8/13/2019 "Video Views" - Journey, Stray Cats, Culture Club, TV's "Hullabaloo"

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JOURNEY: FR0NTIERSAND BEYONDDirected by Phil Tuckett. Mediacassette. Beta Hi-Fi, vHSstereo. 98 minutes $39.95

here exists a loath-some hybrid of adver-tising and cinema calledthe sponsored film. Gener.ally, these are propagan-da pieces disguised asdocumentary. Texaco, forexample, might commis-sion a sponsored filmabout nuclear energy, orMcDonald's one on frenchfries. Either way, the sub-ject is presented glowing-ly, with no more than apassing reference to thenegative aspects, andwith the sponsor's logoand products popping upalmost subliminally hereand there.The practice is in-sidious. ln the case ofFrontiers and Beyond, il;seven more so than usualsince the products arepeople. Certainly,Journey's fans are done adisservice: Rather than anaccurate reflection of lifeon the band's '83 tour,and of the Journeymen'srock lifestyle, viewers geta self-serving test.amentthat makes its most prom-inent statement not aboutJourney, but about the ex-ploitation of the under-paid underbelly of rock,the roadies.A co-production ofNightmare lnc,, theJourney conglomerate,and, NFL Filmd of all peo-ple, this pseudo-docu-mentary has as narratolJohn F6cenda, thefamiliar "voice of theNFL." Listening to him is

BY FFIANK LOVECEgreat fun, but even hecan't convincingly pull offsuch scripted tripe as thetour entourage being char-acterized as "70 modern-day troubadors androustabouls." As in foot-ball documentaries, wheresilly metaphors and lime-honored c.liches arealmost a tradition,director-writer Tuckettspeaks of races notbelonging to the swift andof embers being fannedby "the front office."

To Frontier's credit, wedo get a glimpse of theroadies'cramped busquarters, and of the hardmanual labor they per-form. There is a brief talkof flaring tempers, itselftempered by an every-thing-turns-out-alri ght at-titude that suggests noone ever gets shafted orfired (as apparently haP'pened to former drummerAynsley Dunbar). Theroadies speak of the crazYexistence away fromhome and family, and ofbeing willing to do it allfor practically nothing-which should please theirbosses, who coown thisfilm, no end. What makes.the roadies do it? Would,the answer have anythingat all to do with the suP'posed glamour of beingnear stars, with_grownmen using that fact toseduce 16-yearolds, orwith the drugs rock man-agement often uses tobarter services and tokeep their emPloYeesdoped up and content?Tuckett exPlores the

roadies'delusions ofglamour not at all.The band membersthemselves are seldomseen off-stage, and theiroccasional mugging forthe cameras exudes astagey, Joan Crawford air.The chatter in vocalistSteve Perry's clip for his"Oh Sherry" is far moreconvincing than almostanything the band allowshere. We see the band ex-it limos, and we see drum-mer Steve Smith with hiswife and infant, but that'sabout it as far as.lifestylerevelations go. Only leadguitarist Neal Schon, a1 3-year Santana-Journeyveteran, says anythingparticularly illuminating,when he alludes to thefacts of groupies andsome of the other less re-spectable aspects ofmegasuccess. AndJourney is nothing if notrespectable. At one point,Perry chastises some jerkin the audience whobloodied Schon with athrown beer bottle, andtwo "fucks"s arebleeped away.The final insult is in thebone Tuckett tosses tothe armies of musiccritics who considerJourney little rnore thantechnically adept jingle-meisters. "The praise ofmany is tempered by thecriticism of a few,"Facenda intones. Reply-ing to that criticism witha delightful bit of foot-in.mouth, we see keyboard'ist/guitarist JonathanCain in what seems to be

a staged phone conver-sation. "Through a lot ofhard work and dedica-tion," he argues, "the.band has come to theforefront and that pissesme off." lt pisses off a lotof people, Jonathan.As if to deter criticismfurther, Journey allows usto see its San Franciscocorporate offices, itsheadset-wearing execu-tives, its miles of mer-chandise such as t-shirtsand posters. Commercial

success has got nothingto do with whether aband's any good or not.Yet when a band finan-cially and musicallycapable of better, stays ina routine and refuses toexpand and innovate, andlhen celebrates that factin a fake documentarywith which GeneralMotors could empathize,rock's rebellious spirit hasflown. But what doesJourney care, so long asthe wheel in the skykeeps on earning?

8/13/2019 "Video Views" - Journey, Stray Cats, Culture Club, TV's "Hullabaloo"

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HULTABAI.(IO 831HUI-LABALOO 844Directed by Biil Davis. with(831) the Animals, the Byrds,Jackie DeShannon, Paul Revereand the Raiders and others;and (844) Jr. Walker and theAll-Stars, Gene Pitney, LeslieUggams and others. Video_Yesteryear cassettes. Beta andVHS mono. 47 and 45 min.$39.95 each.

rom January toAugust, 1965, NBCanswered ABC's Shindigwith its own "groovy"music show, Hullabaloo,ln retrospect silly andtacky-hosted by con.cocted celebrities whopresided over fake ap-plause, mod fruggers andI ip-synchi ng performersfrom rockers to Broad-way-style crooners-Hullabaloo, from aZ0-year vantage point, isa sobering bit of history.These particular cas-settes by the eclecticVideo Yesteryear com-pany (titled according tocatalog number) containhe Sept. 27 and Oct. 4half-hour shows (831) andhe Mar. 23 hour show844). Taped sans com-mercials, a few segmentsere could have nudgedwake the gremlins ofcopyright/trademarkaws. These shows appar-are in the public do-meaning the copy.ight either expired orever was registeredroperly, but even so, theMar. 23 show doesn'tits London seg-hosted by Beatles'and Brit-inva.impressario Brianpstein and featuring theoody Blues.Two quasi-survivorsthe best mo-on each of lhesqEric Burdon and

the Animals (Sept. 27)and Jr. Walker and theAll-Stars (Mar. 23) areboth in electrifying form,apparently blending pre-recorded instrumentalswith live vocals. Theseearly looks at theAnimals getting into "WeGotta Get out of ThisPlace," and of Jr. Walker(who years later giggedon Foreigner's 1981 hit,"Urgent") firing up"Shotgun" are, alongiwith a few other mo-ments, worth the sur-rounding excesses.The audio is typicat TVmono, and the videoquality is a little dupey,but when hosts MichaelLandon, Dean Jones andDavid McCattum (doinghis Man From UNCLElllya Kuryakin schtick) getto singing, these tech-nical shortcomings are ablessing.As is also the casewith Thorn EMI's firstvolume of Britain's ReadySteady Go/ music show,,what strikes you aboutthese archeological digsinto rock music is howhard it is to guaranteeany performer a lifetimelease for their place inthe sun. A case in pointhere is the Oct. 4

Hullabaloo show, devot.ing much time to singer/songwriter Jackie De-Shannon who pennedtunes for everybody fromBrenda Lee and MarianneFaithfull to The Search.ers and Kim Carnes(DeShaqnon co-wrote thelatter's "Bette DavisEyes"). And whileDeShannon has garneredher own million-seller hits -and movie roles, sang atthe Oscars, did' sessionwork for Michael McDon-ald-the whole works-she's a long way from herone-time "star" status,

Likewise, other one-timesoaring artists-such asthe long-disbanded BeauBrummels (Sept. 27), thefirst big time rockersfrom the'60s MusicMecca of San Francisco,or one-time hitmakerGene Pitney-haven't re-surfaced in years. Ofcourse DeShannon andPitney walked away suc-cessfully, but other stal.warts such as the Astro- .nauts and the Youngfolk(both Mar. 23) have dis-appeared as if theynever existed.(Available primarityihrough mail-order: VideoYesteryear, Box C, SandyHook, Connecticut 06482.)STRAY CATSDirected by Peter Heath, lanLeech and Julian Temple. Sonycassette. Beta Hi-Fi, VHSstereo. 13 minules $16.95

ong lsland rockabillyrevivalists The'StrayCats:parody that eailymusical form's trappingsas much as they celebrate

its spirit. The vitat differ-ence between the Catsand such cartoonish pre-decessors as Sha Na Nais that Brian Setzer, SlimJim (McDonnelt) Phantomand Lee (Drucker) Rockeraren't dreamily nostalgic.Their popular clips mayconjure the leaded-gasvitality of being ateenager when Jerry LeeLewis, Elvis Presley andothers were making muiicno one ain't nevei heardbefore, but the bad stuffdoesn't get denied. TheseCats are authentic.All four filmed clips aredraped in late-fiftiesfashions, with an occa.sional New Waver pop-ping in to spoil the effect.All three directors throwin hot rods and hotbroads, with Temple("Stray Gat Strut" and"Rock This Town") addingstylish humor. The essen-tial repressiveness of thefifties-which hetpedspawn rock'n'roll in thef irst place-thankf ul lyisn't forgotten. Theschool-and-agood-job

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mentality, parental (andteenage) unsophisticationby today's standards, andan era when only"sissies" played guitarare all evoked. Not exact-ly "Happy Days."This thematic depthdoesn't stop the clipsfrom being loads of fun.Temple's pieces andLeech's "(She's) Sexy +17" bounce all over thescreen, and even thesomber "l.Won't Stand inYour Way" clip, directedby Heath, glows like aneon Coke sign: All fourclips balance exuberanceand yearning. So do TheStray Cats, and in thatrespect, these clips areperfect for the band.CULTURE GLUB:A K|SS ACRoSSTHE OCEANDirected by Keith (Keel)McMillan. CBS/Fox cassette.BEIA Hi.Fi, VHS Hi-Fi. 56minutes $29.98

s only the secondmusic videocassettein VHS Hi-Fi, that newsuper-stereo method, AKlss Across the Oceanlands in a world wherevery few individuals ownVHS Hi-Fi videocdssetterecorders. The producers,however, didn't seem torealize this. Kiss played ina VHS Hi-Fi machinehooked up to stereospeakers gives you abso-lutely marvelous audio,but in a plain old mono(or old-fashioned "low-f i"stereo) VCR, the sound-track is as muddy as theMississippi. (Keep that inmind when you see.the"Hi-Fi Stereo" banneremblazoned on one cornerof the package, in red.)The relative newness ofhi-fi video technologymight be blamed for this

lack of attention to themono track, but thatdoesn't excuse an evenmore obvious audio prob-lem. ln trying, apparently,to generate some excite-ment, audio mixer (andCulture Club drummer)Jon Moss allowed the au-dience screams to over-power long portions ofsongs. Worse, thesescreams become a back-ground element through-out, like tape hiss. WhileBoy George's vocal limita-tions do become sadly ap-parent on Kiss, that's noreason to drown him out.The songs, after all, arewhy we're hdre. And forsuch a new band, even

one that took a rookieof-the-year Grammy Award,CC's airwave output isprodigious. The 13 songshere (including thewonderful "Melting Pot",which isn't listed on thepackage) reinforce CultureClub's standing as asingles band, with fourmajor ones ("1'll Tumble 4Ya", "Karma Chanieleon","Do You Really Want toHurt Me" and "Church ofthe Poison Mind") andone or two lesser knownones mixed with albumcuts. ln fact, Boy George,who briefly intros eachsong, labels the initialhit "Hurt Me" as "the

song you'll probablyremember us by," makinga point about the bands'own expectations.George, who's nothingif not cuddly, movesgracefully on a stagepacked with horn and har-monica players and anoutstanding, supremelysoulful backgroundvocalist, Helen Terry.Terry is so good, in fact,she upstages George onthe finale, "Melting Pot",with the result being thatthis joyous song becomesthe show's best perfor-mance. Boy George'svoice is indeed as distinc-tive and warm.as his drag-queen persona, but itlacks a wide range.Terry's soul-inf lectedyelps and passionatedelivery, however, comple-ment it nicely'.Terry's place in thespotlight reveals ademocratic streak inbandleader George, onewhich director Keef under-scores with generousclose-ups of the support-ing players. Using 11camera-persons and, judg-ing from the variety ofshots, perhaps a half-dozen cameras, he mostlykeeps away from fancy ef-fects in favor of lots ofmovement. ln order tokeep the quick cuts frombecoming jarring, how-ever, Keef in each se-quence keeps returning toa few basic shots.As in screenings of lheRocky Horror PictureShow, the audience atthis December, '83 Ham.mersmith Odeon concertis as much a part of theshow as Culture Glubitself, with Boy Georgedressali kes abounding.Unfortunately, Keef givesthem not only screentime, but far too muchscream time.