Waiting

Feeling a bit like old Ringo up here, in this lovely caricature I just found in this blog. I explain: I became tired of waiting for reviews to come out about the new Lisztomania DVD (so far, the only one I was able to find was this one over here by DVD Outsider and even that one seems to be misleading because it fails to mention the inclusion of the audio commentary which leads me to believe that the review copy they were sent in was incomplete), so I dutifully went and ordered the DVD myself.

Right now, I'm just waiting for it to arrive at my doorstep and be sure that as soon as I'm able to view it, I will tell you all you need to know about how it sounds and looks (we all know the film is ace, right so no need to expand on that!).

Until then!

Lisztomania DVD streets today!

It's finally out today! The waiting is over! So go out and get it! I know I will.

Expect some reviews in the coming days. Be sure that I shall be posting every single one that I can find! See you all soon.

Lisztomania Promo Trailer

In anticipation of the soon-to-be released DVD for Lisztomania, Digital Classics have put together a trailer promoting it. I strongly suggest you watch it because only then you'll begin to understand the true nature of this particular beast. One to be experienced, that's for sure.

We're now less than one month away from its street date and I'm practically counting down the days, such is my excitement! From what I've heard, the A/V quality of the DVD really is outstanding but so far, no confirmation about the Russell commentary has surfaced. Let's really hope it does materialize. See you soon.

A Small Correction

It was called to my attention that Lisztomania was not the first "Quintaphonic" film to be made but rather Tommy instead. It's absolutely correct, of course and for that glaring mistake I publicly apologize for leading my readers astray.

Lisztomania was the first film to be encoded with a Dolby Stereo optical soundtrack, though and this was where my confusion laid (never been a "techy" kind of guy, anyway). Still, at the end of the day all it matters is that Digital Classics treats the movie the way it should be treated: with the utmost respect for such a great example of the highest order possible of camp on celuloid. And you can quote me for that. British eccentricity at its sublime best.

Ask Ken!

And the good news keep on rolling: if you move over to the Ken Russell Discussion Forum, moderated by Iain Fisher (the guy behind the website Savage Messiah I mentioned a few posts below), you'll find that Digital Classics (the label that will be releasing Lisztomania on DVD soon) has made the astounding announcement that Ken Russell himself has expressed interest in doing the audio-commentary for the film and is inviting people to send him questions that will eventually be answered and included on that audio-track.

How's that for treating the fans, hey? All I can say is I'm thrilled beyond words. Now, just go to that forum, register yourself and ask away!

Lisztomania out on DVD!

Terrific news, everyone! Lisztomania is being released by UK DVD outfit, Digital Classics in May! It's always a great feeling when a MIA Ringo movie gets an official release date!

I really hope the upcoming DVD is not barebones and that at least we get the basic package: original trailer (which I've never, ever seen and am very curious to know just how they managed to advertise this one back then!) and a small featurette/interview. Needless to say, a 5 track audio option is mandatory as you remember this was the very first movie that used such an audio soundtrack (it was billed as "Quintaphonic").

And is it too much to ask for a Russell commentary (my very favorite commentator just behind John Waters)? Come on, the man is getting old...

Let it be, Let it be, Let it be, Let it be, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be

Hi, there! Here I am again with a treat for all of you: Let it be, the movie. Often talked about, loved and hated by both fans and critics alike, seldom seen and WAY long overdue on DVD. What's the matter, Apple? Can't you see that we've been waiting for this one to come out since the birth of the DVD format? Unless you were waiting for Blu-Ray to catch on, which seems unlikely.

Meanwhile, take a look at the movie. It never ceases to fascinate me at how candid the whole thing still is. Enjoy.

200 Motels

Frank Zappa - 200 Motels Cd1
Enviado por piezo

I told you I had a great post in the making, didn't I? As you can see above, now's your chance to watch the long and still unavailable on DVD rock musical/comedy/farce/ avant garde /whateveryouwannacallit/extravaganza/one man show 200 Motels by the one and only Frank Zappa.

Ringo STARR's as Zappa himself and I have to say the resemblances are uncanny. But first things first. 200 Motels was one of many projects Zappa was able to pull out of his seemingly never-ending bag of tricks (to call him a workaholic is a bit of an understatement). It has the distinction of being the first feature length film to ever be shot on video and later transfered to 35 mm. But before I get all tangled up in the movie's production history (itself a whole movie unto itself and the subject of a documentary that I'll be posting later on), here's what the ever helpful Wikipedia has to say about it:

The $600,000 film budget resulted in a seven-day shoot and 11 days of editing. Its low production values and frenetic schedule contributed to the insanity which the movie attempted to evoke. Although the movie's main theme is "life on the road" for a touring rock musician in the late Twentieth Century, Zappa's movie makes broader comments about the surreal state of the political and cultural life of America and the world during that time. Its references include Mephisto, Kafka, Kubrick's 2001, work re-education/concentration camps and an animated sequence featured as part of a video/musical collage. These broader, symbolic culture references coexist with specific characters and places: i.e. "Lonesome Cowboy Burt," a non-union roofer who savagely beats up hippies and leftists, and two groupies, Lucy Offerall and Janet Neville.

The film's creative talents include the Mothers of Invention and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the actor Theodore Bikel and rock-stars Ringo Starr as Larry the Dwarf and The Who's drummer, Keith Moon as a nun in drag.

The plot is both nebulous and nonexistent as a narrative or as a series of vignettes and production numbers. According to Zappa, only a third of his script was filmed. The director, several actors and a band member quit mid-production. These events accounted for several radical, last-minute changes.

As you can see, it's the kind of movie that could only have been done in the 70's. Can you really imagine contemporary big studio execs turning to Zappa after he's explained to them what the movie's all about and asking him: "can we do action figures out of you" or "can we mass produce the Zappa mask Ringo is wearing to Toys 'R' Us stores all over the world"? Hmm, think not.

The film's out there though, for everyone to see and enjoy and I really hope the Zappa Family Estate gets its act together and let somebody release the damn thing on any home video format, preferably before the DVD format is dead... Yes, you heard it right, they're the ones behing all this delay... Oh, well, maybe 2009 will see it finally happen! Here's to it and while I'm at it, have a GREAT 2009! See you all then!

200 Motels Original Theatrical Trailer

Hi, there! I'm back as promised from all the Christmas excesses and I really hope you had a great one. Mine surely was. Quick post, though. I'm going to leave you with the trailer for Frank Zappa's wacky 200 Motels and be sure to watch this space for a great post in the making.

Bye.

The Magical Mystery Tour

A small treat for all of you out there: the famous Beatles "misfire", The Magical Mystery Tour movie.

Right now, I see you wondering: "what the heck does this have to do with Christmas?". Well, it does and I'll tell you how. This one little oddity was born in the apex of Beatlemania, when they thought that everything they'd do could not ever go wrong. Well, as it turns out, it was the beginning of the end of the (long by today's standards) love affair they had with the music press for years. It was broadcast on TV on Boxing Day (see, I told it had something to do with Christmas) and as TV transmissions at the time were still being made in black and white, the majority of the viewing audience did not "get" it. It's simple to see why, now. The film is so ebulient in colors and color effects that it could never work in black and white. Suffice to say that it was trashed by both public and critics alike.

Still, it's now regarded as an experimental work of some importance (read, lunacy) and an important legacy in the Beatles cannon. Its soundtrack it's actually one of my favorite Beatles records. Some pretty brilliant tracks in there. If you want to download it, just click here.

Shall we go for a ride, then?

Captain Caveman!

The lovely image you see above is from the movie in which Ringo finally had a Starr-ing role in: Caveman.

As far as movies go, it's a very peculiar one. It doesn't have dialogue (at least, that you can understand because, this being a "pre-historic movie", characters mumble and grumble and grunt the whole way through), it's got stop-motion animation sequences when dinosaurs and other primitive fauna are involved and it was the start of a long and fruitful marriage of its main Starr and his second wife, Barbara Bach (see above picture as well).

I have to say I'm a sucker for this sort of movie, being a big fan of Jean-Jacques Annaud's La Guerre du Feu and the more recent french outing, RRRrrrr!! (if you haven't seen it, let's just say that it's a direct descendent of Caveman, but with very rude lines of dialogue that you can't stop laughing at). To say that I'm eager to check out Homo Erectus, a recent american venture into pre-historic humour, is putting it mildly.

Anyway, needless to say that Ringo plays the underdog that comes out winning in the end and that plenty of wacky action sequences and blank star(r)ing are involved. However, the movie works in its own rugged way and it's one of the most widely recognized and distributed of his entire erratic filmic career. Do check it out if you can.

Son of Dracula

Hi, again! In this post I shall be postponing that pre-historic post yet again but also for a very good reason: I found you and myself yet another great link, courtesy once more by that great little blog called "For the Love of Harry, dedicated to all things Harry Nilsson". It's the link to a directly viewable version of that most elusive of Ringo's movies: Son of Dracula!

If you've ever wondered if it really is all that bad, well, now's the time for it. I personally wonder if Ringo ever wanted to "shoot himself in the head" at the general opinion of the movie at the time of its release? Didn't someone had the power to "pull the trigger" on all the production? Wait, that would be him...

Caveman, the movie

Yes, I'm still here! Missed me? Yeah, I know - I'm starting to lose my audience. Let's see if the above poster will do the trick and get you all back again! Yep, I will be talking about Ringo's pre-historic one-off adventure, Caveman on my next post! Stay tuned!

To The Point!

See, I told you my next post was going to be "animated". The charming poster you see above is for one of only two animation feature films Ringo was involved with (the other one being of course, Yellow Submarine). And who better than me than Wikipedia to tell you all about it:

The Point! is a fable by American songwriter and musician Harry Nilsson about a boy named Oblio, the only round-headed person in The Pointed Village, where by law everyone and everything had to have a point.

"I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it.'" -- Harry Nilsson

The film version of The Point! first aired February 2, 1971, at 7:30pm on the ABC television network as a "movie of the week." The film was directed by Fred Wolf and produced by Murakami-Wolf Films in association with Nilsson House Music. In this version, there is a framing device of a father telling his son the fable as a bedtime story. In its initial airing, the voice of the father was provided by Dustin Hoffman, but for contractual reasons later airings of the film could not use Hoffman's voice and it had to be re-recorded. The initial re-recording was done by actor Alan Barzman. The VHS and DVD releases feature Ringo Starr as the father.

I don't know why but I just happen to love Ringo's monochordic voice with that particularly delicious liverpuddlian accent, so I guess this little movie with a big message is a no-brainer for me. That reminds me, I really should be putting some money on the side for all the Ringo Starr-ing movies I've yet to see. And so should you!

And to further prove that I'm your best friend, here's a link to that wonderful blog I'm always mentioning about that will take you to the version of The Point! narrated by Dustin Hoffman. See what things I do for you?

The Magic Christian

One thing is for certain: Ringo has always surrounded himself with beautiful women in every single movie he was in. See above photo of him with sultry Raquel Welch for proof. And the females seem to be as smitten with him as he is with them. Can't really blame them, can you?

The Magic Christian is the sort of movie that was being made in the late 60's in England and, as such, it represented a very different view on the whole Psychedelic generation, which means, less flower power and more tea and whimsy instead. To say that Lewis Carroll's influence was at its strongest at this place in time is not an overstatement. British surrealism (sometimes mistaken by sheer eccentricity) was felt throughout all of the arts and even encouraged which resulted in some very powerful works, be it in the music scene (with the Zombies, Pink Floyd, a lot of folk acts too and even our own Beatles) or in Cinema, as well (Wonderwall and other quirky cinematic offerings come to mind).

So it's no suprise that by the end of The Magic Christian you will be left wondering what the heck have you just been watching. Yes, because the last part of the movie is particularly inventive and it literally throws everything out of the window including the kitchen sink! I'm refering to the scene shot at the proverbial Magic Christian, a boat for the rich and wealthy that is just being inaugurated by the richest man alive, a character played by Peter Sellers.

Ringo's part is of a down on his luck fellow that one day hits the jackpot when he is befriended and later adopted by Mr. Sellers himself. All sorts of mad situations and crazy settings dutefully ensue, as it should, anyway. And that's for the benefit of the movie, too.

Definitely not one for everyone but if you fancy watching Yul Brynner in drag, this is the movie for you! Oh, and I almost forgot: this movie was adapted from a book by Terry Southern, the one that also wrote another movie Ringo Starr-ed in: Candy. Now you really want to see it, don't you?

Magic's on the way!

Expect a magical post in the coming days...

Blindman

If you've just heard a sound of someone sneaking (or trying to, anyway), that was me just now entering this blog. Yes, I know - long time, no posts. Apologies to all of you that have been visiting us - me and bloggie, here - only to find that I haven't been very active lately. Not anymore, though.

And keeping with my promise, I'm going to talk to you a little bit about Blindman, the one Ringo movie to venture into Spaghetti Western territories. And it's a quirky, clever little number, too. Directed by italian genre filmmaker, Ferdinando Baldi (did some peplums and some fairly well-known movies with star Franco Nero), it starts off slowly, as any self-respecting Spaghetti Western should, anyway. Ringo, however, is not the star of the show - the eponimous Blindman is played by Tony Anthony, who had made a name for himself in this particular genre of movies. Ringo's character is named (curiously) Candy, just like the name of the female protagonist of a movie he had just been in a couple of years before.

So how does this movie came about and how did Ringo get involved in it in the first place, you might ask? Well, I guess it was just a matter of him telling former Beatles agent Allen Klein that he wanted to be in a Spaghetti Western and the rest just sort of happened. Let's not forget that The Beatles as a brand name was still very strong then, so it's not completely bonkers to assume that this sort of thing was very common then. Heck, even now music moguls and recording companies are making millions out of their past! Still!

The story itself was slightly based on a japanese character named Zatoichi (also a blind, lonely figure out on a mission) but the similarities end there. Blindman's story and story setting are very different ones and if you expect me to tell you all about it, well, sorry to disappoint you but I won't - get the movie instead and enjoy the wonderful cinematography on display, the evocative music and the rare chance of watching 50 naked women running before your eyes. Ahh, now you really want to see it, don't you?

Go blind, man!

Hello there Ringo aficionados! Just a quick post here and a taste of things to come: here's the italian trailer for Ringo's foray into the Spaghetti Western genre - Blindman. Enjoy and I'll be back soon to talk about it!

OST - 3rd Part

Apologies in advance for the delay in posting the third and final part of my little survey of the soundtracks for most of Ringo's filmography.

So, last stop was Son of Dracula (and remember you can download it for free on that Harry Nilsson blog I mentioned below) and I guess that next I'll be talking about one of the most troubled title of all of Ringo's filmography: Lisztomania, that crazy whirlwind of a motion picture that continues to be absent on the DVD market as of now. Come on, Warner Brothers - move those behinds, ok?! But first things first. Its soundtrack was composed by Yes frontman, Rick Wakeman, of prog-rock fame. He went ahead and adapted some of Franz Liszt's original compositions in a style all his own. You can imagine the results, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, yes. They're over the top, alright. But strangely and imaginatively effective. But as we will see, we have now two different soundtracks for that particular movie: you can find the original one here and a recently (as of 2003) released and revised version is also out on CD. Get it here. Here's what the Amazon product description says about it:

This is an extremely rare find as the master tapes were long since considered destroyed, back in 1975 Rick was asked to oversee & write a lot of the music for the film 'Lizstomania' which was directed by Ken Russell. Rick was also given a part in the film & played the god Thor. A soundtrack album was produced by Rick which was subsequently turned down by A&M records. A&M then produced a soundtrack of their own which had very little of Rick on it & yet they thoughtfully put his name on the front cover. Rick was furious to say the least & hated the soundtrack album & told the press accordingly. It sold accordingly as well! The film became one of the cult films of all time & to find this original soundtrack is quite unbelievable as there was only one master ever produced & somehow it has survived more than 25 years in a box amongst some old football shorts!

I wonder whose shorts they were from! Anyway, both editions are out and for completists only, get them just to get a clearer picture of how things turn out.

Next on the list is the Mae West vehicle, Sextette. I cannot seem to find evidence that a LP was ever issued back in the day and since the movie was such a bomb at the box-office, I reckon nothing ever came out. However, the ever trustworthy Imdb has a soundtrack listing here that is of some help.

Finally, we have that glorious pre-historic comedy, Caveman, one of the most treasured among Ringo's movies and a landmark in itself on his private life (curious to know how, ain't ya? Well, you just have to wait until I post about it, ok?). Famous composer Lalo Schifrin wrote the score and sure enough, it's out on CD. Get it here.

Well, that completes my little survey and I hope I've been of some help. Do you feel yourself getting more and more into the Ringomania vibe? If you do, watch this space for even more and more of his erratic film career and my crazy ramblings. However, I could not leave you without posting what I just found: a picture of two of my favorite people, Ringo and Ms. Shelley Duvall. Together!

OST - 2nd Part

Glad you could make it because you're just in time for the second part of my attempt at tracking down the soundtrack recordings to most of Ringo's filmography. And we enter the 70's.

The Point! is a very peculiar animation long-feature (the first to be made for TV) and it was born entirely out of Harry Nilsson's head (Nilsson is a name that pops up frequently when talking about Ringo's life and career as you will see, because the two of them were close friends and collaborated quite often during the 70's decade). He came up with the idea for it ("I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to points. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it." - Harry Nilsson)and even wrote and composed the entire soundtrack. On For the Love of Harry, a wonderful blog about Harry Nilsson, you can find and download the entire soundtrack in this link here. Am I or am I not your best friend right now? Of course I'm not. But I will be. Just bear with me some more paragraphs.

Moving on, we find Frank Zappa's first movie effort, 200 Motels. This particular title has the distinction of being the first feature film to be entirely shot on video and then transfered to 35 mm. And it's still not out on DVD. Vent away your frustrations, all you Ringo and Zappa fans because as things are right now, you will not see this one through legit ways in a long, long time. In other words, get it through the grey market. Anyway, the soundtrack is out on CD (a double-disc, no less) and I actually have it and can recommend it very highly (it even comes with a small poster inside and all). Get it here.

The Spaghetti Western Blindman (which is out on DVD and is one of the movies that I will be talking very soon about) score was written by Stelvio Cipriani and while not particularly memorable, it has its moments and if you like the genre, give it a try. Who knows, you might even like it. Check out more info at that amazing reference site I mentioned to you about on the just below post, Soundtrack Collector.

Next stop is the glam wet dream of Born to Boogie, a part movie/part documentary/part concert film about Marc Bolan and his T. Rex band, directed and produced by Ringo himself. It's a wonderful time capsule of a movie and it's thankfully out on DVD in a fantastically produced 2xDVD edition with all the bells and whistles. And yes, you can get it also on CD here. For fans or initiated, this stuff is glorious. Highly recommended, of course. And from Glam to Rock and Roll as we move into one of Ringo's best movies (no, seriously), That'll Be The Day, the David Essex vehicle. No CD soundtrack appears to be available at the moment, which is a shame considering the amount of old Rock 'n' Roll gems it contains. IMDB lists some of them. Definitely one to get your fingers on, both movie and music.

We've now reached roughly half-way through the 70's and I'll leave the other half to the next time but before I go, I'm going to provide a link for a free download of the complete soundtrack to Son of Dracula (that peculiar movie I talked about earlier on this blog), from that wonderful Harry Nilsson blog I mentioned above. It's currently Out of Print on CD, so grab it now! See, I told you I was going to become your best friend.