Video Views: The Rolling Stones, Twisted Sister, MTV Video to Go
2
BY FRANK LOVECE VIDEO REW|NDT THE ROLLING STONES/ GREAT VIDEO HTTS lfHE ROLTTNG STONES: REW'ND' Framing sequences directed by Julien Temple. Clips directed by Hal Ashby & Tom Trbovich, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, David Mallet and Julien Temple. Film/TV excerpts directed by Hal Ashby, Bollin Binzar, Robert Frank and Freddie Hauser. Vestron casselte. Beta Hi-Fi, VHS H i-Fi. 60:05 min. $29.95. T h" Rolling Stones are best taken I with a grain of salt and maybe a snort of cocaine-in other words, by yuppies slowly sinking into MOR without realizing it. For them, I think, the Stones represent the last "real" rock'n'roll band. The way a once-and- always actor represents for them a "real" president. I'm generalizing, of course, but it's a fact that rock bands, like any other product, are geared to specific au- diences. And since the Stones have achieved the status of legends despite a succession of only passable albums over the last several years, any collection of the band's "great video hits" deserves special scrutiny. An immediate problem with this tape is that compiler Julien Temple gives it no identifiable point of view. Who are the Stones that he sees? Were he to have traced them chrono- logically, for instance, we might've had a cohesive current image made up of all the ear:lier layers. Were hb to have seen them as relics or as survivors or as thwarted bluesmen or as comrnercial sell-outs, that would've been something to hold on 60 FACES to as well. But who is this group that starts out with such a "great hit" as "She Was Hot"? That particular clip seems to be the original British version and not the one shown on MTV; the lady-in- red (Anita Morris, from Broadway's Nine) has a very sexist additional scene. Many of the other 11 clips, however, are clipped, the beginnings and ends sometimes lost in defer- ence to the framing sequences. Since six of the clips are rather unremarkable performance pieces, that's no great loss. But when a com- ment is made about a video having been gory when the gory part ap- parently has gotten snipped, it's a lit- tle jarring. ln the case of "Waiting For A Friend"'s warm narrative of a small-time band getting together for a summer night's bar gig, such slic- ing is worse-it's destructive. "Friend" and the piercingly reveal- ing "Angie" clip, both directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg ot Let lt Be fame, are among the best pieces here, along with Julien Temple's mini-movie for "Undercover of the Night". Rewind is also interesting for the excerpts from the movies Parls '76; Ladies and Gentlemen, the Roll- lng Slones, and the unreleased (and here modestly retitled) CS 8/ues. That last includes some of the blunt- est scenes ever released of some of rock's raunchier rewards. Despite this tape's and the band's VHS Hi-Fi VCR courtesy GE. faults, and the uninspired treatment afforded most of the dozen songs here, the Twilight Zoneish framing . sequences involving bassist Bill Wyman and frontman Mick Jagger show a wickedly brilliant hand. TW|STED SISTER: STA Y HUNGRY Concert directed by Marty Callner. Videos directed by Marty Callner and Arthur Ellis. Embassy cassette. Beta Hi-Fi, VHS sfereo. 60 min. $29.95. A all Dee Snider the Divine Mr. S. \r nr much as he has in common with such theatrical rockers as Kiss and Alice Cooper, yet another influ- ence rings clearly through this con- cert tape: The Divine Ms. M herself, Bette Midler. lf the naughty raps don't convince you, Snider's rousing the crowd to shout "fuck" in unison should. lt's one of Bette's best bets. These are pretty diverse in- fluences, and they hint that Snider's no empty-headed headbanger. The interview segments that open and close Stay Hungry show a serious- minded wit that's come to grips with the rock-star fantasies that often dilute rock music's purity. Made-up and costumed onstage, Snider does tend to push the band like corn- flakes, but he does it with such club- house chumminess that it's forgive- abl6-we're all in on the ioke. The eight live songs and two filmed videos here show, as does Snider, far more of a range than usual for their musical genre. Con- ventional heavy metal closes out the show, but everything from a ballad to power pop to even a country-tinged rock tune help pace it. lt's a shame, though, that director Callner keeps his camera eye so distanced, as if these guys scared him or something, and uses such dumb shots as frorir behind a metal fence. On the plus side, the two marvelously funny videos (for "We're Not Gonna Take lt" and "You Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll") are, vitally, rnfe- grated with the concert portions, and not tacked on as an afterthought. The concert tape is indeed dying, to quote an apparent misquote by a music industry heavy, whose in- lamous phrase has more truth to it than first imagined. But: Long live lne concertlconceptual tape. lt's much better suited to home video, as
-
Upload
frank-lovece -
Category
Documents
-
view
11 -
download
1
description
Faces (March 1985). Music-video reviews by Frank Lovece
Transcript of Video Views: The Rolling Stones, Twisted Sister, MTV Video to Go
BY FRANK LOVECE
VIDEO REW|NDTTHE ROLLING STONES/GREAT VIDEO HTTS
lfHE ROLTTNG STONES:REW'ND'Framing sequences directed byJulien Temple. Clips directed by HalAshby & Tom Trbovich, MichaelLindsay-Hogg, David Mallet andJulien Temple. Film/TV excerptsdirected by Hal Ashby, Bollin Binzar,Robert Frank and Freddie Hauser.Vestron casselte. Beta Hi-Fi, VHSH i-Fi. 60:05 min. $29.95.
T h" Rolling Stones are best takenI with a grain of salt and maybe a
snort of cocaine-in other words, byyuppies slowly sinking into MORwithout realizing it. For them, I think,the Stones represent the last "real"rock'n'roll band. The way a once-and-always actor represents for them a"real" president.
I'm generalizing, of course, but it'sa fact that rock bands, like any otherproduct, are geared to specific au-diences. And since the Stones haveachieved the status of legendsdespite a succession of onlypassable albums over the lastseveral years, any collection of theband's "great video hits" deservesspecial scrutiny.
An immediate problem with thistape is that compiler Julien Templegives it no identifiable point of view.Who are the Stones that he sees?Were he to have traced them chrono-logically, for instance, we might'vehad a cohesive current image madeup of all the ear:lier layers. Were hbto have seen them as relics or assurvivors or as thwarted bluesmen oras comrnercial sell-outs, thatwould've been something to hold on
60 FACES
to as well. But who is this group thatstarts out with such a "great hit" as"She Was Hot"?
That particular clip seems to bethe original British version and notthe one shown on MTV; the lady-in-red (Anita Morris, from Broadway'sNine) has a very sexist additionalscene. Many of the other 11 clips,however, are clipped, the beginningsand ends sometimes lost in defer-ence to the framing sequences.Since six of the clips are ratherunremarkable performance pieces,that's no great loss. But when a com-ment is made about a video havingbeen gory when the gory part ap-parently has gotten snipped, it's a lit-tle jarring. ln the case of "WaitingFor A Friend"'s warm narrative of asmall-time band getting together fora summer night's bar gig, such slic-ing is worse-it's destructive.
"Friend" and the piercingly reveal-ing "Angie" clip, both directed byMichael Lindsay-Hogg ot Let lt Befame, are among the best pieceshere, along with Julien Temple'smini-movie for "Undercover of theNight". Rewind is also interesting forthe excerpts from the movies Parls'76; Ladies and Gentlemen, the Roll-lng Slones, and the unreleased (andhere modestly retitled) CS 8/ues.
That last includes some of the blunt-est scenes ever released of some ofrock's raunchier rewards.
Despite this tape's and the band's
VHS Hi-Fi VCR courtesy GE.
faults, and the uninspired treatmentafforded most of the dozen songshere, the Twilight Zoneish framing .
sequences involving bassist BillWyman and frontman Mick Jaggershow a wickedly brilliant hand.
TW|STED SISTER:STA Y HUNGRYConcert directed by Marty Callner.Videos directed by Marty Callnerand Arthur Ellis. Embassy cassette.Beta Hi-Fi, VHS sfereo. 60 min.$29.95.
A all Dee Snider the Divine Mr. S.
\r nr much as he has in commonwith such theatrical rockers as Kissand Alice Cooper, yet another influ-ence rings clearly through this con-cert tape: The Divine Ms. M herself,Bette Midler. lf the naughty rapsdon't convince you, Snider's rousingthe crowd to shout "fuck" in unisonshould. lt's one of Bette's best bets.
These are pretty diverse in-fluences, and they hint that Snider'sno empty-headed headbanger. Theinterview segments that open andclose Stay Hungry show a serious-minded wit that's come to grips withthe rock-star fantasies that oftendilute rock music's purity. Made-upand costumed onstage, Snider doestend to push the band like corn-flakes, but he does it with such club-house chumminess that it's forgive-abl6-we're all in on the ioke.
The eight live songs and twofilmed videos here show, as doesSnider, far more of a range thanusual for their musical genre. Con-ventional heavy metal closes out theshow, but everything from a ballad topower pop to even a country-tingedrock tune help pace it. lt's a shame,though, that director Callner keepshis camera eye so distanced, as ifthese guys scared him or something,and uses such dumb shots as frorirbehind a metal fence.
On the plus side, the twomarvelously funny videos (for "We'reNot Gonna Take lt" and "You Can'tStop Rock'n'Roll") are, vitally, rnfe-grated with the concert portions, andnot tacked on as an afterthought.The concert tape is indeed dying, toquote an apparent misquote by amusic industry heavy, whose in-lamous phrase has more truth to itthan first imagined. But: Long livelne concertlconceptual tape. lt'smuch better suited to home video, as
the Eurythmics, Thomas Dolby andnow Twisted Sister, among others,have discovered.
Unfortunately, the band's and thedirector's video smarts don't extendto the misleading cassette package.You don't have to be well-versed invideo synthesizers to see that thistape doesn't approach the claimed"latest in music video technology"-it's not even in VHS Hi-Fi ! There arealso no "party outtakes" or, exceptfor the Twisted Sister logo and akaleidoscopic bit during "Under theFlame", no "computer graphics" and"special effects" to speak of.
Mfv vtDEo ro coWith Thomas Dolby (dir. by Dotbyand Danny Kleinman), Duran Duran(dir. by Fusse// Mulcahy), Genesis(dir. by Jim Yukich), the J. GeilsBand (dir. by Paul Justman),Kajagoogoo (dir. by Simon Mitne),Missing Persons (dir. by SimonMilne), the Motels (dir. by val Garay),Naked Eyes (dir. by Simon Milne),the Stray Cats (dir. by lan Leech),Talk Talk (dir. by Tim Pope), theTubes (dir. by Kenny Ortega) andDwight Twilley (dir. by Mark Robin-son). Directors uncredited. Realisticcasselfe. Beta Hi-Fi, VHS stereo. 45min. $29.95.
MfV L'VE V'DEO 7O GOWith Phil Collins, Thomas Dolby,Duran Duran, lron Maiden, the J.Geils Band, Greg Kihn, Billy Squier,
Murlc Zcpr
ln earlier days, theaters playedcartoons before movies. Some-times, these animated shorts sur-realistically illustrated currentpopular songs-in short, some ofthe first music "videos."
Now, coming full circle, modern-day entrepreneurs are gettingback into the act. Two companies,Music Motions and ConcertCinema, are pushing ahead withplans to bring music shorts backto theaters. Better than commer-cials, right?
It's hard to call thgse clipsmusic "videos" when most areshot on film and proiected on amovie screen, so Music Motionscalls them "Music Zaps". They'reoffering widescreen versions of
Peter Tosh, the Tubes and TinaTurner. Directors uncredited.Realistic cassefte. Beta Hi-Fi, VHSslereo. 45 min. $29.95.
espite the high-recognition MTVlogo splashed across the face of
these cassettes, the guts are basical.ly the same as those ol PictureMusic, Vestron's critically lambastedearly effort at music video compila-tions. Both that and these were pro-duced by the same outfit, PictureMusii lnternational, which has be-queathed to these new tapes (avail-able only at Radio Shack) the sameproblems that afflicted the other.
For one thing, virtually all theseclips are old without being classic. lnfact,-Kajagoogoo ("Too Shy" onVideo to Go) isn't even a workingunit anymore, and, far more obvious-ly, Peter Wolf no longer fronts the JGeils Band ("Centerfold" on Video toGo and "l Do" on Llve). Yet even if allthe clips were current, the tapes arestill d.irectionless mishmashes, withsuch (ahem) diverse acts as lronMaiden, Peter Tosh and Phil Collinsall on the same tape. Diversity isnice, but when was the last time yousaw Sfar Wars and Annie Hall as adouble-feature?
I shouldn't gripe about peterTosh's presence though, since hisreggae rendition of "Johnny B.Goode" is one of the pleasanter sur-prises here. Tina Turner's electriceroticism ("Hollywood Nights") iseven more of a treat. But these arethe only black performers on Llye,
clips by acts as disparate as popcrooner Carly Simon and cutting-edge dance-rockers I Am Siam.Concert Cinema specializes inconcert, rather than conceptual,clips, though theytve also dis-tributed Billy Joel's conceptual"Keeping the Faith".
On another popular front, acable group called The CampusNetwork is offering programmingto college groups, for plugging instudent lounges, dorm rooms andthe like. New York DJ Meg Griffinhosts the flagship show,"New Grooves".
The Justice Department may beinvestigating MTV for being amonopoly, but, it seems, MTV hasno monopoly on new music-videoideas. Yet. . ..
*Frank Lovece
and the other tape is strictly white-bread. Let me take what's become acheap (though still viable) shot atMTV's weird mentality: When amember of the darker persuasionsuch as Prince is #1 on the rockcharts, and such rockifunk acts asRick James and Nona Hendryx hangout in the same neighborhood, I thinkthey should've been invited tothe party.
Yet aside from the ill choices ofold clips, the implicit racism, the lackof directorial credits and the dubious-ness of the term "live" (live-tapedconcert excerpts are joined by lip-synched videos), there is still theoverriding specter of censorship.Now, whether the source is RadioShack or Picture Music or MTV isn'tapparent, but at least one of theseclips-the Tubes' "She's a Beauty"'on Video fo Go-is truncated. Thefinal, significant image-that of aboy grown impossibly old after a wit-tily artful castration nightmare-hasbeen cut. The video's dominatrix, ap-parently, is acceptable to whomeverwielded the scissors. Yet whateverthe rationale, the apparent censor-ship here is not only hideous (video-cassettes being intended for private,home viewing), but also rather stupidsince MTV has played the uncutvideo heavily.
What else has been deleted here I
leave for First Amendment scholars,along with a footnote reminding usall that one of the reasons we buy orrent'videocassettes and discs in thefirst place is because they offer ussomething we can't as easily getfrom TV.
FACES 61
