media COOL

media COOL

This month's Media Cool was written by Bill Holdship, Richard C. Walls and Rick Johnson.

THE NEW ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE Edited by Dave Marsh & John Swenson (Random House):: The errors aren't as glaring as in the first edition, but some still exist (i.e., Elvis's "Follow That Dream" is on a U.S. LP [Double Dynamite]; Paul Lynde is on Bye Bye Birdie; "Out Come The Freaks" is on Was (Not Was); Mink DeVille is listed under both "D" and "M" with different ratings; two Modern Lovers "Live" LPs are listed when there is only one; "L.B." [Lester Bangs?] isn't identified, etc.). But what really bugs me is that this purports to be a reference book when a lot of it consists of cranky and inconsistent personal opinion. Examples: John Cougar (a populist rock star if there ever was one) is rated worthless due to his negativity, while Don Henley's I Can't Stand Still rates four stars for social comment. (A guy who gets arrested for statutory rape and then writes a song about what a raw deal the press gave him is beneath contempt in my book.) The Bowie ratings stink. I know a lot of people who still love J. Frank Wilson's "morbid" "Last Kiss" (Isn't Springsteen's "Wreck On The Highway" a more mature version of the same theme?). The Lou Reed entry made me angry, and comparing The Bells to the "electronic music" of Eno, Bowie and Roxy just seems misguided. Personally, I don't think Pete Townshend's ever written anything that compares to Reed's best songs, but opinion is all relative in the end. I'd give this book two stars. B.H.

MOVIES ON TV: 1984-85 EDITION Edited by Steven Scheuer (Bantam):: A lot of the juicy weirdness previously found in this book (see "Prime Time—Hot Dogma!/Gas For The Masses"— CREEM May '82) has been excised from this latest edition, ostensibly to make room for the addition of about a thousand recent theatrical and TV movies, but more probably to make the book conform a bit closer to what's expected of a mainstream mass-market consumer's guide—I mean, what was the average bozo, trying to get a quick fix on the late show, supposed to make of this analysis when he or she looked up The Naked Spur — "landmark psychological western, in which the outcroppings of rocks become neurotic extensions of the character's inner tensions"? Unfortunately, aside from what wild-eyed auteurism is left and the occasional rave review for some little-known third world effort, this is just a more timid version of Leonard Maltin's TV Movies (i.e., Sheuer and staff overrate just about everything). Of course Maltin himself has gotten pretty weird during the last couple of years (recently on Entertainment Tonight, using a scale of 1 thru 10, he gave "Star 'SO" a two and "The Ostermann Weekend" a seven) but that's a whole 'nother capsule review.. R.C.W.

UP-TIGHT: THE VELVET UNDERGROUND STORY by Victor Bockris & Gerard Malanga (Omnibus Press):: I'd imagine a lot of people have been waiting for this because it's the closest we're going to get to a definitive history of the legendary band unless Lou eventually decides to write his memoirs. Bockris has been part of the William Burroughs-led N.Y.C. avant-garde scene for many years and Malanga is the poet who once danced with a whip in front of the Velvets, so this is pretty much an insider's account. Up-Tight is mainly comprised of fragmentary quotes from interviews with Reed, Gale, Nico, Morrison, Tucker, Yule, Warhol and assorted insiders, though it should be noted that some of the quotes have been lifted from Warhol's POPism and other sources. What makes the book excellent (aside from sensational photos) is that the authors refrain from a lot of analysis (although each LP is explained song-by-song), relating the story straightforwardly, and avoiding the myth-making that's marred other accounts. Lou Reed: "If you line the songs up (from each LP) and play them, you should be able to relate and not feel alone—* I think it's important that people don't feel alone." What a great quote! What a fine book! B.H.

THE PSYCHOTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM by Michael Weldon (Ballantine):: You can tell from the cover if this is the book for you—at the top is a cheesy hand-colored picture of Ronnie and Nancy Reagan sharing an emotional moment from Hellcats Of The Navy ("the awkward love scenes are chilling" says Weldon inside); in the lower right-hand comer three unconvincing looking rodents from The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!, blood dripping from their little jaws, are surrounding Elvis Presley as he appeared in Kissin' Cousins; in the lower left-hand corner an improbably green monster hoists a pink-bikinied starlet in the scene from the imaginatively titled The Beach Girls And The Monster (aka Surf Terror and Monster From The Surf); behind them all looms, in grotty black and white except for his big yellow eyes, The Incredible Melting Man. How could you not buy this book? So what if some of the synopses are pretty skimpy—this is a groundbreaking work, momumental in scope and nauseating in design, with tons of facts and pictures (and posters!) covering over 3,000 movies including some of the crummiest ever made and, dare one say it, some of the best. R.C.W.

IRON AGE: A new Heavy Metal fanzine from Australia, IA tackles the thudmonger scene with lots of "energetic" writing and the serve-atroom-temperature sincerity of maddened Def Riot fans whose 12-Mile Territorial Limit has been violated by armored Soviet air mattresses. Features in the first two issues range from a close-up examination of every single fact known about Iron Maiden (1. They're stupid. 2. Uh...) to a hilarious Gilligan's Island send-up of rivet-clowns Accept. Lotsa weird Oz in-humor as well—if anybody out there knows what a "bickie-jar" is, don't tell us OK? (c/o Central Station Records, Shop 4, Princes Bridge Station, 151 Flinders St., Melbourne, Vic., Australia, 3000). R.J.