January Music

Music I’ve bought in January.

Let’s see… what have I been buying this month? Yes, I remembered that I was buying my way through the Ze catalogue, like Alan Vega:

Alan Vega--Jukebox Baby Music Video HQ

And the Contortions:

James Chance - Contort Yourself [Original Version]

It’s very downtown. And other than that, it’s the usual stuff… Oh! And I’ve been continuing to buy Nina Simone’s albums. Yes, I know, how original. But while I’ve heard a bunch of her stuff over the years, it’s always been as various compilations and stuff. I find that listening to the original albums, where you get the songs in context, it’s a whole nother thing.

NINA SIMONE - Plain Gold Ring

Her first album, Little Girl Blue is absolutely breathtaking. Just one genius performance after another. And of course, this was her debut album that she got $3K for from Bethlehem Records, and they got millions off of it.

Another notable release is the Nur noch einer album by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. Robert and Gabi were getting together again to make an album, but then Gabi died in 2020. So Robert soldiered on and… And it feels churlish to give a critique of the album? It’s an unexpected gift, and there’s a couple fantastic songs here. And Gabi’s sorely missed.

Eclipse 1977: Le Couple Témoin

Oh, so this is a pre-reality TV reality TV parody/satire.

Now it’s more a… “biting satire of consumer culture” or whatever they used to call that stuff.

I mean, it’s funny.

And I love the colours.

But it’s just not that interesting? Perhaps it was ahead of its time and fantastic back then etc, but it feels pretty aimless.

I don’t think this movie quite works. I like a lot of the individual scenes and performances, but it gets bogged down.

The Polly Magoo movie was so brilliant… perhaps my expectations are just too high?

The Model Couple. William Klein. 1977.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Eclipse 1971: Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte

OK, final movie on the Fassbinder “early movies” box set… I have to say that I’ve been surprisingly underwhelmed by the other movies here, because I like many of Fassbinder’s later movies.

Oh!

I think the slow pace of the film re-creates an environment (namely the filming of the previous Fassbinder film, whitey) and achieves its purpose masterfully, combining all the sexual, emotional,and mental frustration of making a film.

OK, so this was made at the tail end Whity, which was a bigger, “proper” movie. So this is a fictional account about making that movie…

I read the helpful mini essay on the DVD: This movie (sort of) marked the end of Fassbinder’s early phase, and he’d make only one more movie before dissolving his Antiteater group and changing the way he’d make movies.

And that helps, I guess? This movie is a kind of critique of himself and his movies… Or parody, kinda.

It’s just… it just seems so indifferently shot? Fassbinder’s movies at least look great. The shot above isn’t from from the middle of a pan or anything — it’s where the camera was placed for a couple of minutes and we look at this and these people. But… the framing is totally without interest, and nothing in the frame looks interesting, and all of this movie is basically like this. Just … nothing.

So of course the cinematographer became hot shit in the US later (Goodfellas etc).

(That’s the guy playing Fassbinder (as a neurotic director).)

It admirable how he’s skewering himself (both as the director and as the producer he’s playing himself) — it’s quite savage. But it’s just not funny enough.

Beware of a Holy Whore. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1971.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Eclipse 1968: Mr. Freedom

OH MY GOD is this the best movie ever made? IT COULD BE

OK, this isn’t the best movie ever. But it’s quite amusing.

Absolutely.

The Polly Magoo movie was so fascinating. It kinda didn’t follow through on its promise… it just couldn’t quite make it work. But it’s almost a fucking masterpiece.

This one, though… It started off strong, but now it’s just one slightly amusing scene after another. It’s got a pretty good central idea, and it looks great, but it’s getting kinda boring? Already?

It’s very pop art.

OK, I’ll say it: It’s got striking visuals, but it’s kinda tedious. It’s like a 50s sci-fi movie, but with 1968 ironic politics. I imagine they were aiming for the opposite: A 1968 political movie referencing 1950s sci-fi visuals?

Mr. Freedom. William Klein. 1968.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Eclipse 1970: Der amerikanische Soldat

Wow, never seen that phone model before. It’s… odd…

This has a good noir thing going on.

This is quite amusing and, as usual with Fassbinder, I love each individual shot. But I don’t think this quite works? I mean, it’s a kind of parody/pastiche of a noir movie, but it’s just not that… funny/interesting? For this sort of thing to work, it has to be riveting, and too many scenes just don’t connect?

It’s just uneven, is what I’m saying, and uneven doesn’t work.

But the characters keep repeating “Ich gehe jetzt”, which flashed me back to this every time:

Einstürzende Neubauten - Ich Gehe Jetzt

The American Soldier. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1970.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.