"Live At Last! / Sails On Silver" by STEELEYE SPAN – A Review Of Their 1978 and 1980 Albums – Now Reissued And Remastered By Beat Goes On of The UK Onto a 2014 2CD Set…

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"…Set My Sails For The Sun…" – Live At Last! and Sails Of Silver by STEELEYE SPAN on CD

Steeleye Span fans are going to enjoy BGO’s remasters of these forgotten English Folk Rock albums from 1978 and 1980 – both CDs sporting top quality audio and classy presentation. Here are the bonnie wee details…

UK released June 2014 – Beat Goes On BGOCD 1147 (Barcode 5017261211477) breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (49:39 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 7 are the album “Live At Last!” – originally released November 1978 in the UK on Chrysalis Records CHR 1199. It was their 11^th album and first live set (recorded 8 March 1978 in Bournemouth) - issued shortly after the band had disbanded.

Disc 2 (37:32 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album “Sails On Silver” – originally released November 1980 in the UK on Chrysalis CHR 1304. It was their 12^th album and the first studio LP with the re-formed band.

Housed in a pretty card slipcase – the 16-page booklet is extensive and features new liner notes by noted writer John O’Regan. But the big news is the Andrew Thompson remasters which are superbly done – clarity and muscle – even if the cluttering instruments of “Sails” threaten to drown everything.

For an onstage album – the sound quality is incredible on “Live At Last!” – amazing clarity and presence. In fact at times it sounds like the record was recorded ‘live’ in a studio – every instrument beautifully reproduced and the vocals full of resonance and depth. The prelude chat to the crowd before “Bonnets So Blue” about fertility dances and things that go limp in the night is very witty and greeted with appreciative hoots. But at 14 minutes plus I find “Montrose” just too long for comfort. “Saucy Sailor” combines with the Brecht/Weill song “Black Freighter” and features Maddy Prior in great voice – convincingly switching between Folk Rock one moment and English lullaby the next. 

The first studio album of the new decade moved away from purist Folk and into the Eighties penchant for multi-layered production and slick songs. I remember it was met with praise and derision at the time. “Sails On Silver” opens up with the rocking title track (lyrics above) where the band sounds like Fairport Convention on a Prog Rock bender. The slick Gus Dudgeon production values continue on the sophisticated and lovely melody of “My Love” with its treated acoustic guitars and electric pianos. But neither “Barnet Fair” nor “Senior Service” has dated well – hustling to be singles at the time - but sounding utterly naff now.

Things pick up with the ballad “Gone To America” and Side 2 opens with the excellent “Where Are They Now” where the Rock and Folk traditions meet and work. “Let Her Go Down” is pretty too but “Longbone” has a poorly produced echo vocal that irritates. It ends on the violin melody of “Marigold/Harvest Home” and the acoustic builder “Tell Me Why” which is probably the best song on what I think is a patchy album.

Steeleye Span divide British Folk fans – they were neither here nor there – and on the evidence of what’s presented here – it’s easy to see why. When they were good – they were superb. But like so many acts in the Eighties – they seemed to lose track of everything that mattered – tunes and musical roots got replaced by technicality and polish and over-production.

Having said that – this is a quality reissue - superb presentation and great audio remasters…

"The Apartment" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 1960 Billy Wilder/I.A.L. Diamopnd Classic Movie Starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred McMurray…

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"…It'll Be Our Little Secret…" – The Apartment on BLU RAY

It’s November 1959 - and sat at Desk 861 in the towering New York City Central Office of Consolidated Life (the 5^th biggest insurance company in the USA) – sits lowly worker C.C. Baxter. Clifford Charles (nicknamed Bud) is up on the 19^th floor every day at 08:50 a.m. precisely - monotonously tapping away on his Priden calculating machine like all the other 31,259 employees sat in long lines of square desks behind him. But Bud has a more pressing 'problem' than working out in his brain how far eight million New Yorkers will stretch if laid out side-by-side – access to his Manhattan apartment situated a short distance away from Central Park and near the office…

You see Apartment 2A in 51 West 67^th Street has become rumpy-pumpy central for a group of managerial types at Consolidated Life. There’s Mr. Eichelberger from Mortgage and Loans booked in on Friday, Mr. Kirkeby from Accounts going at it on Thursday and Mr. Vanderhoff from Public Relations having an extra-martial swing on Wednesday. Bluntly there’s barely enough room for Mr. Dobisch from Admin come the weekend - nor even space for Switchboard Sylvia partnered with the cheap but suavely dressed Mr. Lieberman on Tuesday.  

You wouldn’t mind if they were gentlemen about it either. “You mean you bring other dames up here! Certainly not! I’m a happily married man!” Lieberman complains as Sylvia asks for cab fare back to the Bronx. Bud has to wait outside his apartment in the cold night air for the two lovebirds to clear off. They said they’d be out by eight – but it’s already quarter before nine. “These things don’t run to a clock!” he explains to Bud when he has to go back to get Sylvia’s galoshes. It’s a wonder Bud finds time for a TV dinner, a classic movie on his black and white TV that never seems to arrive because of craftily placed advert breaks (“A word from our sponsors…a word from our alternate sponsors!”) or to clear away the Vermouth bottles and empty Cheese Cracker packets.

Worse – on hearing the noises emanating from his bachelor pad - his impressionable Jewish neighbours Dr. and Mrs. Dreyfuss think Bud’s a massive playboy - “Mildred! He’s at it again!” the Doctor cries. So why does Bud put up with it all? Because he’s really hoping that all those corporate promises made by randy execs back in the office will help him climb the promotion ladder to maybe 2^nd Administrative Assistant. But when he gets locked out of 2A until 4 a.m. one night and develops a fever from sleeping on a Central Park bench – he slowly twigs that his ‘loyal, resourceful and co-operative’ nature as described in their internal reports is being taken advantage of (dialogue above) - and for a wage of $95 a week – it’s all starting to become a bit much.

The only other human joy Bud gets is from his daily close-proximity meets with the pretty Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) – a nice respectable girl who operates one of the 16 elevators in the office skyscraper. Bud takes off his hat for her (the only one who does - which she likes) – and on occasion exchanges schmuck talk with her. Fran seems smart and wears a flower in the lapel of her immaculate uniform while fending off the roving hands of managers patting her buttocks as they exit on Floor 27. Then one night Bud musters up the courage to ask Fran out – but she has other plans - a date with Jeff Sheldrake from Personnel (Fred McMurray) – whom his secretary Miss Olsen (Evie Adams) knows is a notorious womanizer and is very, very good at it.

And on it goes to a hopeful Christmas party, a disastrous date with two tickets for the comedy show “The Music Man” where she doesn’t show and an unintentional personality reveal on her part with a broken vanity mirror that he recognizes to his horror. Will the hapless couple see the error of their ways – will they end up playing gin rummy together in ‘their’ apartment – in love – and free from manipulation and takers…

Much like “Pillow Talk” from the year previous – “The Apartment” was a staggeringly grown-up movie for 1960. It offered up probing dialogue, genuine wit on the battle of the sexes and awkward truths on relationships in the workplace. It also featured believable yet likeable characters - five womanizing schmucks, a gullible but worthy leading lady and one bungling but sincere klutz who learns the hard way how to be a stand-up guy.

The script came to Director Billy Wilder via two places – a viewing of Britain’s “Brief Encounter” in the Forties where a married couple use someone else’s home in London for an affair – and a notorious Hollywood scandal where it transpired that the mogul charged had been using the apartment of an employee. Wilder then brought in the genius of I.A.L. Diamond to give the harsh script a warmer touch (legend has it that IAL stands for Interscholastic Algebra League which Izzy Diamond won in 1937).

They began by toning down everything – the apartment isn’t Central Park West lushness colourful with money – it’s dowdy and filled with used records, curling art prints on the wall, a lone lamp, an old gas oven and the everyman of Jack Lemmon. Shot in Widescreen Black and White – the tones made the November evenings feel chillier and the massive long office floor look like a monochrome factory where life is not lived but wasted away on paperwork. Even the famous suicide scene where Fran (Shirley MacLaine) tries to off herself with sleeping pills sees the doctor next door (a fantastic Jack Kruschen) violently slap her face, make her walk and force cups of coffee down her throat to stop the stupor from killing her. And the four Office Managers are all ordinary-looking middle-aged men who really should know better – they’re not sexy – they’re just high on power and kicks. It’s not pretty and quite dark in its undertones in places. So - how do you get affection and redemption out of this saucy stew?

The answer is the acting talent of Lemmon and MacLaine and a multi-layered script imbibed with pathos and humour to soften the underbelly of seediness. Coming off “Some Like It Hot” – Jack Lemmon showed what he could do – but ‘The Apartment” let him shine - doing comedy, romance and drama – all in the one movie. The leading actress needed to be sexy, ballsy, vulnerable and likeable enough to not be perceived as a sappy victim – and Shirley MacLaine delivered on every front. Their slow dance towards each other is beautifully and realistically handled - while Fred McMurray goes completely against nice-guy type by being a cruel man dressed up in groomed civility – doling out smiling condolences from the other end of a phone where he doesn’t haven’t to get his actual hands dirty.

The picture quality is excellent – and on occasion – gorgeous. The Aspect Ratio is 2.35:1 Widescreen so there are bars top and bottom – but even stretched to Full Screen – it looks great. From the moment the opening credits appear – it’s obvious too there’s been extensive cleaning and restoration. There is however a very fine shimmer of natural grain throughout that rarely disappears. But when it does – the picture suddenly becomes exceptional – almost noir in its lighting and shades. The scene between McMurray and MacLaine in the Chinese restaurant The Rickshaw where he once again promises to leave his wife for a woman is one such moment – a side profile shot as they talk – and it’s just beautiful to look at.

The Extras are pleasingly deep. A discussion on the film that includes Nineties interviews with Evie Adams, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon’s son Paul and film experts on Wilder and Diamond. There’s also a fabulous commentary by BRUCE BLOCK for the duration of the movie where he gives real details on the actors, the sets and even quotes from Wilder’s screenplay to show the accuracy of how scenes were depicted (his description of “The Apartment” itself is filled with exact items he wanted).  It’s exemplary stuff. Audio is English 5.1 TS-HD Master Audio, Spanish Mono and French Mono. Subtitles are English for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish and French.

“I love you…so completely…” Jack Lemmon says to Shirley MacLaine. Finally contented that she’s picked the right guy this time – Shirley smiles affectionately at Jack – and with that old confidence back in her voice says - “Shut up and deal…”

A great film rather than a good one - book a night in for a game of emotional Gin Rummy with "The Apartment" real soon.

"Gran Torino" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2008 Clint Eastwood Film

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"…I Confess That I Have No Desire To Confess…" – Gran Torino on BLU RAY

Walt Kowalski is old school. A Korean War veteran and lifelong Ford autoworker ("Would it kill you to buy American...") - he snarls at his scantily dressed teenage granddaughter who disrespectfully texts someone while attending his wife's funeral. He spits on his next door neighbour's front lawn because it's not as spic and span as his own - and looks close to punching out the well-meaning but life-naïve local young priest Father Janovich who just wants to 'help' after his wife's passing (dialogue above). And as the American flag flies over his home - Walt and his dog Daisy sit on the porch not suffering anyone let alone fools gladly - while drinking brews and cursing the rubbish printed in the Astrology section.

His middle-aged sons Mitch and Steve live as far away from him as possible (Michigan mostly) and despair of his grouchy growling nature - permanently frothing at the state of the America he fought for in 1952's E-Company Platoon. He calls people in the Chinese and Mexican neighbourhood gooks, spicks and swamp rats. When a crowd of well wishers descend on his home for his wife's wake - he snarls "I guess they heard there's gonna be a lot of ham..." Walt Kowalski isn't the nicest person in the world. Yet despite his war ghosts ("The thing that haunts a man the most is the thing he isn't ordered to do...") - Walt has decency in his veins and values in his still-alert mind. And with rifles to fend off intruders - he's kept pristine an American classic car in the garage adjacent to his LA home - a 1972 Gran Torino Sport built by his beloved Ford.

Meanwhile gangs of Hmong and Mexican dudes cruise the streets in cars with guns and semi-automatic rifles looking for trouble or an opportunity to steal something. Walt's immediate neighbours are Hmong - and he snarls at them too. Amongst their large number is older sister and younger brother Sue and Thao. A cousin called Spider in a Hmong Gang has been trying to groom the young Thao - until one day Walt intervenes with his rifle and saves the young boy. To his cringing horror the gook neighbours he was offing all those decades back begin to shower him and his porch with gifts of gratitude. But again - despite their best efforts - he tells them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

One afternoon as Sue (wonderfully played by Ahney Her) is walking home with a wannabe hoodie white boy called Trey on a sort of date - they are set upon by three youths with bad intent towards her. Walt is passing in his truck - sorts them out with a handgun he will clearly use - and gets talking to Sue as they drive back about her 'hill people' and especially her obstinate but dim younger brother Thao (great work from Bee Vang). Slowly he learns of her Asian family's origins (escaping murdering Communists in Vietnam) and likes her spunk. A fledgling relationship begins. A relationship that will see him defend and honour what he once body-bagged with such ease...

Directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Nick Schenk and Dave Johannson - "Gran Torino" features a cast of unknowns and tackles subjects rarely seen on Hollywood billboards. It's masterful stuff with Eastwood as Director and Lead Actor firing on all sixes - getting his teeth into important and relevant stuff. It's also ballsy in its portrayals - and of course what makes his Walt so likeable is that he does speak his mind - does have his own marbles - even if they aren't the most politically correct colours...

The BLU RAY picture quality is immaculate throughout - beautifully film. It's defaulted to 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio so there are bars top and bottom - but even stretched to Full Aspect - it looks properly fabulous.

Audio is Dolby TrueHD, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 5.1, French 5.1, German 5.1, Italian 5.1, Castellan Spanish 5.1 and English 2.0 Audio Descriptive Service. Subtitles are English, Complex Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Castellan Spanish and Swedish (Movie and Bonus Material). Extras include "Manning The Wheel: The Meaning Of Manhood As Reflected In American Car Culture", "Gran Torino: More Than A Car" and exclusive to BLU RAY "The Eastwood Way - Exploring The Actor/Director's Filmmaking Process Up Close".

Racism is a hard one to get right on film - "Crash" and "The Help" are stunning also (see reviews) - and Eastwood's contribution is up there with those masterpieces.

Driving home as he warms to his Native American neighbour - Walt says to Sue with a smile -  "You know what kid...you're all right..."

So is "Gran Torino"...

"Frankie Go Boom" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2013 Jordan Roberts Film

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"…A Strong Kind Man Dipped In Metal…" – Frankie Go Boom on BLU RAY

Sat alone with a laptop in his silver Winnebago in the desert of Death Valley outside Los Angeles – 29-year old Frank Bartlett (Charlie Hunnam) is avoiding his mother’s incessant phonecalls while trying to write a novel on revenge. He basically wants to kill his entire family – or if that’s not possible – then just his older brother Bruce will suffice (Chris O’Dowd).

Bruce - whom his mother Karen affectionately calls a ‘little shit’ - has humiliated and tortured Frankie on film more times than Miss Dharma D-Cup has revealed her wonder chest. But even though the Bartletts are reduced to using mopeds because Bruce sold the car for drugs (“apparently the insurance company doesn’t consider it theft if its family…”) – at least he’s out of rehab and 90 days sober. So there is that.

But while in celeb clean-up Bruce has befriended a whacko Hollywood Director called Jack (Chris Noth) who owns a pig and dates a reformed porn-star (mentioned above) who now wants to commune with God’s angels and not men’s underpants. So perhaps Bruce’s teeny-weeny indiscretion of putting Frankie’s Wedding Disaster video (where his wife sleeps with the best man) up on the Internet for 18 million people to see is all behind him. Well, sort of…

Because on his return home to Bruce’s coming-out-of-rehab party – crashing into Frankie and his beat-up car is the literally edible Lassie on her bicycle wearing a bra made of sweets (and little else). Lassie was going to surprise her boyfriend with her kinky outfit beneath a duffle coat – only he surprised her by being in the arms of someone else. So Lassie is drunk and on a bicycle in Los Angeles and collapses in front of Frankie with a bra made of sweets. What is a nice boy like Frankie to do?

After a wake up conversation in his car – he takes Lassie (the truly gorgeous Lizzy Caplan) back to his home where they go his clubhouse in the back yard. Once inside and sat on the bed - Lassie is determined to have a man desire her after her rebuttal – but unfortunately Frankie is so traumatized by his brother’s humiliation video (made him famous for all the wrong reasons) - he can’t get an erection. Hours go by – but with a little revenge pillow talk - they soon sort out Frankie’s soggy chip and physical and emotional sparks fly.

What they don’t know is that older-brother Bruce has spotted a film opportunity that is just too good to pass up. He’s secretly taped the whole sorry impotence thing and transferred it onto a DVD. Bruce now wants to take this latest Frankie disaster flick to mad Jack as a possible Indie Movie – a sex tape without the sex - even if it means destroying his brother’s life yet again (a small price to pay in the name of art).

Both our lovebirds now wake up not knowing what Bruce has done and Lassie leaves the love-struck Frankie a note – “Thanks for the loveliest and strangest night of my life…” But once inside the house again - Frankie learns from his equally crazy parents (great turns by Sam Anderson and Nora Dunn) what Bruce has done – and in desperate mad cap burglary efforts – tries to get the DVD back from Jack before it goes viral with 35 millions hits and his life is screwed for a second time. And on it goes to Frankie having to show his emotional mettle to a lady in need of a little chivalry…

What makes “Frankie Go Boom” so bloody good is a combo of all the right things – a fantastically funny script by Director and Writer Jordan Roberts and a cast to die for (some of whom worked for peanuts). And like a hip homemade movie reel - it uses hand-written cards to divide scenes and cool Indie tunes in between the set pieces.  

But central to it all is the stunning Lizzy Caplan who can probably bat her huge bug eyes at any guy and make them fall in love with her in less than ten seconds (the camera just adores this woman). Siding with her and grounding all the lunacy is Charlie Hunnam who is calm, subtle and just right as the ordinary guy who would be her ‘knight’ when she needs one (dialogue above). Throw in the genius casting of Chris Noth (from “Sex And The City” and “My One And Only”) as a manic Hollywood maverick who wants you to whack his butt to test the firmness of both cheeks as he runs naked on a treadmill - and Ireland’s fabulous Chris O’Dowd as a character who is both obnoxious and adorable at the same time – and you’re on a gigglesome winner.

But the film goes 5-star ballistic when uber tough-guy Ron Perlman (“Sons Of Anarchy”, “Hellboy” and “The Name Of The Rose”) turns up as the heart-of-gold transvestite Phyllis – all make up and fluffy scarves and frilly dresses. His scenes are priceless, achingly funny and even touching (it was a ballsy and smart move on his part to do the role). “I thought one of us in this conversation should be a man…” he advises the lost Frankie on the end of the phone line as Phyllis paints his toenails and smokes a cigar.

I bought the USA Universal BLU RAY (Barcode 025192170461) - which has no REGION B playback problems (plays on UK and Euro machines). The BLU RAY picture quality is superb throughout and the ‘Behind The Scenes’ extra includes interviews with all the cast and the brilliant Writer/Director Jordan Roberts (O’Dowd and Perlman are particularly warm and engaging). There’s 3 film trailers (“Mental”, “A Haunted House” and “Admission”), 6 Deleted/Alternate Scenes and a fun bit on the trained porker ‘Oliver’ called “Pig In the Pool”. Audio is English 5.1 DTS Master Audi and Subtitles are English for the Deaf and Hard Of Hearing, Spanish and French.

“Frankie Go Boom” hits that rare triple whammy with a bullet – it’s cool, it’s sexy and it’s very, very funny.

Not a flaccid symbol in sight. It’s a rock-hard five-boner award for this one folks… 

"This Time Around" by THE STAPLE SINGERS Featuring Mavis Staples – A Review Of Their 1981 American Compilation On Stax Records - Now Reissued For The First Time On CD By Ace Records Of The UK In 2013…

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"...Trippin' On Your Love..." 

Released Stateside in April 1981 on Stax Records MPS-8511 while The Staples Singers were briefly signed to 20th Century and Produced by the legendary Al Bell – this notorious 8-track vinyl LP is actually a compilation of old recordings from the 1970s reworked and reissued without the band's approval (or even knowledge) – put out at a budget price and promptly forgotten. But amongst its embellishments are absolute barnstormers – namely the near fanatical Northern Soul and Club following given to the song "Trippin' On Your Love" in the UK.

This is the first CD reissue and remaster of the "This Time Around" album ever (July 2013 release date) and Ace Records CDSXE 139 (Barcode 029667055321) is a typically brill reissue of a criminally forgotten record (33:23 minutes):

1. Live In Love [Side 1]

2. This Time Around

3. Trippin' On Your Love

4. A Child's Life

5. I Got To Be Myself [Side 2]

6. People Come Out Of Your Shell

7. When It Rains It Pours

8. If It Wasn't For A Woman

The remaster is by NICK ROBBINS at London's Sound Mastering and the 8-page booklet contains detailed liner notes by long-time Soul Fan and Ace Associate – TONY ROUNCE.

It starts out badly in my book – the "Live In Love" track probably dates from as early as 1969 or 1970 – so the instrumentation over it sounds up to date while the vocal sounds way too distant and demo-ish. "This Time Around" slows it down with a "...won't let my man down..." lyric. It is pretty once it gets going, but again the instrumentation still feels tagged on. But things go stratospheric with "Trippin' On Your Love" which is just gorgeous.

"A Child's Life" is sweet but far better is the Side 2 opener "I Got To Be Myself" – muted at one point to be 7" single (Stax 0255) - but it legendarily never got released (not even a promo has been found). Recorded around 1975 – "I Got To Be Myself" is a proper Staples winner. And it's followed by 3 superb tracks especially "When It Pours It Rains" and "If It Wasn't For A Woman" which contains stunning Mavis vocals ("...a house would never have been a home…if it wasn't for a woman…") and sympathetic arrangements.

So there you have it. In a ragbag like this, five out of eight tracks is not a bad tally in my book and when it comes to The Staples Singers, I gotta have it. And its relatively cheap too...

PS:

See also my reviews for the Staple Singers albums "We'll Get Over" (1969) and "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" (1972) alongside CD compilations "The Ultimate Staple Singers" (2004), "Faith & Grace: A Family Journey 1956-1976" (2015) and "For What It's Worth: The Complete Epic Recordings 1964-1968" (2018)