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Music Reviews
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Shane Mcgowan - If
I should fall from Grace - I must admit to being a big Pogues fan
since I found If I should fall from Grace with God back in the late
eighties at Mr. Music in Mattoon, IL. I bought the LP because I had heard good
things about the band in some of the independent music magazines I was reading
at the time, Alternative Press being one of them (when AP was good and Jack
Rabid was still writing for them). I was immediately a fan when I plopped
that LP down on my turn table. I still have it and listen to it today, so
when I saw this documentary of Shane Mcgowan on DVD, I bought a copy. The
DVD does a nice job of following the career of Shane and the Pogues, their ups
and downs , and the firing or quitting of Shane from the Pogues, to his current
state today or at least in 2001. What is fascinating is the stories, coherent or
not, that Mcgowan tells, in a very candid form. It is easy to see or hear that
Mcgowan is a incredibly talented songwriter, intelligent and special, and it's
also easy to see why some of the interviews he has done in the past have come
out so poorly. His Herculean love of drink is evident throughout, and his
Irish accent, plus the fact that he is missing a few of his front teeth make it
almost impossible to understand every word he is saying. Fortunately for
us there are interviews with his girlfriend, Nick Drake, Phil Chevron and
others. If it were not for these people adding their views of the history
of the Pogues and Mcgowan, you might get a singular slanted view point which
would be tainted by drink and slurred Irish brogue. It's a good story,
with some partial video's of the bands songs thrown in between the interviews
and Shane's modern day journey's between pubs. I would recommend it for
any fan of the Pogues, Irish rock music, or just anyone looking for an
interesting, if a bit thin at times, look at a very gifted songwriter, the
band he was a member of and the drink that separated them forever.
Willard - DVD
- starring Crispin Glover - I think a lot of Crispin Glover, he's
a weird person, but he doesn't try to be weird for the sake of standing out in a
crowd or drawing attention to himself. He's just weird and interesting, and I
like that. This is a remake of the classic tale of a boy/guy who befriends
mice because he has a hard time befriending people. R. Lee Ermy is great
in this as the boss where Glover works, and of course Glover is wonderful as
Willard, the shy backwards loner who is trying to care for his mother and keep
his job.
Meat Puppets - Alive
in the Nineties -
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