One of the many highlights from Bowie’s 1971 album “Hunky Dory,” “Life on Mars?” is one of Bowie’s finest ballads and one of the best songs ever recorded about the subject of films and film watching. The video appears to be a rare clip from the Aladdin Sane-era Bowie, with red mullet and blue mascara.
The song “Hit That” is a decent tune lamenting the collateral damage from teenagers’ casual sex, which often results in babies and other drama. The video, however, is something more. Instead of computer animation imitating reality, the video is literally reality imitating computer animation. A very, very clever concept for a video … especially with the dog as metaphor for an oversexed adolescent on the rampage. And yes, the fact that this video is approximately 10 years old underscores the fact that I’m on the outside of what’s hip and happening because … I’ve been a parent since 2002 and am now just gradually catching up with what I missed out over the last 11 years or so.
Before Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” there were Albert Brooks’s squirm-inducing comedies. “Modern Romance” is the funniest of Brooks’s comedies and also the most uncomfortable to watch.
In this scene, Brooks’s ultra-neurotic character just broke up his long-time girlfriend and now, regretting his decision to do so, is completely miserable. A work colleague gives him some quaaludes to help him out and he takes all of them. Brooks’s character goes through the entire emotional gamut in under 10 minutes, including several luded-out phone calls. Hysterically funny … and while I’ve never taken ludes, I can’t say I haven’t made some embarrassing phone calls myself in an altered state of mind back in the day.
According to legend, this was one of Stanley Kubrick’s favorite films.
Yes, it’s the infamous scene where Crazy Luther … rattling three glass bottles together … challenges the beleaguered, but strong street gang the Warriors to a final battle. Luther, played by David Patrick Kelly, based this infamous taunt/intimidation on a neighborhood crazy Kelly grew up with who was always screwing with Kelly for some reason or another back in the day. My other thought about this scene is how much I still have a crush on Deborah Van Valkenburgh.
As to “The Warriors,” it’s one of the best action films ever made. Try to see if you can hunt down the original theatrical version instead of director Walter Hill’s revised “director’s cut” which frames the action within comic book frames. Seriously, the film is already a comic book, why would you call extra, unneeded attention to this?
Enough already with these delusional Boomer film directors and their “improvements” on films that don’t need it. As the creators, they can do whatever they want, but don’t make the originals … the ones that I remember seeing and loving … impossible to see. Lucky for me, I managed to track down a theatrical cut DVD three years ago at a Hollywood Video that was going out of business and selling off its inventory.
One of the best songs about fathers and sons ever written, especially because it’s about the odd and sad gulfs that are present in a lot of these relationships. I’m not sure why this is. If I could adequately explain this kind of thing, I’d probably be a billionaire self-help guru. In my opinion, this is way better (and much less cheesy) than “The Living Years.”
You may recognize this song, because Barry Manilow covered in 1979 and had a huge hit with it. However, I much prefer Ian Hunter’s original version. From Hunter’s 1979 album “You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic.”
Many rock bands and performers (if they’re around long enough) record a “life is hell on the road” song. Some are sublime (Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Lodi,” GWAR’s parody “The Road Behind”). Some are ridiculous (Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” … as if there was any doubt).
However, my favorite is Mott the Hoople’s “Ballad of Mott the Hoople” which contains one of my all-time favorite lyrics about not only the quest for fame, but life itself: “I wish I’d never wanted then what I want now twice as much.” That’s deep. From Mott the Hoople’s 1973 album “Mott.”
Another gem from Randy Newman’s 1970 “12 Songs” album, this is Newman’s take on Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home.” Newman’s version is not what you would call a friendly vision of the American South, but it’s done with a light enough touch so as to be more sardonic than mean.
Warren Zevon attempted something similar with 1982’s “Play it All Night Long,” but because it was much more explicit, it just came off as smug and patronizing and says more about Zevon than the people he was trying to attack.
Forget the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” As creepy as that song is, Randy Newman’s “Suzanne” is even more disturbing. If Sting sounded coldly calculating in his stalker anthem, Newman adds a quiet confidence that is terrifying. The song is arranged like a nightmare: lazy piano rhythms lull you into a sense of relaxation while an organ nervously tries to tell you something’s wrong. Except the organ isn’t quite loud or powerful enough to warn you in time.
Though, leave it to Newman to have the last laconic, dry-as the-Sahara observation about his protagonist: “This guy is not really much of a threat.”
From Zevon’s self-titled album from 1976, comes one of his saddest and grimmest ballads, this time about a heroin addict at the end of his rope. This has been covered by everyone, from Linda Rondstadt to G.G. Allin. If you get the 2-CD deluxe edition of this album, the original demos and alternate takes of this song are even better.
Cash’s beautiful cover of one of Leonard Cohen’s best and most famous songs. I like this even better than Cohen’s original, mainly because that voice of Cash’s sounds like he really lived these lyrics. This is a live version that’s not too different than the studio version he recorded with Rick Rubin in 1994 for “American Recordings.”
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