Earlier this month I spent the most pleasant of afternoons seeing “Stan & Ollie” at the local multiplex. A film about cinema’s greatest comedy duo couldn’t be anything but affectionate & respectful & this one hits those notes perfectly. The twin heartbeats of the film are Steve Coogan & John C Reilly’s outstanding impersonations of Laurel & Hardy. Set in dreary 1950’s Britain subtle direction smartly blurs any lines between the real blokes & these new guys. It’s no “Sons of the Desert” (1933), nothing else is but it’s a fine, warm piece of work. The cinema has reduced all seats to £5 ($6.60) so I’ll be returning next week for Tim Burton’s live action remake of “Dumbo”. I’ll take a couple of kids with me because the sight of a tearful, solitary old man is never a good one.
There’s not been a movie post for a while so here are some recent films that not only held my attention but I would be happy to watch again in my home cinema complex (I have a TV AND a sofa!).
It’s stating the obvious that “Green Book” was not the best film of 2018 despite the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deciding it was. I’m not getting into the whole “white saviour” thing, that’s imposing an unnecessary critique on to a film that renders the developing relationship between an odd interracial couple as broadly & as inoffensively as possible. Race relations in 21st century America deserves a more nuanced perspective & we were never going to get that from writer/director Peter Farrelly whose last two films were “The Three Stooges” & “Dumb & Dumber To”. The film introduced me to the cool piano music of Don Shirley so that’s good.
Having been a fan of Spike Lee since “She’s Gotta Have It” I much preferred “BlacKkKlansman”. Denzel’s boy John David Washington was prominent in the TV series “Ballers”, he & his perfect afro star in the unlikely but true story of Ron Stallworth, the black cop who infiltrates the Klan using only a telephone & Adam Driver. Spike’s characteristic energy & commitment to his viewpoint makes for an exciting ride. The clip above, cutting from a violent assault by racist cops to the joy of a “Soul Train” line dance (“It’s Too Late to Turn Back Now” – Cornelius Bros & Sister Rose) shows the director at the top of his game. Lee will, I hope, never lose the agitprop aspect of his films, “BlacKkklansman”, set in the 1970’s, has plenty to say about contemporary America. The denouement may stray from actual events, the closing link to Charlottesville & the President’s refusal to condemn the actions of racists is elementary but a necessary & effective reminder that things are same as it ever was.
The script of “Blindspotting”, by Daveed Diggs & Rafael Casal, both actors, friends since high school, evolved over 10 years & it shows. Every scene is lean & mean, the dialogue crackles, Collin (Diggs) has just days to go on his probation, anxious that his future should be jail-free, disturbed when he witnesses the murder of a young black man by a white cop. His best friend Miles (Casal), short-tempered & violent, is unhappy about the changes to the city, happy with the life he lives but does he really need that gun? “Blindspotting” skillfully blends the comedy with the drama, the friendship between the pair, one black, one white, feels like the real thing. Important issues, loyalty, class, race, police violence, are dealt with smartly, pertinently & without forcing it. When Miles’ young son finds his father’s gun you are on the edge of your seat, it happens again when Collin, the same gun tucked into his waistband, is on a street late at night with the cops for company. Collin’s closing flow, ” How come every time you come around you monsters got me feeling like a monster in my own town? I say it while I’m rapping, nigga, ’cause everyone conditioned to listen to a rapping nigga”, says it loud. “Blindspotting” has got the bounce.
Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma”, a beautifully shot remembrance of his childhood in 1970’s Mexico City, won this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. An early release on Netflix expanded the audience for a finely detailed, impressively observed story. Another nominee in the same category was “Shoplifters” which concerns the struggles of a poor Tokyo household (really a family but it’s complicated) with the law, Love, morality & survival. Intense, involving, subtle, the film attracts a list of adjectives, all of them good. I certainly must include the word “Humanity” here. Director Hirokazu Koreeda has been ranked with leading exponents of neorealism like Ozu & De Sica & I will be checking out his earlier films. In my opinion “Roma” is a very good movie while “Shoplifters” is a masterpiece.
Finally a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do & pick a Western. Much as I enjoyed “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”, the six story anthology by the always dependable Coen Brothers, its fragmentary format made for some unevenness. As is the case with most of the pair’s movies more of its strength & charms will be revealed on repeated viewings. Anyway it was always going to lose out to a cowboy film I had been eagerly anticipating for the whole of 2018.
Jacques Audiard has been making excellent films for over 20 years. The last three, “A Prophet”, “Rust & Bone” & “Dheepan” are among the best of the 21st century. I was always going to be at the front of the queue for “The Sisters Brothers”, his first in the English language. Charlie (Joaquin Pheonix) & Eli (John C Reilly again) Sisters are enforcers, stone-cold killers for the Commodore who trek across the West to San Francisco & the California Gold Rush in pursuit of their target. Like other European directors who go to Hollywood to make a genre film Audiard, who is French, respects the tradition of the great Westerns he saw when they were “a l’affiche” in Paris while adding stylish flourishes to a well-trodden path.
“The Sisters Brothers” has an Old West shabbiness bringing to mind “McCabe & Mrs Miller”, classy Peckinpah-like ultraviolence, scenery courtesy of John Ford & the director’s own sense of epic story telling. The extreme gold prospecting really is something that you haven’t seen before. Pheonix is good as the murderous Charlie, Reilly better as the reflective, protective Eli, Riz Ahmed & Jake Gyllenhaal add fine support. It’s not the first time that a European co-production has suffered at the hands of its American distributor. The big bucks promotional budget isn’t forthcoming when there are too many hands in the box office returns till. That’s a pity because, as you may have guessed, I think it’s a very good movie & if you are a fan of Westerns then I think you will too. “The Sisters Brothers” opens in the UK in early April & I’ll be handing over my £5 to enjoy it again on the big screen then I’ll be waiting for the “Deadwood” movie.
Well that’s a lot of films, things got a little out of hand there. No mention of “The Favourite” either because we all knew that one day director Yorgos Lanthimos was going to crush it. He & his triple threat stars made an outstanding modern period drama but you knew that already too.
There’s a strong argument to be made that Kaleidoscope are the great lost band of British Pop-Psych. The 2 albums released by the 4 piece from London, “Tangerine Dream” (1967) & “Faintly Blowing” (1969), have continued to attract interest even devotion from those who either missed them or were too young the first time around. The group’s pop-pastoral intent, influenced by “Strawberry Fields Forever”, Syd Barrett & Donovan, is very well realised. Personally I find the lyrics of vocalist Peter Daltrey, feathered tigers & porcupine captains, a little prolix. I prefer my fantasy to be sturdier, more Mervyn Peake than Tolkein. Hey, pop a microdot on my tongue & I may tell you something different. It is the music of guitarist Eddie Pumar, interesting instrumentation & effects, a crisp, sparkling production by Dick Leahy, that gives the records a stylistic consistency & an enduring appeal. “Faintly Blowing” aims for a bigger, heavier sound & is more than capably handled by the group.
Kaleidoscope were well supported by the small bohemian cadre on the UK’s only music radio station but failed to find a large audience. 4 of the group’s 5 singles were not included on the LPs. The intention with these melodic but more lightweight songs was to crossover on to the daytime shows & grab a hit. It could have worked, careful if you click on 
When poet Pete Brown added music to his words the First Real Poetry Band had some major players including John McLaughlin off of Mahavishnu Orchestra. Cream needed lyrics for their music & he was in the right place, making a lasting connection with bassist Jack Bruce. “I Feel Free”, “White Room”, “Sunshine of Your Love”, in fact if it wasn’t a Blues jam, a drum solo or “Badge” Pete was involved. His greater visibility & the sizeable royalty cheques led to the formation of Pete Brown & his Battered Ornaments. With the former John Mayall saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith moonlighting from Colosseum & tyro guitarist Chris Spedding they made the scene with the LP “A Meal You Can Shake Hands With”, an unruly mix of Jazz, Blues, poetry & studio improvisation is a snapshot of the influences & variety to be found in 1969’s British underground music. I have friends (Hi Andy!) who love this sort of stuff.
“The Week Looked Good On Paper”, a single released this month, is a little more restrained than the material on “A Meal…”. The next LP “Mantle-Piece” was recorded & a place on the bill for the Stones in Hyde Park free concert set (through the group’s management Blackhill Enterprises who organised the gig) when Pete, an individual & unpredictable performer, was sacked from his own band the day before. The Battered Ornaments played in the park, Chris Spedding replaced the poet’s vocals on the record. Undeterred Pete was soon back on the road with Piblokto & recorded the finely titled “Things May Come & Things May Go But The Art School Dance Goes On Forever” (1970). The Ornaments folded & Spedding went on to play with just about everyone you have ever heard of.
The British Blues Boom, led by the John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers diaspora, hit a commercial high in January 1969 with “Albatross”, an instrumental by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, making the UK #1 spot. Bassist Andy Fraser played with Mayall’s band when he was just 15. His next band were the young guns of the scene, friends who saw one of the early gigs by Free came back raving about the energy & excitement they had witnessed. This was more than youthful brio, the 4 teenagers had skills too. “Tons of Sobs” Free’s debut LP was in the shops on March 14th 1969. Pretty much their live set, recorded in a few days with producer Guy Stevens (Mott the Hoople, “London Calling”!, just out of prison), it’s raw, raucous & it rocks, Fraser & drummer Simon Kirke are a powerful rhythm section, guitarist Paul Kossoff, a precocious talent & singer Paul Rodgers a braggadocious, forceful frontman. There was a greater than the sum of its parts thing going on here.
“The Hunter” is an Albert King song written by Booker T & the M.G.’s, a modern Blues & a discerning choice for a group less attached to purism than other British players. A 45 not included on the LP was also released in March 1969. “Broad Daylight” is from the burgeoning songwriting partnership of Fraser & Rodgers, prolific enough to provide another collection later in the year when the song was re-recorded. The single, like “Tons of Sobs” was not a great commercial success but Free would find their feet, make their mark & could have joined the top rank of British Rock bands. That deserves a post of its own, some other time. But for now…
The authentic star power of David Ruffin, a man comfortable in the spotlight, & the dramatic swirling “My Whole World Ended (the Moment You Left Me)”. David was fired by the Temptations in June 1968. The story of the split has been told by many sides (books of varying quality, an awful TV movie) & he never comes out too well in the telling. Money, drugs & ego are all well & good but do tend to be a volatile mix. Wanting to alter the name of the group to “David Ruffin & the…” was never going to fly with the 4 other members who had all been Temptations longer than he had. He was the featured vocalist on “My Girl”, “I Wish It Would Rain”, “(I Know) I’m Losing You” & others you know, so that’s who he is, a great talent & he had made his contribution.
After an awkward standoff between David, who announced he was fronting a new group, & Tamla Motown blocking appearances by them, he signed to the label as a solo artist. The whistles & bells were pulled out for the debut single & “My Whole World…” is from the top rank of Motown Chartbusters. The subsequent LP is a great showcase for Ruffin’s unique rough-hewn voice, earthy, still sweet & never too harsh. There are plenty of echoes of past glories, songs & stories of thwarted & lost loves, though not by Smokey Robinson or Norman Whitfield. The label’s fabled quality control could have insisted on a little more work on them. Things were changing in Detroit, Marvin & Stevie were taking control in the studio, Whitfield & the Temptations had their “Psychedelic Soul”. A little extra was needed now & the next 45 from the record, “I’ve Lost Everything I’ve Ever Loved”, was not as successful.
Betty Everett made enough of an impression between 1963-65 for her label Vee Jay to issue a “Very Best of…” LP. “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)”, that’s the one that everyone knows but there were other notable ones, popular Soul dance hits, delicious duets with Jerry Butler. Vee Jay’s financial troubles left her stranded & it wasn’t until 1969 that she could do it properly again. The lush, swaying “There’ll Come A Time” & the rest of an album packed with good tunes & arrangements, shows Betty to be assured, effortless & versatile. She may not have been as distinctive as some of the more prominent female singers of the day but she did everything with class & caught your attention every time.
After having their first hit in 1956 the five piece Dells barely troubled the charts while establishing a reputation as a live act. Signing with the Chicago label Chess they were matched with songwriter/producer Bobby Miller, the outstanding, innovative arranger Charles Stepney & their fortunes changed. The guys in the backroom brought the best out of the powerful baritone of Marvin Junior, the startling range, from tenor to falsetto, of Johnny Carter & three others who had known just how the backing vocals went since the days of Doo-Wop. The uptempo, uplifting “Hallways of My Mind”, an intoxicating Chi-town mix of brass, strings & voices, is from a chain of fine records, Soul belters, last dance smoochers, imaginative takes on the classics. Whatever the Dells turned their voices to worked. I have an e-friend who rates the Dells alongside any of the great American vocal groups & she’s not usually wrong about most things.:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3793340-1403878604-3684.jpeg.jpg)
My friend Mitchell & I worked at a small warehouse with three Ghanaians, all good people. Paul was urbane, had lived in Accra, Paris & London, a citizen of the world, avuncular Ben asked my mate to marry one of his family so that she could stay in the UK, Mitch declined. Emmanuel, Mani, was a gentle, kindly barrel of a man, lunchtimes were filled with his stories of witchcraft in soccer, the time James Brown came to town (Soul to Soul 1971), sharing his wife’s delicious & generous portions of fufu. They invited me to a Saturday night hop with a star Pop singer from back home. Myself & three friends rocked up to a community centre in Stockwell, South London & were welcomed by our workmates & their friends, which was like everybody in the place. The music was fine, drink was taken, we didn’t go on stage to thrust money down the singer’s shirt &, thanks to the attention paid to my blonde companion, we were never short of dance partners. Good music with good people is a fine time wherever you are in the world. There was enough difference about the Ghanaian Pop concert for it to be a new experience.
I can’t check for every African artist who caught our attention, that would be a list but I must feature two whose work included outstanding records, among the best of the decade from any continent. From Senegal Youssou N’Dour, with his group Super Etoile de Dakar, was the young star of the Sahel & beyond. It says here that “Immigres” came to the UK via Virgin in 1988, I must have had the earlier French release…get me! The 4 track LP is a wonderful blend of Afro-Latin drum rhythms, the fluid guitar of Jimi Mbaye & vibrant brass, a setting for Youssou’s affecting, emotional vocals. I’m not familiar with the Wolof language but I believe the songs are about the African diaspora in Europe. Whatever, the songs are perfect & Youssou N’Dour was on his way to a long successful career & to becoming the most celebrated artist from that continent.
It was the local library on the Walworth Road, up near the Elephant & Castle, you know it, that put me on to Malian music. A record by the fantastically named Super Rail Band Orchestre Du Buffet Hôtel De La Gare De Bamako sounded like the most fun to be had in any railway station in the world & I taped it before returning the album (Libraries! Cassettes!, jeez the olden days eh?). Salif Keita, an albino ostracised by his family, started with the Rail Band before achieving success with Les Ambassadeurs. Political unrest forced a move out of Bamako, the capital of Mali, & in 1984 Salif settled in Paris where, three years later, he recorded the LP “Soro”.
Had Ali Farka Toure, another Malian musician, ever heard John Lee Hooker? Don’t know, don’t care. Another outstanding singer, his stripped back music, electric guitar & accompanist Amadou Cisse on the dried gourd Calabash percussion, was mesmeric, almost drone-like, still vibrant & absolutely engaging. It sounded like the African Blues & great Blues at that. How had such sonic transatlantic conveyance happened? Could we be hearing the source of a sound that we regard as American or is there a universal rhythm & feeling that humans will embrace & express wherever the heck in the world we happen to be? Mind blown!
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