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This annoys me to the extent that I feel that it
is my duty to fly all the way to New York, home of Lou Reed who I also
consider to be responsible for these folks, and kick his ass for partly
inspiring a generation of self-righteous wanks, whose only pleasure in
life is to give 25 minute diatribes to unwilling ears on the importance
of seminal rock acts, and how their craft has fertilised the garden
from which alternative forms of rock music came to life, and any band
that remotely sounds similar to them has no creative authenticity, and
should mail them all their royalty checks in the name of originality.
However, this might be considered slightly
unjustified. Surely Lou Reed can’t be blamed, can he? He
wasn’t the one who told these faux art students to put on their
first ironically uncool grandpa hat, wear their first pair of
suspenders, smoke their first cigarette, or write their first essay on
the importance of the enlightenment and its effect on contemporary
thought.
All of this aside, I must admit, that with one
Velvet Underground album and a handful of his solo works being the
extent of my knowledge of Lou Reeds back catalogue, I am not exactly
familiar with the seemingly emotionally void lyrical stylings of Reeds
music. This being the case I was interested to find out what all the
fuss was about.
This documentary, Rock n’ Roll Heart
(Winner of the CINE Golden Eagle, best long form music video at the
Grammy’s and nominated for a grand jury prize at the
Sundance Film Festival) begins with his illustrious, short-lived
career with the Velvet Underground, which was soon followed by his
fruitful voyage as a solo artist with arguably the most successful of
his endeavours, “Walk on the wild side”. Other
musical highlights are the 2-chord gems ‘Im waiting for the
man’ and ‘Heroin’ as well as the mystical Sunday
afternoon hangover tune ‘Perfect Day’.
Upon the first viewing of this documentary I
wasn’t really sure what to make of it. Throughout, it soon became
clear (as it would be already to any hardcore fan of Reeds) that he was
clearly unlike any other artist of his time, he was clearly a pioneer
of the “I don’t give a f**k” attitude that has long
since pervaded the popular music scene. Long time friends, most notably
David Bowie, Thurstan Moore, David Byrne discuss such on stage antics,
leading to my favourite remark by Velvet Underground affiliate to label
a San Francisco crowd as ‘hippie scum’.
As the product of a creatively spoilt generation
who can immediately locate any live performance they wish on a music
DVD, I was slightly disappointed with the limited number of live
performances of Lou Reed, particularly in his earlier and more
destructive days. This may be due, in part, to the fact that anyone
present at those mythical performances were most likely so high on acid
they would barely be able to hold a camera - let alone work out
lighting, sound and of course spurt phrases such as "How the F**k did
that snake ride that bike...man, I'm gone".
I wouldn’t say that Rock and Roll Heart
is 'birthday present from Gran' material, it's definately a purchase
for those historical rock lovers . The lack of special features and
absence of length aside, this documentary seems to adequately describe
the events of Reeds - at times - controversial career.
This is definately one for anyone who has
neglected to learn about the origins of east coast music. But more
importantly, may I say how refreshing it is to see a musical
documentary where the central figure is still alive...or at the very
least a walking corpse (I'm lookin' at you Keith Richards!).
EXTRAS
Special features include several Screen tests (as
an homage to Andy Warhol), limited - but rare - Velvet Underground
footage taken from a performance at Andy Warhol's Factory as well as
the original Theatrical cut that includes an additional 15 minutes.
Conclusion:
Movie 70% Extras: 65%
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