Beatles and Blues: Two Docus

I'm writing this post a second time since yesterday...I spent a good couple of hours writing only to lose it after
a) blogger took too long to publish it
b) the connection went off and
c) the post got lost
As is the case with such things, I will probably struggle to find the wit, verve and critical insights that went into yesterday's post- and that too with an Ajay Devgan action movie blasting out of the computer next to me.... I first saw the Beatles Anthology when it was premiered on DD, I think, way back in 1996. Funnily enough, No one I've spoken to seems to remember it. I was in my first throes of Beatlemania, and to watch it, I had to put in a lot of dilligent hours of studies to earn the right to watch it...For some reason, I remember two things very vividly...In the first movie, 'In My Life' starts playing over pictures of the Liverpool docks and Lennon's unmistakable voice going, "I was born in..." So when I sat down to watch the movies this time around, I was kinda waiting for that bit to play out. When it did, I got goosebumps...really!!! Anyway, this time around I went on a bender and watched six of the eight movies back to back through the night before I fell over and started snoring out of sheer exhaustion. There's only so much nervous energy you can put into anything, and the Beatles always demand such a lot of it. Thanks to miles of fantastic pictures trailing in the wake of the Beatles legend, everytime you see the boys actually moving, laughing, singing...its a pure shot of adrenaline. Yes yes, I obsess over them, but believe me, you'll feel the same, if only for a shorter period of time. I'll talk about the first movie, which covers the time from their birth to 'Please Please Me' becoming No1. Let me begin by saying that Anthology is a masterclass on editing. Its great how the narrative keeps flowing along without any needless voiceovers...apart from the boys themselves. Seeing how this is an in-house project, this does not delve into many uncomfortable topics like John and Cynthia, Lennon and Epstein, Stuart Sutcliffe's haemmorage. But then again, you should see the movie in conjunction with the book and there is a lot more in the book purely because archive wise, there are more print interviews than tv ones, certainly of Lennon. The Anthology interviews themselves are fascinating. Paul, George and Ringo speak true to themselves...Paul happy to play along, George alternating between wry and proud, and Ringo just delighted to be there. Its a humbling experience as well, cause they are the Beatles, and yet, they are perfectly nice guys. Its charming too, especially when Paul talks about their initiation into sex, drugs, booze and rock n roll in the cheap dives on the Reeperbahn with his tongue firmly in cheek or when, George talks about how he got a black eye from indignant hooligans cause Ringo had replaced Pete Best (while the gangs were screaming "Ringo never, Pete Best forever!") . I realised that if you look at the Anthology as a celebratory thing, then it works. If you look for criticism, then they are hardly the best people to provide it. Its the little details, like the three of them arguing about what Elvis was wearing when they met him, or taking sly digs at John's contention that they had jammed with Elvis ( Ringo says he probably did when the rest of them had gone to the loo ), that make it such a warm movie. And at long last, old faithfuls like the long-suffering Mal Evans, Derek Taylor, etc get a look in and get their due. George Martin apologises too much- to Ringo for not letting him play on Love Me Do, to George for not taking him too seriously, but still, the pace of the narrative never drags. The best thing about the movies are probably the wealth of live appearances. The Beatles were the first exaustively televised stars and it shows. Even the patchy footage of them at the Shea stadium is edited beautifully for the madness of the times to filter through. Seeing Lennon go crazy during that show...playing the organ with his elbows or saying...."OOHH! Look at thaaat" while another pitch invader is carried off kicking and screaming by the police is revelatory. The Beatles weren't on the road for too long, but when they were, they di so much. Can finally understand. Others would have burned out long ago. Its a miracle they lived through it all AND made such wonderful music... Poor Macca. Just when he had gotten good reviews for an album for a change- for "Chaos and Creation in the backyard", his life had to turn sour. No more Heather Mills now, and on top of that, she was a porn model in a GERMAN porn pic book??? Move over Reeperbahn, here comes Heather! Maybe he'll go back to smoking pot and write intriguing sad little ditties...but I'm being extremely selfish. I do hope that he does ok...it must be frustrating for him to know that millions arounf the world will be singing "When I'm 64" this year, while he copes with depression. But here's to Macca, and may he live long.

The other docu I saw recently was the first part of Martin Scorsese's series on the blues. Being a late- and recent- entrant to blues chorcha, it couldn't have come at a better time. A good movie, though I had a few problems with it. First of all, it is narrated as a "going back to roots" point of view thing with this young American Rasta blues musician as the protagonist. I mean, Rastafarianism and the Blues??? Ok, still, that would have been ok had it not been for the disinterest of the guy. He says things like, "My ancestors came from these shores" while cruising down some West African river. Its so American. The first part suffers a little from this long drawn out trip to Africa which establishes nothing apart from a tete a tete with a gun toting tribal militia lord who also plays the guitar. Our young American predictably tries to jam with him, and at the end of it tells us something we already know...that here in West Africa lies the root of the blues. But such irritants aside, its a good movie. There are some intriguing interviews with old bluesmen - who must've been kids themselves when the likes of Muddy Waters were in their prime- and some fascinating archive footage from the 1930's onwards. To see Son House thumping at his guitar while belting out "I'm gonna join the baptist church" or saying how the modern blues(speaking in the 40s) is nothing but presumptious kids playing jump music is rivetting. As are old footages of chain gangs singing songs sounding suspiciously like "Po Lazarus" from 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' If you've heard "High Water (Blues for Charlie Patton)" by Dylan on his Love Amd Theft album, you'll also enjoy a recording of Paton singing about the Mississippi floods over old newsreel footage of those dreaded floods that so plagued him and others. Its like travelling to the root of the blues mythos and it remains as captivating. It also reminds one of the similar fate of thousands last year becaus of Hurricane Katrina. Are things really that different? The best interview of this movie is probably that of Taj Mahal. The 60's blues rocker -best known for his barnstorming performance in the Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus movie- has aged beautifully and is as hoary and witty and magnificient as his idols. Scorsese uses jumpcuts beautifully to punctuate his interview. There's even a memorable performance of Muddy Waters's "Feel Like Going Home" at the same spot where Alan Lomax recorded the young Muddy in 1941. By comparison, the Rasta guy comes accross more asinine than Clapton at his worst. The Rasta guy's new slicked up blues is technically perfect, like a cd recording, and has about as much soul as American Idol. I wish Scorsese had found a different way to tell the story, cause the story that he tells has all the ingredients to keep you hooked on till the very end. For those who've read Robert Palmer's peerless book 'Deep Blues' all this is nothing new, but you do get to see heavyweights like Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf et al in the flesh and that, my friend, is simply electrifying...

Ain't that a lotta love?
Cheerio