Passages

[hearthesilence]

Burt Bacharach

This hits like the death of Lamont Dozier where if you consider the breadth of the songwriting, it's just remarkable what he produced. So many hidden gems. And many great associations with the movies, too. A sad loss.

Absolutely. Not all of his songs are to my taste, but the best of them are amazingly great, and it's also impressive how well they can be adapted to other forms of pop music. Quite a few have been hits several times over across generations, and not necessarily as kitsch or a blatant retro move - just look at Love, the White Stripes, Naked Eyes and even Elvis Costello & The Attractions' 1977 live rendition of "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" decades before Costello began working with him.

Dusty Springfield and Dionne Warwick probably remain his best interpreters, especially Warwick - I wish the Shirelles did more of his songs - but the one record that's been standing out today is "What the World Needs Now Is Love." A pretty magnificent protest record. I hope they get someone who can do it justice when they pay tribute to Bacharach at the next Grammys or whichever appropriate awards show is going to be broadcast around the globe.

[MichaelB]

Chris Peachment, who as editor of London listings magazine Time Out’s film section in the 1980s had a disproportionately huge input into my own then-nascent cinephilia. I never met him, but I have several mutual friends, and it sounds as though it was very much my loss.

[criterionsnob]

Carlos Saura

[swo17]

Maldito sea

[DarkImbecile]

Ah, shit

[colinr0380]

Hugh Hudson, director of Chariots of Fire, as well as Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (aka Andie MacDowell's first film, in which she was notoriously over-dubbed by Glenn Close) and the Al Pacino film Revolution.

As well as adverts for the Labour party in the 1987 election, the iconic campaign for British Airways, and perhaps most significantly (and ironic in the current climate), the advert for British Rail scored by Vangelis, narrated by Tom Courtenay and riffing off of the old Night Mail film from the 1930s.

[Lemmy Caution]

A great version of Bacharach's Baby It's You by A Group Called Smith (1969). Just a genius reworking of the Shirelles rather gentle 1961 take.

That was the only live version I could find. Others had them lip-synching/ fake playing on various TV programs.

[beamish14]

Hugh Hudson, director of Chariots of Fire, as well as Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (aka Andie MacDowell's first film, in which she was notoriously over-dubbed by Glenn Close) and the Al Pacino film Revolution.

As well as adverts for the Labour party in the 1987 election, the iconic campaign for British Airways, and perhaps most significantly (and ironic in the current climate), the advert for British Rail scored by Vangelis, narrated by Tom Courtenay and riffing off of the old Night Mail film from the 1930s.

A wonderful television advert director, but what he did to Robert Towne’s incredible Greystoke script was unforgivable

[beamish14]

Trugoy the Dove from De La Soul. Unbelievably sad and shocking. Their music has meant so much to me for years, and they finally got control of their masters.

[hearthesilence]

Trugoy the Dove from De La Soul. Unbelievably sad and shocking. Their music has meant so much to me for years, and they finally got control of their masters.

Oh man, this totally sucks. I only saw them once, in 2019, but I was so glad I did. Their entire catalog has grown better with age - a lot of praise gets lavished only on the debut, which to be fair is one of THE greatest albums ever and still their best in many ways, but they had one of the most consistently great discographies of anyone over the past 35 years.

[Yakushima]

Russian film director Vadim Abdrashitov is dead at 78.

[DarkImbecile]

Tom Luddy, producer, actor, and co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival

[hearthesilence]

Huey “Piano” Smith, one of the great figures of early rock n’ roll.

[Lemmy Caution]

I'm a huge Huey Piano Smith fan.
Assuming one knows the late 50's R&B classics, I'd highly recommend Pitta Pattin' a compilation of Smith's late 60's output (1967-70), from various bands he led. The updated funk/soul version of Rockin' Pneumonia is great, and the other three updated versions of old hits are welcome. But check out the new tunes: Blues '67, Coo Coo Over You, Bury Me Dead, Through Fooling Around, Smile For Me. The whole album is terrific. Great obscure soul.

[Lemmy Caution]

New Orleans and its unique musical tradition was a major contributor to early Rock and Roll. Fats Domino, Little Richard, Huey Piano Smith, Larry Williams, Lloyd Price.
I think I'll toss my Huey Piano Smith/Kenya story in the Music thread. Along with a dozen or so great but lesser known Huey Smith songs from his classic period ...

[FrauBlucher]

TMZ is reporting Raquel Welch has passed

Edit: Variety

[beamish14]

TMZ is reporting Raquel Welch has passed

Edit: Variety

She always seemed eternal. A constant popular culture fixture who remained omnipresent despite changing trends.

[hearthesilence]

New Orleans and its unique musical tradition was a major contributor to early Rock and Roll. Fats Domino, Little Richard, Huey Piano Smith, Larry Williams, Lloyd Price.
I think I'll toss my Huey Piano Smith/Kenya story in the Music thread. Along with a dozen or so great but lesser known Huey Smith songs from his classic period ...

Frustrated that this one isn't on the otherwise impeccable compilation I got from Westside (a UK label). That and the ORIGINAL version of "Sea Cruise" (before they wiped Smith's vocal because they thought overdubbing Frankie Ford's singing would sell more records since he was white).

[colinr0380]

TMZ is reporting Raquel Welch has passed

Edit: Variety

She always seemed eternal. A constant popular culture fixture who remained omnipresent despite changing trends.

Plus her key role as an obscuring through plain sight pin-up in The Shawshank Redemption (spoiler), which perhaps cemented her role for the next generation! (I particularly like that the poster evolves from one of Rita Hayworth up to Raquel Welch in her loincloth in order to show the length of time and changing tastes whilst behind bars)

I do wonder how Myra Breckinridge holds up now in a world much more conscious of transgender issues.

[Colpeper]

Zia Mohyeddin, whom many will remember as Tafas, Peter O'Toole's ill-fated guide in David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962).

He was also the first actor to play Dr. Aziz Ahmed, in the 1960 London stage adaptation of E. M. Forster's "A Passage to India", which is perhaps where Lean first saw him.

[Calvin]

K. Viswanath, perhaps the biggest name in Telugu-language cinema (until S.S. Rajamouli's recent rise to fame). His 1986 film Swathi Muthyam is still the only Telugu film ever selected for submission to the Oscars.

[Aunt Peg]

Stella Stevens, 84h ttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64683748

[Aunt Peg]

The 'other' George Miller (i.e. not the Mad Max one), Australian film director (Man From Snowy River, Les Paterson Saves the World) has passed away:

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/a ... 5clkz.html

[colinr0380]

The 'other' George Miller (i.e. not the Mad Max one), Australian film director (Man From Snowy River, Les Paterson Saves the World) has passed away:

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/a ... 5clkz.html

Plus the post-Free Willy but with a sealion film Andre! (With Chelsea Field from Dust Devil as the mom!) Which I seem to remember being better than the Flipper theatrical film a year or two after (that one came a bit late to the party and sort of showed the trend was getting long in the tooth. But which also has Chelsea Field in it!), if we are ranking that weirdly specific 'kids interacting with aquatic creatures' trend of the mid-90s.

Although the best of that subgenre is Fly Peek! Peek The Baby Whale, which came out years before Free Willy!

[Fred Holywell]

TMZ is reporting Raquel Welch has passed

Edit: Variety

Raquel Welch (1940 - 2023) | TCM Remembers