homicide 18 feb 1975 'the animal that had to be fed'

 

This is not a terrible episode but I don't have much to say about it, except to note that the character above (who I think is played by Alexandra Hines - I might have got mixed up) is referred to at some point as a 'known lesbian' which I think is funny. Unless I'm wrong that's Nina Bodarenko behind her in the picture above, and in the picture above that, she's menacing Robyn Taylor played by Clare Balmford. I might have got all of this wrong. 

I am most intrigued by the location in the picture at top - might be Kensington. 

homicide 4 feb 1975, 'mr spence'

This episode is more interesting for the way the story is told, than for the story itself, which is pretty pedestrian (ok so the man didn't kill his wife so he could have a relationship with a co-worker precisely - it seems he killed her kind of in self-defence - but he still killed her and it's credit to the talents of Homicide cast and crew that they were able to spin this out to an hour). 

So here's Keith Eden, in the 13th of his 14th roles in Homicide, as Mr Spence, waiting outside Flinders St station for Helen Taylor - played by Patsy King who oddly enough was also appearing in the 13th of her 14 Homicide roles. 

Surprisingly this episode - well, this scene at least - was shot almost a year before it was shown, on 27 February 1974. Here's the front page of the Age for that day:

Btw Whitlam was using 'fantastic' in the old sense, of pertaining to fantasy. 

I suppose it was semi-nice to see the old Princes Bridge Station roof (?) area looking out towards Flinders St, I went up there a few times, it was always stupid. 

record label addiction

I can't help thinking I'd really like to put out a few records on a record label. Again. I have had a few labels, they never last long. 

For a long time I have considered putting out six albums on a label called 6 Records. Where there are just six of them. You hold back around 50 of each and put out a special box at the end of all six (for some reason that part of it really appeals to me). 

Today I thought yeah nah to 6 Records (maybe six is too many). I thought of Gold Best Records. I designed the logo and then was annoyed to find that there is or was a Japanese label called Golden Best Records, which also annoyingly has a kind of stylised sun (a lot less messy though) as the 'o' in my 'Golden' so anyway long story short, I am now of the opinion that Gold Best is not the best name. I thought of a few other Golds (Gold Treat, Golden Horde, Golden Dollar etc) but then I went to my drawing and thought maybe the best label name might be Stage Three Tax Cuts, or perhaps Trickle Down or something like that. 

Of course the most accurate logo would be money being flushed down the toilet but who wants to see that on a record label, it's a downer. 

100 reviews #15: Amanda Brown

 

Amanda Brown’s Eight Guitars is advertised as her first solo album, which it is and it isn’t – she’s had two soundtracks released under her name (2002’s Incognita and 2008’s Son of a Lion which is twenty mainly short tracks by her and one 16-minute track by another artist). But the case can of course be made that those were commissioned works – designed, I guess, as accompaniments to someone else’s production – and that this is a standalone product for which AB takes sole responsibility. On the other hand, the front cover lists eight names aside from Brown’s – the eight guitarists showcased on each track, which doesn’t negate it as a solo album obviously but instead, to my mind, puts it in another category – I can’t quite get a handle on what that category might be, however. The assertion that it was twenty years in the making is a whole extra bit of strangeness I can’t quite get on top of either.*

 

The danger, to my mind, is that the listener might feel invited not to listen to the songs or their content, but instead understand Brown’s songs on this album (she contributes six originals alongside a cover of ‘The Unguarded Moment’ and a cowrite with Steve Kilbey) as created for these virtuosos (all men, if that’s important) to strut some stuff. Which I’m sure isn’t true. Actually overall the idea seems needlessly complicated, is what I guess I’m actually saying. Why foreground the guitars, rather than the songs? I’m not saying the guitars are not good, but Amanda Brown is a sensational songwriter aside from of course being an excellent instrumentalist herself with major capacity as a player and arranger. (She told Michael Dyer in the SMH on 2 March ‘I much prefer to be a musician backing someone else.’) None of this paragraph is a criticism – it’s only an observation. 

 

My favourite track here (at this early point in what is bound to be many listens to this album in many different contexts) is ‘The Deal’; for what it’s worth the guitarist on this track is Shane O’Mara. What follows it, the cover of ‘The Unguarded Moment’, is a good complement as both are very sparse and rhythm-oriented; drummer for most of the album is the very seasoned and empathetic Hamish Stuart. 

 

By the way, the album sounds tremendous. 

 

*This might be reference to the Kilbey cowrite which dates back to the start of the century. 

flook may 1953

 

Cool reference Flook. I wish I had a better sense of what, if anything, it specifically referred to in 1953. I did a search in newspapers.com for the phrase in the 1950s and got no matches. This is interesting but doesn't give many clues to the relevance of 'celtic twilight' in that actual decade. 

rabbit rabbit