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Book Review: Blast from the past
Eric Burdon - Declares “War” by Mott the Dog ***** 5 Stars Rating. “We the people have declared war against the people for the right to love each other”. Personally I prefer the second title, but then record companies can be such picky people. Eric Burdon & War was one of those unstable combinations that throws out sparks and heat even as it heads toward meltdown. Looking back it seems amazing that the team up of a British Blues / rock singer, a freaked out Danish harmonica player and an L.A. - based R & B / Jazz / Latin sextet came together at all. Their mixture of ethnic background & musical influences created a sound that was as hard to classify as exciting as it was to listen to. Eric Burden & War ran that fine line between genius & total excess as their star blazed a fluorescent trail across the musical stratosphere. The brief career only lasted two years & two albums (1969 - 71). During this brief time together they performed with a sense of daring, risk, imagination, & adventure. “Eric Burdon declares War” was the first & most successful of the two albums (the other “Black Man’s Burdon” being released the following year). Recorded after nearly a year of touring, the band went in and laid down what they were playing on stage with very little overdubs & plenty of ad-libbing. The music captures the kinetic inter play between Burdon & his band mates. Their ability to communicate with and improvise off each other gives “Declares War” its power & its glory. The tension between Burdon’s unpredictable nature, War’s polished instrumental skills, and Lee Oskar’s reckless jamming harmonica runs through the music. Burdon was an artist with a definite message, and working with a multi-racial band was part of his statement. “War” wasn’t a name to be chosen lightly in 1969 (or now come to that); it acknowledged both cultural & artistic conflicts & challenged audiences to deal with such issues, at least that’s my slant looking at the moniker’s meaning. The free flowing approach of the album starts immediately with first cut “The Vision Of Rassan”. With its name checks to Charlie Parker & John Coltrane, this was the band’s tribute to jazz reed player Roland Kirk, and wets the musical palate for what is to come. From there, Burdon leads the band into an expanded exploratory version of Tobacco Road, that had previously been a hit for the Nashville Teens, but not much of their version remains as Burdon uses the lyrics as a springboard for an odd erotic sermon, nailed down by War’s tight supporting play. The album’s best known track “Spill The Wine” is a Latin tinged daydream of a song which became a number 3 in the U.S.A & a number one in the rest of the world. “Mother Earth”, an old blues standard, gives us the main theme for the 13 minutes of “Blues For Memphis Slim”. As the band coasts along, Burdon expounds upon sex, birth & morality, stepping aside to allow Charles Miller & then Lee Oskar to strut their stuff. The album concludes with the vocal workout “Your No Stranger”, a nice return to normality after what has gone before. The following year the partnership dissolved, fortunately the music they recorded survives, a remarkable combination of divergent ancestries and united talents. Harold Brown - drums
Track Listing 1. The Vision Of Rassan
Movie Review: Pavillion of Women By Poppy The setting is China, 1938, where the wealthy, landed Wu family lives within a large compound surrounded by canals. They have a luxurious and peaceful lifestyle. Madame Wu (Luo Yan) is a faithful wife, producing heirs for the Wu family and controlling the house staff with skill and efficiency. Outside the walls of the Wu estate, the world is in chaos. The Second World War rages and the Japanese invasion is imminent.
Everyone is positively gob smacked! A wife never arranges her own replacement. Concubinage is a male prerogative, grudgingly tolerated by women. Chiuming inherits responsibility for servicing Mr. Wu. At last free of the sexual obligations of her loveless marriage, and with the her son Fengmo (John Cho) on his way to an arranged marriage of his own, Madame Wu is ready to enter into a life with spiritual freedom. But Madame Wu’s plans soon backfire and then the fun begins. When Japanese forces finally attack the town, their traditional way of life is shattered forever and amidst the carnage, Father Andre is forced to make a fatal, tragic choice, in order to save the lives of his loved ones. Something for everyone in this movie. Directed by Yim Ho Cast: Luo Yan as Madame Wu, Willem Dafoe as Andre, Amy Hill as Madame Kang, Yi Ding as Chiuming, Shek Sau as Mr. Wu, Koh Chieng Mun as Ying
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In a supporting role there is a troubled and disturbed psychotic, whose thoughts and
mental gymnastics are very well expressed by Elton. The author also describes with precision the effects this has on the “normal” people around him. That a satirical
comedian can have such an insight is another aspect that makes the book intriguing.
Mott’s CD review:
Madame Wu is about to be 40 and a banquet is organised but on the day of her birthday
she is summoned to the bedside of her best friend, Madame Kang (Amy Hill) who is dying in childbirth. Madame Kang is saved by an American missionary doctor, Andre (Willem Dafoe).
She returns home to the banquet in time to give her husband a surprise gift, a young concubine (Yi Ding). She presents the girl to him explaining to her guests, “He deserves
someone younger.”