Sun, 27 July: Weekly Review 72

I had a listen to some of my haul from the Box Hill Record Fair. It was the Dave Davies Imagination’s Real single, the Died Pretty True Fools Fall EP and the Hollies’ Romany album. The Dave b-side, Wild Man, which I’d never heard before, is, well, Wild. A heavy rocker with a crazy tempo change near the middle (the drummer – who may be Dave – just slows it down a bit) riotous guitar solos and a vocal that’s so deeply echoed inside the mix the only words I hear are ‘I’m a wild man’. I love it. The Died Pretty EP (it’s actually two singles in one package) was released just before Doughboy Hollow, but doesn’t have that one’s quality. So far the songs seem pretty average, and Ron Peno’s vocals are sometimes woozy. There’s also a misprint on the labels so that the song listed as Is There Anyone is actually A Ballad and the song listed as A Ballad is Is There Anyone. Someone fucked up! I was already familiar with the Romany album, but this LP plays okay with one jumpy spot near the end. The highlights still remain for me to be Jesus Was a Crossmaker and the title track, which always sounds like a very good Crosby Stills and Nash song. Funny, considering Graham Nash used to be in the group.

I watched the new film Jurassic World Rebirth at the cinemas today. It actually wasn’t bad, sort of a return to the original franchise with a kind of rescue/extraction mission. And Scarlett Johansson was in it, which didn’t hurt. She played a mercenary action babe with a grey moral compass that comes good in the end. I’m glad the film was good, because it would’ve sucked to have to say she was in a bad film.

There’s a bunch of Twice material out at the moment, including the new album This Is For, which I’m devouring, and the start of the new tour, which fans are uploading as they attend and film it. Then there’s all the promotional stuff the members are doing, including a recent Spotify special they did that I watched on Youtube. This was interesting because the members were asked ‘who has changed the most?’ You could see they wanted to say Jeongyeon, for obvious reasons, but they passed. Their favourite song on the new album seems to be Options. Mine is most definitely See Saw. Anyway, us Onces are definitely eating well!

I reposted a nice Twitter/X post by ContempraINN featuring a ‘Melbourne Gold Rush’ – a massive world record Golden Retriever dog meetup. It was too cute. ‘They smashed it with over 1000 good boys and girls’.

I listened to my Hollies Buddy Holly cd in the car today. It was one of two concept albums they did covering the works of one artist. The other was their Hollies Sing Dylan album. It’s nice how their final album with what might be called their Seventies line up was this concept from the guy who gave them their name. It’s basically the Hollies doing their versions of Buddy Holly’s songs and it’s pretty nice. The highlight for me is Tell Me How, which just sounds like a classic Hollies power pop. Think It Over, with its drum solo from Bobbie Elliot, almost sounds like glam rock! Their Peggy Sue Got Married is reggaefied, and it’s good, even if Allan Clarke’s cod-Jamaica accent is a bit naff. There’s an extra version of it on this cd that’s not on the LP, featuring Graham Nash. I think it’s better than the first version. It’s still reggae, but much more muted, and Nash isn’t going for some Jamaican vocal. It’s a much straighter vocal and a very different arrangement – longer too. I’m glad I have it.

Ozzy Osbourne died today. He played his final concert with Black Sabbath last week. He was sitting on a throne because he was too weak to stand, but his voice was still there. I believe he died of assisted suicide in Birmingham. It was a very planned death, with his family all around him. Not a bad way to go. I grew up listening to Black Sabbath, and saw them in the 2010s. A great concert. Farewell, Ozzy, you Madman, you Legend.

I played some more of my booty from the Record Fair. Had another listen to the Dave Davies and Died Pretty singles, then went through all of Eric Clapton’s There’s One In Every Crowd. I hadn’t listened to this whole album in such a long time and had forgotten quite a few of the songs. The only ones I really remembered were Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Singin’ the Blues and Better Make It Through Today, which I put on that Clapton compilation I made recently. It was good to catch up with some of those old songs. I’d forgotten how good is The Sky Is Crying, a blues masterclass. The Clapton penned Don’t Blame Me is another reggae nugget. The final song, Opposites, builds to something quite special at the end. Side two’s especially good, and tellingly, most of the songs were written by Clapton. It’s not a bad album. But I still think the previous one, 461 Ocean Boulevard, is better. Anyway, I’m happy to welcome this old album back into the fold of my collection. I’m not sure why I got rid of it the first time (along with EC Was Here!). Maybe younger me was just an idiot.

I watched Misamo’s Haute Couture concert bluray. What a fabulous time this was. They performed everything from their two albums, including a song called Red Diamond, plus their three solo pieces. There were numerous between-song ments and video presentations during costume change moments. There were no subtitles so working out what they were saying during the ments was kinda hard, but some of it was obvious. They were having a good time and engaging well with the crowd. Highlights for me were the solo stages, especially Mina’s rendition of Misty, the song Rewind You, which is a favourite, and the finale of Daydream, another favourite. The image and sound was crisp and clear, and my god the members looked radiant! I’d have to say of the three members Sana shined the most. Her bubbly warm personality really came through.

I’m still reading Ian Fleming’s Diamonds Are Forever and came across an alarming detail in the latest chapter. Bond’s American spy buddy Felix Leiter talks about a crim he’s tailing called Budd who’s been involved in ‘larceny, mugging, rape – nothing big’. Rape, nothing big? Really? Okay, so this is the character talking, not Fleming, so we could ascribe this attitude to Leiter. But he’s supposed to be one of the good guys. It certainly brings Felix’s character down in my eyes. And maybe Fleming’s as well.

I had a bit of a Youtube binge which included some of the copious Twice material out there at the moment. A couple of clips from their recent Seoul concert featured the sub-unit of Jeongyeon, Nayeon, Momo and Mina doing Battitude with giant synchronised bouncing balls, and the whole group doing the Twice Song. This early novelty song featuring a group chant of all their names was a crackup – and must be the first time they’ve ever done it live. Great! Then there was the moody trailer for the upcoming Japanese album Enemy. It was apparently directed by Twice Jihyo and has received deserved praise from the Once fandom. It’s basically each member in random situations with a voice over. I’m not sure what it all means, but it looks great. And finally there was the Dance Practice Behind for the This Is For MV. These are always fun and enlightening, showing the members in relaxed mode practicing and trialling the moves for the song. No makeup, casual clothes, everyone’s wearing masks, it couldn’t be more laidback. Mina celebrates a birthday, which puts this in March (24th to be precise). Jeongyeon thinks she’s ugly, which just gets all the Onces sending in messages of how beautiful she looks. With help from some outside white dude choreographer, the dance comes together, and that’s it. Thank you, Twice!

I picked one of my unread novels off a shelf yesterday and decided to start reading it. It was Ninety East Ridge by Stephen Reilly. I just felt like devouring something new and this was it. It’s around 500 pages long and I’m already two-thirds of the way through it. Reilly is actually the brother of Matthew Reilly, who is a more well-known writer. The book is mildly interesting, about an advanced installation that gets built on the Indian Ocean and the political and social ramifications that spring from it. I was interested in it for its investigation of those ramifications, but Reilly’s ultimately a conservative and gives us a very watered down version of ‘Utopia’. He doesn’t even have the guts to call his new society, which features perfect equality and a money-less economy, Socialism. Instead he has a character call it something like ‘voluntary Capitalism’. The story’s main thrust is the characters and their interpersonal concerns, which are not deeply sketched; but the political implications and attendant skullduggery kept me reading. It’s an okay book, and I will finish it, but I had hoped for something better.

I started back on my Urusei Yatsura episodes binge today. The plan is to watch the second half of the Top 50 episodes I have listed, having finished the first half many months ago. I started with Episode 105, Scramble Rescue Lum! This is the first of a two-part story that ends with ep 106, Death Match: Ataru Vs Mendou’s Army. Lum gets amnesia and is held by Mendou in his estate. It’s up to Ataru and the Stormtroopers to rescue her and help her recover her memory. When Ataru confronts Mendou and asks where’s Lum, Mendou asks the obvious question: why does he try so hard to save Lum when he says he doesn’t love her? Ataru responds: ‘I hate to be bound by Lum, but I hate Lum being taken away by others more’. These were the last episodes directed by Mamoru Oshii.

I watched some more episodes of Urusei Yatsura. These were episodes 107 and 108, Parallel Worlds, Where’s Darling? and Raging Queen of Rugby respectively. In Parallel Worlds it’s Sakura season and Lum and Ataru are out in the park enjoying the festival. Then Ataru tears a small branch from a sakura tree which sets off a dimension warp within the tree that Lum gets sucked into. She ends up going through various wacky dimensions where things are slightly different in Tomoboki town, such as a world where Megane and his gang are girls, and one where Lum is married to Mendo. Desperate to get back to her ‘real’ world she alights upon a reality where everything seems to look normal. Megane and his gang aren’t girls, and Lum’s not married to Mendo. She finds Ataru, who treats her with gentleness and puts his coat around her when he sees she’s cold. She knows something’s up. Then Ataru tells her with sincerity he loves her. It’s a great moment. Lum has finally found the version of Ataru that she’s always wanted. But she also knows he’s not her Ataru, who would never make such a declaration. Sadly, heartbreakingly, she leaves him, saying ‘Bye bye’. This is definitely one of the best UY episodes that gets to the heart of the dilemma Lum faces.

The Raging Queen episode is a fun pervy ep that features Ryuunosuke. Her breast wrap is in the wash so she has to go around without it on, but her breasts are too distracting to all the boys. Meanwhile a tiny rugby ball-shaped spacecraft buzzes nearby with the intent of conquering Earth. The aliens comprise of one female Queen who rules over a ship load of men. She orders some Earthlings be ‘micronised’ and brought aboard as slaves. The ones they capture are Lum, Ataru and Ryuunosuke. Chaos ensues! I enjoyed the jokey references to Macross Super Dimension Fortress in this.

I watched some more Urusei Yatsura episodes. These were Ran’s First Kiss Has Bitter Taste of Love, and Butch Benten and the Ryuunosuke Kid. In the first Ran makes delicious taiyaki for Rei to devour. The hungry bugger eats it all then finds a slither of red bean paste on Ran’s cheek. In licking it off Ran thinks he’s kissed her and is ecstatic. Later, he finds some on her lips and gives her a proper kiss. But he really doesn’t care about Ran, he just wants her food. The Butch Benten ep is one of my favourites, with the two tomboy characters joining together in an adventure to fight the bikies who get in their way of rescuing a poor little kitty cat. I love how Benten mentions at the end she knows Ryu is a girl. She must have felt her breasts on her back as she rode pillion on her bike! Man, I’d love an entire series featuring the adventures of these two!

I watched some Youtube, which included the first Twice This Is For MV Making of video. In what’s become a theme with this series, the members endured very cold weather for the outdoor scenes. They complained, but gamely performed their parts when called on – then it was back to the warmth of blankets! Nayeon seemed to have her own personal blanket-holder.

Well, I sent an email to that Kenny Jerome and got a quick reply. It turns out he is doing some curated book club and his email was a gambit to rope me in. Fuck I hate insincere praise!