8/13/2019 "Video Views" - Dio, David Bowie, The J. Geils Band,
Kajagoogoo, The Motels, Danspak II, "Rock and Roll: The Ear
1/2
By Drcnk lovece
DIO: A SPECTAI FROMTHE SPECTR'JMDirected by Phil Tuckett.
Warnercasseffe. Beta Hi-Fi, vHs Hi-Fi. 51min. $29.95.I n concert.
Ronnie James Dio is aI onarming nost. He smiles, hebtows kisses, he
gives the audiencehis trademark hand-signal -which,whatever else it
might be, is a varia-tion of the deaf's sign-language sym-bol for
"l love you." While all thisdescends into schtick soon enough,it's
hard not to like the guy.Dio's much-touted voice has a lotto do
with this, of course, eventhough it's in only adequate formthis
particular show. His band cer-tainly doesn't give him any
compe-tition-they seem more concernedwith showing off
speed-of-soundlicks than with playing much of any-thing besides
interminable scales.Yet beyond even his talented tonsils,it's
obvious, watching R.J. glideabout a stage festooned with
lasers,smoke bombs, giant hydra-headedsnakes and Egyptian icons,
that he'ssharing communion with an audiencehungry for the good ol'
days of hardrock concerts, the days before pas-sels of motley
clowns turned the mu-sic into a circus. lf you don't like
thisconcert tape, don't blame it on Dio.Director Phil Tuckett is
anotherstory, though. Going for a bit of thegood ol'days himself,
he sidestepsthe einerging notion of hybrid con-cert-conceptual
tapes (such asTwisted Sister's Stay Hungry,Thomas Dolby's Live
Wireless orDuran Duran's Srng Blue Silver\,where a video concert's
inevitabledead spots are avoided via concep-
tual or even documentary footage.Since the dead spots are as
in-evitable here as anywhere, thisstraight-ahead concert tape
isn'teasy to sit through for 51 minutesstraight-especially since
Tuckettchose to shoot on film ratherthan the more
immediate-seem-ing videotape.And yet, paradoxically, Tuckett'sother
directorial choices are brilliant,a word my readers know I don't
uselightly. Rather than downplay or pas-sively record Dio's stage
pyrotech-nics, Tuckett uses them to paint theTV screen. He looks at
everyone inthe band, and he's not afraid to holdshots longer than
television's cus--tomary four to six seconds. That'srisky in as
jangly a medium as TV,which has to grab your attention overand over
and over again. But Tuckettand film-editor Dave Douglas try
and,most of the time, succeed. Dioshould blow them a few
kisses.
ROCI( AND ROl.l'rfHE EARLY DAVSDirected by Patrick Montgomery
andPamela Page. RCA/Columbiacasseffe. Beta Hi-Fi mono, VHS Hi-Fi
mono. 59 min. $29.95.El ock and Rotl: The Early Days isrf no
documentary or, if you prefer,rockumentary, whatever that
means.Don't expect The Compleat Beatlesor Girl Groups, in other
words. While
these previous made-for-videos hadtheir flaws, both did include
new in-terviews and did follow journalistibtradition. Yet somehow,
Early Days isno schlockumentary, either. lt's aforgiveably pleasant
coffeetable-bookon videotape, with actor JohnHeard's narration like
that of aknowledgeable older friend lookingover your shoulder as
you turnthe pages.This type of project tends to bepredictable, of
course, focusing onpopular favorites to the exclusion ofimportant
lesser-knowns. Except forCarl Perkins'and Frankie
Lymon'swell-deserved coverage, the bulk ofthe program falls on
Presley, Berry,Holly, Haley, Little Richard, BoDiddley, Fats
Domino, the EverlyBrothers and Jerry Lee Lewis. Sound-track nods go
to Big Mama Thorntonand Gene Vincent, though they'renever shown,
and there's a delightfulbit where the Chords'original "Sh-Boom"
segues into the Crew Cuts'white cover version. But otherwise,such
important pioneers and pre-decessors as Eddie Cochran, RoyOrbison,
Lloyd Price and Ray Charlesaren't even mentioned. And whenshots of
old pre-rock rhythm-and-bluesmen and black doo-wop groupsdo appear,
guess what? No subtitles.
Fact and fantasy tend to blur.News clips and old
rock-moviescenes become indistinguishable-so much so that when
co-scriptersPatrick Montgomery, Pamela Page,Robert Egan and Louise
Betts try todescribe the social currents behindrock's formation,
we're left wonder-ing if the visuals are actual. At onespot, what's
supposed to be veryearly Elvismania is from years later,with a
model of RCA's trademark dogNipper sharing Presley's stage.
Too,much of the performance footagehas been synched with records,
justlike rock videos. Why? Did that manyfilms outlast the
authenticaudio tracks?These significant lapses aside, anyproject
covering a subject as rich asearly rock will almost inevitably
pro-vide treasures. A 1957 Ed Sullivanclip gives us as valuable a
look atthe Crickets as of Buddy Hollyhimself. We see Elvis setting
stan-dards, Jerry Lee killin' 'em (live, notsynched ), Pat Boone
defining whatrock is not, and Steve Allen unchar-acteristically
making an ass ofhimself. On the dark side, the insanebigotry of an
"Alabama White
8/13/2019 "Video Views" - Dio, David Bowie, The J. Geils Band,
Kajagoogoo, The Motels, Danspak II, "Rock and Roll: The Ear
2/2
Citizens Council" reminds us ofMTV's own longtime refusal to
giveeven today's token playtime toblack acts.Such moments make the
tapeworthwhile, and worth seeing. EarlyDays certainly glosses over
earlyrock's exploitative evils, but it's yetan entertaining
introduction thatgives credit to the R&B, countryblues, Texas
swing and gospel inwhich rock'n'roll sinks its roots.Besides which,
the nifty archivalfootage gives the right Reverendimmy Snow a
chance to define theform more righteously than he wouldever
know.
DAVID BOW'EDirected by David Mallet, JimYukich. 14 min.fHE J.
CE'IS BANDDirected by Paul Justman.11:48 min.KAJAEOOGOODirected by
Simon Milne. 11:05 min.THE MOTEISDirected by Val Garay,
Russe//Mulcahy. 14 min.Pioneer Artisfs laser videodiscs.Stereo with
CX noise reduction.$10.95 each.
I f ideodiscs are to videocassettesV what records are to tapes,
shar-ing the same advantages and dis-advantages as their audio
brethren.Unlike cassettes, you can't record onthem. Even so, laser
videodiscs (notto be confused with the inferior andnow defunct RCA
needle-and-groovesystem) spin out picture quality nocassette can
match, as well assound that none but Beta Hi-Fi andVHS Hi-Fi
cassettes can approach.With Pioneer's belated introductionof a
laserdisc player people can ac-tually afford ($300, the price of a
low-end VCR), more and more rocksters-and rock stars-will be
discoveringthe disc's many benefits.One of them is absolutely
kick-ass.audio. These 8-inch discs' amazingsound isn't so much a
matter ofdynamic range-which the specs sayare virtually identical
for disc and Hi-Fi tape-but of ambience, that
phantom-like sonic presence that fillsyour room and takes you
out of it atthe same time. As fine as this is onthe original Beta
Hi-Fi cassettes ofthese re-releases (the VHS versionsare in
conventional stereo), the laser-discs' soundtracks give each of
myspeakers depth of character worthyof Steinbeck.Except for the
defunctKajagoogoo, the choice of artists tokick off these discs
seems in-telligent, though the clips themselvesare lar from
current. Bowie, J. Geils(with now-solo Peter Wolf still front-ing)
and the protean Motels areamong the few contemporary bandsto manage
both critical and commer-cial-success, and most of theirvideos here
hold up as well as audiorecords to repeat playing. (All but theJ.
Geils videos have been reviewed inpast issues of FACES.)Since some
of these clips arealmost two years old now, theirrepeatability is a
credit not only tothe performers and the directors, butalso to the
form. As some of theemerging rock-video retrospectivesare
demonstrating, music clips havea lifetime surpassing their
creators'basically promotional intentions.With a showcase as fine
as theselaserdiscs, the form has no excuse
not to grow to fit the limits-wher-ever they are-of the
technologyNot only that, but these discs areseveral bucks cheaper
than theirSony Video-45 counterparts.DANSPAK ,,With Jason Harvey,
The Jim CarrollBand, The Lenny Kaye Connection,Michael Musto &
The Must, and GoOhgami. Directed by MerrillAldighieri & Joe
Tripician. Sonycasseffe. Beta Hi-Fi, VHS stereo.30min. $19.95.I I
errill Aldiohieri and JoeIYI rripi.i"n -must work cheap-what other
explanation for thisamateurish follow-up to last year'sequally
amateurish Danspak? As co-producers/directors once again,
A&Thave not only dredged up video ideasalmost as old as Reagan,
but repeatthem over and over and over and overandov....The general
feel to these six clipsisn't so much one of avoiding rock-video
cliches, but of not even reach-
ing that high. A&T favor, for example,a "dirty" directorial
style, such asthat of Hill Street 8/ues, and that'sfine. lt has its
place. But not on everydamn clip.Jim Carroll is the nominal "star"
ofthis collection, and the video for hiscover of Lou Reed's "Sweet
Jane" isas insufferable as Carroll himself-score one for aptness.
You can prac-tically smell the trouble immediatelywhen A&T
start serving up stop-action animation and oh-wow sym-bolism., a
form-and-content recipethat never changes.The lack of ideas here is
a shamenot just because it undercuts Sony'sadmirable notion of
showcasinglittle-known bands, but also becauseit reinforces
Peoria's vision of NewYork City. The songs aren't all alikehere.
They range from the blue-collar"l've Got A Right" (Lenny Kaye)
and"Kids on the Street" (Go Ohgami)tothe '60s-style pop of Cindy
Bullens'"Jimmie, Gimme Your Love" (per-formed by Village Volce
gossip hackMichael Musto), and the city canreflect the spectrum
much betterthan with A&T'g muddled mirror.Not coincidentally,
the tape's bestclip-for Jason Harvey's "EasyStreet"-was written and
co:produced dy the performer himself.His ideas are conventional,
but atleast the clip doesn't look like NewWave Night at a suburban
disco.Why Aldighieri and Tripician pursuepasse avant-gardism and
hoary videotechniques, I don't know. I just hopeDanspak // is
strike ll.l
FACES 61
