CLIPS

CLIPS

This month’s Clips were written by Martin Dio and Dave DiMarti no

ROBYN HITCHCOCK & THE EGYPTIANS Gotta Let This Hen Out! (Jettisoundz Ltd.)

So then it’s agreed? Robyn Hitchcock is the fabbest artist to hit these shores since the Beatles? No? Big deal. Like him, love him, or never heard of him before, former Soft Boy Hitchcock is a witty, engaging and highly melodic songwriter that everybody on this earth should hear at least once. Thanks to a few recent tours and a hipperthan-thou rock press, the Brit songboy is receiving his widest exposure to date, and this video, much like the live album of the same name, presents some of his best material in a highly agreeable, extra-crispy live setting. Included are Soft Boys faves “Kingdom Of Love” and “Only The Stones Remain,” and a positively fab, ultra-cheapo “The Man With The Lightbulb Head” video that puts to shame MTV vids costing maybe 30 times as much. All told, this little package is put together with care and love and is the sort of video you’ll watch many more times than once. And if you’d like one, just send $29.95 to Counter Intelligence, P.O. Box 7749, Station C, Atlanta, GA, 30357. Of course, there might be postage or something, so you’d better write ’em first. D.D.

STATUS QUO End Of The Road ’84 (Passport Music Video)

You never know you’re sorry a band has gone until they’re gone—and it’s sad to see Status Quo go. They’ve been at it for years, and though there’s no “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” here to tide over real longterm fans, there’s enough boogie chug to bring back glorious memories o’ monotony. Shot at the Milton Keynes Bowl in England—where Quo were considered the longest living legends in the book—this features some well-known material and a better-than-BOC “Roadhouse Blues” that would not displease James Morrison. If indeed Quo has gone forever— and I doubt it, ’cuz I just read one of the guys was suing two other ones for using the Quo name again, but who knows? —this is as nifty a memento as you could ask for. M.D.

TODD RUNDGREN The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (Passport Music Video) This is one weird video. Apparently it was made for British TV, and as a documentary of Rundgren’s lengthy career, it works quite well. It also works well in showing just how Rundgren perceives himself as a tortured artist. Interspersed throughout a lengthy and revealing interview are clips of Rundgren from his earliest days, apparently at home with his record collection, having various mystical experiences. Shapes predominate—an oblong silver disc, triangles, cubes, tetrahedrons, prisms, stars and more —all of them intended to be deeply symbolic, I suppose. Best image, though is this snailshell/ tuba/cochlea thing that floats in the air and spews out “objects” from what looks like a vaginal orifice. You want torture, you got it. Between clips of Rundgren actually going on the record and saying that his entire musical career was changed due to intense use of psychedelics—this directly prior to A Wizard/A True Star, can’t you guess—you’re treated to some of Rundgren’s best material ever, all of it Hi-Fi if your VCR’s inclined. Most interesting is the early Rundgren’s record collection, visible in his apartment during one of the mystical sequences. Scattered throughout the room are LPs by Lonnie Mack, NRBQ, Left Banke, Van Morrison, Buffalo Springfield Again, Electric Ladyland, the Beatles, Blonde On Blonde, and a bunch of other goodies more revealing than the bulk of the interview. Though some of this is way too cliched, it obviously took a tremendous amount of work. Great early ’70s party clips with Sylvia Miles, too. With the interview, the images, and this script, I doubt we’re ever gonna get a deeper peek into the mind of the tortured Mr. Todd. Recommended. D.D.

MARTIN BRILEY Dangerous Moments (Sony Video 45)

It’s the man with the pizza hat! That’s right, good ol’ Martin Briley, the guy who writes songs for lots of other people and played with Ian Hunter or something and even got to make three albums until PolyGram realized that nobody in the world was buying ’em, so they better dump the poor guy while they can. “Dangerous Moments” features Pizza Hat out on the streets playing his electric guitar and singing even though there’s a nuclear war just about to happen and then, incredibly, the world blows up and Martin actually wakes up in a dentist’s office for some “real” dangerous moments, yuk-yuk, and it was all a dream! Add Martin’s statement on useless relationships (“The Salt In My Tears”) and the power-packed, emotionallywrenching commentary on TV preachers (“Put Your Hands On The Screen”), and I’ll bet that just like me, you’ll put the video on still-frame and dial the preacher’s number that flashed during the video, (213)277-1367, and find out that’s it’s been disconnected, which is why you’re supposed to use those 555 numbers in the first place. A hit! M.D.