Topic: Music documentaries

[Jockice]

Astro who joined him in his rival ub40 is just as despicable.  A week before he left the original band he begged his band mates for money claiming he was skint.  The band gave him the last 70k in their account, how did he repay them?...he quit the band 2 days before a massive gig in Liverpool to join Ali and his backing band on stage in London.

Is that what actually happened then? It was alluded to in the documentary but the amount wasn't mentioned. I see Ali and Astro are still going with their version but Mickey Virtue (the only member I've ever interviewed - he came across as a nice bloke but this was a long time pre-split) has either been jettisoned or left of his own accord. It's a tangled web and no mistake. Especially since I believe that there are members of the band who are or have been in relationships with relatives of other members. Or ex-members as the case may be.

For some reason I've ended up following Norman Hassan on Twitter. I used to always wonder exactly what his position was in the band. He seemed to spend all his time on stage walking round carrying one of those shaker things. I might be being unfair though, as he again seems like a nice bloke and I believe he does sing on some of their new material. None of which I've heard. It's the psychology of the whole thing rather than the music that fascinates me.

New page signing off.

[Jockice]

Fucking hell.

https://www.smoothradio.com/news/music/ub40-film-ali-campbell-movie-biopic/

[Phil_A]

The Slint doc Breadcrumb Trail is pretty great, a good overview of the scene they emerged from and the different personalities involved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsRpS6XGiOs

[pigamus]

Fucking hell.

https://www.smoothradio.com/news/music/ub40-film-ali-campbell-movie-biopic/

Imagine you can't call yourselves UB40 but instead of UB39 or UB41 or UB 39.99999 recurring or literally ANYTHING that would show a bit of drollery it's just UB40 featuring blah blah blah. As dull, dreary and witless as their fucking awful music.

I'm a big fan, did you guess

[Shameless Custard]

Saw the video for one of their tunes the other day on TOTP, and the two brothers kept smiling at each other. Bit bleak how they've ended up

I did see that doc about it when it first came out, and I remember enjoying it. Will have to seek it out for a rewatch

Standing In The Shadows Of Motown is a bit of a corker, too. It helps when the soundtrack is insanely brilliant

[wosl]

Paul Kelly's Lawrence of Belgravia but good luck finding a copy under £80.

Presumably any verbwhores who own a copy of this have done/will do the decent thing upon receipt of a polite PM?

[Better Midlands]

Imagine you can't call yourselves UB40 but instead of UB39 or UB41 or UB 39.99999 recurring or literally ANYTHING that would show a bit of drollery it's just UB40 featuring blah blah blah. As dull, dreary and witless as their fucking awful music.

If for the sake of search engines I guess.

[scarecrow]

Presumably any verbwhores who own a copy of this have done/will do the decent thing upon receipt of a polite PM?

My copy is in my drawer at work. I wonder if I'll ever see it again. Had I known the plandemic would drag on for so long, I'd have made a point of taking it home with me.

[wosl]

I'm sure there was a rumour going around that the Lawrence doc. was going to get a wider release (on either BFI or Arrow or similar). Clearly it's likely to come out again at some point, but I wish they'd pull their finger out and reach that point. Is it honestly not available as a stream or DL from somewhere? I'm not a great streamer of stuff, and so don't know of all the probable outlets, but it's hard to credit that they're not offering the full thing on Vimeo or somewhere for a few quid.

[Sin Agog]

Step Across the Border is a suitably oblique treatise on Fred Frith, improvised music, and how experimentalists all seem to have a common universal language.  I'm pretty sure Jonas Mekas shows up at one point, which is fitting as this feels quite indebted to his raw footage style of docmaking. It's great if you're in the right mood- I think it introduced me to Iva Bittova when she and Frith and her life-partner Pavel get their cat squawks on at the end of the movie.

[jobotic]

I didn't know about that Eno one - thanks!

And the Chicago Blues one looks great too.

Forgot, I watched Jandek on Corwood a couple of years ago. Didn't make me go and get his complete works but I really enjoyed it.

[magval]

The Pearl Jam documentary PJ20 is good too, real good.

[Neomod]

I'm sure there was a rumour going around that the Lawrence doc. was going to get a wider release (on either BFI or Arrow or similar). Clearly it's likely to come out again at some point, but I wish they'd pull their finger out and reach that point. Is it honestly not available as a stream or DL from somewhere? I'm not a great streamer of stuff, and so don't know of all the probable outlets, but it's hard to credit that they're not offering the full thing on Vimeo or somewhere for a few quid.

They seem to take their sweet time. I first saw a short cut of it in 2008 in a double bill with Take Three Girls at the Barbican. Then it came out at selected cinemas/festivals in 2011. The DVD (with no video extras) then took another five years to be released. Odd.

[holyzombiejesus]

It's Lawrence. He's so fucking exasperating. Gets on my nerves a bit nowadays to be honest. I'm so fed up of his announcements of imminent new releases only for zip to happen for another 5 years. The way he really fucked up those Felt reissues rankles too.

[The Culture Bunker]

It's Lawrence. He's so fucking exasperating. Gets on my nerves a bit nowadays to be honest. I'm so fed up of his announcements of imminent new releases only for zip to happen for another 5 years. The way he really fucked up those Felt reissues rankles too.

If it makes you feel better, I did actually annoy him prior to the documentary being screened at the Science Museum. I'd asked some staff bod where we had to go, and wandered into pointed-out room with my then-girlfriend. It was empty except Lawrence who came over to tut that he wasn't ready.

During the Q&A after the screening, he went off on one about how "somebody came in to the room when I wasn't prepared and it really shook me" or suchlike. I'd read about how precious he could be back in the Felt days, but I'd sort of assumed years of poverty had given him some perspective.

[Gregory Torso]

Anyone seen the Amphetamine Reptile one? Been meaning to get round to that.

Yes, The Color Of Noise. It's really good. I found it on slsk.

[Gregory Torso]

Also Half Japanese - The Band That Would Be King is great. Of course it is. Everything Jad Fair has done has been great.

David Fair explains how to play the guitar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcu2ONECf_8 - "Some people worry about chords and stuff, and that's alright too, there's all kinds of music in the world"

[The Mollusk]

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

Watched this recently, second viewing as my partner wasn’t aware of Walker’s career and I remembered it being a great watch, and it really is. The big bit in the middle where it’s just loads of great musicians singing his praises is really entertaining in itself, plus the man’s uncompromising artistic vision is hugely inspiring. His way of not caring if an album takes a decade to complete and then once it’s done never listening to it ever again was very meaningful and fascinating to me. A true icon.

[holyzombiejesus]

Everything Jad Fair has done has been great.

Oh, come on...

[Shameless Custard]

Watched the first half of Once Were Brothers, and sadly its mostly about Robbie Robertson, with the other band members a bit of an afterthought. I guess promoting it just under his name wouldn't have gotten as much interest. He seems like a decent sort, but he's a bit boring to listen to over extended periods

There's new docs out on Brian Jones and Phil Lynott that look worth a watch too

[SteveDave]

When I saw "Lawrence Of Belgravia" at the Hackney Picturehouse, Lawrence said he didn't want it to be released online as once it's on there it'll be everywhere and we'll get no money for it.

I bought a copy of "New World In The Morning" from him. He refused a photo with the person in front of me so I just shook his hand. I've not washed it since.

[Jockice]

Oh, come on...

Indeed. I think Jad Fair is a microtalent and a total chancer. There, I've said it.

[Jockice]

Feels redundant to say it but Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a must-watch. They're a proto-thrash band that never made it big; they've got the respect of all these top thrash musicians like Metallica and Anthrax but they play for crowds of 20. It evokes lots of This Is Spinal Tap but it's got a very warm heart and great human drama.

i went to see that at the cinema with a couple of work colleagues. One was a Weller clone who had really just come along to sneer. But by the end he was practically standing on his seat cheering then on. It is a fantastic film.

[Gregory Torso]

Oh, come on...

Ha ha, yeah I can't really stand by that statement, if I'm honest. He's done a lot of good stuff though, drawings and music.

[The Mollusk]

Has anyone seen The Past is a Grotesque Animal? I'm a huge of Montreal fan and was eager to see if Kevin Barnes was as much of a self-absorbed nut in real life as I'd imagined from his music and various scraps of gossip I'd heard. It's been a while since I watched it but from memory I recall my suspicions being largely confirmed. He comes across like a preening melt who isn't necessarily arsed about breaking the hearts of the women who fall hopelessly in love with him based on his ludicrous creativity, gorgeous face and high sex drive. I still love his music a great deal but I was rather soured by that film, he is quite a twat.

[The Mollusk]

Also, Fantastic Man - A Film About William Onyeabor is free to watch and is a great way to pass 30 minutes. If you're not overly familiar with the man, his mysterious life story and his incredible music are wonderful things to behold. I will concede that I've heard better music of this vein from Africa and I daresay that the adoration for Onyeabor might have shrouded appreciation for vast swathes of other incredibly talented musicians from the continent making insanely groovy bangers across the last 50-odd years, but it is nonetheless a unique and fascinating little tale of a bloke who used to run a semolina factory, acquired a shitload of (at the time, ludicrously expensive) synthesizers, smashed out 8 albums of scintillating and brilliant music in just 8 years and then packed the lot in and retired to a quiet life of religious devotion until he died.

[holyzombiejesus]

Ha ha, yeah I can't really stand by that statement, if I'm honest. He's done a lot of good stuff though, drawings and music.

We put The Pastels on in Manchester about 25 years ago and Jad supported and stayed at my friends' house. He was a genuinely lovely guy and he stuck around as he was supporting Sebadoh back at the same venue (Manchester Boardwalk) a couple of days later. He made loads of those paper cut pattern things as a thank you to my friends for putting him up and for some reason they got binned. The support slot for Sebadoh was one of the best gigs I've ever seen, he did an incredible version of This Could Be The Night and the headliners seemed a bit put out that the support had gone down so well. Almost every record I've heard by him since the mid 90s has been utter dogshit though.

[jobotic]

I have a record by him and The Pastels. It's the only Pastels record I have (and I have a few) that I haven't played lots and lots. Can't remember anything about it. I think I took exception to his voice - not got a proper singing voice has he, like Aggi , Katrina and Stephen have.

[holyzombiejesus]

That could be the This Could Be The Night. It's great. The other EP they did hasn't been played by anyone in the world since they bought it.

[jobotic]

Looked it up. It's the other one.