Recorded on a beach in Hawaii and broadcast on Japanese TV (probably the source because of the Japanese subtitles), the BEACH BOYS 25 YEARS TOGETHER captures America's band on what is possibly their "last hurray" as a band in the mid-'80s, the years after Dennis Wilson died but Carl & Dennis were still part of the Beach Boys. While there are a few too many audience shots for my tastes (a little distracting), the film & sound quality are excellent. I did notice a few little interesting things: Mike Love begins the show shirtless (is his trying to recapture his glory years?); Brian looks really uncomfortable talking to the camera, but seems to be enjoying himself actually playing music (and at one point Brian is carrying off one of the bikini-clad babes that are intermittently walking onstage and placing leis on each Beach Boy). The "cheese factor" is especially noticeable on the forced dialogue between the band and the cameras (can you say "cue cards"?). While the Beach Boys play most of their "normal and expected" hits, most songs are truncated versions. And in the true TV-special format, there are guest spots by such "celebrities" such as Jon Stamos, Patrick Duffy, Joe Piscopo (on hindsight, the producers should have left Joe's parts out-he is simply NOT funny-thank God his is not on TV today!), and Glen Campbell, that tell the standard Beach Boys history story. While Joe Piscopo is especially annoying, he does do a very entertaining Bruce Springsteen parody called "Surf in the USA". The best part of this video and what makes it a "keeper" are the guest stars that appear with the Beach Boys (and in some case, by themselves). Ray Charles performs an excellent "Sail On Sailor"; Glen Campbell's interaction with Mike Love is hilarious; the Fabulous T-Birds doing "Rock 'N Roll Music" is unique; and the Everly Brothers with The Beach Boys is almost sublime on "Don't Worry Baby". The only thing I really don't like is that Jeffrey Hasburne sings "God Only Knows" instead of Carl - sorry, but nobody can beat Carl's vocal on this song! Other guests include Paul Schaeffer, Belinda Carlisle (they this was the '80s!) and Danny Hutton. Finally, there is a rare live version of the "Spirit of Rock 'N Roll" (unreleased Brian Wilson song) and a version of "Good Vibrations" with all the guest stars. While there are some annoying parts of this DVD, the shining moments more than overcome the inadequacies.
When most people think of the Beatles, the truth and legend of the Lennon/McCartney partnership looms large. But, Lennon had another "partner in the arts" before McCartney (and ultimately Yoko), and that was Stuart Sutcliffe, known as the "fifth Beatle". While Stuart didn't leave any kind of musical impact on the best rock band in history, he did influence the band in other more subtle & artistic ways. The film BACKBEAT focus on the friendship between John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe and how Sutcliffe influenced the Fab Four. While it is not always historically accurate (For example: there is no Allan Williams, some of the songs that John sang in Hamburg were actually sung by Paul; in reality Klaus Voorman and Astrid barely knew enough English to converse with the Beatles, but in the film are suddenly fluent in English; I could go on and on…but I know that artistic license is sometimes necessary to expedite the story of a film), when you compare this film to other Beatles film-bios (such as Dick Clark's Pete Best-assisted "Birth of the Beatles), BACKBEAT captures the true spirit of the Beatles at this pivotal time in their career. For example, I love the scene where the band is introduced to "prellies" (Preludin - speed pills) and the film captures perfectly band's life-in-Hamburg and the change from sleep-deprived lads to frantic, speed-induced rock and rollers. The film also succeeds on an emotional level, with accurate representations of the essence of the Lennon & Sutcliffe relationship. Lennon's character in the film pulls between angst and art, which seems to typify Lennon's personality perfectly! It is ironic that Stu & Astrid's relationship would later be echoed in John's relationship with Yoko. The characters of Paul, George & Pete are only superficially explored - but then again the true focus of this film is the love/friendship triangle between John, Stu and Astrid. The DVD release includes tons of extras: a conversation with Astrid Kirchherr (only her voice-no current photos or film of her); various interviews with (director) Iain Softley & Ian Hart (who portrayed Lennon in the film); a couple of deleted scenes; a TV featurette; and an interesting casting session of early rehearsals. While not totally historically accurate, most Beatles fanatics will excuse these lapses and regard this DVD as what it is: simply the best movie about the early Beatles and their motivations.
THIS IS SPINAL TAP is one of the greatest rock and roll films ever made. Sure, it's a parody and is about a fictional rock band (who actually really do play their instruments in real life-I saw them live once!) - but it captures the humor and spirit of rock and roll like few films before or after. I had just about worn out my videotape copy and recently purchased the "special edition" DVD. This is actually not the first DVD of the movie to be released; Criterion released THIS IS SPINAL TAP on DVD in 1994. The "special edition" does differ from the Criterion edition in a few respects: it includes a new commentary by the band as well as a new "Catching Up with Marty DiGergi" interview, and a few different outtakes. This "special edition" DVD contains over 1 hour, 45 minutes of extras including: deleted scenes, commercials and theatrical trailers, 4 music videos (including "Gimme Some Money" in color!), and much more! Don't you love it when they put out 'new' DVD's of a title that is already available? Especially when these 'new' editions have extra bits and features that weren't on the first release (forcing true fans to fork out some extra dollerage and in essence buying the same product twice!). However, this is one case where I didn't mind!
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"The Beach Boys: 25 Years Together"
"Backbeat: Collector's Edition"
"This Is Spinal Tap" (Special Edition)