Music I’ve bought this month.
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%3A+Let's+Dance) | %3A+Re%3ACall+4+(1)) | %3A+Re%3ACall+4+(2)) | %3A+Serious+Moonlight+(1)) | %3A+Serious+Moonlight+(2)) |
%3A+Tonight) | %3A+Never+Let+Me+Down) | %3A+Never+Let+Me+Down+(2018)) | %3A+Glass+Spider+(Live+Montreal+'87)+(1)) | %3A+Glass+Spider+(Live+Montreal+'87)+(2)) |
%3A+Dance) | ) |  |  |  |
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 | %3A+The+Kick+Inside) | %3A+Lionheart) | %3A+Never+For+Ever) | %3A+The+Dreaming) |
%3A+Hounds+of+Love) | %3A+The+Sensual+World) | %3A+The+Red+Shoes) | ) |  |
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4AD 1983
1983 is the watershed year for 4AD, when they transition fully from a post-punk label into something much stranger and something that people will still obsess about decades later.
Most important commercially (and musically, for that matter) are the Cocteau Twins releases. The Peppermint Pig single was a major step away from their Garlands sound, and with the Head Over Heels album and the Sunburst and Snowblind EP later that year, everybody started paying attention. Like seriously.
Perhaps symbolically, 4AD releases two five song compilation EPs, saying a final goodbye to Bauhaus and The Birthday Party (and everybody involved with those bands), as well as a five song compilation EP from Modern English, who would leave them the next year.
And look at those covers. Vaughan Oliver/23 Envelope is getting in full swing with those gorgeous typographical covers to the Xmal Deutschland releases, and those vague Cocteau Twins covers, and, erm, the “horses fucking” Colourbox EP, which is, of course, everybody’s favourite.
Most puzzling release of the year: The second version of Breakdown/Tarantula. I wonder what the story behind that was… were Colourbox just really dissatisfied with the first version which was released half a year earlier?
[Edit: I’ve been notified that the first four tracks (by The Birthday Party) aren’t available in some regions. Rights issues? (Some of the tracks on the full version are licensed from Mute Records.) Blocked because of the Swastikas on the cover artwork? I don’t know.]
1983
 |  BAD301The Birthday Party — The Bad Seed Sonnys Burning, Wild World, Fears Of The Gun, Deep In The Woods |
 |   CAD302Xmal Deutschland — Fetisch Qual, Geheimnis, Young Man, In Der Nacht, Orient, Hand In Hand, Kaempfen, Danthem, Boomerang, Stummes Kind |
 |   AD303Cocteau Twins — Peppermint Pig Peppermint Pig, Laughlines, Hazel |
 | AD304 Colourbox — Breakdown Breakdown, Tarantula |
 | BAD305 Xmal Deutschland — Qual Qual, Zeit, Sehnsucht |
 | BAD306 Modern English — Gathering Dust Smiles And Laughter, Mesh & Lace, Gathering Dust, Swans On Glass, Home |
 | BAD307 The Birthday Party — The Friend Catcher The Friend Catcher, Release The Bats, Blast Off, Mr. Clarinet, Happy Birthday |
 | CAD308 The Wolfgang Press — The Burden Of Mules Lisa (The Passion), Prostitute I, The Burden Of Mules, Compleate And Utter, Prostitute II, Slow As A Child, Journalists, Give It Back, On The Hill |
 | AD309 Modern English — Someone’s Calling Someone’s Calling, Life In The Gladhouse |
 | BAD310 This Mortal Coil — Sixteen Days – Gathering Dust Sixteen Days – Gathering Dust, Song to the Siren, Sixteen Days Reprise |
 | AD311 Xmal Deutschland — Incubus Succubus II Incubus Succubus II, Vito |
 | BAD312 Bauhaus — 4.A.D Dark Enties, Untitled, Terror Couple Kill Colonel, Scopes, Rosegarden Funeral of Sores |
 |  CAD313Cocteau Twins — Head over Heels When Mama Was Moth, Five Ten Fiftyfold, Sugar Hiccup, In Our Angelhood, Glass Candle Grenades, In The Gold Dust Rush, The Tinderbox (Of A Heart), Multifoiled, My Love Parmour, Musette And Drums |
 | BAD314 Cocteau Twins — Sunburst And Snowblind Sugar Hiccup, Flagstones, Hitherto, Because Of The Whirl-Jack |
 | MAD315 Colourbox — Colourbox Shotgun, Keep On Pushing, Nation, Justice |
This post is part of the chronological look at all 4AD releases, year by year.
November 1944: The Children Are Watching Us
Oo. Those are purdy fonts.
Huh? An Italian movie from 1944?
Oh, it’s from the director of Bicycle Thieves, which is a wonderful movie. And this is pretty great, too.
According to this, it was filmed in 1942, before Italy started losing. There’s no mention of the war in this film, although we do see some soldiers in crowd scenes.
Throughout the movie, I was trying to puzzle out whether there’s some sort of ideological component being subtly pushed, but if so I’m not quite sure what it would be. Could be a Kinder, Kuche, Kirche thing… But in Italian. But it doesn’t really seem that way for most of the movie. The ending can definitely be taken that way.
This movie is brimming with emotion, but unusually for an Italian movie, most of them are conveyed subtly, by surreptitious looks and avoidances. The actors are really fabulous here.
The Children Are Watching Us. Vittorio De Sica. 1944.
Popular movies in November 1944 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 15758 | 7.7 | Meet Me in St. Louis |
 | 354 | 7.7 | Bowery Champs |
 | 4277 | 7.5 | Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo |
 | 3789 | 7.4 | The Thin Man Goes Home |
 | 929 | 7.0 | Lost in a Harem |
 | 1401 | 7.0 | The Princess and the Pirate |
 | 228 | 7.0 | And Now Tomorrow |
 | 290 | 6.7 | Two Thousand Women |
 | 574 | 6.6 | Dark Waters |
 | 424 | 6.1 | Dead Man’s Eyes |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.
October 1944: To Have and Have Not
After a couple of cheapies, this is a proper, expensive A movie. I mean, Bogart? Bacall? Howard Hawks? Hemingway? Doesn’t get more A than that.
The movie has been beautifully restored for this bluray release.
I must have seen this movie a few times before (who hasn’t?) because some of the scenes seem awfully familiar. But I did not remember that there were this much music in the movie. You can see the filmmakers trying to make another Casablanca, complete with hit theme music and all, and they almost make it.
I don’t think these people could make a movie that wasn’t pleasurable to watch, but I did find something to be annoyed with: That old coot just gets on my tits.
But it’s just not a good movie. The plot doesn’t go anywhere and nothing much of interest happens. It all rests on the performances. They are, admittedly, wonderful, but it still needs like a script.
To Have and Have Not. Howard Hawks. 1944.
Popular movies in October 1944 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 33055 | 8.1 | Laura |
 | 24369 | 8.0 | To Have and Have Not |
 | 9965 | 7.8 | The Woman in the Window |
 | 5201 | 7.2 | Ministry of Fear |
 | 327 | 7.2 | The Very Thought of You |
 | 1009 | 7.0 | Mrs. Parkington |
 | 282 | 6.8 | An American Romance |
 | 206 | 6.6 | Love Story |
 | 1733 | 6.6 | None But the Lonely Heart |
 | 710 | 6.5 | The Conspirators |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.
September 1944: Swing Hostess
Oh, another cheapie B-movie from PRC from that box set. The previous movie, Minstrel Man, wasn’t er good, but you never know…
This one seems more promising… for one, there’s no blackface. And the lead’s a better actor.
It’s a real movie, sort of: It’s not just an excuse to string a bunch of songs together. Not just. It’s that, too, but the plot is rather fun and lively.
And very nerdy, involving many convoluted shenanigans with electronic transmission, cutting platters, and related hi-jinx.
It’s swimming in charm and nonsense. Most amiable.
Swing Hostess. Sam Newfield. 1944.
Popular movies in September 1944 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 56061 | 8.1 | Arsenic and Old Lace |
 | 2171 | 7.1 | Tall in the Saddle |
 | 205 | 6.6 | The Impatient Years |
 | 290 | 6.5 | Strangers in the Night |
 | 744 | 6.4 | The Big Noise |
 | 510 | 6.3 | Frenchman’s Creek |
 | 294 | 6.2 | Crime by Night |
 | 242 | 6.2 | Greenwich Village |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.