Harvey
Flanagan: Wired For Chaos
(2025/Lightyear Blu-ray w/DVD)/Kool
& The Gang: Greatest Hits
(CD**)/Lovely
To Look At
(1952/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Spinal
Tap II: The End Continues
(2025/Bleecker Street/Decal Blu-ray)/Tears
For Fears: Songs From The Big Chair - 40th Anniversary Edition
(1985/3-CD Set/**both Universal Music/Mercury)/Wild
Style 4K
(1982/MVD/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray Sets)
4K
Picture: B+ Picture: B- & C+/X/B/B/X/B Sound: B- &
C+/B/C+/B-/B/B- Extras: B-/C-/C/D/B+/B Main Programs:
B/C+/C+/C+/A-/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Lovely
To Look At Blu-ray
is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive
series and can be ordered from the links below.
Now
for a remarkable new group of music releases...
Rex
Miller's Harvey
Flanagan: Wired For Chaos
(2025) is a remarkable documentary about the life of the
singer/musician of the title, best known as a member of the hardcore
punk band the Cro-Mags. Brutally honest, we meet him in the present,
then we backtrack to his birth, rough childhood, some really awful
times, how music helped save him and the unreal downs and lucky ups
he has had over the decades since.
Loaded
with all kinds of stills, footage of all types, great interviews and
music, Flanagan (and many others around him) are lucky they survived
at all and he is still having issues he is able to discuss and get
into. The interviews are great and include Flea, Michael Imperioli,
Henry Rollins and many who were there those in the scene would know.
There
have been many great biopic music documentaries of late and this one
is up there with many other great entires of late. Even if this is
not your music, you should give it a good look.
Extras
include a slipcase, Cro-Mags Live at Hellfest 2022
Kool
& The Gang: Greatest Hits
(2025 version) is a decent collection of their hits from the New
Jersey R&B band (founded back in 1964!) who logged nine #1 on the
Billboard Soul chart (most of which are here) and their single Hot
100 #1 (track 7) following the path Chicago, Electric Light Orchestra
and Earth, Wind & Fire did in starting out as a big band with a
big sound and live performances that were more like parties and
events than mere concerts, only later to pair down things, still have
hits, but lose some of their greatness. Tracks 1, 2 (a hit again
thanks to Tarantino's Pulp
Fiction,)
4, 5, 6 and 8 define the early era, but they stayed popular like
their contemporaries despite switching gears.
In
this, some of the songs (the later ones, starting with Track 7) got
so played out beyond belief that they became the victim of their own
success (The Bee Gees are among the few bands that successful that
this happened to) and not by choice on their part. Now if you have
never heard of them or are curious to hear these hits with better
clarity than in most cases, here is a good place to start. The
tracks are:
1.
Hollywood Swinging
2.
Jungle Boogie
3.
Misled
4.
Ladies Night
5.
Open Sesame, Part 1
6.
Summer Madness
7.
Celebration
8.
Get Down On It
9.
Too Hot
10.
Fresh
11.
Joanna
12.
Cherish
A
full color paper pullout with an essay and track listing is the only
extra.
Mervin
LeRoy's Lovely
To Look At
(1952) is MGM's ambitious attempt to remake the RKO musical hit
Roberta
(with Irene Dunn, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) involving a
Parisian clothing salon that Al Marsh (Red Skelton) sells his
financial interest to do a Broadway show, so his buddies (Howard Keel
and Gower Champion) can fly to France and it turns out the salon is
not doing as well as they had thought or hoped. What to do.
They
start to meet some of the women there (Kathryn Grayson, Marge
Champion, Ann Miller, Zsa Zsa Gabor) and their mission to save the
salon becomes more complicated than expected. A Backstage Musical,
the screenplay adds more comedy than usual, has more than a few opera
moments (or maybe operetta, depending on how you view that) and leads
to a fashion show!
MGM
though they could pull all this off with the very capable LeRoy at
the helm and it often works, yet it does not always cohere and add up
like it might have. Still interesting in its down moments and
featuring the title song and classic ''Smoke
Gets In Your Eyes''
that was soon a huge classic #1 hit by The Platters in 1959, it is
definitely worth a good look. The money is on the screen, the
Technicolor is great and the talent is undeniable. Nice it got the
full restoration treatment.
Extras
include
an Original Theatrical Trailer and two MGM short films: the live
action Pete
Smith Specialty
''Have
You Ever Wondered?''
and animated Technicolor Tom
and Jerry
cartoon Dog
Trouble.
Rob
Reiner's Spinal
Tap II: The End Continues
(2025) is the somewhat unexpected sequel to the 1984 mockumentary
hit, also spoofing Rockumentaries, that has slowly gained a larger
and larger following over the decades. Many versions of the original
film hit video, including this one that our fellow writer raved
about:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8870/This+Is+Spinal+Tap+(1984/MGM+Blu-ray
Director
Reiner is back at the helm, also reprising his in front of the camera
part, joined again by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry
Shearer and a cast of solid character actors and some surprise guests
I will not reveal or spoil. The film is smart enough to deal with
the decline of the Rock genre, old age and how the music industry has
changed, yet still keeping the style in tact that made the first film
work.
I
was not as big a fan of the first film, but totally understood why it
was and still is a success. This is a worthy-enough follow up and
even non-fans might want to take a look because there are a few good
laughs here.
There
are no extras.
Tears
For Fears: Songs From The Big Chair - 40th Anniversary Edition
(1985) is a 3-CD set that is yet another reissue of one of the most
successful albums of the 1980s and maybe of all time. You can read
more about the album with my coverage of an older CD set that is
still also worth having at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5022/Tears+For+Fears+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%
Since
then, the album has become even more popular, the hits Shout,
Everybody
Wants To Rule The World
and Head
Over Heels
continue to be classic hits, but many since have discovered the other
tracks on this masterwork and that has led to many discovering and
rediscovering their previous album, the remarkable The
Hurting.
The tracks for the three CDs are:
DISC
ONE: Original Album & B-Sides
1
Shout
6:32 Audio Original album
2
The
Working Hour
6:31 Audio Original album
3
Everybody
Wants To Rule The World
4:11 Audio Original album
4
Mothers
Talk
5:06 Audio Original album
5
I
Believe
4:55 Audio Original album
6
Broken
2:38 Audio Original album
7
Head
Over Heels
5:02 Audio Original album
8
Listen
6:53 Audio Original album
9
The
Big Chair
3:21 Audio B-side to Shout.
10
Empire
Building
2:52 Audio B-side to Mothers Talk.
11
The
Marauders
4:15 Audio B-side to The Way You Are.
12
Broken
Revisited
5:16 Audio Bonus track on the ltd ed of Songs From The Big
Chair.
13
The
Conflict
4:04 Audio B-side to Change
14
The
Working Hour
(Piano Version) 2:08
15
Pharaohs
3:41 Audio B-side to Everybody Wants To Rule The World.
16
When
In Love With A Blind Man
2:23 Audio B-side to Head Over Heels.
17
Sea
Song
3:53 Audio B-side to I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording) in the
UK and to the re-recorded version of Mothers
Talk
in the US.
DISC
TWO: Edited Songs
From The Big Chair
1
The
Way You Are
4:55
2
Mothers
Talk
(Short Version) 3:54
3
Shout
(Alternative Version) 6:00
4
Everybody
Wants To Rule The World
(Single Version) 4:12
5
Head
Over Heels
(Dave Bascombe 7" N.Mix)
6
I
Believe
(A Soulful Re-Recording) 4:42
7
Everybody
Wants To Run The World
4:34
8
The
Way You Are
(Edit) 4:21
9
Mothers
Talk
(U.S. Remix) 4:14
10
Shout
(U.S. Single Edit) 4:06
11
Everybody
Wants To Run The World
(Running Version) 4:33
12
Head
Over Heels
(Hughes 7" Edit)
13
Mothers
Talk
(Video Version) 4:47
14
Shout
(7" Edit) 4:47
15
Listen
(Clean Intro) 6:52
16
Interview With Curt & Roland 7:36
DISC
THREE: Remixed Songs
From The Big Chair
1
The
Way You Are
(Extended) 7:41
2
Mothers
Talk
(Long Version) 6:17
3
Shout
(UK Version / Extended Version) 7:42
4
Everybody
Wants To Rule The World
(Extended Version) 5:40
5
Broken
/ Head
Over Heels
/ Broken
(Preacher Mix) 8:01
6
Mothers
Talk
(Beat Of The Drum Mix) 8:56
7
Shout
(Extended) 8:00
8
Everybody
Wants To Rule The World
(Urban Mix) 6:01
9
Mothers
Talk
(Alternate U.S. Remix) 4:12
10
Shout
(US Dub Version) 6:48
11
Everybody
Wants To Rule The World
(Instrumental) 4:23
12
Shout
(Acapella)
Love
being able to hear more variants of the songs, showing how even more
creative the duo is than even those who like them might have
expected. As a duo, they have stayed together longer than most, most
notably Hall & Oates, but an equal to them and Eurythmics. Four
decades later, this holds up as well as anything in its time and is
always worth taking in, especially with these bonus tracks.
Besides
the bonus tracks, an
illustrated booklet on the album and this set including informative
text and tech information is included. For more on the duo, try
these links to more of their work on CD:
Elemental
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5255/Tears+For+Fears+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%
Everyone
Loves A Happy Ending
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5256/Tears+For+Fears+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%
Charlie
Aheran's Wild
Style 4K
(1983) has been reissued for the first time in HD of any kind, two
separate releases in 4K and regular Blu-ray by Arrow, doing further
justice to this vital film about rap, hip hop, graffiti, breakdancing
and art culture in NYC at the time that still influences and affects
us to this day. I covered the Wild
Style
DVD set on its 30Th Anniversary at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16229/Wild+Style:+30th+Anniversary+DVD+set
Despite
some limited acting, it has aged well and now further restored, to
see the graffiti alone looking this great and vivid is amazing and it
should also be said that for a film shot on regular 16mm film, it is
among the best-looking ever and makes total sense it could have a 4K
edition. However, the film is the thing and everyone should see this
landmark work at least once, appreciating even more than the makers
could have ever hoped for and dreamed of.
Extras
are many, have expanded greatly on that DVD set and include a bound
collector's book featuring new and archival essays and articles,
alongside an extensive collection of stills and artwork from the film
Reversible
sleeve featuring two original artwork options
Double-sided
foldout poster featuring two original artwork options
Exclusive
mini-version of the Wild
Style
issue of Hip-Hop
Family Tree
comic book by Ed Piskor
Three
Wild
Style
logo stickers
DISC
1 - FEATURE (4K ULTRA HD or Blu-ray-only set)
Brand
new 4K restoration from the original 16mm negative by Arrow Films
Brand
new audio commentary with Jeff 'Chairman' Mao and Andrew 'Monk One'
Mason
Legacy
commentary featuring director Charlie Ahearn and Fred 'Fab 5 Freddy'
Brathwaite
Down
by Law: Creating the Music of Wild Style,
a brand new interview with Charlie Ahearn, Chris Stein and Fred 'Fab
5 Freddy' Brathwaite
Original
Theatrical Trailer
Image
gallery
DISC
2 - EXTRAS (BLU-RAY)
The
Origin Story,
an interview with Lee Quinones and Fred 'Fab 5 Freddy' Brathwaite
Studio/Benchmark,
an interview with Lee Quinones
Archive
footage from Wild
Style's
1983 Japanese Tour
Two
panel discussions and footage from the Wild
Style 40
exhibition
ZDF
TV Wild
Style 30th Anniversary
featurette
Rammellzee
in the Battle Station
featurette
Featurettes
from the Wild
Style
20th, 25th and 30th anniversary shows
Smith
Projects Gym (1977)
Archival
featurettes and interviews from the players and performers of Wild
Style
Outtakes
Subway
Rap music video
2025
Restoration and Theatrical trailers
DISC
3 - LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE CD
Exclusive
new Wild Style Megamix by Jorun Bombay
Original
radio spots by Fab 5 Freddy and Queen Lisa Lee
Rare
alternate mixes of Subway Rap and Wild Style Theme
Rare
audio outtakes from the film and soundtrack
and
Rare 1983 radio interview with Charlie Ahearn.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.33 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Wild
Style 4K
is easily the best looking release here with outstanding color that
is as rich as it is natural, nice depth, some nice detail and better
cinematography than you might expect. The 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital
High Definition image transfer is also not bad, but no match for the
4K and the PCM 1.0 Mono sound on both versions holds up just fine.
Too bad it is not 2-channel mono, but you do have a CD here that
sounds great.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Chaos
is a mixed bag of
old and new images, stills, some great black and white still photos
from back in the day, old analog black and white videotape, color
videotape, new HD digital video and even some film clips. Still,
expect quality to vary a bit, as expected and the DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes have sound that ranges from
old mono sound to the music benefitting the most in both mixes. I
liked the 5.1 slightly more.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is passable, but makes
enjoying this all not as easy, whiel the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound mixes are limited versus what
you get on the Blu-ray version.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Spinal
Tap II
is slightly
soft on the edges sometimes, but looks just fine and about as god as
the original film, though I wonder if this will get 4K release. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix cam be limited since this
is a dialogue/joke-driven film, but the sound benefits the music the
most.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Lovely
is a pretty good, solid representation
of a dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor 35mm version of the film,
seeing how well thought out the color was and how much money is in
this. Pretty impressive and the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono
lossless mix is good, restored and fine, but a little limited and
even slightly compressed throughout, so the original audio may not
have survived as well as one would have wished.
The
PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo on the Kool
& The Gang
hits set sounds fine and are of the most recent transfers and though
it does not make it a pure audiophile release, it does sound good and
better than I have heard most of these songs, so fans and the curious
should not be too disappointed, but they do need and deserve more
audiophile releases too.
The
PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo on the Tears
For Fears: Songs From The Big Chair
main CD is about the same as the older CD, with a little more
articulation, but maybe slightly less bass, though the Blu-ray Audio
mixes (version not reviewed) and even that our of print Gold CD sound
better. Note that the Original
Album Audio mixes featured here are bonus tracks on that Blu-ray!
To
order the Lovely
To Look At
Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
