Well, dear readers, my very own film, The First Nudie Musical is now available for preorder at amazon.com. Isn’t that exciting? Of course, I preordered it immediately, just so they’d have one order. If you use the handy-dandy link you can see the fancy shmancy cover of the DVD. They did get one thing wrong at amazon, but apparently it will be fixed in the next couple of days. They list the film as a full screen transfer, but of course it is a widescreen transfer and enhanced for 16×9 televisions. We don’t need no stinking full screen transfers and we don’t need no stinking badges.
This morning, bright and early, someone was using our handy-dandy unseemly search box and they were searching for “xm”. If only they’d come an hour later they’d have gotten some hits, because I was going to write extensively about xm in today’s notes. I’ve been meaning to write about xm for ages because I have been very neglectful of xm. I’ve often felt that those two letters, “x” and “m” were a perfect match because they look so incredibly stupid when placed next to each other. Just looking at those stupid letters cuddling close together gives me a case of both the warm fuzzies and the cold scuzzies, resulting in the tepid huzzies. What the hell am I talking about? Of course, our searcher could have been searching for either the film “Rocketship XM” or “X-Men”. Well, I do hope our searcher comes back and gives us another try, because we do aim to please here at haineshisway.com.
I’ve been catching up on my CD listening at the expense of my DVD watching. Perhaps tonight I’ll catch up on my DVD watching at the expense of my CD listening. I’ve listened to the new London recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, the new Decca release of the original London Oliver! (which I’ve already had for years as an import – I forgot, though, and got the new Decca version of it) and best of all, a new release from the Collectables label, a two-fer of Percy Faith’s soundtrack to The Love Goddesses and Percy Faith’s Hollywood’s Greatest Hits from 1962. Perhaps I shall tell you about said albums, but not until we all click the Unseemly Button below and say xm three times.
It is hard to say xm three times, isn’t it. That is a real tongue-twister. Look at that word “tongue” just sitting there like a dead herring in the moonlight. “Tongue”. That is just a silly-looking word. It would be better if it were pronounced the way it was spelled – “tawngyouee”. Yes, that is a whole different kettle of tongue, that is. But instead we pronounce it “tung” for reasons that I’m sure are obscure to even the person who invented the word tongue, Mr. Herman Pelt. One fine day, Mr. Pelt was looking in the mirror and he stuck the thing that was in his mouth out at himself. Then he thought, “That thing I’m sticking out at myself that resides in my mouth should have a name. Wait, I know, I’ll invent a name right now and then I shall be famous once and for all.” Mr. Pelt thought about it long and hard and also hard and long and then thought, “Zounds, I know – I’ll call that thing I’m sticking out at myself and which resides in my mouth a tung. But I will confound everyone by spelling it “t-o-n-g-u-e” for reasons which are obscure even to me.” And that is how the word “tongue” was invented.
Where the hell was I? Oh yes, catching up on my CD listening. I listened to the new London production of South Pacific, which has been directed by Trevor Nunn and which stars Lauren Kennedy and Philip Quast. I will listen to any recording on which someone named Quast appears, just because I like the way that name looks. In any case, I really like the score of South Pacific a lot. I also really like Lauren Kennedy a lot. She was on my Paul Simon album and I saw her in Side Show (Emily was out the day I saw it), in which she did a splendid job. To my ears, this is not a very wonderful-sounding recording – very dull, as if a blanket had been thrown over the CD. Also, the blend between orchestra and singer is not optimal, and they haven’t done Lauren any favors in the way she’s been recorded. Mr. Quast comes off very well, as do the supporting players. Lauren is perfect for Nellie Forbush, and I’m sure she’s wonderful on stage, but the recording doesn’t show her off as it should, which is not her fault. They use a combo platter of the original Bennett orchestrations supplemented with William D. Brohn orchestrations. It’s worth having, though.
Next I listened to the original London Oliver! which is newly reissued on Decca. At the top of the front cover it says, “A Decca Broadway Cast Album”. Hello? Anybody home at Decca? They do this all the time – even for albums that they own but that were not originally on Decca at all. Blechhh. In any case, at the bottom of the front cover in smaller lettering it does say “Original London Cast Recording”. I bought this because someone had posted about it on the internet and had raved so about its sound and performance that I simply had to have it. I already had it, but had forgotten that fact. In any case, it’s got Ron Moody, Georgia Brown and a lot of great music. I don’t like it as much as the RCA Broadway cast recording, which has got more lively sound to it. This recording is fine, but it never jumps out at you the way Oliver! should. The performances, on the other hand, are brilliant. Did you know that Dame Edna’s very close friend, Mr. Barry Humphries was in this show?
Then I listened to the Percy Faith two-fer. I am unashamedly a Percy Faith junkie. Call me a sap, call me a kook, call me a cab, but I just like his albums, and have since I was a kid. One of my favorites of his, Hollywood’s Greatest Hits is on this two-fer and includes Mr. David Amram’s gorgeous theme for Splendor In The Grass, done beautifully by Mr. Faith. This recording was one of only two (the other was by Stan Kenton on a Capital 45) of Mr. Amram’s theme, until I finally ended up putting it on one of my jazz movie albums with Fred Karlin. It’s also got great renditions of Mr. David Raksin’s Too Late Blues and Mr. Mario Nascimbene’s theme for Light In The Piazza (the only recording), along with King of Kings, Ben-Hur, Maria, I Enjoy Being a Girl, Over and Over Again (from Jumbo), Mr. Previn’s gorgeous love theme from The Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse, Moon River and El Cid. The soundtrack to The Love Goddesses is loads of fun, too. The good news is that Collectables will be issuing several more Percy Faith two-fers of his instrumental cover versions of shows, including The Most Happy Fella, Do I Hear a Waltz?, and best of all Li’l Abner. These are great albums and I recommend them to one and all and also all and one. I recommend them to anyone who likes the word “tongue” and anyone who’d very fond of the letters “xm”.
What am I, Ken Mandelbaum all of a sudden? Many new DVDs – including Mr. Bob Fosse’s film of Lenny. I looked at a bit of it and the transfer looks very nice. I do think it Mr. Fosse’s weakest film, but I’ll give it a looksee in the next few days. I also looked at a bit of Mr. Roman Polanski’s film of Macbeth – a very very very violent telling of Mr. Shakespeare’s play, and it looks swell in all its widescreen glory. I’ve been watching Mr. David Mamet’s The Winslow Boy, which I would be enjoying more if the transfer were not so soft.
Well, dear readers, I must be off, I must take the day, I must do the things I do before somebody else does them. I must ponder the true meaning of xm and all it implies. Today’s topic of discussion: Well, today, of course, is Ask BK Day, wherein you can ask me any questions that tickle your fancy shmancy. Ask me anything at all and I will answer truthfully – I will withhold nothing from you, dear readers, except my tongue and my xm. Now, ask away. We do love your questions, you know.