ISSUE THREE
Featuring our first exclusive concert photos by Whichway, including our cover shot of John Sebastian.
Book Review - Foot Of The Rainbow
Cult TV - My Favourite Martian
Beatles Anthology Review by Jan and Anne!!
So that ís it, it ís all over then! The Beatles Anthology series ended, with 1995, on 31st December. We had all waited with bated breath for its arrival, wading through all the hype to get to the six part TV show and now Sunday evenings are once again Beatle-less. So, what did we think? We started 1996 with a quick Beatle discussion over the ironing! You may not agree with our views, but we don't care, you are free to express your own ideas. (By the way, if you are seeking a more in-depth look at the series may we direct you to the Beatle fanzine, RAIN. You'll find an address for it elsewhere in this issue!)
The hype in the media promised us the full, warts and all, story of the fabs. Is that what we got? We don't think so. We certainly got a comprehensive history of the band, but we are hoping that Granada edited the programmes to appeal to a mass audience. We can't really complain if this is the case. If we were them (and their advertisers) we would want as many people to be watching as possible too! Apparently the videos will be tailored towards a more die-hard fan following, or so we've been led to believe. Even so, it was "a bit nice" to see footage that was either extremely rare or much improved, quality-wise, on our usual stuff. As for the new footage - WOW! No-one can deny that the round-table discussions and, especially, that "picnic" scene didn't tug at the ol' heart strings. Each former fab looked back on their career with a touching fondness. We didn't get any rows or back-biting, we got three middle-age granddads who had reached an understanding.
We don't want to appear to be Paul-bashing, but it was refreshing to hear Paul admit that he purposely tried to oust Stu from the group and that he had been a little over the top in his attempts to keep the band together towards the end. Honesty seemed to be the order of the day in general. Finally, we got a programme about the fabs that portrays them as a group effort, not just John Lennon's band. Although Lennon was a genius it was good that he was not placed up on his usual pedestal. He was given around the same amount of air time as the others on most subjects, where ever possible.
So, after six weeks of Beatle-heaven, what were our highlights? Definitely the Shea Stadium footage is right up there, along with that wicked "laughing" version of "And Your Bird Can Sing" and how can we forget the technical wizardry that brought us a colour version of "All You Need Is Love." And when did our boys look their best (excluding "recent" footage of course)? Good question, and one which we pondered over for some time before coming up with the following -
Paul - Late-fabs, during his fat-beardie-beatle stage John - 1965/66, his "puppy fat" period
George - 1968, performing "Revolution" on the David Frost show Ringo - 1969ish, pre-moustache
There you have it. As we eagerly await the videos and their extra footage, we have two more outakes albums and a "new" single to go, before being a Beatle fan is, once more, no longer in vogue!
Book Review - Foot of The Rainbow
written by Tony Warren.
This book was first published in 1993, but the story is set mostly in the sixties. I say mostly because the story opens in 1955 in Irlams o'th' Height in Salford, literally up the road from where I was brought up in Swinton.
Tony Warren is most famous for creating Coronation Street and you could be mistaken for assuming that this is the reason the lead characters in his book have a tendency to come from "up North." However, he tends to write about what he knows, observes or overhears, and has been known to wander around Salford and Manchester notebook in hand!
The action in this novel moves from Salford to Swinging London, then across the States to San Francisco. Through each stage of the journey you feel as though you are travelling too, not just geographically, but also travelling through the life of the lead character, Rosie Tattersall. And what a life! As with The Lights Of Manchester, Tony's previous book, I was emotionally drained by the time I reached the last page. Somehow he always manages to touch on something personal; a particular characteristic so screamingly familiar that once you come across it, he got you hooked and is reeling you in.
The novel begins a little like the kitchen sink dramas popular in the early sixties, with wonderfully explosive moments such as the scene where Rosie's mum leaves the family home in Salford to live in the States with her coloured lover, taking Rosie's twin brother, Christopher, with her! By the end of the book, we have left the kitchen sink far behind us and moved into the realms of "road movies" as Rosie makes her way across America on a Greyhound bus. Between the first and the last page we have also experienced a local boy hitting it big in the music world creating a hysteria akin to Beatlemania, the launch of Rosie's photographic career, met the father of her children, experimented with LSD, found ourselves in the middle of riots and seen Rosie reunited with Christopher in a plot twist, that we realise only in retrospect has been hinted at from the very beginning!
Tony manages to make every character in the book believable. Whether they are central to the plot, or merely incidental, each person we meet is well-rounded and very real. It is the same with the locations. The book begins in familiar territory, but by the end, I feel like I have been to the places depicted, felt all the same emotions as the characters, lived their lives along with them and experienced a period of time that occurred before I was born.
Film Review - HEAD by Bethany Carstairs
starring The Monkees
written and produced by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson
directed by Bob Rafelson
executive producer - Bert Schneider
cameo appearances by- Annette Funicello (of Beach movie fame) Jack Nicholson,Victor Mature (looking like the Jolly Green Giant) , Frank Zappa , Sonny Liston
Apparently fans of the Monkees TV show were taken aback when this movie hit the big screen. It's not hard to see why. This 82 minute psychedelic romp is pretty far removed from the lovable innocence of the TV show.
The band both revel in and rebel against their manufactured image. While accepting that they are expected to be a little wacky and off beat, the film is used as a vehicle for the Monkees to be seen as having their own opinions, finally. This is best depicted towards the begin of the film in a scene that is almost a surreal American version of How I Won The War. Also, in a scene parodying both Beatle/Monkee-mania and their manufactured image, the boys (portrayed as plastic mannequins) are literally broken into pieces by adoring fans each desiring a souvenir.
The film is a string of sketches (or vignettes as the video cover blurb refers to them) strung together with a vague continuity that keeps the whole thing ticking over at a fairly fast pace, with each musical number accompanied by surreal/psychedelic sequences of varying degrees.
Bizarrely the film, not unlike Homer's epic The Iliad, is a ring composition, ending where it began with the beautiful Porpoise Song sequences, and the homeward journey from the film's centre point reflecting the outward one.
A couple of wonderful, if fleeting, moments stick in my mind after viewing the work. The first is Davy Jones in breeches (Yummy!) and the second is Peter Tork entering a bathroom whistling Strawberry Fields Forever.
Made at a time when meaning was read into everything, there was plenty here to mull over, but now it is mainly seen as a pleasant trip through manufactured psychedelia. Whichever way you interpret the film it is still highly watchable and extremely enjoyable.
First broadcast in US - 29th September 1963
First broadcast in UK - 7th November 1963
Regular Cast -
Uncle Martin The Martian - Ray Walston
Tim O'Hara - Bill Bixby
Mrs. Brown - Pamela Britton
Angela Brown - Ann Marshall
Harry Burns - J. Pat OíMalley
Detective Bill Brennan - Alan Hewitt
Over a decade and a half before he developed a penchant for growing big green muscles Bill Bixby had trouble with Martians, well one particular Martian to be exact!
Reporter Tim O'Hara (Bixby) befriends a crash-landed Martian played by Ray Walston. The Martian comes to stay with O'Hara as Uncle Martin and thus began a series that soon became a firm favourite on both sides of the Atlantic.
Being a Martian meant that Uncle Martin had special powers. He could become invisible, read minds, fly and talk to animals. However, Uncle Martin's most endearing and memorable feature was a pair of retractable antennae.
Along with other stranded alien programmes that followed (Mork and Mindy, ALF) it was more sitcom than sci-fi, with the bizarre situation being exploited throughout its 107 episode run. (75 in black and white plus 32 in colour). Some episodes were available on video but I think they stopped producing the tapes for some reason or other, so itís the old routine of hunting round second video shops and sci-fi/ film fairs for copies!
Live Review - John Sebastian at Manchester University
We arrived at the concert half an hour before it was due to start, only to discover that the sound check was still in progress. So it was off to the Uni bar for some amazingly cheap beer, while we waited for him to finished. Was he worth the wait? You bet he was!
John appeared with a 'distilled' version of the Jug Band, which was one bloke, who looked remarkably like the late Charles Hawtrey.
Maybe it was the evening for look-a-likes, because John himself was a little reminiscent of Scott Bakula, even down to some of his mannerisms, (did anyone see an electric blue flash!?) He joked with the audience about how great it was to hear people speak the way Graham Nash used to! We were also treated to a potted history of music from his point of view, mentioning the likes of Lightning Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt and Johnny Cash. Of course we got a plethora of Lovin' Spoonful hits including Daydream, Younger Girl, Nashville Cats, Darling Be Home Soon (any fans of this song, please turn to the Information Page) a Jug Band treatment of Summer In The City, plus to my delight, Younger Generation. I fell in love with this song the very first time I saw the Woodstock movie!
Vocally he was sounding good, if a little husky in reaching some of the notes. Musically he was great, especially the harmonica solo during the encore! Please don't leave it so long next time John!
starring David Essex and Adam Faith
This film is the sequel to "That Be The Day" in which Ringo Starr played the role of Mike, which is taken over here by Adam Faith. We watched the films back to back which, paradoxically, helped with the flow over the story while highlighting glaring differences between the two. For example, the change of actor playing Mike also brings about a complete character change!
Set within the time frame of the sixties, the movie charts the career of rock star, Jim McLaine, with and without his band, The Stray Cats. Not surprisingly many parallels can be drawn with the lives of many sixties bands, most notably, The Beatles, (the suits are a dead give away guys!!) Actually there's a great scene containing a bit of a nod and a wink to the old fab four. On a plane in the States, Jim is asked how he found America, and while he is giving his sensible answer one of the Stray Cats comment that at least he didn't say turn left at Greenland!!
Once McLaine leaves the Stray Cats behind him, around the mid-sixties, a bizarre thing happens. Time appears to warp a little and the latter half of the sixties become the mid-seventies! Perhaps the person in charge of continuity went on holiday of something, but in scene which we date at around 1967/68 there is a poster for The Rocky Horror Show clearly visible in the background! (The show did not hit the stage until around 1973.)
All in all though, the movie is enjoyable, showing both the highs and lows of stardom, climaxing in a dramatic finale in front of the world's cameras! However, the highlight of the whole thing is Keith Moon as the Stray Cats drummer, J.D. His performance alone is worth the price of the video. Oh yeah! Watch out for Mike's limp, too. He seems to forget which leg is the duff one!!!