MESRINE

CARPET CRAWLERS

UNIVERSAL MUSIC UMD70409

 

In the never-ending universe of cover versions

dedicated to Genesis, the idea to create a trip-hop

interpretation of a track like Carpet Crawlers could

result (at least on paper) as particularly intriguing,

especially if it is compared to the mediocre results

of the major part of similar operations created by

brains with a totally flat encephalogram.

 

Also the participation of an artist like Moloko (who

is well known by the fans of this kind of music)

seemed to give a further guarantee to the overall

result of this CD single.

 

We must however admit that although it was a good

opportunity for this German trio, they wasted their

chance in a rather elementary way and their version,

even after having listened to it a few times, is not

at all convincing.

 

Admittedly this band has distanced itself totally from

the Genesis version, the results being totally

unrecognisable if it werenít for the brief quotations

of the original lyrics.

 

Although the atmosphere they have created using

ethereal and evanescent sounds is effective, and the

vocal effects interesting, so is the choice of

combining acoustic sounds with a synth well-balanced,

it is clear that this project has indeterminate

musical concepts. Although this project was done in

good workmanship, it is simply not focalised.

These 3 musicians seem to have had difficulty

especially in the phase of arrangement, handling so

many concepts, voluntarily forcing them into a unique

musical stockpot.

 

This could also explain the necessity to have wanted

to try to tidy up in the phase of mixing, conveying

and sub-dividing the final realisation to create a

total of 6 different versions.

 

Furthermore the technical and sound means used are

unforgivably inadequate considering the groupís

pretence to want to defy one of the most well-known

tracks of the Gabrielian era.

 

If you are still interested in giving this German band

a chance and to judge our opinion with your own ears,

donít bother trying to find this CD single in record

shops!: having talked to Christian Graupner a few

weeks ago, who through his company, Voov Systems,

managed the production and took care of the contact

with the record company, he resentfully informed us

that Universal Music Germany, apart from a couple of

copies sent to German radio stations, had decided to

stop the whole project, therefore blocking the

promotion and distribution of the CD single in shops

and destroying all the copies, which had just come out

of production!!! Mysteries within the world of labels

which cannot be explained!!!

 

Stefano Tucciarelli

Translation by Nathalie Sutter

 

ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY

FANDO & LIS / LA CONSTELLATION JODOROWSKY

FANTOMA FAN7010

The most fervent Gabrielian collectors may have

already heard of a documentary called La Constellation

Jodorowsky made in 1995 by the French director Louis

Mouchet dedicated to the life of Alejandro Jodorowsky.

 

Amongst the films of the Chilean director Jodorowsky,

the most famous are Holy Mountain and El Topo, which

are today considered cult movies. We must also mention

his collaboration with the famous mime artist Marcel

Marceau for which he wrote, in the 70s, two important

mime works entitled The Mask and the Cage.

La Constellation Jodorowsky, originally filmed in

1995, has been commercialised for the very first time

and transferred onto DVD at the end of the 1999 (along

with the film Fando & Lis) by Fantoma, to reveal,

during its 87 minutes, an eclectic artist known for

his eccentric character, for his notoriously

alternative films and for his extravagant theatrical

works (chopped-off cow heads/rabbits with their

throats slit open and sacred images and symbols

combined to nudity portrayed in a blasphemous manner).

 

The documentary is essentially built around a series

of interviews of the director Mouchet, of the mime

artist Marceau and most of all of Jodorowsky,

alternated with images of some of his most unusual

films and theatre performances.

Why weíre interested in this reissue is for the series

of interviews of Peter (with a look at the Secret

World Tour period) who describes his love for the film

El Topo and how much the viewing of this film (at the

age of 21) influenced him in writing the lyrics of the

double album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; a love

which incited him to collaborate with Jodorowsky in

1979 for the making of a film version of The Lamb, a

project which was in fact never finished and which

stayed at the bottom of the drawer, except for rare

unfruitful re-attempts in 1985 and in 1996.

The documentary (in French and in English with English

subtitles) also uses, in some parts, Digging In The

Dirt as background soundtrack. It is really

interesting as it allows us to discover curious

artistic aspects of the "underground" theatre and film

scene of the 70s/80s.

This DVD, which cannot be found in normal points of

sales, can for the time being be purchased exclusively

by Internet. At the moment of the order, however, one

is informed that the product is out of stock and that

it will take 50-60 days for it to be home-delivered,

probably because of the very limited production.

Recommended to those who want everything, and I mean

everything, regarding Peter !!!

Stefano Tucciarelli

Translated by

Nathalie Sutter