Oriphiel

Thanks for all the feedback! Pet Sounds, I appreciate the advice, and everyone seems to be agreement with your opinion; that I should just keep on doing what i'm doing. Trollheart, thank you for brushing up my video etiquette! I'll try to stick to two videos tops per entry (except when i'm looking at big compilations), and if I ever go past three videos, I'll be sure to spoiler them so that nobody experiences any crashes/slow-downs.

Oriphiel

Pebbles and Girls in the Garage aren't the only series' putting out vintage Garage Rock. Pressed by a dedicated army of small independent labels, there are hundreds of obscure compilations floating around out there. Before the internet took off, seemingly every region of the world had some die-hard fans of Garage Rock releasing semi-legitimate (or just flat out bootlegged) reissues, as they attempted to keep the music they loved alive. And they succeeded, managing to save recordings of these forgotten songs until they could eventually be converted to a digital format. A few years after Bomp Records/AIP started the Pebbles series in 1979, a small label headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, called Crypt Records became their competition by releasing a series of their own. It was called "Back from the Grave", and quickly became a regional cult series, developing a fanbase that would keep it alive with unwavering support (to this day, the series is still being pressed on vinyl). So, hop in your hot rod and slick back yur hair, because it's time for the wild rockers of the 1960's to come "Back from the Grave"!

Back from the Grave Part One



1. The Elite - "My Confusion" - Opening up the ceremonies are The Elite with some riff rock, 1960's style. With a nice gritty Blues undertone to it, this is a very strong Garage Rock track with a lot of heart! It also has a twang to it that calls back to the days of Rockabilly.

2. The Jujus - "Do You Understand Me?" - Could be the same "Jujus" that had their song "You Treated me Bad" featured in the first volume of the Pebbles series. If so, then I have to congratulate them; this song has way more depth to it, and it showcases a pretty compelling sound despite being fairly simple.

3. The Alarm Clocks - "Yeah" - This track has a heavy and kind of creepy sound to it. The lyrics and vocalist remind me a bit of The Haunted's Garage Rock classic "1-2-5" , which isn't surprising as it was a pretty influential song in it's time. I like the vocal harmonies during the chorus!


One of The Alarm Clocks' 45's!

4. The Alarm Clocks - "No Reason to Complain" - Starting off in the vein of The Animals' classic "It's My Life" with a naked bassline, the Alarm Clocks kick into a fantastically haunting track with similar lyrics to their last offering (although the two songs sound fairly different).

5. The Fabs - "That's the Bag I'm In" - This one has that twangy, creepy Rockabilly type of beat to it, which pops up in a lot of vintage songs (off the top of my head, it kind of reminds me of "Want You", back when we looked at Girls in the Garage Volume Two). The singer also tries to add to the old-school feeling with deep Rockabilly-style vocals. However, the fuzz-guitar and electric organ make it clear that this song is from the 1960's and not the 1950's.

6. The Malibus - "Cry" - A bit lighter than the last few tracks, this one is still pretty melancholy. It's pushed along mostly by the fuzz-guitars and sharp drumming, while the sloppy vocalist does his thing, and the backing vocalists assist with some decent harmonies.


The Malibus!

7. The Bel-Aires - "Ya Ha Be Be" - The weirdest track so far. It kind of shifts around into different tones and beats as it goes on, although it remains a pretty solid, if a bit sloppy, Garage number till the end. I find it funny that the label that released this in 1967 was called "Discotheque", which couldn't be a further description from the way this song sounds.

8. The Legends - "I'll Come Again" - Opening right up with groovy electric organs and vocal harmonies, this strange yet charming Garage song is an incredible amount of fun to listen to!

9. The Rats - "Rat's Revenge Part One" - Of course, a song set to the beat of "Louie Louie" was bound to pop up eventually. This one is really gritty and drips with sloppy Proto-Punk attitude. It also randomly starts and stops whenever the band feels like it, only adding to the jarring nature of the track. From what I can tell, this is about a "super giant rat" attacking mankind, although it sounds like the band is just making up lyrics as they go (especially from the halfway mark on, and when someone just starts laughing in the background near the end).


The Rat's 45! Black Cat Records is still going strong to this day. Also, Norton Records has reissued this 45.

10. The Rats - "Rat's Revenge Part Two" - Part Two? Are you serious? Ha, I suppose I should hate this weird and super sloppy nonsense, but... I actually kind of love it. I must be losing my mind... I didn't include this song in the videos at the end, but you should really check it out some time. You'll probably get a kick and a laugh out of it.

11. The One Way Streets - "We All Love Peanut Butter" - Garage Rockers and Psychedelic heroes had a thing about peanut butter. There was the band "The Peanut Butter Conspiracy", the song "Peanut Butter" covered by the likes of The Liverbirds, and now this. I don't get it. Anyway, this is Psychedelic/Folk number that follows the same style that The Beatles' had during their foray into Psychedelia. Solid Beat-style drumming and plenty of vocal harmonies.

12. Larry and the Blue Notes - "Night of the Phantom" - And the compilation delves right back into haunting Garage Rock. This one is pretty solid and catchy, with a kind of echo-y distance to it. The lyrics tell a story about a guy and his gal getting attacked by a masked killer on the street. Just like with "Rat's Revenge", I didn't put a video of it at the bottom of the entry but I still recommend it wholeheartedly.


Larry and the Blue Notes!

13. The One Way Streets - "Jack the Ripper" - Heh, I love it! This wild tune opens up with someone screaming, presumably a victim of the Ripper, and it just gets even more intense from there! I love the instrumentation on this one, especially during the super strange to the point of being experimental guitar break. Definitely check this one out some time!

14. The Swamp Rats - "Psycho" - Ah! A Sonics cover! This one drops all of the heaviness and style that the original had, choosing to simply blaze forward with as much speed and thrashiness as possible! This song is Proto-Punk gold, especially from the halfway mark on, where there is a fantastically noisy guitar solo!

15. The Cords - "Ghost Power" - The ultimate Halloween song! With a super heavy fuzz-guitar, as well as every single "spooky" sound effect these guys could get their hands on, this song is straight out of a drive-in flick about a group of go-go dancers that fight monsters (sounds ridiculous, but no movie premise was too odd for the likes of Roger Corman).



I absolutely loved this compilation! I seriously wouldn't change a single thing about it! Usually, an album will have only two or three stand-out tracks that i'm eager to recommend, with the rest of the songs being decent but not extraordinary. However, every single track on this album was perfect in every way! This is a fantastic album for anyone who likes vintage Garage Rock, and is without a doubt one of the best available samplers of the genre.

Oriphiel

Hey everyone! Sorry for staying away from The Garage for so long, but I've been busy doing some construction work. I still plug and post around the Forums when I get the chance, however I just haven't really had the drive to write up anything massive (which is a tradition for my entries). Thanks for the two thousand and plus views! To commemorate the occasion, I went out to a record store and grabbed a random album to review, to help me get back into the beat of things! I knew absolutely nothing about it or who made it, and I picked it solely because it was in the Psychedelic/Folk part of the Oldies section, and it had some groovy artwork on it. I really hope it's crazy Psychedelic Rock! Well, without further ado...

Four Sides of Melanie



I looked up the album, and it's apparently a compilation of the early work of Melanie Safka, someone that I've never heard of before. I'm hesitant to look up more about her, because I don't want to ruin the surprise of what kind of music she plays, but she grew up in New York City, and got her start by playing in coffee shops and small venues in the counter-culture mecca of Greenwhich Village. She started singing and playing guitar professionally in her teens, and when she hit her twenties in the mid to late sixties, she had a local following and a record contract (with the hip Buddah Records no less, the same label that pressed this very album in 1971). With a background like that, it's no surprise that she quickly fell in with the "Hippy" movement, and even performed at the infamous and borderline generation-defining Woodstock Festival. Now that we've established a context, let's get to the music!

1. "Somebody Loves Me" - Well, this isn't Psychedelic Rock. It's more like Dylan/Baez-esque Folk, with the stripped down sound of someone simply singing and playing a guitar. However, right from the start, Melanie's voice definitely sets her apart from other Folk singers. It's kind of an odd voice, being both worn and smooth at the same time, and she has kind of a strong accent. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I have to admit that it makes an impression, which whether for better or worse is always better than not making any impression at all. This is kind of a melancholy song, with a very simple tone and set of lyrics, and it gives off both a tired and hopeful feeling.

2. "Beautiful People" - This one has a similar tone to the last song, but it's a bit more quick and upbeat. It's more embellished, with drums and a string section backing her up. Though she lets her vocals have a bit more power and volume this time, altogether the song actually sounds a little less powerful than the stark and honestly rough opening track.

3. "In the Hour" - This track at times has more of a traditional European Folk feeling to it. It's kept fairly simple, with her vocals and guitar strumming taking the forefront, while there's some light string and accordion action going on in the background. I can't decide if her rough vocals are either the perfect match for this song, or the opposite, but like I said earlier, she definitely leaves an impression on you!

4. "I Really Loved Harold" - Keeping a bit of the traditional feeling of the last song, this one cuts out most of the background instruments (save for a few horns during the chorus, and some fantastic Oboe work). It's the darkest song so far on the album, both lyrically and tonally, but it still has a kind of Blues-style triumphant weariness throughout it. This is my favorite track so far!



5. "Johnny Boy" - The guitar work is great, as well as the instruments in the background, but Melanie's vocals follow an odd and herky-jerky beat that makes the song sound kind of strange and intriguing. I don't think the lyrics were very strong, but they're a good match for this kind of song.

6. "Any Guy" - A bit more light and upbeat than the last few songs, especially with the strong strings and horns backing her up. It follows that kind of Waltz-style beat, which only adds to the overall lighthearted feeling. Still, despite the happiness of it, the lyrics kind of go in the opposite direction, being fairly cynical.

7. "I'm Back in Town" - Even more lighthearted and happy than the last song, complete with the bouncy backing instruments. Again, the lyrics are kind of an odd match for the upbeat tone, being about either a girl who comes home to find that her man is cheating on her, or someone who goes back to their hometown and decides to break into the house of their ex.

8. "What Have They Done to My Song Ma" - Another upbeat song with dark and cynical lyrics, this is probably the strongest of the last few tracks. Again, Melanie's vocals are rough and unusual, but I really couldn't imagine anyone else singing this song.


Groovy, man...

9. "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" - At almost eight minutes, this is the longest song of the album. It's got that late sixties/early seventies heavy Gospel feeling to it. Melanie's vocals are very clear and strong on this track, while the drummer, pianist and backing vocalists do their thing in style. This isn't my favorite track so far, but it's definitely one of the stronger ones.

10. "Peace Will Come (According to Plan)" - With the organ in the background of the intro, this song starts off with a bit of a Gospel feeling similar to the last track, and it also has the string section and upbeat feeling of the earlier tracks, as well as having the focus on the guitar work and rough vocals of the opening songs of the album. It's a good mix of every tone she's experimented with so far, and I kind of like it better than the last track!

11. "Good Book" - Similar to the mixed tones/styles of the last song, this one has more of a Gospel feeling to it due to the backing vocalists.

12. "Nickel Song" - This number has a kind of Western Folk feeling. Needless to say, it's got her unusual kind of upbeat weariness to it, which is starting to grow on me! The lyrics and tone are clear and strong, with a definite charm to them.



13. "Babe Rainbow" - At just about a minute, this is the shortest song of the album. It's kind of quiet and subdued, but it's fun while it lasts.

14. "Mr. Tambourine Man" - A cover of the classic Folk tune, Melanie's rough vocals work really well alongside her stark guitar playing. The strings and flute work are great additions, despite staying fairly subtle. For some reason, this song makes me want to curl under my covers and read a book while eating ice cream. Listen to it, you'll see what I mean!

15. "Carolina on my Mind" - Another strong cover, with a Western Folk tone. It's kept fairly subdued, but the guitar work is solid and very fitting.

16. "Ruby Tuesday" - Heh, I didn't expect a Rolling Stones cover! This is very similar to Melanie's cover of Mr. Tambourine Man, with the same sound and tone. Her vocals are pretty strong, especially during the chorus, and she really makes the song her own!



17. "Sign in the Window" - Another cover, this one features some very clear and solid vocals, as well as some fun banjo work! It's got a fun Western Folk feeling to it, especially during the chorus, and the light organ playing is a nice touch.

18. "Lay Lady Lay" - Here's one more cover for the album! It's just as strong and fun as the others, with Melanie adding her own twist to it. The vocals are fitting, but I especially like the guitar work throughout the song.

19. "Christopher Robin" - Sort of a lullaby, written about the protagonist of the classic Winny the Pooh books. It's kind of goofy and super lighthearted, but also very sweet.

20. "Animal Crackers" - Heh, I love it! This is a live track about the deliciousness of animals crackers, while also having a bit of a social commentary in the background. This is charming as hell, with Melanie constantly laughing and talking with the audience. Definitely one of my favorites so far! I wanted to include a video of this at the end, but I couldn't find any uploads of the version off of this album (which I highly recommend tracking down, if you can).



21. "I Don't Eat Animals" - Another super charming live track. Honestly, I think she sounds way better live than in the studio! This song is about being a vegetarian, but I think it's the kind of song that even a carnivore could like and appreciate.

22. "Psychotherapy" - Another humorous song with a dash of social commentary, this live track pokes fun at psychiatrists (particularly Freud), and takes a jab at both people who repress their urges as well as those who give in to them too freely. Also, it's got a fantastic chorus ("Glory, glory psychotherapy! Glory, glory sexuality! Glory, glory now we can be free, as the Id goes marching on!").

23. "Leftover Wine" - Ending the album is a very solid live track, featuring fantastic vocals and guitar work. I think this might be the strongest song of the album, and it calls back to the simple and dark tone of the opening tracks.



I'm not the biggest fan of Folk music (although I do like a few artists, like Dylan and Baez), and I was really expecting some fun Psychedelic Rock which is more in my element, however I actually really loved this album! Melanie's voice is a bit jarring at the beginning, but you kind of fall in love with it by the time that the album is over. This is a very solid compilation, with a good mix of both subtle and striking songs, however it really starts to shine when you reach the live tracks at the end. I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes Folk music, and I'd even recommend that someone who hates Folk give it a shot.

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Oriphiel

To commemorate getting past the two thousand views mark, I went out a few days ago and did some more vinyl hunting, picking up a few obscure gems! To everyone who reads my journal, thank you, and I hope that you like what I found!

The Cans - I Fought the Law/It's Gonna Be Alright - I found this single from 1970 as a white label promo cut, and i'm not sure if it was ever pressed past that stage. It's a terrific take on The Crickets' classic tale of fighting a losing battle against authority, and though it's fairly straightforward it has a good Garage Rock feeling to it! The B-Side is a slow song that goes for the Northern Soul feeling.



The Silvertones - Waitin' for my Girl/Seven-Piece Bathing Suit - I'm not sure when this was released (which usually means it's from 1966), but it's a really fun and wild Psychedelic Surfing track! It's about a guy who checks out the women on the beach while waiting for his girlfriend, and she kind of gets revenge on him by showing up in a "topless bathing suit" and dancing in front of all the guys! The B-Side is an edited version of the same song, where the line "topless bathing suit" is replaced by "seven-piece bathing suit".



Five by Five - Good Connection/Never - Another single released in early 1970, and also as a white label promo, this one did in fact eventually make it past the promo stage. It's two of the more obscure songs from the band, who managed to pick up a cult following after covering Jimi Hendrix's song Fire. The first side is a strong and heavy Hard Rock number with a considerable splash of the Progressive sound added to the mix, and the chorus is pretty catchy! The B-Side is slower and easier, being a kind of Soul influenced ballad.



That's all for today, and I hope you guys and gals got a kick out of the music! I'm probably going to be busy for the next few days, but I'll see if I can't write up a proper entry when I get the chance.

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Oriphiel

I decided to do something different for a change, and look at a movie rather than an album. Of course, being a fan of weird music, it's no surprise that i'm also a fan of weird flicks! Specifically, I've always had an affinity for the genres of horror, science fiction, and comedy, with some of my favorite movies having a mix of all three. I'll start off with a movie that truly is the perfect incarnation of the phrase "Love it or hate it"...





From the introduction to the very last scene, Hellraiser is an incredibly odd and at times non-traditional horror movie. Rather than focus on the standard battle between "good" and "evil", where young twenty-somethings with a deus ex machina defeat some ancient and wicked force, Hellraiser is at it's heart a story about the role of pleasure and pain in the human psyche. Of course, while one of the characters is eventually pegged as the "hero" whom the audience is supposed to root for, the movie actually spends most of it's run time examining the relationship between the two characters who become "the villains". In fact, you get the feeling that Clive Barker (the director, and author of the novel from which the movie was based) was constantly pressured by the studio and producers to make the film more simple and clear-cut then he wanted it to be. Everything from the scenes (which were edited to appease the MPAA) to the title of the movie became issues. Originally named "The Hellbound Heart" (after the novel), the studio asked for a change, citing that it was too "romantic" sounding. They asked for new ideas; Clive jokingly came up with the overly-literal "Sadomasochists From Beyond the Grave", and an elderly woman in the film crew apparently offered the joke suggestion "What a Woman Will Do For a Good ****". Needless to say, the studio rejected the titles, and eventually everyone settled on "Hellraiser".


Hellraiser is mostly the story of these two characters: a middle-aged woman who no longer loves her husband, and the living corpse of her husband's brother (who, in life, had an affair with her)

The difficulties of the movie didn't end with the road-bumps during it's creation. After it was released, viewers and critics alike had no idea what to make of what they had just seen. It isn't hard to see why people were confused and in disdain; the movie constantly tries to accomplish too many things in it's run-time, and this creates odd inconsistencies. For example, the first half of the movie relies mostly on suspense (and the dialogue between the characters) to affect the audience, however the second half features many cheap jump scares and the "cat and mouse" cliche that audiences were fairly tired of. The movie was at times a very tasteful and suspenseful work of horror, which many people thought didn't mesh well with the heavy scenes of (what they claimed was "tasteless") gore. Also, most of the movie centers around the idea that humans are always driven to do what brings them pleasure, forming morality after the fact to try and justify their inclinations, while also examining our odd fascination with danger and pain, trying to find the blurry (or maybe non-existent) line where the sensation of pleasure becomes pain. The first two thirds of the movie shy away from the labels of "good" and "evil", portraying the humans and demons without clearly defining any heroes or villains (making it hard to truly hate any character, since they're all mostly given motives for their actions). However, the final part of the movie throws the moral neutrality out the window, and becomes a generic battle between a human and demons. These odd dualities left a bad impression on audiences, causing half of the audience to absolutely hate the movie, and the other half to love it to the point of making it a cult classic. The critics were just as divided: while some praised the movie for it's merits, others were not at all impressed. As Roger Ebert himself put it: "This is a movie without wit, style or reason, and the true horror is that actors were made to portray, and technicians to realize, its bankruptcy of imagination."


The Cenobites, demons who care only for exploring the limits of pleasure and pain.

The plot of Hellraiser isn't quite clear when it first begins, opening with a scene of intense gore that goes unexplained until later in the movie. It begins with a man purchasing a strange cube from a mysterious merchant, and later tinkering with the cube in an empty room. As he later explains, his goal was to experience everything the world had to offer, to come to an understanding of pleasure and pain. Normal pleasures (including having an affair with his brother's wife) had grown to bore him ("It's not enough. It's never enough"), and so he sought down an artifact that would supposedly grant him otherworldly experiences. He opens the cube, and it brings forth a cadre of demons that torture him until he is literally in shambles (). Of course, their powers prevent him from actually dying, and they eventually bring him back to their home dimension. He becomes their slave, presumably for all eternity, or so the demons thought. His brother and sister in law move into his old home (which was left by the brothers' parents as inheritance to the both of them), and he uses the common blood between him and his living brother to anchor him back into reality. However, he comes back without any definite form, being a jumble of bones and tissue, and the only way for him to completely regain a body is to drain the essence of other living beings (or possibly just rip off their muscles/skin/etc. to use as his own, the movie never quite reveals which it is). After using a puddle of blood to give himself a basic form (in a fantastically eerie display of practical effects), his brother's wife finds him in the attic, and reluctantly agrees to help him.


The daughter, who eventually becomes the hero of the movie, tries to protect her father while evading his brother and the demons that are chasing him.

What impressed me most as the movie played out was, surprisingly enough (in a cult horror movie), the acting. Julia, played by Clare Higgins, does a fantastic job of conveying exactly what the character is thinking without ever having to say more than a few words at a time. There's a specific scene where she's saying goodnight to various guests at a dinner party, and when she reaches her husband, you can instantly see that she simultaneously loves him (deep down, anyway) and hates him. Andrew Robinson plays the part of the aloof and somewhat benign husband, and he plays it very convincingly and while his acting can seem a bit odd here and there, it actually fits his character pretty well. Later on, (serious spoilers from this point on) he plays the role of his reanimated sibling, after his brother kills him and steals his skin/face. As the "villain" of the end of the movie, Robinson does an incredible job, especially with his parting lines of the movie (which I'll probably address later on). The daughter, Kirsty, is played by Ashley Laurence, who does a good job of conveying a sense of shock at what the character is witnessing. However, I found some of her lines to be written and delivered a bit awkwardly, being too stiff, and it unfairly sets her character up to deliver some of the worst and most cheesy/overracted lines of the movie. Lastly, there's the resurrected brother, Frank, played predominantly by Oliver Smith (Sean Chapman plays him during flashbacks, when he still has his original body). In the flashbacks, he really doesn't pop up that much, making it hard to really critique Chapman's performance (I thought he did alright, though). Smith's time as Frank, however, when the character is a skinless body of exposed muscles and bone, is very memorable. Beyond these characters (who, to be fair, all have the occasional moment of cheesiness), everyone else was pretty forgettable. The movie introduces a love interest for the daughter (*groan*), but luckily for us he basically shows up only three or four times. I'm also glad that they didn't have him fulfill the cliche of popping up at the last second to rescue the girl, and in fact she's the one who ends up doing everything and saving the day (while he just stays in the background, trying not to get killed). Another thing that the film does right is that, quite frankly, the physical effects are stunning. However, Barker and the film crew ran out of money near the end of filming, which resulted in some very crude and dated effects as well. Below are two examples:


Here, you can see that they put a lot of effort into the designs of the demons.


And here is a goofy blob of rubber that never fails to make audiences laugh uncontrollably.

The movie also has some interesting scenes, as well as metaphors and symbolism, that add depth to the characters in a way that you might miss during the first viewing. Kirsty gets most of the weird symbolism that never gets explained. The baby crying in the distance during her nightmare, the sound of pigeons flapping their wings that she continually hears throughout the movie and the homeless man that usually appears not long after or before the sound (who stares at her with strangely clear and young eyes). Although later, the homeless man turns into a demon and saves the cube from being destroyed, but that doesn't quite make sense when looked at literally; at that point, the portal between worlds had closed, and all of the demons had disappeared. Not only that, but he had first appeared before the cube had even been opened by Kirsty. It seems more logical that he (and the pigeons) are a symbol, something about the alluring and yet disgusting nature of the strange and mysterious, and his saving the cube is a way of saying that humanity can never be free from our curiosity; someone will always come along, eventually, to give in to their curiosity and "open the box". In terms of the other characters, they also have their symbols and telling moments. The most obvious (yet also strangely easy to miss) is when Julia kisses Larry so that he doesn't notice skinless Frank lurking about. Larry takes that as an invitation to have sex with her, and Julia goes along with it, until Frank enters the room with a knife. Julia starts shouting "No! Please don't!", and she yells it quite a few times, and yet Larry (who has no reason to believe that she's not yelling at him) keeps on as if nothing's wrong. She pretty much has to toss him off, and he gets offended, asking "What's the matter with you?". At first, this just seems like lazy writing; Larry obviously had to have heard her, so it's idiotic to think that he waited for so long before stopping. But then you think about it, about his delay and response, and if it was actually intentional. The movie hints that the two are having marriage problems, and that Julia is "unsatisfied" with him as opposed to Frank, despite her husband trying to please her, and Larry's reaction to her screaming makes it seem like it's something normal for them (especially considering that the movie makes Larry out to be too sheepish to take advantage of anyone). Either way, the movie just implied that either Larry was approaching the point of rape without giving a care (which would give quite a dark side to his otherwise happy and goofy persona), or that doing so was something that Julia normally expected him to do. It's freaky, no matter how you look at it, because it makes the relationship between them that much darker. And then there's the matter of the scene preceding the ending. It's become somewhat of an iconic moment, popping up in many "Best Last Words" compilations and lists, and is completely open to interpretation. If you've never seen it before, here it is...



"Jesus Wept". Not exactly what you'd expect a murderer to say before being torn to pieces by dimension-traveling demons. At the time, critics brushed it off as being just a meaningless bible quote, added purely to sound interesting. In a way, they're right; when the scene was being filmed, the original line was supposed to be "**** you", but Robinson (the actor in the scene) asked Barker to change it to something more meaningful, memorable and mysterious. Specifically, he asked for that quote from the bible, and Barker immediately saw the potential in it, and reworked the scene. It's actually an ingenious line, when you look at the context of the phrase: In the bible, Jesus (depending on interpretations) is either crying for his friend Lazarus, or he's crying because of the faithlessness of Lazarus' family. In the first interpretation, it would mean that Frank is admitting that his actions were in vain (as Jesus wept for a dead man, despite know that he can bring him back to life with little effort, which he does, making the tears pointless). In this case, it seems like Frank is saying that there was no point trying to fight the demons, as he was always destined (because of his curiosity and passions) to be their slave. In the second interpretation, where Jesus cries because Lazarus' family is upset despite knowing that he can and will bring Lazarus back, Frank would be making more of a commentary on humanity, and how we're ruled by fear and doubt. We'll always be repelled by (and attracted to) the unknown, to death and pain, and ruled by fear. Jesus weeping, in this case, is almost as if he's sad because of this flawed and unchanging nature of humanity, and it gives Frank's words a kind of edge (as if he's saying "**** it, we're all screwed no matter what we do."). Another way to look at his words is by taking "Jesus Wept" as it is used as a phrase. People say it as a way of expressing frustration and mounting troubles (i.e. someone steals your car, and then you find out that your spouse is leaving you). In this case, Frank might simply be saying that he knows everything is about to go to hell (literally). There are many interpretations of just what Robinson had in mind when he chose that specific line, and when you take his strangely genuine smile into account, the possibilities only grow. This is the most highly discussed part of the movie, and everyone has their own idea of what was going through Frank's head. Was he giving up, smiling in despair? Was he actually enjoying the moment, knowing that his pain was simply the price of the curiosity he loved so much? You decide.


Even demons need to chill every now and then.

I consider Hellraiser to be a great and ambitious movie, definitely one of the classics of the horror genre, but also one that has far too many flaws and inconsistencies to be a true masterpiece. However, despite it's problems, you can really see that Clive Barker tried as hard as he could to bring his novel to life, and his hard work really shows in all of the movie's successes and strong points. There's a legitimate sense of intrigue and charm that seperates this movie from it's peers, and it actually makes you feel somewhat sympathetic for the "villains". With Frank, you can feel his sense of urgency and fear as he knows that the demons are coming for him, even as he takes monstrous actions to try and reclaim a physical body and escape from them. With Julia, you can see her sense of boredom with her husband (and life in general), almost feeling bad for her despite her infidelity and the actions she takes on behalf of Frank. There's also Larry, who legitimately tries to be a good husband and father, trusting his wife until the very end. And of course, you can't help but feel bad for Kirsty, who gets dragged into everything because of the actions of others, and is simply trying to keep her family together. When the acting works, it works very well, and the same can be said of the (now somewhat dated) effects. There are layers to the action (albeit not as much as in more intellectual films) which may serve as good food for thought. All in all, I'd definitely recommend Hellraiser, even though I already know that half of you will hate it. It seems like this movie will always be destined to walk the line between being great and horrible in the eyes of the viewers; which will it end up as for you?

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Oriphiel

There are quite a few people on Music Banter who love video games, and have a passion for seeking out interesting soundtracks. I'm not nearly as much of a gamer as I used to be, but I can vaguely recall the feeling of being transported to another world by a well-crafted song that perfectly fit the action taking place on screen. Here are some of my favorite soundtracks over the years!

GUN (2005)



It's difficult to explain just how much influence this game and the others of it's kind had on other shooting games, and the industry as a whole, especially since it's become relatively forgotten as time has gone on. GUN was one of a wave of games in the early 2000's that tried to break a certain stereotype; that Video Games were for children, and that they would never be able to compete with movies when it came to mature themes and dialogue, tension, and visual action. While many looked at the game's (at the time) incredibly graphic violence, and called it juvenile and pointless as they likened it to the kill-fests of the past like Doom and Wolfenstein, the dialogue and action throughout the story made it very clear that there was depth and maturity to the story being told. This was one the first games to ever really offer a presentation that felt identical to the quality of a movie experience, while still letting you free-roam at your leisure. There was quality writing, a professionally crafted soundtrack, voice acting by people you recognized from movies, large set piece battles... GUN took everything that video games were trying to incorporate at the time, and brought them to the next level.

It's a shame, though, that the game hasn't aged well. The story and the villains seem laughably corny, the hero seems like nothing more than a one-liner machine out for revenge, and there are many plotholes and inconsistencies. But GUN and it's peers changed the face of shooting games drastically, pushing them in a new direction. First and third person shooting franchises that used to be focused on rigid goal-based actions carried out by nameless grunts suddenly became about over-the-top heroes destroying larger than life villains in huge set piece battles as a larger story was played out, making them more and more like Adventure franchises (like Zelda), and pushing them to compete story-wise with movies. In many ways, GUN was the "Ocarina of Time" of third person shooters, complete with a very memorable soundtrack.

In my opinion, the best part of the game is the amazing music. The songs in GUN are absolutely gorgeous, and make the perfect match for the Western atmosphere of the game. I put some of my favorite songs in the spoilers tag above (and even though I put quite a few, it was still hard narrowing the choices down), but I highly recommend that you listen to the full soundtrack if you ever get the chance. Even if you hated this game and consider it to be wholly unimportant, I still think you ought to give the music a shot.

Wild ARMs (1997)



I'm going to be completely honest; I love Wild ARMs, but I have to admit that it isn't very different from many other RPGs that came out of Japan during the time period that it was developed. In fact, this game was highly influenced by franchises like Final Fantasy, which was soon to release it's seventh installation when Wild ARMs came out (and, in terms of sales, blew Wild ARMs out of the water). Still, it's a solid story with fun characters and some great moments, and the random breaking of the fourth wall ("This is a game! You should always carry a secret weapon!") was enough to endear people to the game to the point where it actually managed to build a fairly large fanbase, and became a franchise.

But putting all of that aside, the part of Wild ARMs that sticks with people the most is usually the opening cutscene that plays alongside the main theme of the game. It's hand drawn in the Manga/Anime style, and fits the exceptional music that plays alongside it remarkably well. The rest of the music in the game is also well made (especially for the variant of the main theme that plays after you beat the game), and actually this was one of the first games to feature various songs that were created by an actual orchestra specifically for it (although I believe a few games and franchises, like Final Fantasy, did it before them). But even putting the orchestral songs aside, the 8/16-bit era style music is also interesting and fun.

Dynasty Warriors 4 (2003)



The fourth installation of the Dynasty Warriors series, this is the game that most fans agree was the strongest point of the franchise, and it's really everything that a good sequel should be. The developers kept the trademark hack-'n-slash formula, but spiced it up by offering new mechanics, new characters, updated graphics, new weapons, new stages/battles, and a soundtrack that is metallic beyond belief! Not only are the songs very fun and catchy, they also helped to break the stereotype that video game soundtracks had to be either compositions made from pre-recorded sound bites, or orchestral arrangements. This soundtrack is well crafted Rock and Metal through and trough, with a splash of traditional Chinese added to the mix, and it all adds up to being one of the most memorable video game soundtracks of it's time.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms X (2005)



Released by the same developer of the Dynasty Warriors series, this lesser known franchise was less about destroying thousands of soldiers single-handedly, and more about managing a faction while using various tactics to destroy your rivals and unify China. This installment was the most RPG-like that the series would ever have, allowing you to play the game however you wanted. You could join or leave forces fluidly, complete side missions to improve your experience and learn new abilities, visit different towns, talk to the hundreds of officers in the game (each with a unique portrait and historical background), create your own character, become a warlord or emperor, or even just mess around as a free officer or bandit. But the best part of the game was, by the far, the wonderful orchestral soundtrack.

Morrowind (2002)

If I started to write about Morrowind, I'd end up writing all day, so I'll keep this short. If you haven't played it, give it a shot some time, and if you have, then isn't about time that you revisited the lovely swamplands and ash storms of Vvardenfell?

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Oriphiel

Here's part two of my favorite video game soundtracks!

Okage: Shadow King (2001)



Okage: Shadow King (known in Japan as "Me and Satan") is one of those games that is not only weird, but knows it and embraces it fully. While the gameplay was extremely limited as a barebones turn-based RPG, it's the game's genre-defying story and oddball characters that truly made this game stand out from the crowd. In fact, I think this game has one of most original storylines of any video game to date, though it starts off seeming like yet another generic adventure for a spiky haired misfit. It slowly turns into a parody of Japanese RPGs where plucky young heroes defend the world from a generic evil force, and eventually tosses what you thought was the main story out the window roughly halfway through the game. I don't want to ruin anything, as I'll probably review this game later on in my journal, but I will say that the villains were one of the highlights of the game (I still find the random evil kings that they throw at you hilarious, like the "Chairmen Evil King" and the "Teen Idol Evil King"). Anyway, other than all of that, I have just one more thing to say... All hail the Evil King Stanley! Oh, also, I hope you like bagpipes!

Saints Row 2 (2008)



Saints Row 2 is the perfect example of how a series can reinvent itself. After the first game, which was a fairly serious urban drama, the developers decided to take things in a different direction. They realized that Saints Row was always going to be seen as nothing more than a Grand Theft Auto knock off, so they decided to create their own unique experience that would help them to stand on their own. As a result, Saints Row 2 went down the path of comedy, and never looked back. To date, it's still one of the most clever (and raunchy) pop culture parodies ever put to the screen, with social commentaries and gratuitous violence walking hand in hand. Still, it kept enough of the first game's realism to make things tense and interesting, creating some moments in the game of legitimate maturity and interest, and the odd mix of serious and comedic tones gave it a weird kind of charm.

Every car that you hop into (whether it's yours or someone else's ) has access to a variety of radio stations, with a fun and eclectic amount of songs to listen to. I'm being completely honest when I say that before this game, I virtually never listened to Reggae, Hip-Hop, Techno, and Classical music, but it introduced me to a mess of songs that I ended up loving!

Dark Cloud (2001)



A very fun game that had it's share of originality (especially in that it let you re-build the game world after it was destroyed, rearranging all the pieces as you see fit), but was also indebted to the Adventure games that had come before it (like Zelda). And of course, it has a fair amount of weirdness to it as well (moon rabbits, anyone?). But at it's heart, it's a solid game with an interesting weapons system, and it certainly has it's moments of fun dialogue and charming scenarios. The soundtrack is also well made, and very relaxing.

Well, that concludes part two! Oh wait, there's one more thing I wanted to add...

Fear Effect



I didn't love the whole soundtrack, but I feel that I have to recognize the game's theme. It's... well, creepy. I mean, when you play Fear Effect, you die almost constantly, and you'll find yourself going back to the main menu to reload, only to be greeted by that damn theme song. It's really not that scary, since it quickly turns into a fairly standard song, so it's really just the very beginning of it that sticks with you. If you play the game sometime, you'll see what I mean... it just sort of gets into your head.

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Oriphiel

It's no secret that I love all-girl bands, but I wasn't always that way. After all, my first musical love was Heavy Metal, in all it's machismo and glory. Now, even someone who never listens to Metal probably knows it well enough that they can often say one thing with certainty: that the women involved in the scene are vastly outnumbered by the men. That would certainly seem to be the case, but then again, people often claim that it's actually not exclusive to Metal; they claim that women are excluded from the scene because Metal is simply an evolution of Rock, and Rock has always shut them out. If you haven't already figured it out, this statement is complete bull****. Women were very involved in the development of every form of Rock that you can imagine. For example, most people cite early rockers like Little Richard as the main progenitors of the modern Rock sound, but there wouldn't have even been a Little Richard if it wasn't for Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and I mean that literally; it was at one of her shows that Richard Penniman decided that he wanted to become a furious R&B hero, after she heard him singing and let him open the concert for her. And there are other influential women in early Rock 'n Roll as well. Wanda Jackson, Sparkle Moore, Margaret Lewis... the list just keeps getting longer the deeper you dig. In fact, one of the most important figures in Rock, Muddy Waters, who heavily influenced everyone from the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin, got one of his most popular songs from a woman; "Got My Mojo Working" was originally performed by Ann Cole in 1956, the same year that McKinley Morganfield began to record the version that would later become a Blues staple in the 1960s.



So even though Women were outnumbered in the world of Rock, and often treated unfairly compared to their male counterparts, they still rocked on as hard as they could, and had a very definite presence and influence. As the years rolled on, and the 1960s arrived, there was a massive wave of all-girl bands, playing every type of genre you can imagine, including Rock. If you're reading this journal, then you've probably already read about all of the amazing female Garage Rockers from that time period, and you know very well that the girls could get just as heavy as the boys. They got down with the Psychedelic sound, blasted out Garage Rock, put on their go go boots and stomped to the mod Beat music, and hit hard with the Electric Blues.

But as the 1960s came to a close, the Psychedelic and Progressive scene started to change. Vocalists became more extreme (opting for the sharp range of shrill highs and deep lows rather than the more mellow and natural vocals of the 60s), distorted guitars were tuned lower than before, and beats became more complex as the simple "Riff Rock" of the mid-60s was left far behind. These bands were dubbed as "Heavy Metal", famously being named after a line from Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" ("I like smoking lightning, a heavy metal thunder!"). It was a new and exciting form of Rock, and yet oddly enough, there were fewer women than in any of Rock's previous forms. Finding a female early Heavy Metal band is seemingly like winning the lottery; it's amazing when it happens, but it's also incredibly rare. So my question (and the purpose of this entry) is this: Where did all of the women go? What happened between the carefree days of 1966 when you couldn't go five steps without running into an all-girl Beatles or Stones cover band, and the formative years of Metal in the early 70s when it became a complete sausage festival?

The strangest thing about it is that there actually are many women who helped to develop the Metal scene, but they didn't really appear until the New Wave of British Heavy Metal came around. It's just very odd that woman seemingly stopped making heavy music only for the years between 1969 and 1976, when they for some reason kept mostly to lighter Progressive and Folk Rock rather than the growing Heavy Metal sound. Still, I don't believe for a second that there weren't any female bands in the scene, and it's been my mission lately to find as many as possible. I want to know what happened between this...



...and this:



And you know what? Normally i'm kind of nervous when I make an entry, because there's always the chance that I could get something wrong, and someone would call me out on it. But in this case, I actually hope that happens. I would love for someone to come in here and completely shatter the idea that women were rare in early metal by throwing dozens of awesome bands and songs at me. Please, by all means, throw to your hearts content. As I keep on with the search, every now and then I'll make an entry about any cool individuals, bands, and songs that I find. And it goes without saying that recommendations are more than welcome.

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Oriphiel

The journey to find all-girl and female fronted early Heavy Metal bands continues! Right off the bat, I'd like to introduce three bands to all of you. The first is one that some of you may already know... Fanny!



Fanny was an all-girl Rock band from the early seventies, and though they gravitated more towards Funk, Soul, and Prog Rock, some of their songs (especially when performed live) had a splash of that late '60s and early '70s heavy fuzz to them. Plus, they always knew how to nail a guitar solo! I think that they're definitely worth mentioning, even if they aren't super heavy. The next band is one that I just recently found out about... Birtha!



Another all-girl group, Birtha was definitely more heavy and "metallic" than Fanny, though they do have some stylistic similarities. So far, Birtha is one of the earliest and heaviest all-girl bands with a metallic sound that I've run across, (the song above is from 1972) and they definitely had the skill to contend with any of the guys of their time! Finishing off this triple attack is a band that was led by the sister of one of the members of Fanny... Suzi Quatro and her rowdy gang of guys in tank tops (I apologize for the audio of the first video being out of sync, but the live footage is too fun to pass up ! The second video is a television performance on a "Top of the Pops" style show, so I hope you all like miming!)...



Similar to Slade, T Rex, and Mott the Hoople, Suzi Quatro was a Glam Rocker that had no problem occasionally flirting with the metallic sound. Glam Rock bands always did have a special knack for making both heavy rockers and light styled pop songs, and Suzi is no exception. I think it would be wrong to completely classify her as "Metal", as she's really more Hard Rock than anything, but at the same time she fits the sound and image often enough that it's not an unreasonable leap in logic. After all, she was decked out in leather years before Halford and the boys in Judas Priest. Just as tough as Birtha, and from the same time period (the songs she plays above, "Glycerine Queen" and "Daytona Demon", were both released in 1973), she was a huge influence on many of the female rockers that came after her (apparently, Joan Jett was a big fan).


Suzi, Birtha, and Fanny!

Now, before we go any further, I'd like to thank a few people. When I started searching high and low for these painfully elusive bands, I asked a few people for help, and they were all very helpful and amazing! So here's a big thanks to Psy-Fi, Chula Vista, Ladyislingering, and Unknown Soldier! Chula pointed me towards a certain list of female metal bands, and if you haven't already seen it before than I highly recommend that you check it out (Female Fronted Heavy Metal: 1976 - 1989)! It's a huge, and I do mean huge, list that highlights many female metal bands! Unfortunately, it focuses almost exclusively on bands from the 1980's, during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and the bands that are from the seventies are a bit late to the metal game. But they're still awesome, and there are a few bands worth mentioning, like Desira and The Dead End 5, who both have some pretty great songs from 1976!



Psy-Fi, the master of retro music, pointed me towards some groovy all-girl Progressive Rock bands. Specifically, he recommended Mother Superior and Isis as some solid female outfits from the early 1970s! While neither is super "metallic", both bands have their occasional moments of Progressive-style heaviness, especially during the guitar breaks and solos. Here are some songs by them!



Well, that's all for now. The next time around, I'll bring even more awesome Progressive bands, tough rockers, and crazy lady metalheads!

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Oriphiel

While it was admittedly rare to find a woman playing in one of the heavy underground bands, there was no shortage of women in Rock as a whole in the early 1970's. Many bands, particularly of the Folk and Progressive variety, had a mixed gender line-up, usually because they wanted to make use of the strengths of both vocal styles. Renaissance had Jane Relf, and the always weird and exciting Gong had a variety of vocalists over the years (including drummer Mireille Bauer). Also on the Avant Garde side of things in a similar vein to Gong, the irascible Dagmar Krause was a core member of both the oddball outfit Henry Cow and the more traditional Slapp Happy. The rarely mentioned yet often applauded Fuchsia also had female members in the mix (Vanessa Hall-Smith, Janet Rogers, and Madeleine Bland), who provided backing harmonies and an excellent string section for their 1971 debut).




Of course, there were still plenty of Garage style bands out there. The Feminine Complex, an all-girl Psychedelic Pop band, put out their sole album near the end of the 1960's. The Ace of Cups and She were both still rocking as the 1970's rolled around, and each had their moments of wild heaviness, but both bands would eventually fold after the toll of years weighed them down, and as mainstream success constantly eluded them.




As the 1960's gave way to the 1970's, Psychedelic Rock, The Blues and Folk Rock all seemed to merge into what would be called "Progressive Rock". Of course, the bands that leaned more towards the Psychedelic and Blues side of things were dubbed "Heavy Metal", although most people now prefer to call them "Hard Rock" to avoid mixing them up with the modern spectrum of Metal. At this time, the Progressive band Curved Air began to make waves, with Sonja Kristina as their frontwoman. And of course, when mentioning female-fronted bands from this era, it would be a crime to not recognize the very talented veterans of Jefferson Airplane, with the iconic Grace Slick at the helm. In an interesting twist, rather than have their sole female member languish in the background, the Hard Rock band Ramatam had April Lawton in front and center as she stunned the world with her lead guitar skills. There was also the cult band Amon Düül II, with Renate Knaup as their lead vocalist. And lastly, there's the very Groovy and heavy band Affinity, with Linda Hoyle as their lead vocalist (thanks for introducing me to them, Psy-Fi!).




By the original definition of Heavy Metal, and the sound that the phrase originally referred to, almost all of these bands managed to capture it with one song or another. Ramatam's brand of Hard Rock, as well as Affinity's excellent guitar solo in "I Am and So Are You", Curved Air's "Stretch" (along with the other video above, which is a fantastic live recording, but you have to find it on youtube to hear it as it doesn't play after being embedded), and the Ace of Cups' "Stones", are as rough and Blues-y as much of what would come out of the underground scene of the time. Although they aren't quite as dark and heavy as what would be put out by game-changers like Black Sabbath, or as furious as the songs made by acts like May Blitz, Dust and The Pink Fairies, they still have the quintessential essence of the grit that caused Psychedelic bands to make the leap to Progressive Rock, and eventually to the original wave of Heavy Metal.

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