Classic Rock Documentaries!

Classic Rock Documentaries!

By Kristin Battestella

Are you displeased with modern tunes? Then let's relive the sounds of decades yore with these classic groups and music heavyweights! 
 

Classic Albums: Fleetwood Mac – Rumours – This 1997 hour from the Eagle Rock and VH1 series focuses on the behind the scenes turmoil, relationships, and technicalities invigorating Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and John and Christine McVie in making the famed 1977 Rumours album – the second from the group’s revitalized incarnation. The genesis and creation of hits such as “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Gold Dust Woman,” “Don’t Stop,” and more are dissected from the initial writing to changes in the recording sessions and album finalization. While the before and after samplings of the tunes and the conversations on the ups and downs are interesting, the tone sometimes wavers between being overly tender or laid on heavy in some spots. Perhaps the band members aren’t exactly orators in discussing their musical thought processes either, and their accents may confuse some viewers, too. However, classic rock fans will enjoy the nostalgic behind the scenes, and music students interested in the mechanical aspects or songwriters relating to the emotional translations involved can definitely learn plenty here. This is a fun, informative, introduction to the saga that is Fleetwood Mac, and perhaps most importantly, it gives you an itch for a complete Rumours listen.

Fleetwood Mac: The Dance – After a hiatus, Christine McVie returned to the lineup for this 1997 concert video chock full with “The Chain,” “Dreams,” “Gold Dust Woman,” “Gypsy,” “Rhiannon,” “Don’t Stop,” “Go Your Own Way,” and many more. It’s nice to hear lesser-performed compositions – those that depend on McVie’s appearance such as “Everywhere,” “You Make Lovin’ Fun,” and “Over My Head” as well as then-newer tunes like “Temporary One” and “Bleed to Love Her.” Stevie Nicks sounds slightly different of course, but McVie sounds the same, everyone looks good, and its great to hear the entire incarnation together with a fun moment for John McVie on “Say You Love Me.” The subtitles are also helpful with the sometimes cryptic, poet lyrics, and Nicks, McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham give some information on several songs. Though well edited, entertaining, and swiftly filmed, this concert isn’t a big spectacle production like more recent shows. Technical music audiences may even find this under produced despite the subdued nineties norm and intimate, small session feeling – which is as it should be with essentials like “Landslide” and the intense “Silver Springs.” However, Buckingham provides the rock outs and guitar genius with “I’m So Afraid,” “Big Love,” “Go Insane,” and “My Little Demon,” and Mick Fleetwood makes his usual crazy extreme drumming faces, too. Granted, this 90-minute performance has some confused vision – is this a comeback tour of past hits or a new release of special material with some classics for good measure? The companion CD has a different track listing and I could do without the USC Marching Band finale, but “Songbird” is a lovely coda for the piece. Fans of the band can certainly delight, and younger audiences newly discovering Fleetwood Mac can take the next step with this complete lineup and unique performance.

Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender – This full-length 2012 retrospective focuses on the lead singer of Queen and his more unusual successes, missteps, and solo projects apart from rock groupdom including early ballet concerts, musical performances, and operatic tours in his final years. From the decadence of the seventies club scene, career heights, and questionable associates to frank discussion on criticism of Mercury, his generally closeted media approach, and reaction to his untimely AIDS related death; new interviews from friends, fellow musicians, and industry alums help paint an intriguing picture. Rare archive footage, music videos, and interview segments both shed light on Mercury’s shyness regarding his private life and contribute to the alluring dichotomy of his flamboyant stage persona. It’s interesting to hear his own thoughts on living it up in comparison to his admitted difficulty in trusting people or talking with others, “The more I open up, the more I get hurt.” How could Freddie Mercury think he was boring and be terrified of being alone? The accents may be tough to understand for some, but live renditions of songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Somebody to Love,” and “Barcelona” are simply delightful along with unreleased demos; home recordings; samples featuring Michael Jackson, Luciano Pavarotti, and Montserrat Caballe; and more lesser seen or heard solo compositions from Mercury’s Mr. Bad Guy album. Longtime rock fans or budding Queen enthusiasts seeking an astute peek at Mercury’s musical legacy will love this.

In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story – Take a lesson 21^st century whippersnappers! I’ve finally been able to see this complete hour and a half 1999 special focusing on the man to whom even The Bee Gees, Bono, and Bruce Springsteen bow. It’s simply glorious to see vintage footage and interviews and hear the late too soon Orbison speak of early Sun Records anecdotes, his childhood musical inspirations, devastating family tragedies, and his final resurgent success. And let’s not forget all those awesome, quintessential tunes such as “Pretty Woman,” “Only the Lonely”, “Running Scared,” my favorite “Crying,” and more concert scenery amid conversations with contemporaries like Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Chet Atkins, Tom Petty, and next generation stars like Elvis Costello and Chris Isaak. If one wants to learn how music should sound, one must digest as much Orbison as possible. It’s that simple, and this set is a great place to begin. I could go on and on and on – some of the first CDs I ever had were Orbison albums – but I’ll stop now. I mean, Barry Gibb calls Orbison “The Voice of God.” Yeah, that about says it.

Christmas Vinyl 2012!

And Yet Still More Christmas Music Vinyl!

By Kristin Battestella

Yes, I’m still listening to some rare, unusual, elusive, and downright spiffy old warped Christmas Records! Aren’t you?

Charles Dickens Classics: A Christmas Carol and Mr. Pickwick’s Christmas – The Dickensian bicentennial love has spilled over into our holiday snap, crackle, and pop with this record reading by Ronald Colman and Charles Laughton.  Soft carol interludes and complete sound effects accent Colman’s condensed Side A as Scrooge. Some of the tale is merely a necessitated part and parcel reading, but other segments are the famous dialogue as drama, and all the quintessential scenes are there. It’s more like a radio production than an audio book thanks to all the bells and whistles and kids today will most definitely still get a kick out of this. Though not as famous, Mr. Pickwick’s Christmas told by Laughton on Side B is a lovely encapsulation of the Victorian of Dickens and the post-war sound. It’s the perfect late night listen for wide-eyed children and gets folks to pay attention to some humor and holiday memories.  This record is perfect to cap off a seasonal classroom or family baking night with young ones. 

Favorite Christmas Carols from the Voices of Firestone Volume 1 – Big vocalists Rise Stevens and Brian Sullivan lead this debut set of perfect carol medleys such as the lively Joy to the World, sweet Away in the Manger, deep We Three Kings, happy Hark the Herald Angels Sing, stunning Silent Night, and more.  Full operatic editions of O Holy Night, The First Noel, a darling It Came upon a Midnight Clear, and a catchy O Christmas Tree are ideal for a mellow holiday dining room, too. The shrill alternating choir sounds of What Child Is This and O Come All Ye Faithful won’t be for everyone, nor the wobbly O Little Town of Bethlehem. However, the family friendly and old-fashioned sounds of Jingle Bells, Up on the House Top, Deck the Halls, and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas keep the album charming for all.

Sing We Now of Christmas: The Harry Simeone Chorale – There’s plenty of spiritual and holiday fun in this packed choir set- from the innocent softness of Away in the Manger and Good King Wenceslas to the festive shaker styled Go Tell It on the Mountain and Rise Up Shepherds. O Holy Night is big and reverent with all the right notes; What Child Is This and We Three Kings are wonderfully ancient and brooding.  Lovely lesser-known carols such as O Come Little Children, The Friendly Beasts, and Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming might be jarring to some amid the famous and sing-able, but it’s nice to discover new old carols, too. Likewise, less commonly heard renditions of O Tannenbaum, The Coventry Carol, Ding Dong Merrily on High, and the Latin Adeste Fideles are a treat. There’s a little bit of everything here, something fast and fun for the whole family with spoken verses amid quick choruses and near medley editions of a rousing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and a tender O Little Town of Bethlehem. Though not for uber modern families who dislike traditional high-pitched notes, this one’s fun for old school families.

A Very Merry Christmas Volume 1 – The Ray Conniff Singers open this 1967 debut of the Columbia record set for Grant’s Stores with a typically styled Little Drummer Boy, and the rest of Side A is a confusing mix of country, pop, and unfamiliar tunes. Though Johnny Mathis is always strong for O Holy Night, Patti Page sounds surprisingly poor for Santo Natale. Simon and Garfunkel are also a miss with The Star Carol, but fortunately the flip side wins with traditional family fair. A medley of carols including The First Noel, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, and O Come All Ye Faithful; Do You Hear What I Hear by Bobby Vinton; a fun Twelve Days of Christmas with Burl Ives and Percy Faith; a wonderfully medieval God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman; and a big Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah finish this first volume in fine form.

A Very Merry Christmas Volume 2 – Mitch Miller’s Joy to the World and Robert Goulet’s O Holy Night skip on my copy of this second LP from Grant’s, but both are still delightful, as is Mahalia Jackson’s slow and soulful rendition of O Little Town of  Bethlehem.  Here we Come a Caroling sounds a little strange thanks to the lyrical swapping of Wassailing for Caroling, but kids can single along with this and Side 2’s Jingle Bells opener. Doris Day isn’t super brooding like we expect for Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, but it is bittersweet nonetheless. Although it’s made a bit too lullaby-esque, it’s great to hear Johnny Cash sing I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.  Common recordings like We Need a Little Christmas, What Child is this from Bing Crosby, and Johnny Mathis’ Silver Bells can be found almost anywhere today. However, these record anthologies often have a few rarities that you just can’t get elsewhere, and this second attempt is a more polished and pleasant listen.

 And to think, I have even more Christmas records!!!

A Second Helping of Christmas Vinyl

Another Helping of Christmas Vinyl!

By Kristin Battestella

Get ready for more snap, crackle, and pop from yesteryear!  Here are this holiday season’s tips on which records to treasure or thrift hunt for in your pursuit of yuletide nostalgia and revelry.

George Beverly Shea Hark the Herald Angels Sing – The titular carol opens this 1964 Christian set with bold, robust nostalgia and then some.  Largely filled with lovely, somber, and lesser known or not often seen carols or birth hymns such as Joyously Sang the Choirs, That Beautiful Name, Have You Ever Seen the Star, Dear Little Stranger, Shadows So Softly Enfold Thee, and He Became Poor among others; the holiday tunes here are obviously not for those exclusively celebrating a secular season. The overall album is also quite short, with only the standard verses of one or two famous carols and one full Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee rendition. Along with Christmas Hymns George Beverly Shea, the tracks here have survived as George Beverly Shea Christmas Joy and A George Beverly Shea Christmas, both available on CD or MP3 download.  Regardless of format, for those looking for traditional church bound holiday, Bev is tough to beat.  

John Lanchbery Conducts Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker – This 1982 two record set is one in a series by Lanchbery and The Philharmonia Orchestra along with Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.  The LPs also include a booklet on the music, the man, and the ballets all in a pretty and shiny red box, making this album look just as much a part of the season as the tunes from this December dance definitive.  Though this is a complete production spread over four sides, the music seems short somehow or goes by too quickly- perhaps because we so often associate The Nutcracker with big Baryshnikov ballets, varying family film adaptations, or  lengthy theater performances.  Even so, the instantly recognizable Overture and March, the Waltz of the Snowflakes, Kingdom of Sweets and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Waltz of the Flowers are all here for plenty of ingrained but pleasing sounds of the season.  This edition, or really any Nutcracker tunes you can accumulate, is the perfect backdrop for either casual dinners, formal parties, or a relaxing night fireside.

Joyous Christmas Volume 4 – I remember having several copies of this LP from the Beneficial and Columbia Records series, which is a very pleasant background album to play over and over again- which we did, repeatedly. The eponymously rousing Joy to the World leads off a seasonably round set of traditional arrangements such as Silent Night, Adeste Fideles, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, and The Nutcracker mixed with more instrumentals festivities like Jingle Bells and Toyland.  We can also boast some special guest vocalists, from Doris Day’s White Christmas to The First Noel by Nelson Eddy and Johnny Cash’s Little Drummer Boy amid a solid God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen selection and samples from Messiah. Though it’s easy to find these tunes individually nowadays, the vinyl seems fairly common and easy to find second hand.  Of course, you could end up with something scratchy and flat, but that what I call ‘fireside’ sound is what appeals to me.

Luciano Pavarotti O Holy Night – You don’t have to be an opera fan to appreciate this long-winded 1976 collection of bellowing spiritual sweeps like Ave Maria, Panis Angelicus, and the titular high note- but it certainly helps!  Some of the selections are fairly long at over 8 minutes, and the heavy styles might be too headache inducing for a family dinner, but lyrics and liner notes are included too help budding fans follow along- even if we can’t quite sing along! With Pieta Signore, Gesu Bambino, and Adeste Fideles, Pavarotti creates a culturally classy album of global renditions as only he can. And hey, if you want to pick and choose your windpipes or go for even more tenor magic, the set is available for download or in a Special Deluxe CD edition with bonus tracks.

A Very Merry Christmas Volume 5 –   Perry Como’s Home for the Holidays starts off this 1971 LP in quintessential form, and the holiday hits continue with the equally ever-December-present Boston Pops Sleigh Ride, Harry Belafonte’s Christmas is Coming, and more.  Traditional inspirations like Mario Lanza’s rendition of O Holy Night, John Gary’s touching Sweet Little Jesus Boy, and the Robert Shaw Chorale O Little Town of Bethlehem/The First Noel medley balance the reverence as Henry Mancini does Rudolph and Frosty for the kids.  The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey by Ed Ames, Santa Claus is Coming to Town via Eddy Arnold, and a big Perry We Wish You a Merry Christmas finale keep up the seasonal pace, too. Naturally, these versions are oft available elsewhere on disc or as individual downloads, and this Very Merry Christmas record series from RCA for Grants Stores is a little more junk shop elusive than other sets like Goodyear’s Great Songs of Christmas. Nevertheless, if you could only have one record with all the classics for every aspect of the season all in one place, this would be it.

Again, the records here might be tough to find, and digital options or exact contemporary correlations aren’t always available.  Despite the vinyl vintage ebbs and flows or record resurges in popularity where collectors both reissue and overprice or shatter, Frisbee or otherwise trash; we need to remember to treasure the music of Christmas past.  Nay, it is our duty to preserve the flat hisses, bent tone, moldy art, and warped plastic of the musical yule’s of yore for future generations!

North and South

North and South Still Essential Civil War Viewing

By Kristin Battestella

Ah, hoop skirts mixed with big eighties hair and flair, over the top Southern accents and zealous romances! These staples of television miniseries can make North and South a tough pill for new audiences, but Books 1 and 2 of this 1985-86 series are still the major staple in Civil War dramatizations.

Adapted from the John Jakes novels North and South and Love and War, ABC premiered the star studded North and South to record ratings in 1985. Audiences joined The Hazzard family from Pennsylvania and The slave owning Mains from South Carolina and stayed with them from Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) and George Hazzard’s (James Read) meeting at West Point, through The Mexican American War and up to the firing upon Fort Sumter. While Orry’s lover Madeline (Leslie Ann Down) is forced into an abusive marriage to Justin Lamonte (David Carradine), George marries Constance (Wendy Kilbourne) and continues his friendship with Orry through the grumbles of secession talk. Unfortunately George’s abolitionist sister Virgilia (Kirstie Alley) makes life difficult for the Mains.

It’s tough to pack everything about North and South’s first mini series into a few sentences. Each player has a lush storyline and there is no weak performer in the series. As much as we root for Orry and George, the devilish military man Bent (Phillip Casanoff) and Orry’s scheming sister Ashton (Teri Garber) give the series a touch of ruthlessness. It’s easy to wax nostalgia about these romantic times-incredible costumes, even good old fashioned duels-but North and South does not gloss away from slavery and other risqué issues of both the 1850s and the 1980s-including domestic violence, abortion, and interracial marriage.

In 1986 North and South Book II followed to equal ratings and continued the entwined Hazzard and Main saga into the Civil War. After Book 1 ends with the superbly done parting of George and Orry at the break of the war, this sequel series holds its own with impressive battle recreations and issues of the war from both the Union and Confederate sides. George’s sharp shooting brother Billy (Parker Stevenson) has married Orry’s youngest sister Brett (Genie Francis). The Main plantation struggles with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, but cousin Charles Main (Lewis Smith) find its difficult to fight against best friend Billy on the battlefield.

As if the one thousand plus women’s costumes weren’t value enough, North and South used Civil War re-enactors from across the United States to accurately portray its battlefield action. Naturally, most of the action skirts the big events, but no other television or movie production has handled so much of the Civil War and done so properly. The TNT original Gettysburg is an exceptional testament to that particular battle, but North and South gives us Bull Run, snips of Gettysburg, and western theater action not normally seen. By remaining faithful to the Civil War way of life, North and South has grown beyond its eighties making. There’s a reason no one else has filmed such an ambitious Civil War production. North and South is the best Civil War dramatization. Period.

Scored with all the epic music one could ask for from television composer Bill Conti, North and South’s main cast was tough to beat in the eighties heyday of network miniseries. Only minor cast switches were made between Books 1 and 2, most notably Mary Crosby and Parker Stevenson joining the series midway through. Those who weren’t famous became so- like Jonathan Frakes, later of Star Trek The Next Generation and Oscar winner Forrest Whitaker. Couples also sprung from the series, including Genie Francis and Frakes, and James Read later married his onscreen wife Wendy Kilbourne.

It would be no understatement to claim that the supporting and guest cast of North and South is perhaps the greatest ever assembled. Only bringing back John Wayne and Vivien Leigh from the dead could have made this cast greater. Everyone from Elizabeth Taylor to James Stewart, Hal Holbrook, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Linda Evans, Lloyd Bridges, Morgan Fairchild, Johnny Cash-the list of talent past and present outdoes itself. North and South smartly weaves its fiction around and about major events and players. Part of the series’ joy is wondering how they approach a historical event and then seeing which heavy weight star comes to play. Most of the guest stars only have one or two significant scenes, but the notion that the price tag of North and South was high enough to afford these stars-or perhaps that they worked for such a discount-either way, it would be nearly impossible to assemble such a cast in today’s industry. VH1’s I Love The 80s even jokes about this stellar ‘everyone and their grandmother’ feat.

Available at most video retailers, North and South contains Book 1 on 6 double sided discs and Book 2 the same. Special features are light for the set, but its understandable that there isn’t a lot of behind the scenes material available. Only a retrospective with some of the cast provides insight on the scope of North and South and its impact on television audiences.

John Jakes fans in the know will wonder what happened to the third book of his North and South trilogy. Heaven and Hell was adapted for television in 1991 as Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III. Most of the cast and crew returned for the third installment, but the absence of Patrick Swayze and liberties taken from the first two novels hinder the presentation of Heaven and Hell. Lesley Anne Down and James Read look well, but Teri Garber and Phillip Casanoff look too old to play their parts-especially since Heaven and Hell is meant to take place several months after North and South Book II. Perhaps seeing Heaven and Hell alone in obscurity could make it tolerable, but after a lengthy marathon of the first two series in all their DVD glory, Heaven and Hell is at best embarrassing for those involved. I applaud the powers that be for including the final installment with the DVD set, but Heaven and Hell’s Galatica 1980 turnaround is best dismissed.

Take Books 1 and 2 of North and South for its story, historical touches, and family saga trials and tribulations. No doubt, older audiences and Civil War fans already own North and South. Once available for rent or purchase on VHS, collectors should upgrade today. Even if you only recall enjoying North and South on television, the DVD is affordable for any fan of quality historical film. Younger audiences may chuckle at the lingering eighties production values, but if given the chance, North and South provides the utmost in history and entertainment.