mentions:
Woodstock ~ The Movie
Thelma Schoonmaker - 1970
Image via BAFTA
Showing posts with label Martin Scorsese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Scorsese. Show all posts
April 4, 2024
April 1, 2024
20,000 vinyl LPs 360: Woodstock ~ The Movie
~
photo by Burk Uzzle
photo of album cover by Styrous®
On April 1, 1970, the counterculture American documentary film, Woodstock, premiered in Hollywood. The film documents the music and artists that appeared at the Woodstock Festival which took place in August of 1969 near Bethel, New York.
The film was directed by Michael Wadleigh in his directional debut. Seven editors are credited, including Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese, and Wadleigh.
The festival is regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history, as well as a defining event for the silent and baby boomer generations. The event's significance was reinforced by a 1970 documentary film, this soundtrack album, and a song written by Joni Mitchell that became a major hit for both Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Matthews Southern Comfort. Musical events bearing the Woodstock name were planned for anniversaries, including the tenth, twentieth, twenty-fifth, thirtieth, fortieth, and fiftieth. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine listed it as number 19 of the 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll. In 2017, the festival site became listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Woodstock helped to save Warner Bros at a time when the company was on the verge of going out of business.
One of my favorite films is the 2009 movie, Taking Woodstock, directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay by James Schamus is based on the memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte. It's a brilliant work that never shows any scenes of the event itself.
Side one
- "I Had a Dream" (John Sebastian) – 2:38 (2:53)
- Performed by John Sebastian.
- "Going Up the Country" (Alan Wilson) – 3:19 (5:53)
- Performed by Canned Heat
- "Freedom (Motherless Child)" (Richie Havens) – 5:13 (5:26)
- Performed by Richie Havens.
- "Rock and Soul Music" (McDonald, Melton, David Cohen, Barthol, Hirsh) – 2:09 (2:09)
- Performed by Country Joe & the Fish.
- "Coming into Los Angeles" (Arlo Guthrie) – 2:05 (2:50)
- Performed by Arlo Guthrie.
- "At the Hop" (Artie Singer, David White, John Medora) – 2:13 (2:33)
- Performed by Sha-Na-Na.
- "The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" (McDonald) – 3:02 (3:48)
- Performed by Country Joe McDonald.
- "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" (Roger McGuinn, Gram Parsons) – 2:08 (2:38)
- Performed by Joan Baez & Jeffrey Shurtleff.
- "Joe Hill" (Alfred Hayes, Earl Robinson) – 2:40 (5:34)
- Performed by Joan Baez.
- "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" (Stephen Stills) – 8:04 (9:02)
- Performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash.
- "Sea of Madness" (Neil Young) – 3:22 (4:20)
- Performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Recorded in September 1969 at the Fillmore East auditorium, New York City, New York.
- "Wooden Ships" (Stills, David Crosby, Paul Kantner—Kantner not credited on original release) – 5:26 (5:26)
- Performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
- "We're Not Gonna Take It" (Pete Townshend) – 4:39 (6:54)
- Performed by The Who. (The performance on the album picks up mid-song at the very end of the "We're Not Gonna Take It" portion and then finishes with the "See Me, Feel Me" and "Listening to You" sections.) The final 1:50 of the track is an emergency announcement and the statement that declared "It's a free concert from now on".
- "With a Little Help from My Friends" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 7:50 (10:06)
- Performed by Joe Cocker. In the CD version, the first disc would close with this track, with a 1:30 long recording of the rainstorm.
- "Soul Sacrifice" (Santana, Rolie, Brown, Carabello, Shrieve, Areas) – 8:05 (13:52)
- Performed by Santana. The first 3 minutes of the track is the "Crowd Rain Chant," a chant started by the crowd as an attempt to stop the rainstorm.
- "I'm Going Home" (Alvin Lee) – 9:20 (9:57)
- Performed by Ten Years After.
- "Volunteers" (Marty Balin, Kantner) – 2:45 (3:31)
- Performed by Jefferson Airplane. The final 34 seconds or so of the track is a speech by Max Yasgur, praising the crowd for coming to the festival.
- "Medley" (Performed by Sly & the Family Stone) – 13:47 (15:29)
- "Dance to the Music" (Sylvester Stewart) – 2:11
- "Music Lover" (Stewart) – 4:50
- "I Want to Take You Higher" (Stewart) – 6:46
- "Rainbows All Over Your Blues" (Sebastian) – 2:05 (3:54)
- Performed by John Sebastian.
- "Love March" (Gene Dinwiddie, Phillip Wilson) – 8:43 (8:59)
- Performed by Butterfield Blues Band.
- "Medley" (Performed by Jimi Hendrix.) – 12:51 (13:42)
- "Star Spangled Banner" (Traditional, arrangement, Jimi Hendrix)– 5:40
- "Purple Haze" (Hendrix) – 3:28
- "Instrumental Solo" (Hendrix) – 3:43 (retitled and re-edited when Hendrix's Woodstock show was released more fully in the 1990s. The improvised, fast solo section immediately following "Purple Haze" was heavily cut in the original Woodstock film and soundtrack, and most of the track here is what would later be titled "Villanova Junction", a slow bluesy ballad with the band joining in the background. The uncut version of the solo was restored in the director's cut of Woodstock and on the video of Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock and titled "Woodstock Improvisation")
Viewfinder links:
YouTube links:
Styrous® ~ Monday, April 1, 2024 Amplified ~ 3 Days That Changed Everything (53 mins., 27 secs.)
History Channel ~ History of Woodstock PBS ~ 3 days that defined a generation (1 min., 59 secs.)
Woodstock (complete film)
September 27, 2023
78 RPMs 10: Artie Shaw ~ Nightmare
~
Artie Shaw ~ Nightmare
78 RPM, side 1 label
photo by Styrous®
On September 27, 1938, Artie Shaw recorded Nightmare, a song totally unlike anything he'd ever recorded before. It is a slow, sinister sounding jazz piece that evokes stealth, spies, criminals and other assorted miscreants.
In 1953, Shaw and other prominent figures in the music industry were targeted, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lena Horne and Pete Seeger, all of whom were named publicly as suspected Communist sympathizers, in the infamous publication Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio. Some of them were already being denied employment because of their
political beliefs, history, or association with suspected subversives. Red Channels effectively placed the rest on a blacklist.
Indeed, it was a nightmare!!!!!
Martin Scorsese used Nightmare in his 2004 film, The Aviator which stared Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, and Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner.
The video for Nightmare (link below) has a stripper performing a very slow and very sensual fan dance that is PERFECT for the languid tempo of the tune as Shaw oozes and slinks along with his clarinet.
Non-Stop Flight
The "B" side of the record is a typical Shaw jazz tune; Non-Stop Flight is a bouncy, happy tune that makes you want to get up and jitterbug your ass off. Shaw wails away nicely with his clarinet and the backup band,
Artie Shaw ~ Non-Stop Flight
78 RPM, side 2 label
photo by Styrous®
My copy of the record is a repressing on the Bluebird label. Both Nightmare and Non-Stop Flight songs were written by Artie Shaw.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A - Nightmare
Side 2:
B - Non-Stop Flight
Credits:
Record Company – Radio Corporation Of America
Written By Artie Shaw
Written By Artie Shaw
Notes:
Different label from Artie Shaw And His Orchestra - Nightmare / Non-Stop Flight - missing patent information.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A): B7875A T J5
Matrix / Runout (Side B): B-7875B |) 3 c
Matrix / Runout (Side B): B-7875B |) 3 c
Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Nightmare / Non-Stop Flight
Label: Bluebird (3) – B-7875
Format: Shellac, 10", 78 RPM, Repress
Country: US
Released:
Genre: Jazz
Style: Big Band
Label: Bluebird (3) – B-7875
Format: Shellac, 10", 78 RPM, Repress
Country: US
Released:
Genre: Jazz
Style: Big Band
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Jazz Standards ~ Artie Shaw
National Endowment for the Arts ~ Artie Shaw
YouTube links:
"In the world we live in, compulsive perfectionists finish last"
~ Artie Shaw
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, September 27, 2023
~
April 21, 2021
La Strada ~ Anthony Quinn, Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina
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Styrous® ~ Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Today is the birthday of Mexican-American actor, painter, writer, and film director, Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca, better known as Anthony Quinn, born on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, during the Mexican Revolution.
Two of his films demonstrated to me his brilliant acting ability, the 1954 Italian film, La Strada, directed by Federico Fellini, and in 1962, Requiem for a Heavyweight, written by Rod Serling (link below). Both are fantastic but La Strada holds a special place in my heart.
It is one of the great tragic love stories of cinema and one of my
all-time favorite films; the casting was superb and the score by Nino Rota was out of this world. There is a beautiful interpretation of the music from the film by l'Ensemble Ô-Celli (links below).
The film tells the story of Gelsomina, a simple-minded young woman (Giulietta Masina) bought from her mother by Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a crude and cruel strongman who takes her with him on the road. It also starred Richard Basehart as the acrobat and clown, Il Matto ("The Fool") (link to complete plot and cast below).
La Strada - 1954
Fellini has called La Strada "a complete catalogue of my entire
mythological world, a dangerous representation of my identity that was
undertaken with no precedent whatsoever."
publicity photo
The film demanded more time and effort than any of his other works, before or since.
The development process was long and tortuous; there were various
problems during production, including insecure financial backing,
problematic casting, and numerous delays. Finally, just before the
production completed shooting, Fellini suffered a nervous breakdown that
required medical treatment so he could complete principal photography.
Initial critical reaction was harsh, and the film's screening at the
Venice Film Festival was the occasion of a bitter controversy that
escalated into a public brawl between Fellini's supporters and
detractors.
La Strada has become "...one of the most influential films ever made," according to the American Film Institute. It won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957. It was placed fourth in the 1992 British Film Institute directors' list of cinema's top 10 films.
La Strada - 1954
photo: © 1954 Ponti-De Laurentiis Cinematografia
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina:
"Masina's character is perfectly suited to her round clown's face and wide, innocent eyes; in one way or another, in Juliet of the Spirits, Ginger and Fred and most of her other films, she was always playing Gelsomina."
Giulietta Masina ~ La Strada - 1954
Viewfinder links:
Lene Lovich ~ Flex & The Freeze
Net links:
The Guardian ~ The film that makes me cry: La Strada
YouTube links:
La Strada ~
l'Ensemble Ô-Celli ~ La Strada (musique du film)
David Letterman ~ Anthony Quinn (13 mins., 32 seccs.)
Anthony Quinn: An Original (58 mins., 42 secs.)
Martin Scorsese on ''La Strada' (13 mins., 46 secs.)
"I have lived in a flurry of images,
but I will go out in a freeze frame."
~ Anthony Quinn
January 9, 2021
Martin Scorsese articles/mentions
Martin Scorsese - 1973
photographer unknown
Bernard Herrmann ~ The Day the Earth Stood Still
El Raunch Oh! Grande
The Residents ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Artie Shaw ~ Nightmare
La Strada
Woodstock ~ The Movie
The Residents ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Artie Shaw ~ Nightmare
La Strada
Woodstock ~ The Movie
June 6, 2020
45 RPMs 44: Devo ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
~
Fifty-five years ago today, on June 6, 1965, The Rolling Stones released their single, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, in the United States and once again, as they say, the rest is history.
Twelve years later, my very favorite version of the song was released by the American new wave band Devo with their rendition of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction as a single
in 1977 (links below). It was initially a self-produced recording on their own label Booji Boy Records. The song was re-recorded with Brian Eno
as producer for their first album, and that version was also released
as a single in 1978, this time by Warner Brothers Records, after it was
played for approval by Mick Jagger. Steve Huey of AllMusic stated that the cover version "reworks the original's alienation into a spastic freak-out that's nearly unrecognizable". The Devo version of the song was featured in the 1995 Martin Scorsese epic crime film Casino.
However, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, plunking on a home-kitted Telecaster taped up with a frequency pedal, whose scrawny, delicate body must be protected from the world’s harmful rays by goggles and a billowing yellow Tyvek radiation suit, makes a more convincing argument as a person thwarted by both love and capitalism. He has become an acomplished composer of film scores.
However, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, plunking on a home-kitted Telecaster taped up with a frequency pedal, whose scrawny, delicate body must be protected from the world’s harmful rays by goggles and a billowing yellow Tyvek radiation suit, makes a more convincing argument as a person thwarted by both love and capitalism. He has become an acomplished composer of film scores.
But the San Francisco new wave band, The Residents had released their version of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction a year earlier in 1976 (links below). Perhaps this was the inspiration for Devo.
This recording is a Japanese pressing released by Warner Bros. Records a year and a half later in November of 1978.
45 rpm record front cover
The
quirky music video for the song and several others from this album
received significant airplay on the newly formed television channel, MTV.
A notable feature of the video was dancer Craig Allen Rothwell, aka Booji Boy and Spazz Attack (link below).
Devo ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
45 rpm record back cover
Devo ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
45 rpm record sleeve
45 rpm record back cover
Britney Spears also covered (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction; it is a sexy and highly produced but pretty wimpy version (link below).
45 rpm record sleeve
Devo formed in 1973. Their classic lineup consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single Whip It, the song that gave the band mainstream popularity.
Devo ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
45 rpm record
Devo ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
45 rpm record
45 rpm record
The name Devo comes from the concept of 'de-evolution'
and the band's related idea that instead of continuing to evolve,
mankind has actually begun to regress, as evidenced by the dysfunction
and herd mentality of American society.
45 rpm record
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, written by Mick Jagger-Keith Richard* - 2:28
Side 2:
B - Uncontrollable Urge, written by Mark Mothersbaugh - 2:15
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Made By – Warner-Pioneer Corporation
Credits:
Producer, Artwork By [Graphic Concept] – Devo
Notes:
White label promo with insert in Japanese and English.
Both 見本盤 (translation: "Sample Disc") and 見本品 (translation: "Not For Sale") printed on labels.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A label): P-343W1
Matrix / Runout (Side B label): P-343W2
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout): P-343W-1 1-A1
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): P-343W-2 1-A1
Price Code: ¥600
Side 1:
A - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, written by Mick Jagger-Keith Richard* - 2:28
Side 2:
B - Uncontrollable Urge, written by Mark Mothersbaugh - 2:15
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Made By – Warner-Pioneer Corporation
Credits:
Producer, Artwork By [Graphic Concept] – Devo
Notes:
White label promo with insert in Japanese and English.
Both 見本盤 (translation: "Sample Disc") and 見本品 (translation: "Not For Sale") printed on labels.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A label): P-343W1
Matrix / Runout (Side B label): P-343W2
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout): P-343W-1 1-A1
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): P-343W-2 1-A1
Price Code: ¥600
Devo – (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Label: Warner Bros. Records – P-343W
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Promo
Country: Japan
Released: Nov 1978
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave, Synth-pop
Label: Warner Bros. Records – P-343W
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Promo
Country: Japan
Released: Nov 1978
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave, Synth-pop
Viewfinder links:
Brian Eno (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction lyrics
Mick Jagger
The Residents
The Rolling Stones
Net links:
YouTube links:
Devo ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Devo ~ Uncontrollable Urge
The Residents ~ Satisfaction
Britney Spears ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Rolling Stones ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Official Lyric Video) Devo ~ Uncontrollable Urge
The Residents ~ Satisfaction
Britney Spears ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
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