North to Alaska, East to Harlem: On the Claudine Soundtrack

Gladys Knight
& the Pips,
Claudine &
Pipe Dreams:
Original
Soundtracks,
Shout! Factory
(***1/2)

How can I work out this sweet relation?
--"Mr. Welfare Man" (Claudine)

It isn't impossible to evaluate a soundtrack when you aren't
familiar with the film—I've done it plenty of times in the past—
but it's a compromise at best without the accompanying narrative
to provide the proper context. In this case, I haven't seen either
Claudine or Pipe Dreams, the sweet music from which has
been combined by Shout! Factory onto one compact disc.

Released in 1974, the former revolves around a single Harlem
mother of six (Oscar nominee Diahann Carroll) and the
garbage man who steals her heart (James Earl Jones).

Though he doesn't lend his
mellifluous vocals to the mix,
Curtis Mayfield wrote and
produced the score, setting
socially conscious lyrics to
mid-tempo funk and string-
saturated soul (both sound-
tracks were originally issued by Buddha Records).

Separately, "On and On" and "Make Yours a Happy Home"
landed at #2 on the Hot Soul chart. In addition, Knight
and the Pips cover Mayfield's "The Makings of You" 

from his 1970 debut, Curtis, and the Ralph Ellison-in-
spired "To Be Invisible" from 1974's Sweet Exorcist.

That said, the Claudine soundtrack seems likely to please fans
of Knight more than Mayfield for the simple reason that the
lady's fine voice takes center stage--and seems to echo director
John Berry's emphasis on Carroll's Claudine over Jones's Roop.

"Hold On," in particular, shows how down and dirty Knight could
get given the right material. The Pips, on the other hand, sound
flyweight, but then that was the quartet's formula: female grit
tempered by male gloss, an inversion of the usual equation.

In the liner notes,
Knight reminisces,
"We did that album
in a weekend! Cur-
tis had in mind the
songs he wanted to
do, but he was literal-
ly writing as we were
recording. We lived in
that studio [referring
to Curtom in Chicago].
We had our food brought in. We slept there."

By contrast, Pipe Dreams, soundtrack to the 1976 pipeline
picture starring Knight and husband Barry Hankerson, covers
more ground, but Dreams was considered a dud--since I grew
up in Alaska, however, I've always been curious about it.

In the liner notes, A. Scott Galloway reveals that
Knight neglects to even mention the film in her auto-
biography, Between Each Line of Pain and Glory.

Heavily-orchestrated top 20 soul tune "So Sad the Song,"
written by Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser from Diana
Ross's Mahogany hit "Do You Know Where You're Going
To," and "Follow My Dreams" (Reverend James Cleve-
land) witness Knight going for a soaring Barbara Streis-
and sound, circa "The Way We Were," a song Knight
and the Pips would cover that same year, but oth-
er selections retain more of Claudine's earthiness.

Set to a jaunty piano mel-
ody, "Pot of Jazz" (Ivory
Joe Hunter) almost sounds
like an outtake from Out-
kast's criminally under-
rated Idlewild--granted,
the soundtrack didn't do
poorly, but too few peop-
le actually caught the duo's prohibition-era musical.

Other songwriters include Pip Merald "Bubba" Knight, Tony Camillo, J. & M. Spikes, and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill.

For followers of Gladys Knight and the Pips, Claudine &
Pipe Dreams marks an essential purchase, but the 16-track
CD--14 vocals plus two instrumentals--serves just as well as
an introduction for new or curious listeners, particularly
those who only know the group from the top 10 pop
and soul sensation "Midnight Train to Georgia."

Endnote: By coincidence, I recently picked up the remastered Superfly soundtrack; as a kid, I played my dad's record all the time. The irony is that Claudine was conceived as a response to blaxploitation films like Superfly, yet Mayfield composed both.

He was also behind the scores for 1975's Let's Do It Again, 1976's Sparkle, and 1977's Short Eyes. The liners reproduce a story he related to Rolling Stone in 1993, "One time I was in downtown Chicago, and right on State Street, three of my movies were playing at the same time. And they had my name on all the marquees, lined up. It was quite a sight to see."

Images from Amazon, The Cocoa Lounge, Kalamu,
and Martini and Jopparelli's Music Selections.

June 2008 Reviews

These are the reviews and other assignments I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Recount (HBO docudrama with Kevin Spacey and Tom Wilkinson), For One More Day (Michael Imperioli and Ellen Burstyn reunite for another Mitch Albom adaptation), The Criterion Collection - Classe Tous Risques (click here for my Seattle Film Blog review), The Criterion Collection - The Furies (Anthony Mann directs Walter Huston and Barbara Stanwyck), The Criterion Collection - Mishima: A Life in Four Parts (Paul Schrader directs Ken Ogata), and Bonneville (with Jessica Lange and Joan Allen). 

Amazon Theatricals: The Great Buck Howard (with John Malkovich and Colin Hanks) and Wanted (with James McAvoy). 

Coming soon: Baghead, Elite Squad, and Gonzo.

Fuzz.com: Robert Pollard - Is Off to Business and Joan as Policewoman - To Survive.

IndieWIRE: Coverage of SIFF's second half. 

Seattle Film Blog: Capsules of Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, The Great Buck Howard, Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait, and Derek and Baghead. Also, a look at favorite film lines, a preview of a Hal Ashby retrospective, thoughts about a beloved song from an ill-fated film, and a visit to the set of Lynn Shelton's next feature, Humpday. 

Above right: Dexter Fletcher in Derek Jarman's Caravaggio (1986). 

Video Librarian: Surfwise (Doug Pray's follow-up to Scratch), Dangerous Dance (from Israel), Til Death Do Us Part (documentary about women who killed their abusers), Keali'i Reich-el - Live in Concert, and Limp Bizkit - Rock Im Park 2001. 

Performed by Robert Wyatt, "Moon in June" comes from Soft Machine's Third. Images: The New York Times and Urban Image.

The In Sound from Way Out! on Supreme Balloon

Matmos,
Supreme
Balloon,
Matador
(7.9)


The world is filled with instrumental alt-rock acts, most of
whom fall into distinct categories. Mogwai and Explosions
in the Sky have that cinematic thing down to a science (hence
their inclusion in numerous movies and television shows).
Groups like Pelican and Belong trod a more metallic path.
Then there's the textural Tortoise and their various off-shoots.

Matmos, an electronic duo formed in San Francisco and
based in Baltimore, sounds nothing like any of these outfits.
That's because they have little interest in traditional instrum-
entation, and their eighth album builds on their reputation
for evolution and experimentation—it's no wonder they've
collaborated with the endlessly iconoclastic Björk.

As an example of their ingeniousness, on 2001's A Chance
to Cut Is a Chance to Cure, they incorporate the sounds
of liposuction and on 2006's The Rose Has Teeth in the
Mouth of a Beast, they turn to a cow's reproductive tract.



This all-synthesizer, no-contact mic release brings back
the halcyon days of Perrey-Kingsley (best known for "Flight
of the Bumblebee"), Wendy Carlos (the composer behind the
futuristic score for A Clockwork Orange), and other synth
stylists. Parallels abound with a few retro-minded modern-
day artists, too, like Stereolab and Cornelius (sans the vocals).

According to the press
notes, this seven-song
set employs "the classic
'60s/'70s/'80s consum-
er electronic rigs of Arp,
Korg, Roland, Waldorf,
and Moog, and modular
systems from Electro-
Comp, Doepfer, and Akai."


Martin C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel, an English professor at
Johns Hopkins, also call on outside instrumental experts, like
Jon Leidecker, Jay Lesser, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Sarah Ca-
hill, and Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra, who plays the
Electronic Voice Instrument (EVI) on "Mister Mouth."

Except for the 24-minute title track, none of the selections top
four minutes, but no one would confuse them for pop singles.
Standouts include the ever-changing "Supreme Balloon" and
Couperin's "Les Folies Françaises," which recalls the score for
Barry Lyndon. (Let's face it: Kubrick's films are one of the least ac-
knowledged influences on modern music.) In addition, legendary
minimalist Terry Riley appears on one of three bonus LP tracks.



Endnote: Matmos plays Seattle's Triple Door on Mon., 7/7.
For more information, please click here. Post title courtesy
Perrey-Kingsley's 1966 LP The In Sound from Way Out!;
swiped by the Beastie Boys for their instrumental CD of
'96. Images from Sound on Sound and NewMusicBox.

Dark Bars and Long Drives: Half Light, a'tris, and More

Half Light, Sleep More, Take More Drugs, Do
Whatever We Want, Groove House Records [6/3/08]

Half Light plays dreamy rock. Good for dark bars, candlelit
basements, long drives; some enjoy making cookies.
-- From the band's MySpace Page

Seattle singer/guitarist Dayna Loeffler has logged
time with Voyager One and the Purrs, two of
the town's finer music purveyors, but she has her
own thing going on with Half Light. Not that it's
a world away from her other outfits. She's still
doing the space-rock thing and doing it well.

This nine-song debut presents a harmonious array of effer-
vescence, a blissed-out cross between vintage shoegaze and contemporary alt-country. Accordingly, the band cites Ride, Slowdive, the Cowboy Junkies, and Mazzy Star among their in-
fluences. Extra credit for Megan Bailey's artfully-designed, eco-friendly packaging using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks.

a'tris, Lensing, Offensive Tie Records [6/17/08]

Music and film are inherently intertwined. I frequently look to film
for inspiration and hope that my music has a bit of cinematic flair.
-- Mason Taylor

Berklee College of Music grad Mason Taylor (piano, vo-
cals) leads this Boston alt-rock quartet. Despite their Am-
erican pedigree, they're more closely aligned with the UK's
Coldplay, Snow Patrol, or Elbow. Like those acts, howev-
er, a'tris is just too polished and po-faced for my taste.

I've enjoyed a few Brit-pop tunes in my time, but Taylor's
catch-in-the-voice singing rubs me the wrong way. I'm all
for male sensitivity and vulnerability in pop music, but
when it's highlighted and underlined, I get antsy. A
perfect fit for commercial alternative radio.

Blackmarket, Blackmarket EP, No Office Records [6/24/08]

This Lake Havisu band isn't bad, but I've heard it all before:
more modern-rock radio fare. Their high-profile production
team includes Sean Slade (Radiohead, Dinosaur Jr., Hole) and Matthew Ellard (Morphine, Weezer, Elliot Smith), indicating they're either deep-pocketed or well connected. Either way, Blackmarket isn't distinctive enough. Not yet, at any rate.

Dearestazazel, Be Mine, One Eleven Records [7/8/08]

She sells sex by the seashore / every night with someone new.
-- Dearestazazel, "She Sells Sex by the Seashore"

This Atlanta foursome could be related to Washington DC's Juniper Lane, about whom I wrote earlier this year, "This stuff
is as slick as it is familiar." Dearestazazel are new wave re-
vivalists who think big: big drums, big synths, big guitars, and what sounds like big hair (bass tends to get lost in this musical genre). Apparently, Pat Benatar and Berlin are back in style.

It's all very 1980s and not in an ironic way, which may come as good news for some, but since I can't look back at the MTV era without irony, Be Mine feels like an extraneous flashback.

Teenage Head with Marky Ramone, Sonic Unyon [6/10/08]

On this collection of covers and re-recorded tracks, these first-
generation Hamilton, Ontario punks come on like a more burly
version of the Ramones. "Top Down," the first track, even con-
jures up the unruly ghost of "Chinese Rocks," that infamous col-
laboration between Dee Dee Ramone and Johnny Thunders.

That said, Frankie Venom doesn't sing—or even try to sing—
like Joey Ramone. I suppose no one can. Instead, he has more
of a rock or power-pop-oriented voice; more like BÖC's Eric
Bloom than D.O.A.'s Joey Shithead. No surprises here, but
Teenage Head deliver a fun ride into punk's past.


Endnote: With support from the Purrs and other locals, Half
Light celebrates the release of their new record at Seattle's Comet
Tavern (922 E Pike St.) on 6/6. For more information, please click
here or here, from whence the image at the top originates (taken
by Paul Gibson at the Comet). For Tablet, I once wrote that the
Purrs, with which Loeffler continues to collaborate, "Sound like
Love fronted by Steve Wynn from the Dream Syndicate."

Gangster, Gangster: Samuel Benchetrit's I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster with Anna Mouglalis

Gangsta, gangsta!
It's not about a salary,
it's all about reality.
--N.W.A., "Gangsta, Gangsta" (1989)

I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER / J'ai
Toujours Rêvé d'être un Gangster (***1/2)
(Samuel Benchetrit, France, 2007, 113 minutes)

The array of bumblers at the heart of I Always Wanted to Be
a Gangster stand in opposition to the snap-brim sharpies play-
ed by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon in the 1960s. Those
Gallic gangsters had smarts and savoir faire; this group has a gift
for gab, and that's about it. The only similarity is that writer/dir-
ector Samuel Benchetrit (Janis and John) shot his heartfelt
valentine to the crime films of yore in luminous black and white.

From the moment the hapless Franck (Edouard Baer) steps out of his tiny motorcar wearing tights on his head, legs dangling down the back, it's clear he isn't cut out for the gangster life. Franck confirms that suspicion by walking into a signpost—after all, it's harder to see through tights than nylons.

So, he fails to rob the roadside diner in his sights, but along
the way, Franck meets beautiful robber-turned-waitress Sus-
ie (Anna Mouglalis, Merci Pour le Chocolat, Crime Novel).
As with some of the other characters, Benchetrit fills in her
back story with jaunty music and silent-movie title cards.

Their episode segues into three others, all revolving around
Susie's spacious diner and encompassing a gloomy teenager,
two kindly kidnappers, a couple of pop stars (Alain Bashung
and Arno as themselves), and five aging bank robbers plan-
ning a final heist (one of whom is played by Jean Rochefort).

Benchetrit's sophomore ef-
fort is that rare film that can
unite usually divisive movie
lovers, from fans of French
films noir to American com-
edy connoisseurs, with the
filmmaker taking his poker-
faced cues from everyone
from the Keystone Kops
to Jean-Pierre Melville by
way of Jim Jarmusch. 

The title, incidentally, comes from Ray Liotta's wistful
line in Goodfellas, "As far back as I can remem-
ber, I always wanted to be a gangster."



Endnote: Images from the British Film Institute, Britannica,
and the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, at which I Always Wan-
ted to Be a Gangster won the World Cinema Screenwriting
Award. A US release date hasn't yet been announced, but you can
soon catch Liotta as the ineffectual mayor in Battle in Seattle.

Accidentally on Purpose: D+'s On Purpose - 1997- 2007: Hits, Rarities and Live Cuts

D+, On Purpose - 1997-
2007: Hits, Rarities and
Live Cuts [5/27/08] (7.8)

Lunsford's droll vocals are charming, as is the self-
deprecating wit which drives many of his songs.
-- Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

You wouldn't expect slick from bass player Karl Blau, guitar-
ist Bret Lunsford (Beat Happening), and drummer Phil Elver-
um (Microphones, Mount Eerie), and this D+ collection isn't
slick, but who wants that anyway? These 15 tracks may qualify
as "shambling"—an irresistibly over-used term when it comes
to indie rock—but there's enough charm, sincerity, and insight
throughout On Purpose to smooth over the rough patches,
like the seven-inch version of "Heatherwood," which features
one of Mr. Lunsford's more, well, shambling vocals.

For the most part, this Anacortes, WA trio plies a lo-fi approach
to garage-pop. Though the members of Olympia's Beat Happening used to switch instruments, the D+ players stick to their chosen roles. In theory. As Lunsford explains via email, "I’m pretty limited to clunky guitar and minimal percussion. Phil and Karl are extremely multi-in-
strumental. We often go into the studio/living room with lyrics to a new song, and then an hour later we are recording something. Anything might happen. I’ve learned that if I don’t want a kazoo on a song, I’d better hide it from Karl."

Highlights include "Mistake" ("My TV has more channels than
I need / my guitar has fewer string by far"), the fuzzy-buzzy "Jaywalker," the piano and harmonica-infused "We Could Do Anything," and the enchanting "Book." About Lunsford's songwriting, Elverum praises "the quadruple meanings in the words. He builds castles with undiscovered tunnels in them."

D+, the inaugural band to appear on Lunsford's own Knw-Yr-
Own imprint, has been recording for over a decade now, so it
only makes sense to revive the label with an archival release
from their first act (D+ has released five full-lengths alto-
gether). Lunsford and Co. will be issuing On Purpose in a
limited edition of 700 hand-screened and numbered CDs.

Endnote: Images from Knw-Yr-Own. My profile of Bret Lunsford appears in the June issue of Sound (formerly Seattle Sound). Click here for a review of Microphones' 2002 Mount Eerie and here for Mount Eerie's Black Wooden Ceiling Opening, also arriving on 5/27.

Eerie Resurrection: Microphones' Mount Eerie

In light of
Mount
Eerie's
upcoming
CD, I've
excavated
my 2002
Tablet re-
view of
Micro-
phones' Mount Eerie (Phil Elverum oversees both projects).

Microphones, Mount Eerie, K Records [7/10]

K Records may have released Microphones' Mount Eerie, but that doesn't mean it's pop, punk, funk, or folk like many of their releases--or some combination of thereof. It isn't rock either, at least not in the traditional sense of the word.

Instead, this concept album from busy Olympia musician/producer Phil Elverum (Dub Narcotic Sound System, C.O.C.O.) harkens back to late-1960s/early-1970s Europe in the form of England's jazzy Soft Machine and Germany's forward-thinking Krautrock coterie (Can, Faust, Neu!). Some of the pieces even sound like Pink Floyd at their most experimental, but Mount Eerie doesn't quite qualify as psychedelia or prog rock either.

The album is, ultimately, its own strange beast with literally spacey song titles like "Solar System," "Universe," and 17-minute epic "The Sun." Mount Eerie is the first in a trilogy of recordings to be followed by Singing from Mt. Eerie and Drums from Mt. Eerie.

Endnote: Click here for Black Wooden Ceiling Opening review (to be released on 5/27). Image from P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.