TELEVISION PREVIEW
Clyde Pride
This month, an ally of Glasgow’s thriving pop culture celebrates its seventh birthday. Established in a period when the Glaswegian pop boom appeared to be entering a depression, Radio Clyde’s mobile recording studio has championed hundreds oi bands. Hue and Cry, Deacon Blue and Runrig were all recorded by the 24-track studio in their early days and have continued to rely on the iacility ior live recordings ever since.
But while Clyde 1 obviously relishes the opportunity to record ior posterity the Glasgow appearances of the likes oi Tori Amos and Bryan Adams, it is the up-and-coming bands which production controller John McCalman sees as the most important. ‘There’s one over-riding consideration,’ he says, ‘which is that we only record quality music, and there’s a lot oi quality music to be lound in and amongst the local bands in Glasgow. The way we look at it is that the small local bands oi today are the major bands of tomorrow.
‘There is so much talent around
here,’ he continues, ‘but the danger is that bands sometimes think that we owe them a living, that we’re obliged to record them. There’s plenty you can do with multi-track recording but you can’t make a singer sing in tune or a band play in time; they’ve got to be able to do that for themselves. The only reason
The Mobile on duty
we really go after bands is because they’re good, and there’s plenty oi good bands around to justify our existence. 0K, in the early stages, they’re honing their crait but we should encourage them where we can.’
Clyde’s commitment to the nurturing of new talent oiten involves giving bands the master tapes oi their periormance iree oi charge in order that records, oi a quality comparable to studio recordings, can be made. ‘lithe bands have talent and determination they’ll make it despite everything that stands in their way, whether we go with them or not,’ says McCalman. ‘But we like to think we can help them a little bit because at the end of the day when they get up there, it’s nice to have had a hand in helping them on their way.’ (Philip Parr)
Bloc booking
Eastern Europe has a problem. Czechoslovakia (as was), Hungary and Poland are all areas where ‘potential’ is writ large. Western ad men, graphic designers and artists all see the disintegrating Eastern Bloc as THE place to be; where money is to be made and integrity kept intact. The ilaw in this grand theory of sharing the West's artistic wisdom with the newly liberated ones is that iorty years of Communism has done strange things to Eastern art appreciation.
A iew months ago, Channel 4 ran a series called Russian New Music. Here were bands and singers who had been lorced underground ior years by the oppressive Communist state. Now, thrillingly, iorthe ilrst time we were able to hear what the bright young things oi St Petersburg and Moscow spend their dwindling roubles on. And, not to mince words, it was crap — music with no rhythm, screeching ratherthan singing, and barely anyone under 45 on stage. 9
Never ones to shirk irom a challenge, Channel 4 now present Extreme East, an unashamedly ‘yooi’ programme - occasionally looking quite startlingly similar to early editions oi Network 7. The presenter is Laszlo Kistamas, who links the ieatures on lashion, music and art in a spaced-out style which will
Tony Christian either see him becoming a cult hero or back working in the shipyards within a year.
The only featured band to have had any Western success are Laibach, and the others who usually sing in their native tongue, be it Latvian, Croatian or whatever, don’t look like iollowlng in their iootsteps. Nevertheless, the programme is intriguing as it has such incredible source material — the Czechoslovakian rock star who is now minister responsible tor the national minorities issue, the grant-assisted ‘Yugoslavlan Scholars’ who are given money to shulile around towns in snow shoes with messages pinned to their backs, and Grandpierre Attila who is not only Hungary’s leading astrophysiclst but also lead singer with The Galloping Coroners. Hey kids, this is what hall a century oi Communism can do to you. (Philip Parr)
Extreme East begins on Monday 27 July at 11 .55pm on Channel 4.
Looking to escape irom Eldorado three times a week? The List guide
to what’s new on the VHS iront in the rental shops and on the sell-through shelves
Rental
I Frankie And Johnny ( 15) Amour over the apple-pie in Garry Pretty Woman Marshall‘s cosy revamp of the stage hit. Al Pacino spent months learning how to fry an egg over-easy for his role as the short-order chef. Michelle Pfeiffer is not quite so convincing as the dowdy waitress. Cute, if cliche’d. (ClC)
I Problem Child 2 (PG) if you didn‘t have enough of the objectionable brat in the first film. here‘s more. (ClC)
I Double impact ( 18) Not just one Jean Claude Van Damme. but two in this amiably daft action thriller. Set in iiong Kong in the near future. Van Damme plays twin brothers Chad and Alex separated in infancy but reunited 25 years later to take on the iiong Kong gangsters who killed their parents. A preposterous plot and shoddy acting are compensated for by the sheer zing of the action sequences. (Columbia Tristar)
I Curly Sue (PG) An emetic piece of kiddy-krap starring James Belushi and Kelly Lynch as a father-and-daughter con team (shades of Paper Moon here?) fooling a rich lady attorney into taking care of them. and teaching everybody the error of their ways in the process. Heart-warming. stomach-churning stuff with a leading child actor who‘ll have you screaming come back Shirley Temple. all is forgiven. (Warner)
I Rover Dangeriield (U) An animated dog film with the voice of comedian Rodney Dangerfield. interesting. although whether he‘s well enough known over here for the jokes to transfer is in some doubt. (Warner)
I Hangin’ With The Homeboy: ( 15) An excellent comedy from Joseph Vasquez. following the exploits of four guys (two black. two Hispanic) heading out of
the Bronx for a night in Manhattan. The characters. an angry young brother. a struggling actor. a womaniser and a naive supermarket assistant. are brilliantly drawn and the action drifts from disaster to disaster with a subtle mix of humour and pathos. The messages on racism. machismo and male bonding are put over without the slightest hint of preaching. (20:20 Vision)
I Little Man Tate ( PU) Jodie Foster's directorial debut is a worthy. if slightly dull, tale about a gifted child. Working-class single mother Foster takes the hyper-intelligent kid Fred to the child psychologist Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest). but becomes aware that she is in danger of losing her son to the world of intellectuals. notably i)r (irierson. After that it all gets a bit cioying. (20:20 Vision)
I Frogs! (L')(Warncrl
I Crooked Heart5( 15) (Warner)
I Liebestraum(18) (Warner)
I And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird! ( PU) (First independent)
I Forgotten Prisoners ( 15) (First independent)
I Battling For Baby(i’(‘r) (Guild)
I Clearcut ( 18) (Guild) I Light Sleeper( 15) (Guild)
I Locked Up—AMother's Rage ( 15) (Guild)
I Dance With Death ( 18) ((‘i(‘)
I Dead in The Water( 15) ((‘l(‘)
I Lies Di The Twins ( 15) (Cl(‘)
IWhite Lie ( 15) ((‘i(‘) ITime Di The Beast( 15) (ClC)
I The Rape Di DrWillis (15) (Odyssey)
’ Sell-Through
I Dominion Tank Police- AClS l and II ( 15) Saucy Japanese animation with plenty of violence iflittle in the way of plot. it isthe year 2010 and the world is so polluted eyerybody goes round in gas masks. The Tank Police (including latest recruit Tank Girl Leona) take on the haddics. mostly the scantily-clad (‘at sisters Annapuna and L'nipuma. (Manga £12.99)
I Sweetie ( 15)Jane
(’ampion ‘s low-budget first film is a tragi-comedy about two sisters. one neurotic and repressed. the other an eccentric. demanding personality with nymphomaniac tendencies. (Electric £15.99)
I The Unbelievable Truth (15) Another acclaimed iiai iiartiey film. this quirky dark comedy follows a smalitown teenager's fanatical one for art alleged mass murderer. (Electric £15.99)
I Lile Is A Long Duiet River (i’G)(iiiectric£lS.99)
I Chocolat ( PG) (Electric £15.99)
I The Bad Sleep Well (PG) A Kurosawa classic made in 1960 and presented in ‘wide-screen' format. For once Kurosawa deals with contemporaryeyents. with a story about Corrupt businessmen and
gangsters that has
elements of a modern-day
Hum/e1. ((‘onnoisseur' £15.99)
I Woman Di The Dunes (15) (Connoisseur £15.99) I SuperBrawl I (P0) (First independent £12.99)
I SuperBrawl ll(P(i) (First independent)
I 1990 Halloween Havoc (PG) (First independent) I The Great American Bash (PG) (First independent) I Rebel ( 15) (First independent £12.99)
I Fast Getaway ( 15) (First independent £12.99)
I Dream A Little Dream (15) (First independent £12.99)
I Dream Machine(P(i) (First independent £12.99)
I Prayer Of The Rollerboys (15) (First independent
£12.99)
55The List i7—30Juiy 1992