CLIPS

CLIPS

This month’s Clips were written by John Kordosh and Bill Holdship

VIDEO AID (Virgin Music Video)

Line up, ye fans of Britpop, for the visual/aural thrill of a lifetime. Why, the 21 songs on this tape feature so many beautiful and talented people that one scarcely knows where to start gushing. How about the imitable Frankie Goes To Hollywood, with the famous video for their famous “Relax”? Or the former duo Wham! in the former video for their former song, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”? And can we forget Culture Club’s unique look at war, in their enigmatic “The War Song”? Yes, but it’s here, too. As is Marilyn, with “Cry And Be Free,” Bananarama with “Rough Justice” and Eurythmics with “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four).” Some of these people are girls, you know, so this isn’t a sexist collection of clips. Not at all! In truth, it’s a collection of (mostly) famous stuff you’ve seen and now can’t wait to own. Or something like that. And the whole package—as you guessed—is part of the Band Aid project, with all proceeds going to famine relief in Estonia. Wait, it says Ethiopia. Hey, I almost forgot to mention the best credit I’ve ever seen on a video: “Appeal by Mick Jagger.” And lack of appeal by Phil Collins, right?J.K.

IRON MAIDEN LIVE AFTER DEATH (Sony)

At last—the World Slavery Tour ’85 in the privacy of your own home! Hot damn, and from the band that started it someiron Maiden themselves. Listen, from the intro of this concert footage—the famous Churchill speech, for those of you who don’t groove on Maiden live, like we rockin’ mofos do—this is a slab of Maiden as you like it\ Bruce Dickinson singing such timeless hits as Peter Buck’s “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner”! Wow! There’s more, though— much more. There’s Eddie, the Maiden mascot, looking much like the guys in Maiden would, were they a little taller. There’s “Flight Of Icarus,” which is one tuff rocker! “Number Of The Beast”! “Powerslave”! Everything off Lifes Rich Pageant, their best album yet! Heck, the credits say it best: “This video shows Maiden in concert at their ferocious best, performing with the most elaborate stage and lighting production yet.” Not “one of the most elaborate,” but the most elaborate! No middle ground! Mai-din! Mai-DIN! He’pppppppp! J.K.

HOWARD JONES:

LAST WORLD DREAM (Elektra Video)

Howard Jones. Live. The keyboards. “No One Is To Blame.” For non-commercial private exhibition in homes only. Not apartments. Recorded at the N.E.C., Birmingham, England. The man. The discography. “What Is Love?” Trevor Morais, the drummer. Jed Hoile, the mime. The mime? The Fan Club. The address: P.O. Box 185, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP11 2E2, England. What the hell’s N.E.C.? “Like To Get To Know You Well.” The bleeping mime?\ The running time: 58:30. “Things Can Only Get Better.” Indeed. J.K.

ELVIS MEMORIES (Vestron Video)

You may have seen this on TV, as it regularly comes out of the closet when a local station wants to run something about the King on the anniversary of his birth or death. Hosted by George Klein, Elvis’s friend (and there’s plenty of pix of the two together at the beginning of this special to prove it!), a lot of people reminisce about Presley, ranging from Jerry Lee Lewis to Wink Martindale to Barbara Mandrell. Did you know that Elvis was a good Christian boy who didn’t smoke or drink and always loved his mom? One can only wonder why he died at 42 after watching this. A lot of these people seem to make their living talking about Elvis (I saw some of them at an Elvis convention in Memphis five years ago), and that’s kinda pathetic in itself. And the never-before-seen concert footage is worthless. In two words: this sucks. B.H.