FRONT ROW CENTER

FRONT ROW CENTER

VIDEO VIDEO

THE ARMS CONCERT, PARTS I & II (Media)

U2: Under A Blood Red Sky (MCA Home Video)

THE JAM: Trans Global Unity Express (Sony Video EP)

Bill Holdship

Haven’t seen Stop Making Sense yet, but with few exceptions, rock concerts generally don’t translate very well to the big or small screen. A concert is invariably the event in itself, and films often suffer from the “you hadda be there” problem. A classic case of this is The Arms Concert, the Ronnie Lane benefit for multiple sclerosis research, filmed at London’s Royal Albert Hall last year. People who saw the show in New York say it was real neat seeing Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page (plus other British superstars) onstage at the same time, but these two cassettes are basically a bore.

First, I can’t figure why Media decided to sell the concert in two parts (both feature the same Ronnie Lane spoken intro). The first is definitely the weaker of the two. Featuring Clapton and Steve Winwood as its highlights, there really isn’t a lot here to watch. The music sounds wonderful of course, the triple percussion (Charlie Watts, Ray Cooper and Kenney Jones) is sometimes interesting— but Clapton has never exactly been “Mr. Personality” onstage, and the various shots of him and Bill Wyman side-by-side surely qualify as some of the least charismatic in concert film history. Even “Gimme Some Lovin’” lacks magic, though Winwood still has an incredible voice.

Part II fares a little better following Beck’s "jazz rock” (with his own band), which may sound like a lot of rifting to those other than his fans. Jimmy Page looks wasted, but his guitar playing (on three solo numbers) is the most exciting part of the show. It’s a little weird hearing “Stairway To Heaven” as an instrumental, but having recently seen Robert Plant’s live interpretation of it again in The Song Remains The Same (“Does anyone remember laughter?” indeed), we should be grateful for small favors.

Everyone joins in onstage for a

“Layla” finale. It’s sort of an exciting novelty, but why not just one Yardbirds’ tune for old time’s sake? The Arms Concert was for a good cause (so was the better Bangladesh, and when’s the last time you pulled that out?), but when it comes to “classic British rock,” I’ll take my Ready, Steady, Go! cassette.

Friends have always told me that U2 are great live, but, from a distance, Bono and crew have always struck me as a little pompous, self-righteous and contrived. This is what I was hoping to tell you about Under A Blood Red Sky, since this is being written in February, and I hate everything in February. A video of a 1983 Denver, Colorado concert performed in the rain, the pre-show footage seemed to confirm my

suspicions, since the soundtrack features a celestial-sounding choir singing a Catholic hymn (is this gonna be the Second Coming or what?). But when the video finally captures U2 onstage, I gotta admit the band totally won me over.

The 11 song concert is very exciting. The filming is fantastic. The Edge is a wonderful musician,

and Bono is a terrific frontperson. What passes for pomposity and self-righteousness on record and in interviews seems very humanistic onstage. It may all be show biz in the end, but let it be said that U2 put on a classic rock ‘n’ roll show. I still think their “white flag” political sloganeering is naive and still don’t like a lot of their songs on vinyl, but now I understand why the kids were lined up around the block last week for tickets to a forthcoming Detroit U2 show. Maybe I’ll even catch ‘em sometime if I get the chance.

Along with Elvis Costello & the Attractions, the Jam were one of the best bands to rise from the British “punk” rock movement, remaining dynamic through Setting Sons. But by the time of Sound Affects, Paul Weller’s lack of humor was becoming a little grating (he, too, suffers from the pompous/selfrighteous school of thought)—and when he decided he wanted to be black...well, let’s just say the Jam were never meant to be a “soul” band.

Unfortunately, Trans Global Unity Express is 30 minutes of the Jam at the end. Most of the material is from the The Gift, and most of it’s pretty lame. A killer version of “Private Hell” almost makes the video worthwhile, as it illustrates what the Jam were always meant to be—a terrific hard rocking band. But the majority of this is some of the coldest music to ever try to pass itself off as “soulinfluenced.”

What I would have given for a video clip of “Down In The Tube Station At Midnight” or even “Non-Stop Dancing.” But once again, we should be grateful for small favors, and just be happy it’s not a Style Council video.