REVIEW: Soundtrack, Velvet Goldmine (London)
- Patrick Carmosino
Let me preface things by saying that it would be difficult for this soundtrack to be as woefully disappointing as the self-indulgent wankfest that the film it came from was. However, if there is a use for it besides having on record Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke's rather nifty Bryan Ferry impersonation and an astonishing new Pulp track - well, I somehow fail to see it.
Quite like the film, this 70's Glam exploration gets off to such a promising start with Brian Eno's anthemic "Needle In The Camel's Eye". It is this track that fuels the opening Hard Day's Night/Trainspotting-ripoff fan chase sequence. After that, soundtrack and film alike flounder into, yes, an authentic 70's hedonistic haze of overwroughtness and dreck. Along with Eno's opener, it is the occasional appearance of originals from Roxy Music (of which there is 1 versus 4 covers!?!?!), T-Rex, Lou Reed and Steve Harley that make most every other track: cover version and new 'period piece' alike pointless.
As far as covers go, it is fair from a marketing standpoint to appeal to the 'alternative' fan by bringing in the likes of Yorke and his guitarist Jonny Greenwood, Bernard Butler (whose former band Suede, would be quite capable of making grand contributions to this), Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley, Mike Watt, Mudhoney's Mark Arm, Gumball's Don Fleming, former Stooge Ron Asheton, Placebo, Teenage Fanclub and Elastica's Donna Matthews. But to put these people together and just have them do note-by-note versions as opposed to just using the original tunes is futile. These artists have gotten where they are by virtue of their uniqueness, so why not have them present the songs in their own context? Fleming, Moore and Shelley as well as A&R god/wanna-be rock star extraordinaire Jim Dunbar have already proven this formula to fail via the Backbeat soundtrack. Ultimately, the most noteworthy things here are the above mentioned Bryan Ferry impersonation by Yorke on such poignant pieces such as the Humphrey Bogart-elegy "2HB" and "Bitter's End" (which as perhaps intended, has this writer taking a closer look at Roxy Music's pre-"Love Is The Drug" catalog) as well as Teenage Fanclub's take on the New York Dolls' "Personality Crisis" with Matthews on vocals. Ultimate lowlight: Ewan McGregor's heavily produced shriek of a vocal on the Stooges "T.V. Eye" which sounds only less awful than the sight of him as a way too chubby Iggy Pop character performing it in the film.
Think of David Bowie and T-Rex having their own versions of the Rutles and you have the essence of the 'period pieces' written for the film by Shudder To Think and Grant Lee Buffalo - no more, no less. All have that dramatic, string-enhanced, dry 70's production. If you have to compare, then pit S.T.T.'s "Ballad Of Maxwell Demon" against Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust". Here, Shudder To Think miss a bit of the feel by using none of the anthemic sensibilities that made "Ziggy" the classic it is, whereas Grant Lee's "The Whole Shebang" has a vibe that is pretty reminiscent of "Oh! You Pretty Things" and tunes like that. Though it is through efforts like these, that you realize how badly this presentation is missing genuine Bowie tunes from the period. Pulp rise so far above this lot with "We Are The Boys"; an absolute corker that finds singer Jarvis Cocker losing his cool croon and whisper for some full throttle vocalizations. Mix his voice with an overdriven, compressed mix of fat horn and buzzing guitar and you get an idea of perhaps what the album and the film meant to get across in the first place: that underlying the fashions and new sexuality of the time was a driving sound.
Sadly enough, "Velvet Goldmine" will not do for resurgent interests in Glam Rock what "Austin Powers" did for 60's Lounge Kitsch.
