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Motorhead In The Studio
Author: Jake Brown with Lemmy Kilmister
Publishing Company: John Blake Publishing
Band Website:
www.imotorhead.com
Reviewer: Steve Earles |
If you don’t like Motorhead, you don’t like rock'n’roll, make no
mistake, between his formative days with the mighty Hawkwind, to his
long and successful tenure at the head of the good ship Motorhead, Lemmy
is an icon-if not the icon.
This is a marvellous book, going through all of Motorhead’s albums in
chronological order with 100% input from Lemmy, this is a grand idea and
one that could be successfully applied to other bands (though few would
have a catalogue like Motorhead’s). Lots of great stuff from Lemmy like
his assessment of the classic ‘No Sleep Till Hammersmith. ”We knew it
was gonna do well because people had been waiting fro a live album from
us for three years, but never in our wildest dreams did we think it
would go straight in at No. 1…Actually, I was more pleased when Ace of
Spades went in at No. 4. because No Sleep was a one-off. That said, it
was also our death knell because you can never follow a live album that
goes straight in at No 1. What are you gonna do? Put out another one?”
Constantly fascinating, both to musicians and non-musicians alike, this
is beautifully written and laid out, a real gem of a book, with a mighty
cover and great photos. I would be ultra-critical of anything that
didn’t do Lemmy justice but this is indeed a fine book! |
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The Bronx Warriors Trilogy
Film Company: Shameless Screen Entertainment
Film Company Website:
www.shameless-films.com
Reviewer: Steve Earles |
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Now for lovers of cult films in general and post-apocalyptic action
movies in particular, this is a terrific release, housed I believe
(unlike the review copy) in a very collectible tin box complete with
some fantastic reproductions of the films’ poster artwork).
Those in the know will realise that there aren’t actually three Bronx
Warriors films, the third film in this collection is another
post-apocalyptic action movie from Italian director Enzo G. Castellari.
Enzo G. Castellari’s name is back in the public eye as he was director
of the original “The Inglorious Bastards” (Hence, the different spelling
on Tarantino’s recent movie).
Now, just to give those not in the now some historical background, in
the wake of George Miller’s Mad Max and John Carpenter’s Escape From New
York, a mini-film-industry grew up in Italy of Spaghetti Apocalypse
movies mainly inspired by the aforementioned films, and it has to be
said all three are great entertainment.
The Bronx Warriors
Coming across as a wild collision of Mad Max and The Warriors, in 1990
(the future at the time of the film’s production). The Bronx is
officially declared a no-man’s-land, run by various gangs. But, Anne,
the young heiress to an arms business runs away from the business she
distains to inherit and into the arms of Trash, leader of the Riders
gang. This draws the attention of The Manhattan Corporation down on the
Bronx as they send a ruthless police officer (played with gusto as a
Shakespearean villain by the late Victor Morrow) to get Anne back at any
cost. Bravura stuff!
Escape From The Bronx
Set a few years after the events of Bronx Warriors and a shell of a man
following Anne’s death, Trash is a loner selling ammunition on the
Bronx. But The General Construction Corporation wants to tear the Bronx
down to build a new city of the future. They send in the Disinfestors
(led by an A-Grade nut-job played by Henry Silva) to eliminate the
inhabitants, but when they kill Trash’s parents, they find they’ve
bitten off more than they can chew. Not as good as it’s predecessor but
still well worth a look. And miles ahead of the dull fare Hollywood keep
foisting on us today. Check out the tribute to the classic Escape From
New York in the title.
Finally
The New Barbarians
Which is a neat little film in itself, set after a nuclear was has blown
the human race back to barbarism, a new threat arises when a group
calling themselves the templars intend to kill every surviving human,
only a former member of their group known as Scorpion can lead a
resistance against them. Stirring stuff, and some neat reversals from
previous post-apocalyptic films
All three films feature anamorphic widescreen presentations, a newly
restored on in the case of Escape From The Bronx, and a re-mastered one
in the case of The Bronx Warriors, there are also some nice features
like an interview with Enzo. G. Castellari, an introduction to his films
by the director and more.
To sum up, in this 21st century world of bland homogenised films like
Transformers (computer games meeting happy meal product placement, films
made for sheer love and entertainment like these three shine like the
jewels they are. It’s worth remembering that on it’s original cinema
release, The Bronx Warriors was number one at the box office for three
weeks! I hope this fine release (kudos to the team at Shameless Screen
Entertainment, who have nothing to be ashamed of anyway here!) inspired
both viewers and filmmakers alike to follow their dreams!
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To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of
Metallica’s Cliff Burton
Author:
By Joel McIver
Website:
www.joelmciver.co.uk
Publishing Company:
Jawbone
Website:
www.jawbonepress.com
ISBN: 978-1-96002-24-4
272 Pages |
Joel is a writer I have a lot of respect for, I really enjoyed his fine
book on Slayer which I reviewed for Zero Tolerance. Now on that review I
said, that I rated Slayer very highly and would have been ultra-critical
if Joel hadn’t come up with the goods, which he more than did. The same
criteria applies to Cliff Burton, a great hero of mine.
Cutting to the chase, McIver has done a fantastic job, talking to all
the people who knew Cliff personally , covering his tenure in Metallica
in great detail and with a great deal of compassion. Cliff comes out of
this book a hero as you’d expect, but another hero emerges, that of
Cliff’s replacement Jason Newstead. Jason’s bullying by the three
surviving members of Metallica, Hetfield, Ulrich, and Hammett is, to be
completely honest, sickening! Bullying is bullying, whether it be at
work or school or by three rock stars, as McIver says, without Jason,
their career’s continuance would have been severely hindered. Just
reading about Jason’s treatment on the recording of ‘…And Justice For
All’ is sickening (and the track he co-wrote Blackened is still
outstanding). His departure in 2001 is completely understandable and
from that moment on I lost all interest in Metallica (Jason never
re-recorded another musicians parts as Trujillo did at Sharon’s
request).
A fine book from a talented and passionate writer and one that deserves
the widest audience possible. |
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