Review: 'Star Wars (BFI Film Classics)' (2nd Edition)

In his 2009 monograph for the British Film Institute, Will Brooker states that he is the first writer to take Star Wars seriously enough to study the film as a text rather than as a piece of technology or pop cultural milestone. I’ll admit that I’ve read a lot of books about the film’s development, making, history, influence, and success, but I have not read much in the way of formal analysis.

Review: 45th Anniversary 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' Picture Disc

Rock musicals usually don’t work because people like Andrew Lloyd Webber don’t understand the simple, primal thrust of Rock & Roll. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a rare exception because Richard O’Brien smartly chose super-theatrical glam rock as his reference point and because his story’s sexual obsessions are all thrust. He also happens to be a terrific pop songwriter. I’ll admit that I’ve always found “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” annoying, but nearly every other number is aces. The performances particularly contribute to the authenticity, because most of the singers are not traditional musical-theater types. There’s nothing un-Rock & Roll about O’Brien’s Karloff croon and metal shriek or Little Nell’s bubblegum-gnawing turn on the timeless “Time Warp”. Natch, Tim Curry rules the motley roost as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and he draws all the Jagger-esque swagger out of “Sweet Transvestite” and makes the legit inspiring “Don’t Dream It, Be It” tear-jerkingly gorgeous. 

So of course the film’s soundtrack is absolutely essential for anyone who has ever donned the garters and strutted at midnight (bonus: “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” is the first track on Side B, so it’s really convenient to skip!). The album has been available in a number of formats over the years, including several picture discs that have been popping up since 1979. Now Lou Adler’s Ode Records is reissuing the soundtrack on a picture disc with unique images for the film’s 45^th Anniversary.

 

As essential as The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack is, picture discs usually aren’t ideal for anyone but picture disc collectors since the format is more about novelty than strong audio. The good news is that as far as picture discs go, this one sounds pretty good. Some picture discs suffer persistent surface noise, but aside from a slight hum noticeable only between tracks, the 45^th Anniversary Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack gets the job done. The lack of any cardboard outer cover is a bit chintzy, but if you’re simply drooling to get a gander at that photo of Frank on the disc, the clear plastic sleeve ensures you won’t have to spend a single second shivering with antici…………..pation.

Review: 'The Rolling Stones in the Beginning: With Unseen Images'

Between mid-1965 and mid-1966, Danish photographer Bent Rej was one of The Rolling Stones’ most trusted chroniclers. He began working with the band just as Mick and Keith penned their first smash, “The Last Time”, entering them into the upper echelon of pop artists. Rej exited the fold when Brian, his closest friend in the group, spiked him, and the group’s descent into druggy darkness began. Consequently, his shots tend to show an atypically innocent Rolling Stones.

A 'Twilight Zone' Doodle

Here's a little doodle I did to remind you that if you can't think of what to watch this Halloween season, one of the creepier episodes of The Twilight Zone tends to hit the spot. Consider trying "The Dummy", "Living Doll", "The Grave", "Jess-Belle", "The New Exhibit", "To Serve Man", "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", "The Howling Man", "The Hitch-Hiker","Mirror Image", "It's a Good Life", "The Masks", or "Night Call". Hell... try them all!

Review: 'Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks'

No new filmmaker of the late twentieth-century reached for that brass ring like Paul Thomas Anderson. While most seemed content to ape Tarantino, Anderson made clear his aspirations to join the looming likes of Kubrick, Altman, and Malick: filmmakers of preternatural vision and ambition. Although Anderson never made any bones about his film-geek touchstones (the most reductive of critics labeled Boogie Nights his “Scorsese,” Magnolia his “Altman,” There Will Be Blood his “Kubrick,” and so on), Anderson’s films were still preciously personal and wholly original in their own rights. Each new release was an event, especially as his schedule slowed to a crawl in the twenty-first century.

Review: The Mirage's 'You Can’t Be Serious: 1966-1968'

Between 1965 and 1968, The Mirage released a mere eight singles, one of which they put out under the name Yellow Pages, and no LPs. The Hertfordshire quintet still left behind a pretty terrific legacy. Yes, their first two singles for CBS —a cover of Betty Everett’s “Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)” and a second rate Graham Nash composition called “Go Away”—were weak. Yes, the two singles they released under their own name and duress on the Page One label were downright lousy (their A-side as Yellow Pages, “Here Comes Jane”, is pretty good). But none of that matters on Guerssen Records’ You Can’t Be Serious: 1966-1968, because this compilation only collects the sides The Mirage recorded for Philips.

Review: 'David Bowie: Icon'

Many, many pop artists have emphasized image because their content isn’t all that substantial. David Bowie was the rare one whose musical and personal aesthetic were both of the highest caliber and both were integral to his overall artistry. His image complimented the music; it never covered for the music. It is telling that Bowie’s blandest periods of personal style tended to coincide with his blandest music (see the “Dancing in the Streets” video).

Review: 'Now Is the Time to Invent! Reports from the Indie-Rock Revolution, 1986-2000'

A big part of running Psychobabble involves trawling the Internet in search of cool-looking upcoming books to review. One that interested me when I came across its pre-order page on Amazon was Now Is the Time to Invent! Reports from the Indie-Rock Revolution, 1986-2000, and I immediately put in a review-copy request with Verse Chorus Press. That was October 2012. For whatever reason, the book didn’t come out that year or the year after that or the year after that. It just kept getting put off, but my interest never waned, because I could never find much retrospective coverage of eighties/nineties indie-rock. In fact, I often feel like that whole scene was some weird dream that only I dreamt, a dream that left behind fab recordings by nocturnal phantasms such as Throwing Muses, Pavement, The Breeders, and Belle and Sebastian. While there’s never been a shortage of nostalgia for all things fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties, the only thing from the nineties anyone seems to remember is Friends, and Friends sucked.

Review: 'Limelight: Rush in the ’80s'

The first volume in Martin Popoff’s biographical series on Rush ends just as the band is on the precipice of world domination… or at least, serious popularity outside of Canada. The second volume, Limelight: Rush in the ’80s, continues the story Neil Peart-style (that means it doesn’t miss a beat). We know we’re in superstar territory when the book begins with a discussion of Permanent Waves, Rush’s first album to go top-ten in the UK and US. The hardships and struggles of the previous decade are a distant memory, and the trio hits their artistic stride with the three most unimpeachable albums in their catalog.

Review: 'Jimi Hendrix: The Stories Behind the Songs'

Jimi Hendrix is one of Rock & Roll’s definitive artists, and quite likely its most original and innovative musician. However, his recording career as leader of the Experience and solo artist lasted less than four years. During that time he put out just four albums, but his unreleased recordings became a cottage industry starting with 1971’s The Cry of Love. There is enough of that material in circulation that David Stubbs was able to put together a whole book called Jimi Hendrix: The Stories Behind the Songs in 2003. The book critiqued and analyzed every available Hendrix recording, while placing it all in historical context.