This was the first Fellini film I ever saw as a young impressionable teen curious about international cinema — and the promise of sex. What I watched that day was undoubtedly a cropped-and-chopped print muddled by woefully incomplete subtitles, broadcast on proto-cable, probably ON TV.
I get why Robbie Patton didn’t make it big, though I also see why so many in his orbit really thought he would — not just Atlantic Records execs looking for a new star but particularly Christine McVie, who sings on (but did not produce, as erroneously stated elsewhere*) this third album of his after co-helming his second.
This is a very fine Randy Newman record, perhaps not among his all-time greatest (that’s a tall order) yet teeming with cleverly caustic commentaries that rank among his best.
My mom got the cassette soon after it arrived in January ‘83 and it remained a constant for months, until I had every line of it memorized by the time she took me to see Newman live for the first time that April at Universal, when I was 14.
[Measuring the marigold.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 22
The Sandpipers: ‘The Sandpipers’ (May ’67)
[Cherchez la femme.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 21
Claudine Longet: ‘Claudine’ (April ’67)
Claudine Longet: ‘The Look of Love’ (October ’67)
[Witness the birth of Beefheart!]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 20
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band:
‘The Legendary A&M Sessions’ (January-March ’66)
This one is too serendipitous to keep from fulfilling dual purposes. Cameron Crowe’s autobiographical ‘Almost Famous’ is not only his finest film and one of the very best of its era (or in rock-flick history), it also yielded one of the mightiest compendiums of compiled classics this side of ‘Forrest Gump.’
Six points about The Alternate Mirage as we continue deep diving into Christine McVie’s recorded past:
1. I know all they did was flip the back cover to the front and vice versa, but I can’t help but smile at the sight of the band’s rhythm section whenever they’re posed with their namesake moniker. It’s why I prefer the ’75 white album display over the iconic shot for the LP that followed it.
At last: a new Fleetwood Mac album!
New, that is, for this ongoing deep dive into the discography of the late great Christine McVie, following 10 posts dedicated to things she did to keep busy after the Tusk tour of ’79-’80.
That’s when we last found the most famous Mac-ateers all in the same room, sounding like cocaine as much as looking it and rapidly getting on each other’s nerves (again). A healthy break was needed — and maybe should have lasted longer?
[A wider shade of confusion.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 19
Procol Harum: ‘Procol Harum’ (Sept ’67)