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Unsung Forum » Tony Palmer's All You Need Is Love (Lester Bangs) |
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IanB 4702 posts |
Edited Jul 29, 2010, 06:20
Jul 28, 2010, 11:28
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Anyone been watching this hoary old 70s series on Sky Arts? The episode with Lester Bangs loudly proclaiming the death of rock n roll and the vacuity of the 70s was fabulous and some great up close video footage of Kiss, Alice, Labelle, Roxy, Gary Glitter et al. Beautiful mind Mr Bangs and the editing and use of music overlays, segues and juxtapositions is fantastic. More David Lynch then South Bank Show. Fascinating to see classic rock critiqued from within the belly of the beast. Couple of clips ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzXfYou4Mq8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycneOGo6fPc&feature=related It is repeated again today I believe.
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sanshee 633 posts |
Edited Jul 28, 2010, 12:38
Jul 28, 2010, 12:38
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Saw it, found his dismissal of Roxy a bit 'ignorant'. Also, waaaayyy too much footage of Glitter for any decent household to endure;-) Have watched a few of these ole repeats, some languishing in the hard drive, for now. A very nicely constructed series fer sure. x
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Monolith Cocktail 149 posts |
Jul 28, 2010, 14:43
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Nice one for bringing this to attention, I can't get sky arts - bummer. You gotta love Lester, totally right about Ferry and rock music in general, much missed voice. Dom Valvona
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bubblehead2 2105 posts |
Jul 28, 2010, 14:48
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I watched last nights episode with more than a little interest and thoroughly enjoyed it. It really brought home to me how much the new music of the early to mid 70's was derided at the time. Of course, opinions in general have been somewhat revised since the program was made but it was great to see and hear Lester on his soapbox banging on about the lack of intellectual worth in the glam scene and how some of the major players were at best fame seeking self publicists ( Bowie and Ferry incurring most of the vitriol ) and you know i've gotta agree with him to a certain extent despite loving so much music from this era. The Clapton section of the program was also very interesting ( man, he looked unhealthy in the 76 interview ) especially his own slagging of Cream and their heavy legacy before concluding that he'd have been better off, both musically and psychically, staying as a side-man instead of chasing riches and fame. Great episode, thought provoking, not afraid of taking a poke at sacred cows, and hardly a hint of blandness. I need to see more of these !
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Dog 3000 4441 posts |
Jul 28, 2010, 16:59
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Bangs was notorious for slagging records, then a couple years deciding they were great (his first published review of the MC5 debut was a harsh panning -- said they were just clowns ripping off The Troggs. He also famously dissed "On The Corner" before coming around. Same with Bowie.) One of his more admirable qualities as a critic -- he was capable of admitting a mistake.
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sanshee 633 posts |
Jul 28, 2010, 18:32
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Ah, hope he came round to Roxy in the end then. :-) x
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Dog 3000 4441 posts |
Edited Jul 28, 2010, 19:43
Jul 28, 2010, 19:39
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He was certainly big on Eno's solo records by the mid-70's . . . I guess my point is, if you dig through his old writings you see his opinions changed all the time, and he sometimes gets very snarky, it seems just to get a rise out of people (like all those antagonistic Lou Reed interviews.) One month Blue Oyster Cult is great, the next month he's making jokes at their expense. In particular CREEM magazine was notorious for taking the piss out of rock star egos (all their writers were like that in the 70's.) Those anthology books make him seem more "together" than he really was (some of his reviews are not evern very well written in fact. Deadlines and amphetamines ya know!)
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IanB 4702 posts |
Edited Jul 29, 2010, 06:42
Jul 29, 2010, 06:32
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Dog 3000 wrote: Those anthology books make him seem more "together" than he really was (some of his reviews are not evern very well written in fact. Deadlines and amphetamines ya know!) No, you wouldn't read him for consistency. What makes him important is not the opinions but that he tried to get people to think differently about the music they consumed. I suspect that when he said a record was "good" or "bad" be meant in the heaven and hell sense as well as whether it rocked or didn't. The Roxy thing? My guess is that he thought that Ferry had snubbed him at some industry "do" (he refers to having met Ferry this way in the tv programme). If no one told you Lester Bangs was important you might easily mistake him for some scruffy, speedy, jabbering Artie Fufkin figure and blow him off. Because from what I can tell he definitely liked the music. Anyway it was the unbridled passion that made him great and the belief (which was very unusual at the time and unheard of now) that r&r is like a single entity that is either healthy or sick. Back then, in that moment in 75 he wanted to see sickness and decadence everywhere. Then againt he might have been at home two hours later dancing around to a Robert Palmer record or enthusing wildly to someone about BOC. Or not. Either way it's a fantastic piece of polemical broadcasting. No journalist in this country has talked like that about the music for probably 30 years. Which is a shame. Now it's all about the personalities and mainstream music makes 1975 look like the Renaissance. We could do with a Bangs of our own.
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Monolith Cocktail 149 posts |
Jul 30, 2010, 15:28
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Again I must agree with Ian on many of his points. For all Lester's failings he did write some amazing material. His writing on garage rock is essential laugh out loud reading, who else would start of an article by arguing the merits of a Count Five bargain bin LP being too dear, further pontificating for forty pages about the history of music. He could make a sentence last for half a page, easy reading it certainly isn't. Never frightened to voice opinion, how many critics do that now? I think he stands as a leading advocate of writers from a golden era, including Grail Marcus and of course Hunter S Thompson. I naively try to at least sail close to them in my own writing, failing obviously. Dom Valvona
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