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Unofficial documentaries about musicians usually mean two
things: (1) the musicians in question don't appear in the film because the
production is too low-rent, and (2) neither does their music, because the
producers can't afford it. Well, neither of these conditions applies to "Raw
Spice," despite the fact that it is a little low-rent. While it's true that
neither Posh, nor Ginger, nor Scary, nor Sporty, nor Baby participates in this
not-quite-feature-length examination of their rise to international music chart
and pop culture dominance, they left such a trail of interviews, press
conferences, camera ops, ribbon cuttings, advertisements and live appearances in
their original wake that the filmmakers need only cut them together to tell
-- if not the story, then certainly a story -- about the way global fame is
manufactured.
The Spice Girls arrived in 1996, fully formed, though the
documentary spends some time on their pre-history as well. With rampant sex
appeal, slogans, catchy music and an instantly memorable name-brand hook, they
were a pop group whose only goal was world domination. For the next few years,
they achieved that goal with the help of good videos, good producers, an adoring
public and a complaint media. But what "Raw Spice" reminds us is that they also
knew how to stay on message. Interview after interview finds the girls extolling
Girl Power even though they're plainly sex objects, group unity even as they vie
for individual dominance, their love of music even though they barely
participate in their own singles, the challenges of being in the media even as
they run screaming for any spotlight they can find and so on. Then you realize
that that they, not Madonna, were ground zero for today's pop scene of oversexed
young girls and music that doesn't quite matter. Welcome (back) to Spice World.
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| New Order: Live in Glasgow |
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Aside from writing and performing hit songs like "Blue Monday,"
"Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Age of Consent," New Order is famous for two
things. The first is rising from the ashes of the influential Joy Division when
the band's charismatic singer, Ian Curtis, took his own life in 1980. Though
nothing could've seemed less likely, surviving members Peter Hook, Bernard
Sumner and Stephen Morris took stock, changed the band name and soldiered on for
more than 25 years of dark dance pop splendor. The second thing for which New
Order is famous is sucking live. The reputation is perhaps unfair, since the
band has often been transcendent onstage. But, owing to technical difficulties,
especially in the early days, the live show is famously hit and miss. All of
which makes it interesting timing for a live DVD. With three Joy Division DVDs
recently released, and last year's announcement that Sumner and Hook refuse to
work together anymore, you could be forgiven for wondering, "Why now?" But the
show, taped live at a two-night stand in Scotland in 2006, should at least put
to rest the notion that the band is anything less than airtight (if perhaps less
than dynamic) in performance. Disc 2 proves that they have always been a
formidable live band, with show excerpts filmed between 1981 and 2006. And, in
case anyone forgot, the Glasgow show ends with three Joy Division songs that
sound as vital and alive as anything else on the set list.
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| Steve Miller Band: Live From Chicago |
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Let's be serious: there has never been anything cool about Steve
Miller. Even with his Texas/Chicago blues roots, his association with
late-period Beatles (Apple released his early recordings), his unbelievable
string of early-mid '70s hits, his '80s renaissance, the evergreen endurance of
his catalog and his life as a career road dog, Steve Miller is synonymous with
the uncoolest aspects of rock and roll: white guys singing along in their SUVs,
fraternity brothers bobbing their heads with sorority sisters at keggers,
tailgate parties etc. (These elements are on view in the disc two documentary
bonus feature.) Still, there is something undeniable about the best of Miller's
music, and this live show offers a perfect vista from which to regard a seasoned
veteran who never changes because he has no need to.
"Live in Chicago" is
full of the staples of live DVDs (repeated swooping crane shots, audience
close-ups, so forth), but it's also fresh enough to remain lively throughout.
Miller himself is remarkably well preserved, and the lean five-piece band,
unsurprisingly, is masterful. Dorky color is provided by Miller's "partner in
harmony for 31 years," Norton Buffalo, a proper old hippie in a beret and a vest
who plays tambourine and maracas. Lights flash and smoke rises. But everything
else is meat and potatoes rock and roll. Twenty songs' worth. The set opens with
"Fly Like an Eagle" closes with six more in a row from the perennial best-seller
"Greatest Hits 1974-1978" and every one is a gem. Clearly, it ain't broke, so
who needs to be cool?
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| Radiohead: The Best Of |
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The DVD component of this controversial release is full of 21
great music videos by maybe the greatest rock band of the last 20 years, and is
thus worth the $24.98 list price to virtually any consumer interested either in
Radiohead or the art of the music video. "The Best Of" also provides some
interesting insights into how a band's hard won artistic independence can
sometimes lead it into unnecessary conflict with its label. All of which is
to say: Radiohead does not endorse this release, nor the two-CD audio version
also on the shelves. The band members didn't participate in the track selection,
and are doing nothing to support the label's efforts, stating that the entire
enterprise is a crass cash-in that follows Radiohead having fulfilled its
contract. The suggestion from the band's camp is that this isn't really the best
they have to offer. As a big fan who just spent hours watching the entire DVD, I
must beg to differ. It's difficult to imagine Radiohead -- or any band, actually
-- topping a compilation that includes classics like Jonathan Glazer's chilling
"Street Spirit," the same director's disturbing "Karma Police," Grant Gee's
underwater clip for "No Surprises" and Jamie Thraves' hilariously bleak "Just"
alongside experimental clips for later songs like "Pyramid Song," "Knives Out"
and "Go to Sleep." Radiohead's peerless musical evolution has been mirrored at
all stages by music video innovations (check the first five videos, from debut
album "Pablo Honey," if you don't believe me). This DVD is a brilliant chronicle
of both their musical and visual development. Even if the band doesn't care to
admit it.
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| Dreams to Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding |
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It's been just over 40 years since the untimely, unfair, almost
unimaginable death of the great Otis Redding, which is time enough to warrant
the release -- finally -- of a full-length compilation of his live performances.
Previous Redding video products have shown brief appearances on TV shows or
festival stages, but the lovingly compiled "Dreams to Remember" offers up 16
Redding performances, interspersed with reverent new interview footage with his
friends, family and collaborators (including Steve Cropper of Booker
T. & the MG's), Stax Records founder Jim Stewart, and Redding's widow
Zelma. But since the interviews don't offer much new information, you may be
tempted to skip ahead to the songs, which feature Otis, very probably the
greatest, most urgent and captivating soul singer who ever lived, reaching deep
inside himself to blast out such classics as "Pain in My Heart," "Mr. Pitiful,"
"I Can't Turn You Loose," "I've Been Loving You Too Long," "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad
Song)," "Tramp," "Try a Little Tenderness" (recorded Dec. 9, 1967, just one
day before Redding's death) and many more in concert, on TV and in primitive but
charming promo films. Given that Redding spent only a couple of years in the
public eye, watching "Dreams to Remember" is an unsurprisingly emotional
experience -- it documents his blinding talent, the respect he commanded from
his peers and, of course, the tragic circumstances that cut short his life and
career.
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