associates / alan rankine - 'the glamour chase'

The following is my report of the recent showing of the Associates documentary 'The Glamour Chase' at the DCA, and the accompanying Q+A with founding member Alan Rankine. Originally posted on the Associates thread on I Love Music, just felt like re-posting here.

The full 40 minute edit of the documentary "The Glamour Chase" was given only it's second public airing at the DCA in Dundee tonight. It was originally made in 1999 for Grampian and STV. It's good, fairly zips through the life and times, I never saw the original 23 minute version when it was broadcast, but it must have battered through at a fair pace! Most of the detail is familiar from Tom Doyle's book of the same name, unsurprising as he was involved in the making of the documentary and the fact that the book itself was fairly exhaustive. There's talking-head contributions from the likes of Michael Dempsey, Max Hole, Chris Parry (a "Kiwi c-nt", according to Rankine...), Billy's father and sister, Boris Blank, Martin Fry, Glen Gregory, Marc Almond, Siouxie Sioux, Noko from Apollo440 and others. There's a few clips of the Ronnie Scotts performance in 1984 in a kind of jazz trio arrangement, not sure how widely available that has been but it looked great - the sound quality was good and clear, it would be great to have the audio of that.

Afterwards we got "Billy Sloan in Conversation With Alan Rankine", which was quite enjoyable. Sloan was knowledgeable and understated and not at all playing up to his reputation. Sloan basically asked him about his time in the band from beginning to end, his memories of Billy, that sort of thing. A few questions from the audience at one point but I couldn't think of anything to ask. On the subject of "William It Was Really Nothing", Rankine said that he doesn't know if anything ever happened between Billy and Morrissey, but if he knew Billy as well as he thought he did then he probably shagged Morrissey ragged... By the sound of it, they had fun at the time. He also mentioned that they got their rights back for recordings a month ago, I assume he meant "Fourth Drawer Down" and "Sulk" and the "Double Hipness" material which was previously licenced to V2, and that they'll probably be doing something with it. On the subject of watching Billy carry on as Associates after his departure, he did say that other than some of the songs on "Perhaps", he didn't really rate the post-"Sulk" output, and that it was clear by the "Wild and Lonely"-era videos that Billy's heart wasn't in it.

The Q+A was finished off with the playback of a recently made recording of the lost Associates song "The Twins of Gemini". Rankine said that they'd worked on it at the time, but never recorded it, finished the lyrics or properly performed it other than maybe accapella at parties. Apparently this version was only finished the night before, and features Steven Lindsay on vocals, Craig Armstrong on piano and Rankine on bass. Someone asked him later if it was getting a release, he said they'd maybe be doing some more work on it but that it was a possibility.

Got the chance to shake Rankine's hand on my way out, didn't really have much to say. He had a few signed, unplayed 12"s of "White Car in Germany" that he was handing out, got one of those.

The picture above is indeed the signed copy of "White Car In Germany".

Although I was aware of the Associates before hand, they first captured my imagination properly in the Autumn of 2002 when I first moved to Dundee and bought Tom Doyle's Billy Mackenzie biography 'The Glamour Chase'. It's a great read, partly because Billy's life itself is so fascinating and partly so because it was the first time I'd read a "rock biography" and been familiar with the not just the places named, but also some of the social backdrop to the story. The book appears to be out of print now.

The beauty of Billy's music for me is in it's unpredictability - both in terms of how other worldly it can be, but also how varying in quality it can be. I won't pretend I like every note that Billy/the Associates ever committed to tape, but when they hit their mark they were fantastic - "The Affectionate Punch", "Tell Me Easter's on Friday", "White Car In Germany" and, of course, "Party Fears Two" amongst many others.

The play 'Balgay Hill', inspired by Billy Mackenzie, runs at Dundee Rep until 27th June. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go and see it after my night shifts.

[Video] Associates - "Party Fears Two" ('Top of the Pops, 1982)
[Video] Associates - "White Car In Germany" (Dutch TV, 1982)

in place of real insight

For want of anything proper to write about, I'm pretty much at the halfway mark of my month of abstention, and in that time have not purchased any CDs, downloads, vinyl, cassettes or any other form of sound carrier. I did lend Katie the money for a Lisa Knapp CD at the James Yorkston/Lisa Knapp show at the Rep last night, but it was for her so ther rules aren't broken. Anyway, the massive pile of CD singles surrounding me is giving me plenty of "new" old stuff to listen to. Some gems, some crap.

Year 2 of my Cineworld Unlimited card was finally kicked off today, only 6 weeks in. Went to see 'Fighting', not for any particular reason other than that it seemed the least poor option - hadn't heard of it before looking at the board. Nothing particularly remarkable about it, to be honest. It just trundles along for a couple of hours to a fairly obvious conclusion. Click the link for the IMDB page, if you've any curiosity. I think I'll try and catch up on my moneys worth so far then cancel the card, can't help but thinking that joining the DCA is a better idea - all the films I've actually wanted to see lately have been on there. 'In The Loop' was hilarious, and 'Let The Right One In' is absolutely brilliant. I think if I tried to describe it, I couldn't do any justice. For a vampire film, it's surprisingly sweet, and also really nicely shot. I honestly can't see any need for the Hollywood remake currently in production, it's hardly heavy on the dialogue so the subtitles really shouldn't be a challenge for anyone.

religilous [2008]

Just been to see Bill Maher's new movie "Religilous" at the DCA on a bit of a whim, and it was well worth it. For most of my life I've wavered between Atheism and Agnosticism (or Cosmic Bet-Hedging), a few visits to church in my first year of University only serving to encourage these beliefs. With this in mind, the film was already preaching to the converted. However, there was still plenty that was new to me as I've never been particularly active in my disbelief - I don't scour religious texts for discrepancies, I just can't bring myself to actually believe any of it. On the off chance that I do find myself in front of St Peter, I've always thought I'll just take my chances.

The movie itself takes the major religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Mormon and Scientology for the most part) and pokes at their beliefs with simple questioning and humour. While it's unlikely yo change the mind of anyone who fully believes, it's still interesting to see him challenging the various groups - the bulk of the time is probably dedicated to Christianity. Interestingly, he gets the most sense out of two Catholic interviewees - a Vatican priest and the former chief astronomer of the Vatican. The latter makes the point regarding Creationism that there cannot be any science in the scriptures if they were written between 2,000BC and 200AD, and what we regard as Modern Science has only really been developing over the last 2-300 years - there's a pretty big gap in the timeline right there.

Maher ends with a call to all of the non-believers (13% of the US population, according to a survey) to speak out against all religion. With many Christians believing that we're in end times, and portions of Islam following an equally destructive path, it is indeed a scary thought that we could be wiped out all because of some daft superstitions.

It might be anti-religion-for-beginners for quite a few, but I thought "Religilous" was both entertaining and thought provoking.

cineworld unlimited: year one

I can't quite remember exactly when I got my Cineworld Unlimited card, but I'm pretty sure that it's been a year now. So taking today as the last day of year one, here's the final reckoning:

01. Hancock
02. Tropic Thunder
03. Step Brothers
04. Taken
05. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
06. Burn After Reading
07. The Rocker
08. Quantum of Solace
09. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
10. Four Christmasses
11. Body of Lies
12. What Just Happened?
13. Yes Man
14. Slumdog Millionaire
15. The Wrestler
16. Frost/Nixon
17. Milk
18. Watchmen
19. Gran Torino
20. Lesbian Vampire Killers

To make it worthwhile financially I needed to see 25 films over the year, which I didn't quite manage. However, I did lose the card a couple of times and ended up paying to see a couple of films that I'd otherwise have seen using the card.

Although not all of the films were great, it was good to be able to just go and see things knowing that they were already paid for. I'm going to continue for a second year, but with the price going up to £13.50/month I'm going to have to see at least 28 films over the year. Might be a push based on this year, but I fancy a challenge.

general round up

Not much activity for a week, but there have been a few things I've intended to write about. Unfortunately, they can be crammed into a few sentences...

Have now seen both Frost/Nixon and Milk. Won't bore anyone with attempts at reviews, but will say that both films are good and worth seeing. If you only have time for one, make it Milk. It's wonderful.

I've finished reading Join Me by Danny Wallace - since seeing Yes Man a month or so ago, I've read all three of his books. None of them are particularly hard going, but they are all good - enthusiastic, funny and touching in places. Or, in places, touching. Nothing dodgy. I'm not sure reading the book was enough to make me want to become a Joinee though, I think I'd find doing a random act of kindness every Friday a bit tricky - anyway, I try to be kind all the time!

My step-dad gave me his old 35mm SLR, went to Camperdown to play about with it. I took a couple of rolls, which you can see pretty much all of here. I'm a little disappointed that some of them didn't come out as I'd expected (many of them a lot darker than I'd anticipated), but looking at them now I think there's some good first efforts there. Anyway, the point of getting a film-based SLR was to force myself to think more when setting up the shot, so it's all a learning experience. Excuse some of the dodgy scans...

Kaput played at Fat Sams on Friday night with the Hazey Janes. The Hazeys were fantastic, probably the best I've ever seen them, and we all enjoyed playing our set. It was the first time in nearly 11 years of playing gigs that my sister had got to see one of my bands. She said she enjoyed it. The whole set was filmed, will get that uploaded once I've actually seen it!

I'm beginning to think that writing a little about every record/CD I buy this year may be harder than anticipated, after an unexpected trip to Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago found me in Fopp, and then on Saturday morning I got the chance to rake through all the new promos in Grouchos...my wallet has taken a beating. It makes me sad that there's a generation of "music lovers" who will never really experience the joy of spending a chunk of your Saturday raking through random CDs, hoping to strike gold, and getting a bit of banter and recommendations while you do it. Sure, there's a social element to Last.fm or some torrent clients, but it's impersonal, nowhere near the same as actually speaking to other people in person about music. I just hope that it's not something that's completely lost too soon, especially in smaller cities/towns. I'll try and write a January round-up when I get off night shifts.

That's pretty much all for now, I'm off to watch A Room For Romeo Brass.

recent films round-up

Watched a few things lately that I thought I would write about before I forget. Looks like my Cineworld card may earn it's keep yet...

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Danny Boyle's new film, set in Mumbai, telling the story of Jamal Malik and how he found himself one question away from winning the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". Jamal finds himself under police interrogation when he is suspected of cheating, so proceeds to explain how he came to know each answer. Through the flashbacks we basically get his life story, growing up on the streets as orphans with his brother and his search for the girl he loved and lost.

The poster quote ("The feel-good film of the decade!") is probably a little misleading - the ending may be (mostly) happy, but quite a large part of the film is more downbeat, even grim in places. Still, there is also plenty of humour to be found along the way. The 3 main characters have been well cast at the 3 different age points, and the actors are well transitioned. Dev Patel (Anwar in "Skins") was especially good as the 18yr old Jamal, bewildered and unsure of everything but his feelings for Latika.

The Wrestler (2008)

"The Wrestler" has been widely hailed as Mickey Rourke's big comeback and "the Rocky of wrestling". The film is centered around Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a former top professional wrestler whom we see 20 years later back at the bottom of the ladder, still fighting on the independent circuit and still a favourite with the fans, but barely getting by and in poor health. The story follows his attempts to adjust to life after wrestling when forced to give up, as well as his attempts to rebuild his relationship with his estranged daughter and his attempts to forge a relationship with a stripper. Ultimately, the lure of one final fight proves too much.

I'm generally not the biggest fan of wrestling, but I think the fight scenes do look good. The film seems quite respectful toward the sport, and all the fellow wrestlers in the film are wrestlers in real life. I'm also not normally particularly squeemish, but the scenes centered on the extreme wrestling match against the Necro Butcher had me turning away. Rourke is nothing short of excellent as The Ram, much has been made of his own "wilderness years" so it could be argued that maybe the role isn't all that much of a stretch, but his portrayal is sympathetic and fairly understated, while physically looking exactly the part too. I don't think first choice Nic Cage would have been right for the role, but then I don't think there are any other actors I have such an irrational dislike of.

Probably my only complaint is that the storylines regarding the love interest and the daughter are both maybe a little under-explored, especially the daughter. However, maybe I'm asking for too much, I've been spoiled lately by watching TV series on DVD, with the extra time that offers to explore much more background. All the same, it's an excellent film.


For those that have been counting, those were the 14th and 15th films respectively that I have seen on my Cineworld card. The coming week should see me fitting in numbers 16 and 17, with both Frost/Nixon and Milk opening on Friday - I'm especially surprised/pleased that the Dundee Cineworld is showing the latter.

On top of my cinema-going, I've been trying to tend to the ever-growing DVD pile. Finally watched Red Road (2006) last night. It's quite tense viewing, and possibly not ideal for bedtime! Apparently the first Scottish film shot under the Dogme principles, and the first of a trilogy involving differing configurations of the four main characters. It's probably a bit tricky to describe the plot quickly without basically giving everything away, so will just refer back to the IMDB link. Did actually enjoy it and would recommend it, but be warned it's a little on the bleak side.

Also finished watching season one of Mad Men, a drama set in the world of advertising in New York in the early 1960s. It's quite slow burning and did take me a couple of episodes to get into it, but I felt my patience was rewarded - patience is required as the show is light on action and heavy on detail and subtlety. Now I'm just waiting (im)patiently on season two making it to the UK, much like with the excellent Californication. Nevermind, in the meantime I have the complete Sopranos box set to get started on...all 86 episodes. I may be some time...

"yes man" (2008) / cineworld unlimited

Went to see the new Jim Carrey / Zooey Deschanel film "Yes Man", based on the Danny Wallace book of the same name, tonight. The premise of the story is that Carrey playes Carl Allen, whose life is going nowhere until he attends a seminar and agrees to say "yes" to everything and start living his life - something Wallace actually spent six months doing in real life.

It's definitely a feel-good film, pretty much everything he says yes to has positive consequences, other than the necessary "plot-twist" near the end. I found it quite enjoyable, but it really didn't require any thought. My main reservation is the casting of Jim Carrey in the lead role - although he's not overly zany, there's still a little too much of his trademark mugging for my liking, especially as the film does not call for it in the slightest - in fact it probably turns the viewer against his character a little. I think someone like Steve Carell may have been a better choice. Zooey Deschanel is lovely as Allison, and some of the songs by her in-film band Munchausen by Proxy are quite amusing.

All the same, it's a reasonable distraction for a couple of hours. What an in-depth review.

Trailer is here.

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I've been going to see as many films as possible lately using my Cineworld Unlimited card. I got it as a way of filling in time when I'm not on shift, but it was starting to look like a bad deicision when there was barely anything I wanted to see all summer. Think I'm beginning to break even on it now. For my own reference, here is a list of the films I've been to see using it (they've not all been classics, I have to say):

01. Hancock
02. Tropic Thunder
03. Step Brothers
04. Taken
05. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
06. Burn After Reading
07. The Rocker
08. Quantum of Solace
09. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
10. Four Christmasses
11. Body of Lies
12. What Just Happened?
13. Yes Man

I don't think I've forgotten any.