That Velvet Goldmine movie...... did it do justice to glam rock?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (65 of them)

You sure it's not on Prime?

clemenza, Thursday, 18 November 2021 17:55 (two years ago) link

Not in the US, I don't think. Currently Unavailable.

Sterl of the Quarter (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 18 November 2021 18:10 (two years ago) link

Just Watch sez...NO!

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/velvet-goldmine

Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 18 November 2021 18:12 (two years ago) link

I think one of the problems is that this was a Miramax title in the states, and (A) that catalogue has bounced between different owners and sub-licensing deals for years, and (B) depending on the distro deal, in many cases Miramax's rights will possibly soon expire and revert back to the original production company (although I don't know if that would apply here anyway).

Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 18 November 2021 18:20 (two years ago) link

How does it compare to I'm Not There? Which I thought was uneven, but Cate Blanchett was so damn good, and the way her scenes were worked up from/not too repeating segments of Don't Look Back and Renaldo and Clara. Also liked the origin story of pre-BD as little black boy, real name: Woody Guthrie.

dow, Thursday, 18 November 2021 19:48 (two years ago) link

not *just* repeating

dow, Thursday, 18 November 2021 19:48 (two years ago) link

(Dylan said she should have played him in Masked and Anonymous!)

dow, Thursday, 18 November 2021 19:50 (two years ago) link

I think the big difference is that the Dylan history and mythology is much more common knowledge, so he could play around with expectations more than he could with Bowie.
The other difference is that Velvet Goldmine is largely a critique of its Bowie character for exploiting/abandoning his constituency, while the same accusations that were thrown at Dylan are played for laughs in I'm Not There.

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 18 November 2021 19:57 (two years ago) link

Not seeing it available on any of the usual streaming services.

Found it in less than 90 seconds on the dark.net (including slsk)

Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 18 November 2021 20:07 (two years ago) link

Xpost That really sounds unfair to Bowie, also to many of his fans, given that the chameleon bit quickly became part of his appeal, and hype: "For my next feat..." And every time he went twitching off in some direction I didn't like, he always eventually redeemed himself (I didn't like the title song as single at all, but Alfred and Tarfumes got me to finally listen to Parlophone/Rhino 2016 version of Young Americans and omg yall)

dow, Thursday, 18 November 2021 20:30 (two years ago) link

Though I'm sure some people wanted him to keep dragging the early 70s gear around, like Alice Cooper to this day.

dow, Thursday, 18 November 2021 20:33 (two years ago) link

I think it's less about people wanting him continue on in glam rock mode and more about the transition from the "I'm gay, and always have been" Melody Maker interview in the early 70s to the "David Bowie Straight" Rolling Stone cover in the early 80s. Been a while since I've seen the film but my impression was that it was kind of an allegory for how it would've felt to experience that shift for someone who had been able to point to Bowie and say "that's me!" in the 70s.

The Wikipedia on this film suggests that the Grant Lee Buffalo track "The Whole Shebang" is a pastiche of "Velvet Goldmine", the song. I hear a lot more "Changes" and "Oh You Pretty Things" in there.

I'm with you there -- I don't really hear "Velvet Goldmine" at all. Now I'm trying to figure out if the chorus is a pastiche of any specific Bowie song. It's always seemed so familiar, but all that's coming to me now is "Mr. Blue Sky."

Anyway, I love those pastiche tracks on the soundtrack so much, especially "The Whole Shebang" and "Hot One." I pretty much never listen to any of the covers though.

Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Thursday, 18 November 2021 22:32 (two years ago) link

"Mr. Blue Sky" and the two Bowie songs I mentioned all feature choruses with a descending bass line against eighth-note piano chords in the right hand.
"Hot One"'s inspiration is a little more vague - "Time" in the verses, maybe "Lady Stardust" in the chorus?

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 18 November 2021 22:37 (two years ago) link

Think it's less about people wanting him continue on in glam rock mode and more about the transition from the "I'm gay, and always have been" Melody Maker interview in the early 70s to the "David Bowie Straight" Rolling Stone cover... my impression was that it was kind of an allegory for how it would've felt to experience that shift for someone who had been able to point to Bowie and say "that's me!" in the 70s. Oh yeah, that totally makes sense, some Velvet Underground Trainspotting Question discussion of Lou "Only a woman can love a man" Reed going "back in the closet" etc. w some description of his alleged marital set=up w Laurie, on the phone from sep apartments etc. But from a distance, especially, who knows how these things can work? I started being a confused observer in Collegetown. Some people do go back and forth, some don't come back and there are open marriages that last*, also a sexual---spectrum? Ani DeFranco caught it from "The Girl Police" as told in the song of that name, dunno where she's at now, though Revolutionary Love is her latest, I think.
Seems like Bowie and Reed would never address the issue in a song, unless there are unreleased tracks that do, hopefully.
*Recent life-and-works of novelist-etc. Dodie Bellamy in The New Yorker incl. quotes on "queer" B.'s open marriage to "gay" (what's the distinction? Tags they preferred, maybe) to poet Kevin Killian: "We had lesbian sex, we had gay sex..." Not just posing for the world/residual self-image of conformity they were brought up with---and "Only a woman can love a man," though obnoxious, esp, in ponderous "Heavenly Arms," doesn't incl. "sex," so a distinction/escape clause can be inferred.

dow, Friday, 19 November 2021 15:30 (two years ago) link

one year passes...

Coming to MUBI (US) June 9th!

The Original Human Beat Surrender (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 2 June 2023 02:09 (ten months ago) link

This is coming too (incl. theaters next month)
https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/david-bowie-ziggy-stardust-the-motion-picture-50th-anniversary-edition/

dow, Friday, 2 June 2023 03:47 (ten months ago) link

Holding the Music in Your Hands ®

dow, Friday, 2 June 2023 03:49 (ten months ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.