SOUNDTRACK: ROLLING STONES-Rock and Roll Circus [DVD] (1968).
Probably the most interesting thing about this DVD was seeing Tony Iommi, future guitarist for Black Sabbath playing guitar for Jethro Tull! Let me repeat: the guy who played “Iron Man” was playing on a song with a flute solo!
Okay, with that out of the way, I’ll talk about the DVD.
The idea behind this event was to promote music in a new way, and the idea of a circus makes sense, so why not. Wikipedia gives a pretty lengthy explanation of the whole thing, so I won’t bother with all of the details.
Anyhow, I had heard about this DVD in context of The Who. I had read that The Who totally blew away the Stones at this event (apparently Mick Jagger agreed, which is why this was not available until 1996). Much of the Who’s performance is available in The Kids Are Alright movie.
But now with this DVD available, we get to see all of the acts in the circus:
Jethro Tull-“Song for Jeffrey.” Evidently they mimed their performance, but it’s still Tony Iommi.
The Who-“A Quick One While He’s Away.” Just amazing. Fantastic rollicking, amazing. It’s a crazy song, and it’s so full of energy. Yes, they blow everyone else off the stage.
Taj Mahal, a band I’m not familiar with, plays “Ain’t That a Lot of Love.”
Marianne Faithfull sings a surprisingly quiet rendition of “Something Better.” Her trademark voice hasn’t quite developed yet.
The Dirty Mac, who are John Lennon (vocals & rhythm guitar), Keith Richards (bass), Eric Clapton (lead guitar) & Mitch Mitchell (drums). They perform the Beatles song “Yer Blues” and then a jam called “Whole Lotta Yoko” which features Yoko Ono doing what she does best…caterwauling for what seems like much longer than 4 and a half minutes).
Then the Rolling Stones come out. The story is that they had been up playing for hours, and their set was finally recorded at 5AM. Whether or not that’s true, the set is really lackluster. I’m not a huge Stones fan, but I do love many of their songs. In fact, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Sympathy for the Devil” are two of my all time favorite songs. Sadly, the versions on this DVD are totally substandard, especially compared to the originals. Even “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” a song that I don’t particularly love but which has a great opening riff sounds tired. I don’t know if it’s the amps, the sound board, or if they’re just really tired, but the set just doesn’t have it.
So, yeah, there’s not much to see with this disc. You do get Brian Jones jamming with the Stones. And of course, “A Quick One” is great. It’s also cool to see Tony Iommi, but since he’s not actually playing, it’s not that exciting. And, in fairness, Mick Jagger is a very good host, and he keeps his spirits and excitement level up pretty high throughout the show, especially when goofing around with John Lennon and the fans.
As a curiosity, this DVD was okay…I actually enjoyed the talking bits in between songs rather than the songs themselves.
[READ: March 25, 2009] “White-Bread Jesus”
It has taken me a very long time to read this story. I had been putting it off because it was kind of long. Then I started it and put it aside, and then finally I read most of it but didn’t have a chance to finish it. I found it again today under a pile of magazines and decided it was time to finish it up. None of that reflects on the story, though, honestly.
I was very intrigued by the story right from the get-go. In it, a preacher (Reverend Wesley Edwards) who is losing his faith, and really his mind, has something of a breakdown in church. He begins a dialogue with Jesus in which Jesus admits that the Bible is nonsense, and that he, Wesley, is really a prophet. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: FLAMING LIPS-She Don’t Use Jelly (1993).
This single contains three B-Sides: “Translucent Egg” is something of an instrumental version of “She Don’t Use Jelly.” It uses the same opening guitar riff, but it changes a few things along the way. The highlights though are the other two tracks: variants from Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. “Turn It On [Bluegrass Version]” is, as advertised, a stompin’ bluegrass version of that track (with help from the Butthole Surfers), and “******* [Porch Version]” is a solo acoustic version of “Plastic Jesus.” Probably not an essential disc, but the alternate versions do highlight the quality of the songs and not just the raucous effects on the main disc.
SOUNDTRACK: LOVE-Da Capo (1967).
A few years ago, my friend John gave me Love’s Forever Changes. I’ve enjoyed that disc very much and decided to get some other Love music. I chose Da Capo (their second album, and the one just prior to Forever Changes) for two reasons. One: Rush did a cover of “Seven and Seven Is” on their Flashback CD and two: there’s an 18 minute song on it, and I love me an eighteen minute song.
SOUNDTRACK: FISHBONE-The Reality of My Surroundings (1991).
This was my first real exposure to Fishbone (except for John Cusack wearing the fish skeleton shirt in Say Anything, of course–which, no images available on the web? How is that possible?). At 60 minutes it’s one of the first really long alternative discs to come out. It does run a little long, but there’s so much packed into it that it’s easy to forgive their self indulgences.
I Just Read About That... 