Music Review:

1)DEEP PURPLE #1 for June

Deep Purple - Total Abandon (2012) Album Tracklist

Deep Purple Total Abandon – Australia ‘99

by Joe Viglione on June 6, 2012

Back in the day it was the artists such as Lou Reed and his Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrid, the Beatles and Rolling Stones who had fans going bonkers over every note they played, every song on albums both legit and bootleg.
That Deep Purple, certainly an essential and important group, is getting their due from Eagle Rock Entertainment is key, and something that fans wish had happened long ago.

read more here:
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2012/35153

2)HUSH by Deep Purple (the 45 RPM single)

DEEP PURPLE - HUSH 45 RPM

Deep Purple's phenomenal version of "Hush", written by country/pop songwriter Joe South, took the Vanilla Fudge style of slowing a song down and bluesing it up another step, venturing into the domain of psychedelic heavy metal. Covered by Kula Shaker in the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer other versions were recorded by Billy Joe Royal, Gotthard , former Ritchie Blackmore lead vocalist Joe Lynn Turner on his 1997 Under Cover album of song interpretations and even John Mellencamp. But once the tune received this rendition's indellible stamp no one could touch it again, not even the songwriter. South's
lyrics are highly suggestive, beyond Van Morrison's "Gloria", straight into Louie, Louie" territory with: "She's got a loving like quicksand... http://www.allmusic.com/song/hush-mt0002524384

3)Judy's Turn To Cry

Check out this cool page:

http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2010/06/weekend-listomania-special-eat-your.html

review

by Joe Viglione

A sequel that can stand on its own! Quincy Jones production of Lesley Gore's excellent follow-up to her first and only #1 hit, "It's My Party", was one of the four biggest of her 11 songs to cruise up the Top 40. Beverly Ross and Edna Lewis picked up where "It's My Party" songwriters Herb Wiener, Wally Gold and John Gluck, Jr. creatively left off, and they show real intuition here, building a monstrous hook as valuable as "It's My Party" with violence that may have been inspired by The Crystals pushing the envelope with their withdrawn classic "He Hit Me and It Felt Like A Kiss". Here Johnny displays some fisticuffs, somehow chivalrous in the early 1960's, forty years later politically incorrect enough to run up his legal bill: "So I kissed some other guy/Johnny jumped up and he hit him". Come April of 1964 she'd sing "when he treats me rough and he acts as tho' he doesn't really care" in "That's The Way Boys Are" - do we see a pattern here? All of this youthful infatuation comes with sixties drums and horns accentuating Leslie as she "felt like making a scene" and carries on through one of the great mis-heard lyric lines "Then my tears just fell like rain drops." The punch line, though, came in loud and clear - she was crying because "Judy's smile was so mean." Horrors! Read more herehttp://www.allmusic.com/song/judys-turn-to-cry-mt0000258648

someone linked the review to Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy%27s_Turn_to_Cry

4)New York Dolls Lookin' Fine on Television

New York Dolls: Lookin' Fine on Television DVD Cover Art

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2012/35361
The New York Dolls was an ingenious idea for a rock and roll band, the group hitting an audience with all volume on March 3, 1973 at K-K-K-Katys, part of the Boston Club complex in Kenmore Square, Massachusetts. They played a week there, a soon-to-be famous Steven Tyler in the back of the club watching the Dolls blast everyone out of the room. It was so intensely loud it felt like being in an airplane hanger with a jet getting ready for take-off. You won’t get that experience by watching this interesting look back at their early days, but the MVD release of vintage footage is essential for those of us who saw the Dolls in all their glory many a time back in the day.
For such an important group to have only two Mercury albums in release at the time of their emergence is a shame. And much like Iggy and the Stooges with their one-two punch on Elektra, the New York Dolls – like the Stooges – did get some respect as power brokers of the punk scene. They both overshadowed The Runaways (though the Runaways saga did get the gals their story to film decades later), these three groups and more – Talking Heads, Tuff Darts, The Dead Boys all generating something very special in a time long ago…

Lookin’ Fine on Television is a nice title, though not necessarily accurate. Some of the footage makes for a tough viewing experience that needs the David Johansen axiom “Real Rock & Roll fans will listen to something they love on a blown out speaker on a transistor radio” (paraphrased). On that level this works out well, part of the puzzle that puts the story in perspective for fans old and new.
The Johansen quote above was utilized a year ago for the Iggy Pop Roadkill Rising disc and, no, Johansen didn’t bring it up at that Boston party where he was preaching to me that he thought I would be the guy to get Johnny Thunders off of heroin (?? – I got a record deal for Thunders in Paris on New Rose but, sadly, couldn’t help the exquisite pure rock guitarist to expel his demons), the quote is actually from some magazine interview from decades back. The black and white footage does add to the legend, puts the Dolls in the time of the post-60s rock & roll re-emergence, a harder sound with less polish and more angst.
The New York Dolls are iconic – in 2012 – but hardly household names. In a perfect world Buster Poindexter would have stayed with the Dolls to chug along creating album after album. They would have had a hit record or two, of that I am sure, and they could have been the 70s version of the Kinks or something of that commercial stature.

Watch Johnny Thunders on YouTube doing “Green Onions” to see what a fantastic sound he would generate (even with the squealing wrong notes and vulgar tongue) …and it’s a shame that kids today don’t know him as the rock & roll renegade he was; they just think he’s a fictional character from some Ray Davies tune.

After leaving this band that he was such an essential part of they went their separate ways for a time, Sylvain Sylvain making some superb recordings over the years as well as live shows, New Rose Records releasing an important “Sons of the Dolls” LP with stray solo recordings that helped fill the void somewhat. Thunders death left another void. Lookin’ Fine on Television helps fill it somewhat.

5)MEN IN BLACK III
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2012/34963
The art of the sequel has resulted in films that sometimes surpass the originals and with Sci-Fi so in vogue these days, more technology means potentially better follow-up movies.
Men In Black III is the most interesting of these Spy-vs-Spy turned Undercover Agents vs Bad Aliens sagas, my favorite of the first three thus far.
“I promise you the secrets of the universe, nothing more” says Tommy Lee Jones wearing the most gruesome makeup this side of flour, water and cheap paste. In fact, the makeup on Tommy Lee and Will Smith is so bad it can only be intentional, and the question is why. It not only mars the motion picture, it’s a major distraction.
Just as Dark Shadows utilizes 1972 music, 1960s songs permeate the excellent soundtrack, from “All Along The Watchtower” to The Velvet Underground’s “Waiting for the Man” and Mickey & Sylvia’s incredibly accurate for MIB 3, “Love Is Strange.”

Smith is certainly padding his resume as the premiere A list movie star that plays to the Science Fiction audience

And just as Jonathan Frid died on Friday the 13th (April 2012) before he could see the picture, Sylvia Robinson would have probably adored hearing her masterpiece twice in this fun space-age delight. Rapper Pitbull (a.k.a. Armando Christian Pérez) updates the Mickey & Sylvia classic and the original finds its way into MIB III as well. With Andy Warhol playing one of the Men In Black the Factory as a setting for alien shenanigans makes perfect sense…and will help attract the mainstream and cult fans of both Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/tv-film/men-in-black-iii-will-smith-establishes-himself-as-the-man/

6)AWAIT RESCUE
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2012/34811

7)NOTHING'S GONNA STOP US NOW STARSHIP with MICKEY THOMAS Song review

For those purist fans of the early Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, a song like "We Built This City" took the path the Marty Balin-less group embarked on with "Jane" (a title Balin actually rehearsed with the group prior to his leaving for a solo career) farther into the arena rock wasteland. The four minutes and 29 seconds of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" were a huge treat on an entirely different level. It's really more a collaboration between producer/arranger Narada Michael Walden and singers Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas than it is a Starship track. Lead guitarist Craig Chaquico is merely a guest star here, for this is a high-tech quagmire of bells, whistles, strings, and Walden's vision, building the melody into a rock-solid stomp, but for Starship, it is its zenith. If the song "Miracles" was Jefferson Starship at its most potent and creative, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is selling out, in a good way.
Read more here http://www.allmusic.com/song/nothings-gonna-stop-us-now-mt0015898109

8)DONNY HATHAWAY DVD

Donny Hathaway LIVE + IN PERFORMANCE,

9)The Grease Band

The Grease Band

The Grease Band was a rock band that started out as Joe Cocker 's backing band. ... their self-titled first album, reviewer Joe Viglione said "..

10)Alfred Hitchcock's STAGE FRIGHT discussed with Frank Dello Stritto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEtC7IamoMg

Watch STAGE FRIGHT Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAQPzF1mphs

11)Billy Shake CD Review
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2012/33460

Music Review: Billy Shake Crashing Down

by Joe Viglione on March 29, 2012

“Drugs keep pounding a rhythm to the brain” takes Sonny Bono’s “The Beat Goes On” to a different dimension on the disc’s 9th track, “Heroine Belles.” It leans more towards an uptempo nod to Lou Reed’s singular title ode to the drug than the anthem to chick bikers on downers, an image the title might conjure. Chief singer/songwriter of Billy Shake, George Simpson is accompanied by drummer Joe Caruso; bassist Bruce Mahar along with guitarists Ken Sparrow and Dan DelSignore. Recording at producer/songwriter Steven Mesropian’s studio they have come up with an authentic and driving collection of eleven titles on an evenly tempered disc that can grow on you with repeated spins.
Though it rocks with an authority you’ll likely find at the Cantab downstairs on any given weekend, there’s some real heart embedded in the tracks beyond the slam, bang boom some of the younger college grads have a penchant for. Stylistically the ballads show the group not shying away from exploring a softer, yet still driving side. “God’s Own Johnny” and “Stronger Word” fine examples of that. “Draw The Line” isn’t Aerosmith’s chestnut, it’s more like a 70’s folk rocker gone philosophically haywire.
“Big City Dreams” kicks things off in a way that would make Jim Carroll proud…actually, more like some 80’s artist’s clone that escapes me right now with a touch of Johnny Rotten’s snarl. Falco of “Der Kommissar” fame would be a nice contrast to these gents on a double bill…and would drive both audiences crazy, no doubt. Crashing Down is a fine effort by Billy Shake…and a John Cale or Don Gallucci of Stooges fame could have some real fun with this project.

12)DARK SHADOWS film review
18 June 2012 | 20:45

Dark Shadows Reviewed: Burton’s Sacrificed Artistry For Financial Success

By Joe Viglione

Posted: 15 May 2012

He did it with Planet Of The Apes, he did it with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, he did it with Alice In Wonderland, and now he's done it with Dark Shadows. Fun? Sure. Timeless? Not even close.

Watch the trailer to The Dark Knight Rises and then watch Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows trailer(s) and you will have an idea about how this version of the vampiric TV program has morphed into a from-yet-another-other-dimension Burton variation on a theme.
For those of us who immersed ourselves in the original Dark Shadows back in the 1960s, that theme was on a far off planet in a long-ago time. With the 2012 target being today’s youth market this $150 million dollar film is more like Rocky Horror Picture Show meets The Addams Family only with the characters from Dark Shadows with Alice Cooper thrown in to boot.
Is it good? Well, of course, it is marvelous filmmaking, but it will also outrage the purists, and here’s why…the creepy Dark Shadows music from the original TV show (and the films House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows) is replaced by…The Moody Blues “Nights in White Satin” over a superb shot of the railway train bringing Victoria Winters to Collinwood.
http://www.sabotagetimes.com/tv-film/dark-shadows-reviewed-burtons-sacrificed-artistry-for-financial-success/

13 Kat Quinn Exhale -
Produced by Peter Calo

Review: Exhale Kat Quinn

by Joe Viglione on April 10, 2012

Songwriter/singer Kat Quinn has a wonderfully compact 4 song E.P. entitled EXHALE now in release. It is a refreshing blend of melody, inspired words and a sincere and impressive voice communicating her ideas.
“What Love Feels Like” starts things off, and it is simply amazing, drenched in the superb production work of master craftsman Peter Calo. Go back over previous reviews of mine, this writer is not prone to hyperbole unless something reaches into the ether and comes up with a surprise, and the surprise is here. Special sounds are what the audience is seeking in 2012, new sounds to dazzle – and the mix of fluke (a ukulele) of Kat’s along with a dizzying array of instruments Calo provides – acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, keyboards, percussion, Viola de Terra (a stringed instrument from the Portuguese islands of The Azores,) lap steel, dulcimer, bass and drum programming, it is a stunning mix.
“Waiting To Exhale” with its ghostly voices at the end is a quick change of pace, mellow but moving followed by “Coffee Shop Song”, perhaps an answer to Harriet Schock’s “Starbucks”, low-key, though, not as “swinging” as Harriet’s song’s been called. The musing over a guy and wondering if he has a wife is longing where Janis Ian’s “In The Winter” had her declare in anger “You have a lovely wife” over an ex she is venting over. “So Damn Cute” could even be a sequel to “Coffee Shop Song”, an uptempo ditty which ends the quick four song escapade that makes up the 4 song Exhale CD. Everything is Grade A on this classy and smart outing, Calo’s production skills simply outstanding. The guy’s a monster that improves like fine wine. Four stars.
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2012/33766

14) Time Of Your Life reviewed by Frank Dello Stritto with Joe Viglione

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfKb5pFqHqE

15) John LaPrade
http://www.acousticroundtable.com/profile/johnlaprade

“Totally brilliant pop.”
- Joe Viglione, music critic, TMRzoo

16)Annie Activator

album review forthcoming

17) OUR FLAWS REMAIN

Elizabeth Borg - Vocals/Lyrics/Misinformation

Aaron Dlugasch - Guitar/Bass/Drums/Synth/Negotiations

http://www.ourflawsremain.com/

http://www.facebook.com/ourflawsremain

Interesting music ...Cosmic metal --- reviewing Tracks 7 and 12 stay tuned

18) Fred Gillen Jr.

19) Boney M's SUNNY REMIXED

Sunny - Boney M Remixed By Mousse T

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gh7dDctC1c&feature=related

20)Jon Macey INTENTION

Veteran Boston songwriter/producer's new solo album featuring philosophical folk rock minus the rock

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jonmacey3

GUEST REVIEW BY CRAIG FENTON

January 7, 2012:

Good Rock & Roll Day everyone.

I was asked to review what turned out to be a tremendous new CD. As you are aware if it happened after 1979 normally I wouldn't give it 4 seconds. This is worth owning regardless of the decades of music you follow.

Jon Macey “Intention”

Since the end of the 1970’s I haven’t changed my declaration and lack of excitability when it comes to musical artists from any genre unfastening their labor. There has been only a smattering of vinyl and CD releases that my ears and stomach can sanction. Jon Macey possesses the uncommonness to have satisfied an old rocker’s musical palate as part of a band and in a solitary setting.

Jon Macey is co-founder of one of the finest New England groups Fox Pass during the 1970’s. Their eclectic mix combined brilliant elements of the Beatles, underground, and Power Pop (before the term reached its embryonic stage). Fox Pass performs to this day and their last release in 2010 “Intemporel” illuminates well in any collection.

Jon’s “Intention” must have been to take the most formidable path before the CD reached fruition. Instead of seeking the comfort zone of previous successes he eyeballed another plateau on the rock and roll mountain. The fifteen tracks are outside the margins of the up-tempo 60’s and 70’s style tunes he has conceptualized during the decades of yesteryear. From the opening note to closing credits the sounds are defined by acoustic Jon or unplugged Macey.

An artist doesn’t gain endorsements for style points. A change in the compass’s direction normally spells implosion in neon. Paul Simon’s Graceland superseded greatness not because of the risk of leaving the dazzling folk-rock/singer songwriter kingdom he commanded but for the whole effect of the results.

John Macey (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, and production) with a little help from his friends, Bruce Demaree (percussion and all but the kitchen sink), Clara Kebabian (violin), Rich Lamphear (acoustic guitar), Mike Pyle (electric guitar), Tamaki Sakakibara (vocals), and Lynn Shipley (vocals and production) lead us to a comprehensive look at a mirror darkened, moldy, and cracked with memories of days hard to recapture, the agony others have caused, our own shortcomings, and reasons to persevere nevertheless.

Using influences from The Band, Bob Dylan, Joe Jackson, John Mellencamp, Willie Nile, and Graham Parker we are brought to the harshness of reality during the opening number “Trapped.” As Jon conveys the message many of us thirty and over relate to “I’m outdated”, the CD takes us on an excursion that will never be mistaken for the land of elegance.

“Pine Island” broadcasts with impeccable clarity “It's too late for a mid-life crisis, it's too soon to just close our eyes'.”

“Look Both Ways” is in the realm of the Rolling Stones “Waiting On A Friend” in structure only. Jon’s message isn’t about the impending arrival but fate, reality, and sculpturing your own story.

“Criminal At Heart” may conjure sounds of Ritchie Valens performing “La Bamba” but Jon’s proclamation is “You’re a criminal at heart, playing with emotions.”

“Jefferson County, Early November” is eerie and harrowing, still with one eye open and the other exempt from the elements we go down to the bone yard. Is it the cemetery ravaged through the years or a slang term for finding old ships that have lost the will to sail?

After the initial listening you are left gulping, wanting to comprehend all facets of the journey. Is it an episode from the “Twilight Zone” or man’s continuing appalling treatment of all things living?

The production that encompasses “Intention” is stellar. You can feel the guitar pick hitting the E string.

Few albums the past thirty-two years have made such an impact warranting endless return listens.

All the best,

Craig Fenton

Author-

Jefferson Airplane “Take Me To a Circus Tent”

Jefferson Starship “Have You Seen The Stars Tonite”

21) Oscar Peterson's tremendous rendition of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIlc6BfWRKU

22)PAUL RODGERS LIVE AT MONTREUX

Paul Rodgers and Friends live at Montreux

http://thehut.pantherssl.com/productimg/0/130/130/02/10536102-1314866754-823526.jpg

23)FREE FOREVER DVD

http://www.importcds.com/Movies/782212/Free-Forever-Free-DVD

Forever is an absolutely stunning double DVD on the British blues-pop band that reinvented the Rolling Stones' number one hit from 1969, "Honky Tonk Women," for their Top Five ticket to fame, "All Right Now," coming a year after the Stones classic. That half of this group, singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke, would form Bad Company and crank out hit after hit, chart action beginning in 1974, makes this compelling collection all the more valuable. There's so much great material on the two discs that one can spend hours exploring the restored archival footage, the new interviews, and perhaps the frosting on the cake -- multiple camera images from the Isle of Wight festival performance. You can literally remix your own version of "All Right Now" with all the footage made available from the cameras that captured the legendary festival. Five original videos from the band's early days along with material from The Beat Club in Germany and Granada TV from 1970 will keep the viewer happily busy. There are four different versions of "All Right Now" alone and commentary from Rodgers, Kirke, Andy Fraser, New York Daily News critic Jim Farber, and Simon Kossoff, brother of the late Paul Kossoff. The interviews were recorded in May and June of 2006 and fit nicely with the seven pages David Clayton writes about the group on the nine-page flip side of the deluxe poster that comes with this double disc. For historians, the package is the quintessential prototype of a musical presentation that is so deep and complex it would be pretty difficult to download from the Web, the collection of sound and pictures lovingly put together to satisfy the devoted. The ten-song Isle of Wight concert is predominantly audio with photos, press clippings, 45 covers, and other such memorabilia added as visuals to the soundtrack. Three songs -- "Mr. Big," "Be My Friend," and "All Right Now" -- contain video footage from the festival and also feature split-screen views, multiple angles, and an original black-and-white edit as well. Truly overwhelming, this compilation is a must-have for fans of Paul Rodgers, Bad Company, and Free, and captures their early history most effectively. ~ Joe Viglione, Rovi

24) Deep Purple Live At Montreux

Live At Montreux: 1996

Deep Purple

Masterful is the word for Eagle Vision's release of what liner note writer Geoff Barton calls Deep Purple Mark VII. It's the classic lineup of Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, and Jon Lord along with the Dixie Dregs' guitarist Steve Morse. Morse adds such finesse to the music, contained crunch as opposed to Ritchie Blackmore's razzle-dazzle, that followers of the group actually have reason to rejoice. It's not a slap at Blackmore as much as the coordination of an outside force that breathes new life into material that has been pounded into the consciousness of rock and metal fans for decades. The freshness a guitarist from outside the genre brings to the table makes this superbly filmed set of concerts all the more intriguing. Ian Gillan's Live at the Rainbow 1977 takes two of the titles here in an entirely different direction with the hard pop sound of guitarist Ray Fenwick, these DVDs giving the hardcore fans an opportunity to explore the variety of changes these familiar songs would go through with so many members of the core group reworking some of the same material. Read more here: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=501614

25) The Electric Prunes
JUST GOOD OLD ROCK AND ROLL

Just Good Old Rock and Roll by the Electric Prunes has an ominous "the new improved" before their name on the cover of this effort, and despite original producer Dave Hassinger's contributions, it fails to come anywhere near the greatness of "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night." A good tune like "So Many People to Tell" is offset by the difficult "Giant Sunhorse," which destroys any momentum created by the aforementioned best track on the disc, much like a double play in a tight baseball game. The boring riff goes nowhere and it is a disappointing way to lead off side two, when the first five songs show some bit of promise. If Stephen Stills fronting Country Joe & the Fish by way of the Grateful Dead with lackluster material is your cup of tea, side two descends into that dysfunctional morass, a band sliding sideways and not living up to the psychedelic power their first big hit boasted. read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/just-good-old-rock-and-roll-mw0000447110

26) ALEXANDER PETTYFER from I AM #4 is back in Magic Mike this Friday, June 29

I Am Number Four: Special FX Supervisor Bill George Talks with TMRZoo.com

by Joe Viglione on May 22, 2011-

In a “Virtual Roundtable” with Industrial Light and Magic Visual Effects Supervisor, Bill George, I and other critics got to chat with Bill online for two hours on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at noon, Eastern time.
Unlike the in-person roundtable interviews with Jodie Foster and Michael Moore, I don’t know if I am (or was) #4, #5 or 007! …but here is some of the interview along with a review of the terrific DVD release of I AM NUMBER FOUR.
Joe Viglione: Having worked on films with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest), Alfonso Cuaron (Prisoner of Azkaban), Richard Donner and others, are you left to your own devices or does each director have a different need and make different demands?
Bill George: We don’t work in a vacuum here at ILM. We always adjust our shot style to match whichever director we are working with. Our goal is to have our work fit seamlessly into third film without standing out.
Joe Viglione: With a sequel planned, did you have a variety of different effects that you wanted to keep in reserve for the next film?
Bill George: Nope. We went all out on this one. However, I was very excited about the idea of flashbacks where we get to see the destruction of Lorian. That was in the first script I read but was omitted. That is something I would love to see!
We’ll get to the film adaption after I digress about the first I AM NUMBER FOUR novel (of what is scheduled to be six in the series) by Pittacus Lore – allegedly the nom-de-plume of James Frey and Jobie Huges (think sci fi writer Eando Binder, the combined names of the late brothers Earl Andrew Binder and Otto Binder – thus, the “E” and “O” Binder – of the Adam Link robot series.) Readers of TMRZoo probably recall the author “Penelope Ashe” who wrote Naked Came The Stranger…a racy book written by about 24 writers under one name…well…I’ve not read this book, but the film I AM NUMBER FOUR is good science fiction with superb special effects. It comes in a very slick package a la the Back To The Future series (though not as lavish, of course, being one – not three – motion pictures), and the story line and splashy, colorful illusions, courtesy of Bill George, hold up very well on smaller screens.
The project is as impressively filmed as Duncan Jones’ Source Code on a similar production budget of about 60 million according to Box Office Mojo.com – that site also noting that the film brought in about 144 million worldwide, a tidy profit for a cast of virtual unknowns (save, maybe, Timothy Olyphant.) Alex Pettyfer is in the star role and does a fine job, the modern day equivalent of 1984′s The Last Starfighter featuring Lance Guest. Now Guest appeared to – but didn’t quite – vanish and has had steady TV work (with talk of The Last Starfighter getting a sequel sometime soon…he certainly didn’t end up like George Lazenby (the lost James Bond from Her Majesty’s Secret Service or poor Roger Herren whose career was imploded after Myra Breckinrdge – so Pettyfer can take hear that this film’s return should ensure him a nice repeated paycheck – maybe not on a level of Harry Potter, but certainly enough to launch him into a substantial film career. I like that the series is being taken seriously…and that there is none of the tongue-in-cheek approach that marred both the Back To The Future series and Last Starfighter – which was supposed to bring in a new wave of Star Wars type films, but didn’t quite do the trick…Lance Guest ending up in Jaws: The Revenge in 1987…the fourth film in that saga! There is an audience for solid science fiction…something the SyFy Channel has yet to find a budget for…and something the Twilight Series has opened Hollywood’s eyes to: that the teen market will embrace an approach more appealing than the slashing in “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
What’s also interesting is that the aforementioned Last Starfighter was one of the first films to use extensive CGI. One of the critics asked Bill George about the technique in the roundtable concerning I AM NUMBER FOUR:
Q – How did you work through some challenges of CGI to make sure that the characters were always real?
A – Bill George: When we are working on our CG creature shots, they usually take a few weeks to create. During that time, our entire team views them daily as they progress. Everyone is welcome to offer their view of what is working and what needs improvement. This method really helps us to get a realist result. It’s all about observation and refinement.
__________________________________________________________________
It was a treat to be able to interact with one of the master’s of the genre…his work on I AM NUMBER FOUR is superb and a reason that I believe the film will have additional staying power.

27)The Eagle of the Ninth

In 2011 Channing Tatum found Esca (Jamie Bell).in the Eagle of the Ninth. In Magic Mike he finds Alex Pettyfer as his comrade... review to post tomorrow night. June 28 at Midnight (June 29, 2012)

Friday, February 11, 2011

New Channing Tatum Flick Viglione Joe Review

Movie Review: The Eagle (of the 9th)

by Joe Viglione February - 11 - 2011

Director Kevin MacDonald’s follows director Domenic Sena’s Season Of The Witch by about a month, both films displaying sword fighting, four years after Zack Snyder’s 300 brought the blood fests into vogue. While Season Of The Witch is an intriguing paean to the Hammer Films / American International Pictures of the 1960s (especially Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe movies), The Eagle sports multiple intriguing plots that push veteran actors Donald Sutherland and Denis O’Hare way into the background, and a not-so-thinly veiled homosexual undercurrent between the master, Roman soldier Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) and his British slave, Esca (Jamie Bell). Telling the story set in 135 A.D. with these two enemies building a deep friendship and devotion is less blatant but more intense than Brokeback Mountain. Perhaps because Jake Gyllenhall’s Jack Twist and Heath Ledger’s Ennis Del Mar didn’t come with Uncle Donald Sutherland
purchasing one to attend to the other Gyllenhall/Twist’s passive role couldn’t overcome Ledger/Del Mar’s self-hatred. Though the musical score in both films feels rather similar, Esca and Aquila have no problem reversing their roles and letting their love/hate relationship sort itself out. “He will slit your throat the minute you’re alone” Sutherland as Uncle Aquila warns. Uncle was a little off the mark. When Channing Tatum looks up and says “Esca, what’s happening?” only to hear “Get on your knees”, well…the fact that these fellows keep their clothing on through most of the last three-quarters of the movie indicates that the historical fiction flick has its own mission beyond the gratuitous violence of 300 and the Goth/horror that takes over in Season of the Witch. “You’re my slave”, Jamie Bell tells Channing Tatum. “Do as I did for you, and you’ll survive.”

Based on writer Rosemary Sutcliffe’s 1954 children’s book, The Eagle of the Ninth, and set in Roman Britain in the 2nd century AD, the quest to go beyond Hadrian’s Wall feels a bit like the original Star Trek as it set out for the “undiscovered country.” Luckily for filmgoers, and for the actors involved, the beautifully filmed epic keeps your attention for the full two hours. The battle scenes are exciting and the younger actors get opportunities the script doesn’t afford the older veterans.

Thirty-one year old Channing Tatum is on the cusp of movie superstardom and the choice of an historical epic works better as a career move than his truncated role in The Dilemma (a film that would have benefited from an expansion of his cavalier “Zip” character). Jamie Bell also gets a platform to bring his talents to a wider audience, and though it’s difficult to imagine life nineteen hundred years ago at least the filmmakers strive to keep the tone somewhat authentic. Season Of The Witch didn’t even try to get the language to transport you back. And where the memorable line in Brokeback Mountain was “I wish I knew how to quit you”, the telling moment here is when Tatum looks up at Bell and says “I thought I lost you.” Actor Jake Hamilton interviewed both actors and called it a “bromance”, but there’s more to it than that and the reviews already initiated could spawn a series of YouTube reinventions of The Eagle that could give it an entirely new life on the web. Macho twenty-somethings will find the battle scenes inviting, but there’s no denying the gay audience is going to view the chemistry of the Channing/Bell pairing in a way that will make this a cult hit, whether or not it clicks at the mainstream box office.

28 James Brown Lounge Version of "Sunny"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzV_UYJHOHU&feature=related

29) Joey Dee THE PEPPERMINT TWISTERS

Shimmy Baby, Pt. 1," a lively early-'60s rocking studio performance with overdubbed applause and glasses tinkling, easily melts into a creative Hawaiian instrumental from Eden Ahbez entitled "Lonely Island," which in turn weaves its way into the third track, "Walking Down the Street." None of Joey Dee's five Roulette Records Top 40 hits appear on this Scepter release called The Peppermint Twisters, and no one song stands out as memorable, though it is an interesting artifact from the day. Dee singing "hey hey" in "Walking Down the Street" could be the precursor to Chris Montez asking "Let's Dance," or Tommy Roe's plea to "Sheila," a low-rent predecessor to the two big hits that would emerge a year after this outing. "(Bad) Bulldog" resembles many a Kingsmen album that would follow in these footsteps, so the style of the sound that Joey Dee was imprinting on these Scepter discs would have its impact, which makes these dozen performances all the more interesting.

30 Good Times A Comin' HOOKFOOT

The name Hookfoot sounds as generic as Bulldog, Sweathog, and other pedestrian 1970s monikers, and the music on the group's second release, Good Times a' Comin', reflects just that. It's Elton John sessionmen -- Caleb Quaye, Dave Glover, and Roger Pope from Tumbleweed Connection and other John discs -- recording their Dick James-published songs which were produced at Dick James Studios and going for the brass ring on their own with feeble results. The a cappella ending to "Living in the City" shows they have vocal as well as instrumental chops, while "Gunner Webb's Changes" lifts musical passages right out of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Long Time Gone" and "Almost Cut My Hair." That should come as no surprise since they covered both Stephen Stills and Neil Young on their self-titled debut from 1971.
read more here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/good-times-acomin-mw0000848934

31)Fanny Hill by Joe Viglione

Fanny Hill is the work of a rock & roll band which goes beyond gender and should have been as popular as it is classic. Beginning with "Ain't That Peculiar," the 1965 Top Ten hit for Marvin Gaye, June Millington's slide guitar is augmented by Bobby Keys' baritone sax creating an entirely new sound for the Motown standard. Recorded at Abbey Studios in London, Fanny cleverly use the Beatles' facility and the Rolling Stones' horn players, an excellent combination. Nickey Barclay's "Knock on My Door" creates a subtle mood; however, the gals can't seem to wait to explode again with "Blind Alley." Jean Millington's "Wonderful Feeling" is very strong, with the musicians weaving textures here as they do on sister June Millington's "Think About the Children." Nickey Barclay's keyboards have that elegant "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" sound that Steve Winwood was so enamored of. It is perfect here, with Richard Perry keeping the instruments in their own space, gaining insight into what he would do with the Pointer Sisters years after this album, the density of "You're So Vain" and "Photograph," the producer's neo-Phil Spector radio hits, not employed on Fanny Hill. Perry wisely lets Fanny provide the sound

32)JOHN LEE HOOKER COOK WITH THE HOOK
DVD PREVIEW - release date June 19, 2012
Liner notes by Joe Viglione

Watch Preview Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phbKqyJurDQ

On Saturday, July 6, 1974, Mississippi-Delta bluesman John Lee Hooker was one of the star attractions at an all-day festival attended by 6,000 people. The event in the town of Gardner Massachusetts was called "Down in the Dumps" perhaps the first in what was proposed as a series of musical events to be held in the city landfill area. Luckily, very luckily, Hooker's performance was captured on a three camera shoot and broadcast on cable television in local cities and towns.

Track Listing: It Serves You Right to Suffer, Sweet Sweet Thing, Boom Booom, Whiskey & Women, Boogie, Encore/Medley

Run Time: 45 min

http://fromunderthebasement.blogspot.com/2012/05/john-lee-hooker-cook-with-hook-live.html

33 Denny Laine REBORN

By Joe Viglione, from answers.com

Reborn is a brilliant album by an erratic and often misdirected artist. It is, actually, quite refreshing in its simplicity, with Laine's vocals surprisingly in good shape. In the late '80s and early '90s, the founding member of the Moody Blues who should never have left Wings had little of his great voice left. Read more here:

http://onlygoodsong.blogspot.com/2012/02/denny-laine-reborn-repost.html

34) BULLDOG
http://onlygoodsong.blogspot.com/2010/04/bulldog-bulldog-with-dino-danelli-gene.html

By Joe Viglione, All Music Guide

Produced and played by drummer Dino Danelli and guitarist Gene Cornish of the Young Rascals, Bulldog's debut in 1972 opens with a heavy version of the Bobby Day number two hit from 1958, "Rockin' Robin," a performance which displays the strength and weakness of this ensemble. Bassist/lead vocalist Billy Hocher is a cross between Bob Tench of the Jeff Beck Group, Ian Lloyd of Stories, and Ralph Mormon of Savoy Brown. On tunes like "Juicin' With Lucy" and "Don't Blame It on Me," the singing becomes overbearing and a bit tedious, despite the journeyman abilities of the ex-Rascals producing this. Interesting that a band called Sweathog in 1971 had a hit with "Hallelujah" and a sound similar to Bulldog. Also worthy of note is that little Michael Jackson took "Rockin' Robin" back to number two nationally the same year this album was released, 1972. There is a real gem here in the song "No," a minor hit in some regions of the country that was written by Hocher and keyboardist John Turi. It suffered the same fate as Stories' excellent "I'm Coming Home," their 1972 almost-hit which is quite similar in sound and performance to Bulldog's "No." read more here: http://www.allmusic.com/album/bulldog-1972-mw0000850532

35)James Brown REMIX of "Sunny"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8uCECBkp_g&feature=related

36) BOOGIE PIMPS DANCE REMIX SOMEBODY TO LOVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNgASBICP3o&feature=fvwrel

37) Evelyn Weigert - Sunny TREMENDOUS VIDEO...watch this one! Worthy of putting on the DVD for the boxed set

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ORnFO7CJSg&feature=related

38) READERCON 23
July 12-15 BE THERE!

Readercon 23

July 12-15, 2012
Burlington Marriott, Burlington, Massachusetts.
http://www.readercon.org/index.htm

39)The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress - Jimmy Webb Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, the Walker Brothers, and, of course, Glen Campbell are among the notable artists who have performed renditions of this Jimmy Webb silent scream defining the plight of the lonely or brokenhearted when all that's left for them is the satellite circling the earth -- ever present but untouchable. Read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/song/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress-mt0008191233

40) I Ain't Superstitious Jeff Beck

Sounding nothing like Willie Dixon's original essay about resisting a "rite irrationally maintained by ignorance of the laws of nature or by faith in magic or chance", Rod Stewart takes the songwriter's cue but breathes something different into the spirit allowing Jeff Beck to push away the ghosts with enormous and expressive guitar sounds that generate a life of their own. "The dogs begin to bark" and you can hear their electronic counterparts - a wah wah "bow wow wow" from Beck followed up by some Pete Townshend-style rhythms and truly exotic notes from uniquely bending guitar strings. The Beckology triple disc set puts this Mickie Most production in an entirely new light. Most may have kept his highly commercial work with Herman's Hermits and Lulu very by-the-book, but on 1968's Donovan hit, "Hurdy Gurdy Man", he got ultra experimental with The New Yardbirds- John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and John Bonham, fronted by Donovan Leitch. That experimentation continues here, released in the same year on the same label - Epic - the four minutes and fifty-two seconds of "I Ain't Superstitious" showing the other side of Led Zeppelin's potential biggest rival, The Jeff Beck Group. One has to also keep in mind that Mickie Most recorded Page, John Paul Jones and Keith Moon with Jeff Beck, all together on the Jimmy Page tune "Beck's Bolero", recorded late 1966 or early 1967 according to Beckology's liner notes. Read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/song/i-aint-superstitious-mt0011923984

May 2012

1)Plynth (Water Down The Drain) -
The Jeff Beck Group from Beck Ola

The title that makes Jeff Beck fans scratch their heads. Written by Nicky Hopkins, Ron Wood and Rod Stewart, a "plinth" (different spelling) is an architectural term: "a continuous course of stones supporting a wall" also, the lowest member of a pedestal; hence, in general, the lowest member of a base." And that's pretty low when one is singing the blues. An ominous Jeff Beck riff brings the downer theme in with a bang. "My cold damp room looks worse than me...Just like water down the drain I'm wasting away" sings Rod the Mod on this Mickie Most production put to tape at Kingsway Recorders 1969 in London. Nicky Hopkins opens the festivities up with a cute little three second intro that Jeff Beck decimates with his dark and gritty rhythm. The band interacts with some very tight fusion boogie. Read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/song/plynth-water-down-the-drain-mt0001141033

If you like my song reviews on Rovi/AMG here are a bunch of 'em

http://joevigfirstimpressions.blogspot.com/2005/02/9-jeff-beck-songs-reviewed-by-joe.html

Apologies, people, we've been busy on other things. The Top 40 will be back big time. Stay tuned

2) MILKY NOTE performs Bobby Hebb's "Sunny":

milky note ～Sunny～

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVDE2Pvk-Ks&feature=related

3) Charlie Brown's Great
FUNKY SUNNY
SAXOPHONE rendition

Funky Sunny(1972)-Charlie Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_rjGbdhQ1o&feature=related

Everything Under the Sun

Jon Macey and Steve Gilligan
EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN
Steve Gilligan and Jon Macey are two veterans of the Boston music scene as well as half of the band Fox Pass, and their debut CD as a duo, Everything Under the Sun, features a dozen fine original compositions that are democratically split -- five from each songwriter with two collaborations. The title track is one of those co-writes and it features an uptempo Everly Brothers harmony à la the Beatles on "Two of Us" from the Let It Be CD, and is one of the poppier episodes before the singers touch upon the other musical worlds they fancy. With longtime producer Barry Marshall intentionally keeping the production sparse, it allows Gilligan's superb use of mandocello, mandolin, Dobro, and harmonica -- as well as Jon Macey's dulcimer playing -- to shine under the perfect guitar strums. Read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/everything-under-the-sun-mw0001637867

April 2012

1)You Shook Me - Jeff Beck Group

Jeff Beck gives little synopses of the songs on the back cover of the Truth album saying of this rendition: "Probably the rudest sounds ever recorded, intended for listening to whilst angry or stoned. Last note of song is my guitar being sick - well so would you be if I smashed your guts for 2:28." The great Mickey Most produced this post-Yardbirds noise and three decades after its release the music speaks volumes more than it did in the day - probably because those who bought it as teens couldn't hear what was being said and never realized the full power in the grooves. Some records get dated while others age like fine wine, and this is certainly in the latter category. Despite the success of the music upon its release, the huge combination of Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood never got their due. "You Shook Me" is even more interesting because the 1968 track beat out Led Zeppelin's rip of Willie Dixon's "You Need Love" by a year. Read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/song/you-shook-me-mt0018540162

Iulian Canaf - James Brown - Sunny - Drepturi De Autor PRO TV

Uploaded by Grassone1 on Jan 3, 2012

- Drepturi De Autor PRO TV

52 likes, 0 dislikes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B8DgIfdGNg&feature=related

March 2012

1)Led Boots by Jeff Beck Group An interesting component of the Jeff Beck catalog is the composition by keyboardist Max Middleton, a quirky and redundant riff called "Led Boots". Is this yet another acknowledgment that ex-YardbirdBeck ( and Middleton who joined shortly after the Truth and Beck Ola releases) could have taken on Led Zeppelin had they stayed the harder course - say Rod Stewart singing "You Shook Me" on Truth? If one takes Middleton's riff out of the jazz/fusion world Beck's music found itself in after his many evolutions, there's no doubt "Led Boots" would lend itself well to a "Kashmir"-type hard rock approach, and maybe tons of airplay years later on classic rock radio had they slowed the riff down and taken that road. But it is what it is, and as it stands, the George Martin produced track from Wired has become a musician's fave, covered by Vivian Campbell on the Jeffology tribute (a play on the Beckology boxed set title), Prashant Aswani on Rewired: A Tribute To Jeff Beck, as well as versions by Bunny Brunel and Ritchie Kotzen. It is four minutes of funk/rock from the 1976 Wired album which AMG's Mark Kirschenmann accurately describes as an "explosive opener ... where Beck erupts into a stunning solo of volcanic intensity."
read more here:
http://www.allmusic.com/song/led-boots-mt0000346002