly to the likes of Oasis.  It’s difficult in hindsight to remember how totally game-changing “Definitely Maybe” was at the time.  It not only created a band wagon but it created the biggest band and the very biggest wagon!!!  Seriously… you should have seen the size of the wheels!?!  You needed to clamber up a 6 foot supermodel’s shoulders just to reach the cab!  Ha ha!  So my band at the time graduated to the title of “indie pop band” – as did every other band of the day!  All bands became Oasis!  We started to hang out in indie clubs.  Perhaps I’ll tell stories of those times one day.  But we enjoyed our particular brand of insulated imaginary fame!  Ha ha! Then I heard a song.  I cannot remember where it figured exactly in the time line.  But it was probably on Top of the Pops, or in the indie clubs.  I heard the song “Babies” by Pulp.  Babies.

That kind of changed everything.  That one song.  I was converted instantly.  This band was a revelation.  Even just to look at – they were extreme.  A weird mix of modern and complete nostalgia.  David Bowie, disco and Brit-Pop.  A gangly front-man….. a girl playing the keyboards – and an angelic sound.  As with the other bands of the time it’s hard to listen to the music now and recognise the dynamite, neon-flamed abuse of the senses that erupted at the time.  They were extraordinary.  Completely.  So much so that I can still taste the first few times I heard that song on my tongue.  I still remember the first time!  😉  And I have an infamously bad memory!!!  The song “Babies” is a track from an album called His ‘n’ Hers by a band called Pulp.  Now… if I was going to be ‘cool’ I’d actually big up their previous album, “Separations”  – another magnificent album.  But, I have to be honest with you my faithful readers, this is a confessional site and His ‘n’ Hers was in many ways my confessional album.

The album was actually a huge way into Pulp’s career… and yet it feels like a debut album.  Actually strike that… it feels like a reboot.  In the same way that Nolan rebooted Batman and all the superheroes are currently receiving reinventions, Pulp recognised what worked and what didn’t from their past – and started again from square one.  The violins and the electronics are still there. The moody reflection and autumnal tones are still very much in play.  But Pulp finally found that magical ingredient so often missing before – a good song.

The album kicks in with ‘Joyriders’.  A track which to this day I still remember all the words to.  I just love the way the song smacks you in the face immediately.  There’s no intro.  This song signifies an album with straight-ahead intentions.

“We can’t help it we’re so thick we can’t think.

Can’t think of anything but shit, sleep and drink”

A song that seems SO relevant in the current climate of disillusionment and destruction.  People making excuses for their actions.  It’s like Jarvis is a prophet – like he should be bowed down to.  Jarvis.  Jarvis Cocker!  I DO bow down to Jarvis Cocker.  Never has someone made so much from so little.  And yet… that is unfair.  He has that certain ‘something’.  You can’t quite put your finger on it… but he has IT.  I wished I was him at the time.  Maybe I still do now!  Ha ha!

This majestic album then hits you with “Lipgloss”.  It’s at this point that you realise the lyrics are genius.  They are like a diary.  Fair enough, a diary from someone who is having a more interesting life than you.  But in any case, I certainly remember listening to the lyrics and experiencing a revelatory moment.  Songs could be SO from the heart that they BECAME the heart.  Heart and soul. Heart and soul.  ///throws up!

Acrylic Afternoons is perhaps the true highlight of the album.  This song needs to be experienced – preferably lying on your bed in a darkened room (only really an activity you can perform as a student).  I had similar experiences in that ‘darkened room’ with Portishead and Jeff Buckley, but  I’m sure I’ll talk about them another day.  Acrylic Afternoons is almost perfect.  It’s fragile… gentle.  A world away from Iron Maiden or the Ramones.  And yet in some ways infinitely more powerful.  That’s what pains me about music reviews.  It’s so easy to spout verbal shite about music.  To be all verbally dexterous with your verbiage. But the honest reality is that you just have to hear it for yourself.  You may not like it… but you have to hear it.

This diary of an album continues until we come to the song “Babies”.  A song so good I will name it twice.  Babies Babies.  I won’t say too much about this song.  I CAN’T say too much about this song.  It’s just too important.  This single, solitary song underpins everything I have ever done.  It defines Confession of the Whole School to a certain extent.  It changed my life.  Set me on a different path – it HAS to be that important.  I (wrongly) relegated all of my heavy metal albums to the bottom drawer of my wardrobe for years.  Yes… years!  Seriously, Babies had that much of an impact.  It changed me!  It still changes me.  It remains one of the greatest songs ever written.  Check out the video!  It is tongue in cheek and unpretentious (considering the vastness of the song), but it is funny and witty and defines the band.  It also features the never to be topped dancing skills of Mr Cocker!  Common People may represent the band for the masses…. but for the believers, “Babies” is the song to beat!  🙂


So… I’m running out of time. Have I even started the album review yet?  “Babies” reminds me of so much. People I no longer see and things I no longer do.  It is MY song.  And for that reason I will never allow a bad word to be said about it!

The next song on the album is called “She’s a Lady”.  This song betrays the roots of Pulp.  For you see Pulp had to deal with being a ‘band’ when being a ‘band’ wasn’t cool.  They had to exist through acid house, rave, dance and all things electronic.  They adapted.  This is more evident on Separations… but it is indeed evident here on His ‘n’ Hers too.  She’s a Lady isn’t one of my favourites, but it has its moments.  Every song on this album does.  Because this is a classic album.  This album is up there with Definitely Maybe, Parklife and Dog Man Star.  For me it is the crowning glory of Brit-Pop whilst perhaps not being Brit-Pop at all.  It is a contrary album.  So, let’s just forget She’s a Lady shall we?

Happy Endings is another torn page from the Cocker diary.  An epic of Human League like proportions.  Jarvis is just perfect.  The perfect singer who can’t sing.  As are Jonny Rotten and Alice Cooper.  You don’t have to be able to sing conventionally to win my heart. In fact I insist!  If you win the X-Factor I will disown you!  I promise.

“Happy Endings” is the companion piece to Blur’s “To the End”.  It is a magnificent song with the cutest keyboard solo ever!  Ha ha!

Then comes perhaps the stand-out single from the album.  Another song that instantly reduces me to tears.  Because it really is THAT GOOD!

Do You Remember the First Time?

“I can’t remember a worse time.”

The perfect “indie”TM single.  This song, along with Suede’s whole first album, cornered the market in swirling sexual indie rock.  There was no point anyone else even trying afterwards.  “Do You Remember the First Time” could be summed up as a Buzzcocks single for the ’90s. A song the Buzzcocks, in their prime, might have written.   Sheer diary.  Sheer poetry.  Sheer class.  Sheer riff-age.  Sheer perfection.

Pink Glove continues the veiled lyrics.  The secret written word that you can’t believe someone is actually singing. So close to the bone.  Like a bloody post-mortem!  Excuse me while I nip downstairs for more wine. —- Back.  Yep… The lyrics to Pink Glove almost make me cry.  You know something’s good when you can say that.

So… all that really leaves me to talk about is the final track on the album – “David’s Last Summer”.  An epic.  A 7 minute epic.  Having now written a few epics myself I can appreciate the influence this song may have had on me.  I’ll never be a ‘speaker’ of words, I’ll always be a singer – so I couldn’t say the song is ‘vocally’ an influence. But it is certainly an inspiration.  Not one I ever think about.  But it must have had an impact on my younger self. As did a song like Rime of the Ancient Mariner.  The idea of a song as a series of movements.  The idea of words as a series of moments.  They can tie together or they can drift apart.  There are no rules.  Listen to David’s Last Summer.  There are no rules.  And yet the song totally sticks to the rules.  Its own rules… but rules nevertheless.  And so… my self-imposed time limit comes to an end.  Sorry if this ‘so-called review’ has been a little obtuse.  I should be better prepared for these things.  The old rock CDs were eventually allowed out of that drawer, and everything returned to normality.  With age comes the realisation that you don’t have to be embarrassed by the music that you love.  In fact you should do everything in your power to promote it.  Pulp can easily live alongside Wolfsbane, for example.  For although they sound completely different, there is a drive and determination fuelling all of the best bands.  Whether they do it with a bark or a gentle yap is kind of irrelevant.

Hmmmm…. a score?  You want a score?  That is very difficult.  I’m tempted to give this album a 10/10.  However there are moments of distinct 5/10… yet they are so very few and far between.  Floating, bobbing carrier bags in a glittering ocean. Hmmmm.  For me this album is close to perfection.  It is certainly dating. I don’t deny that.  And yet it was dated when it was released. Even then it harked back to the glam of  ’70s Britain.  Platform boots and singers driving into trees.  Hmmm.

PULP – HIS ‘N’ HERS: 9/10

Thoughts of the Day on Comedy

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Okay, here’s a review I felt I just had to write.  It’s a review for a BBC series called “The Trip”.  It was shown on TV last year, and although I watched it and loved it then… since buying it on DVD it is now fresh on the mind.  I’ve kind of given away the final score by using the word “love” in the third sentence… but that’s not important.  This review is not intended to be a suspenseful review.  It is intended to be a review that mines the soul.  For if you have read anything of my site, anything of my love of music you will know that I already believe that music and comedy are intrinsically linked.  Timing.  Rhythm.  Sheer brutal cleverness!

I have yet to write my full post for my all time comedy hero. The day I get around to writing my ‘essay’ on Tony Hancock will be a long day for you all – for I will wax lyrical.  Until then please accept this snippet of thought on comedy.  My thoughts of the day on comedy!

I found the Trip to be bloody marvellous for a number of reasons – which I could easily bullet point, but I choose to ramble.  I choose to ramble!

This is a comedy series that dwells on one of my favourite elements of comedy.  The repeating of a joke. The repeating of a joke ad infinitum.  This is a technique which looses a lot of people, and many of the haters of this series just didn’t ‘get’ the repetition.  But ignore those haters for they are stupid people.  They do not see the glory of the technique.  The Trip is a hard program to talk about without being all ‘spoilery’… but I will do my best to discuss the show in a way that will not ruin anything.  I will not repeat my “Lost – Final Episode” review error!!!

I think it’s important to know a little of the characters before watching the series.  In fact I’m actually quite surprised that the show has gone down so well around the world as I really think a lot of the comedy is quite colloquial.  This is a show about two people.  Steve Coogan is for me, the comedy genius.  I use that word infrequently, but it certainly applies here.  When he is at the top of his game he is the best in the world.  The best.  But, like Hancock before him, he is a hit and miss kind of guy.  When he’s great he’s great… and when he’s bad he’s really bad!  But for me that is what genius is all about.  A razor’s edge.  A tightrope.  These people will fall.  And they will land hard.  John Cleese, Peter Cooke, Tony Hancock, the list of these geniuses is a long one.  Hit and miss.  The same with music.  Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney, Elvis, Jackson etc etc.  Artists who, when they were at their best, produced the best music ever made.  And when they were at their worst stunk the place out.

Steve Coogan plays an exaggerated version of his self.  At least we guess that it’s exaggerated.  In all actuality it’s very likely that he’s closer to ‘this’ Steve Coogan than he’d like to admit.  But, in any case, he plays an actor in a career lull.  An actor who knows that he has hit dizzying heights… but just can’t grasp them any more.  An actor who has tried his hand at “cracking America” and failed.  An actor who is trying to (wait for it) – find himself. I know… yuk!

Rob Brydon also plays his exaggerated self.  An actor who lives via his impersonations of others.  There is a Peter Sellers like quality to the man.  The idea that in some ways he doesn’t quite have a personality of his own.  Rob Brydon very much plays up to the “populist-fool” and a kind of tabloid paper against Coogan’s Broadsheet.  In actual fact Brydon has been in some pretty clever stuff himself and is a fine comic actor in his own right.

So, we have these two characters slammed together in a chosen/enforced trip around the restaurants of the north of England.  The set-up is that Coogan must write restaurant reviews for a newspaper.  But in reality this story is just an excuse to throw these two lost souls together.  And the sheer brilliance of this move is that Coogan and Brydon are both impressionists.  Not painters!  I mean they both have a history of doing ‘impressions’ of celebrities for radio/TV.  And so the series becomes something of a war between the two.  Battle after battle of impressions.  One trying to out do the other.  And so enters the repetition.  Honestly, when this was first aired I remember spending a whole week having a battle with a colleague over who could do the best Michael Caine.  This wouldn’t have been too much of a problem were it not for the fact that the line we were both constantly saying was “She was only 16 years old…”.  Hmmmm.  Could be misconstrued!

The repetition does not live within a single episode.  It stretches across the series.  The same lines are said again and again.  This is like music.  You have your drumbeat and your bass line.  I know I’m sounding pretentious.  But I really do believe that the best ‘comedy’ is similar to the best music.

So… moments of genius.  Honestly… the discussion of what constituted the perfect Michael Caine had me in stitches.  And this ‘formula’ is repeated throughout the series.  Battles of Connerys, Moores, Hopkins… the list goes on.  Proper dissections of acting technique – the whole Richard Gere section is amazing.

I just loved this series.  It was funny and moving.  The moments when, for all his achievements, Coogan just wishes he could have Brydon’s charm.  Coogan’s attempts to do Brydon’s “Man in a Box” in his mirror.  The emptiness that Coogan portrays even though he is a man with money, fast cars and as many women as he wants.  These are two actors at the top of their game.  Both the improvised and scripted sections melt together and you’re left with a comedy that equals the best of the Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm.  Only at a more relaxed pace.

I mentioned the sorrow.  And this is a really important strand of the show.  For all the ups there are all the downs.  The most poignant being the words Brydon shouts to Coogan when Coogan falls into the river when trying to navigate the stepping-stones.  There are just so many highlights: Coogan speaking at Brydon’s funeral.  The whole “Gentlemen.. to bed!” section. The discussion of what you are actually supposed to do when you sip the wine that the waiter pours for you.  I haven’t given anything away.  I’m just trying to persuade you to give this much maligned show a go.  It is the best British comedy of recent years.  I would hope that people who like my music would also like this show.

Anyway… just wait till I write about Hancock!!!  😉

Album Review: Iron Maiden – ‘Powerslave’

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Here’s a new thing I’m gonna do.  I’ve always been a fan of album reviews.  As a student I lapped up NME and Melody Maker.  My problem with most reviews is that they’re written so close to the event.  So soon after an album release.  Therefore likely with very few listens.  You only have to read the reviews of Be Here Now by Oasis to realise how badly wrong things can go!!! This has always foxed me.  You see, I am one of those people who sticks a CD in the car (yes… still a CD!), and then listens to that CD until destruction.  Often months at a time.  And after the monumental number of ‘listens’ I rack up I truly know the album inside out.  I know the good and the bad.   In my head I then imagine I’m reviewing the album.  And the review is always easy because I know every single note of the album inside out.  If reviewers had to live with an album for 6 months you would get a whole different appraisal!  Probably a very honest one!  But of course… that’s impossible.  You need the review before or on the day of release!  So… anyway… I’ve decided to stick up the occasional review on this site.  The reviews will give a window into my world.  The albums I choose to review will not necessarily be representative of anything in particular… but they will be a snapshot of my life!

So… recently I’ve decided to listen to a cassette in the tape player of my van.  I’ve got a CD player in the car and a tape player in the van.  Now.. having moved house a couple of times I found it extremely difficult to actually find a cassette to put in the van!  I’ve only got CDs, and even then most of them have now been stuck onto the computer as MP3s.  You definitely get a sense that “physical media” is dead and buried!  Anyway… I managed to find one, solitary tape.  Powerslave by Iron Maiden.  An album I never owned on anything other than cassette.  So… a couple of months ago into the van it went.  And 100 listens later:

Okay.  Powerslave.  Hmmm.  First of all, you have to bear something in mind when you listen to my thoughts on this album.  Iron Maiden were pretty much my first love.  The most accessible of ‘metal’ bands, and for me, one of the most important.  At the time I bought this cassette, probably the late ’80s, I was much more into CDs and therefore this particular album was one of my least played of Maiden‘s career.  However, that is not to say I didn’t know the songs.  Many of these songs were played on the associated tour and were captured on the concert CD “Live After Death”.  In any case, when I say this album was one of the lesser played of my Maiden albums, I’m probably still talking 10,000 listens!  Ha ha!

Anyway, having listened to it in the van over the last couple of months I can say that the first thing that strikes you is the production.  The whole album has a warm, punchy, analogue sound.  In fact I’d go so far as to say that this is the archetypal “Iron Maiden sound”.  A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that I have only ever listened to this album on tape.  Tape has that effect on a sound. Any sound.  But it seriously suited Iron Maiden.  And so I listened to my old, worn, warped tape.

The era of Powerslave was arguably Maiden at their peak.  It was released in 1984 and features the “classic” line-up of Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Nick McBrain and Steve Harris.  This is THE Maiden line-up.  And funnily enough, through thick and thin this line-up is still in existence today.  There have been a lot of ups and downs along the way – and in fact Maiden lost me as a fan for a good few years – but the nostalgic line-up is back together (with an added Geordie for extra measure).

So, Powerslave.  This album has the weight of a thousand sweaty teenage boys’ dreams on its shoulders.

Marty:  Let's talk about your music today...uh...one thing that puzzles me
        ...um...is the make up of your audience seems to be ...uh...
        predominately young boys.
David:  Well it's a sexual thing, really isn't it.  Aside from the
        identifying the boys do with us there's also a re-reaction to the
        female.....of the female to our music.  How did you put it?
Nigel:  Really they're quite fearful - that's my theory.  They see us on
        stage with tight trousers we've got, you know, armadillos in our
        trousers, I mean it's really quite frightening...
David:  Yeah.
Nigel:  ...the size...and and they, they run screaming.

Powerslave opens with Aces High.  A great opening song.  One of the greatest opening songs!  An interesting fact about Maiden (and perhaps a lot of heavier music generally) is that very few of the songs are about ‘love’.  There are no standard ‘love songs’.  Maiden take this a little further in that most of their songs are completely impersonal.  They tend to be songs about war, songs based on books, TV or poetry.  Aces High is a war song.  It’s the song they opened their gigs with at the time.  They spliced a Churchill quote onto the front of the song and it went down a storm.  A real kick of a song.  A song that Dickinson tended to struggle with live at the time.  As a singer he earned the nickname “the air-raid siren”.  And this album features much of his absurdly high pitched singing.  And he expanded on his “rasp”.  A voice used to greater effect in the ’90s, you can hear it evidenced on this album.

Two Minutes to Midnight then slices in with its great opening guitar riff.  This was Adrian Smith’s song and you can tell.  It has a different fire to the other songs.  Steve Harris tends to be the main songwriter for Iron Maiden.  In fact… to be honest that is a huge understatement.  Steve pretty much IS Iron Maiden.  But Two Minutes to Midnight certainly showcased what the other members could achieve if they were allowed to!  Dickinson is at his vicious best.  I used to have the poster for this song on my wall as a kid.  Eddie (the band mascot) sitting in the foreground with a nuclear explosion mushroom cloud serving as the backdrop.  Awesome artwork. Awesome song.

In fact… now that I’ve mentioned artwork I think I might just mention Derek Riggs.  Derek was the artist for all of Maiden‘s ‘golden-era’ work.  He came across as a strange little man on the only footage I’ve seen of him.  But at his best (during the ’80s) he came up with some inspirational album cover art.  Perhaps some of the best.  Although I personally favour some of the other album covers, I have to admit that Powerslave is a classic.  Yes… a classic ‘metal’ album cover.  A classic album needs a classic cover.  Hmmm… do you think I’m gonna end up concluding that this is a classic album by any chance?!?  😉

The next track on the album is a strange one.  Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra).  Now, I was never a fan of the name of this instrumental.  Not then and certainly not now.  Poor.  Very poor.  But I have to look beyond the title and into the meat and two veg of the song.  And actually… it’s a pretty damn fine instrumental.  Certainly not up to the standard of something like “The Crusade” by Trivium (that IS an instrumental to end all instrumentals!), but it is a real tour de force for Steve Harris and Nicko McBrain.  Steve is the bass player and Nicko is the drummer.  And this song, and in fact this whole album is about the bass and the drums.  I think Steve and Nicko as a team were at the top of their game on this album.  Losfer Words is a mental showdown for the pair.  Nicko is one of the most distinctive drummers of all time.  He tends to have a motto: “Why hit one drum when you could hit a hundred?”.  He owns Losfer Words.  He owns the album.  His drumming is killer throughout.  I bet a lot of boys took up drumming after listening to Nicko.  (because you can’t ‘watch’ him – he’s always hidden behind a wall of drums!).  In fact Dickinson probably rebelled against this when he went solo in the ’90s.  He went into a shop and asked for the “biggest drum kit they had”.  The guy behind the counter said “Well… we could probably make a kit up of as many drums as you want.”  Dickinson replied “No… I only want three drums… I just want those three drums to be the biggest you can get!”.

For all its technical difficulty and complex drum and bass work, the honest truth is that a song like Losfer Words could only have been helped by having Bruce sing something on it.  What’s the point of having the greatest metal singer of all time and leaving him to sip Soda Stream in the studio storeroom?  Come on guys… what the hell was this all about?!? And change the name of the song!!!

The next song, Flash of the Blade, is credited to Dickinson.  It has aspects to it which are quite pleasing.  The chorus for example has a nice enough melody and it is perfectly well sung.  The playing all round on the album by everyone is spectacular.  But.. you can’t help but feel that Flash of the Blade is album filler.  Quite good album filler… but album filler nonetheless.

As the Duellists emanates from the van’s speakers I can’t help but notice that my cassette is incredibly warped on this song.  Dickinson is singing like an X-Factor hopeful.  Anyway… terrible song.  Needs no more said about it.

A turn of the tape (remember having to do that?!?) reveals the next song.  Back in the Village is likely a song referencing one of my favourite TV shows of all time – the Prisoner.  And Back in the Village kicks ass!  Serious ass!  I see now that this song is also credited to Adrian Smith. That makes sense.  This song hits you in the face similarly to Two Minutes to Midnight.  Back in the Village has always been an underrated song.  I have never heard Maiden play it live.  I have never heard them mention it.  It’s like it doesn’t actually exist.  Fits with the theme of the Prisoner actually!  Ha ha!  When I was a kid I never gave Back in the Village the time of day.  Pure album filler.  However, re-evaluating it after 100 more listens I can confirm that this song is the dark horse of the album.  A killer guitar riff (perhaps one of the reasons they never played it live – it’s killer to the point of being impossible! ha ha!), a great snarling vocal by Dickinson and pure powerhouse playing all round.  A friend of mine (actually a top music reviewer) recently said that this was the second best song on the album.  I have to admit that I look forward to turning the tape to hear this song.  Perhaps the most underrated, undervalued Maiden song ever?

The title track is the pop song of the album.  It starts with an intro that reminds you of Michael Jackson‘s Thriller.  Then the Maiden stomp enters like a full force lovin’ machine.   Bass and Drums.  Killer.  And I’m pretty sure I hear guitar synthesisers on this song too.  A little two-faced after boasting on earlier albums how there were “no synthesisers used in the making of this album”. Ha ha!  Oh well. I’ve backtracked on my own decisions enough times in my life to know that a statement is only ever as good as the second it’s made.  Ten seconds later… u-turn!  Ha ha!  Anyway, Powerslave is another kick-ass song.  Dickinson’s vocals are excellent and there are a few different tones on display with the instrumentation.  The song mellows the feel of the rest of the album.  You could probably say it was the most rounded song on the album, the perfect showcase for the band… if it wasn’t for the closing track!

Yes… the final track of the album. A song that for me is far and away the greatest of the ‘long songs’ Iron Maiden have written.  It is another song based on literature, and for me it is also the best example.  Rime of the Ancient Mariner is everything an epic song should be.  It clocks in at over 13 minutes and never gets dull.  It features amazing instrumentation and cinematic atmosphere.  Just listen to that middle section.  Just the bass and guitars, with the sounds of the ship creaking!  Magnificent!  The weaving of the classic poem into a rock song is done with perfection.  Steve Harris has dropped the ball with these ‘epic’ songs on so many occasions, yet here he gets it all absolutely right!  The way the song comes out of the soft middle section with a monumental gallop always brings a smile to my face.  Bruce is again on top form.  This song is what music is all about.  It must have seemed such a risk at the time.  But now it still holds its own.  A truly epic work of art. The perfect end to a classic album.

So… I think I’ll give my album reviews a mark out of 10.  One thing you must always bear in mind with me is that I use the full scale!!!  1 is dire.  5 is average.  10 is perfect.  Weighing up the pros and cons of Powerslave I have to give it the only fitting mark.  It is not a bad mark.  It is a good mark!  Thank you for reading.  I shall be back with the next review soon…  for the album I currently have in my car!

Iron Maiden – Powerslave: 6/10

Zombieland

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I pretty much finished the music for what may very well be the final track of the Eleventh Hour‘s debut album – Escapism.  I feel I’ve created a special, upbeat track and I eagerly wait to hear what Bill comes up with in terms of vocals for this one.  For better or for worse it is a song that has taken the journey to its limits.  Epics, through pop songs, through epics and full circle to a pop song.  This has probably been the most productive era of my career.  Seriously… take a look at the album in its incomplete glory.  Isn’t it a wonder to behold?!?

Anyway… as I say, there is a little way to go yet.  The final song may well push one of the current tracks off the album – we are still determined to produce a 12 track album.  Also, bear in mind no-one else has heard this album at all yet.  Just you, the readers of this site, and the few on Soundcloud.   Soundcloud is the site that I use to ‘host’ the music.  It enables me to get a quick snapshot of whether a song has what it takes.  To be honest, all the songs have gone down very well.  The Eleventh Hour, so far, has been a success.  The next step of the process will be to make the rest of the world aware of it!!!

I had another spare moment last night so I watched the film “Zombieland“.  It had been recommended to me by my cousin so I gave it a go.  Now, again, with any review of a film I feel it’s important to give certain caveats.  I am a Zombie fan.  Plain and simple.  The original Dawn of the Dead is one of my favourite films.  So obviously this review is skewed due to that fact.  Also, bear in mind that, unlike the majority of the world, I didn’t find Shaun of the Dead all that funny!

So… Zombieland.  Short review this one!  Great film.  Loved it.  Jesse Eisenberg plays a great nerd (no shit Sherlock) and Woody Harrelson plays a marvellous action hero.  Combine that with a cute girl and thousands of ‘zombie’ kills and you have a recipe for success in my eyes.

However, there are really no zombies in this film.  It conforms to the current trend for ‘zombie’ films of having a disease that ravages the world and turns people into flesh-lusting animals.  Not zombies.  The dead do not rise.  “When Hell is full the dead shall walk the Earth” – not here.

But this film is a thousand times better that Shaun of the Dead.  I may be being a bit hard on Shaun of the Dead but it just did nothing for me.  It had its moments of course.  I loved the “throwing the records at the zombies” sketch and I liked the quaint English slant on the zombie apocalypse .  But overall, Zombieland has more than the edge.  I love the idea of the rulebook.  Similar to Scream, or, you know, the current batch of ‘knowing’ horror films, this film also describes “the rules”.  The rules to follow if you’re trying to survive the zombie-led end of the world.  This theme is followed through to the very end and is well executed.  Clever and brilliant.  A really cool action/horror/comedy.  Not a patch on the original Romero zombie trilogy in terms of depth.  But purely judged on the game it’s playing, this film is a laugh.  A great spectacle for a “B-movie” and a great waste of an hour and a half.  Even my girlfriend liked it!