See Hear Podcast Episode 86 - The Sparks Brothers

Explicit content warning

06/18/21 • 68 min

I Predict that When I'm With You, there will be no Existential Threat unless we're Eaten By The Monster Of Love in this Cool World.

Welcome to episode 86 of See Hear Podcast.

Edgar Wright has been known to use music to great effect in his narrative films, so it's only appropriate that he makes a music-related documentary. The Sparks Brothers tells the tale of brothers Ron and Russell Mael who as Sparks have been writing and recording albums for nearly 5 decades. Unlike so many musicians who had an initial creative flourish then lose sight of their muse, the Maels are still creating great music right up to today.

Due to a peculiar turn of events, Tim, Bernard and Maurice handed the keys to the See Hear car over to friends of the show Mike White of the Projection Booth Podcast and musician / documentarian Skizz Cyzyk. These guys are the best, and we felt completely comfortable leaving the show in their professional hands. As a bonus, Mike also presents an interview with the film's editor Paul Trewartha. It's a fascinating discussion about his involvement with the film as well as the editing process in general.

The regular crew will definitely be back next month to carry on with regular podcast shenanigans (which may be bad news if you've enjoyed the high standard brought by Mike and Skizz). You can find all things Booth-ian (except Frank) at https://www.projectionboothpodcast.com/

You can follow Skizz' activities at http://www.skizz.net/ Our huge thanks go to the gents for sailing our ship.

If you’ve been enjoying the show, please consider giving us a favourable review on iTunes and let your friends know that our show exists. If you don't enjoy the show, please tell your friends to tune in anyway.

See Hear is proudly part of the Pantheon Network of music podcasts. Check out all the other wonderful shows at http://pantheonpodcasts.com. The list of new shows is always increasing.

Send us feedback via email at [email protected]

Join the Facebook group at http://facebook.com/groups/seehearpodcast

Check out the Instagram page at www.instagram.com/seehearpodcast/?hl=en

You can download the show by searching for See Hear podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher.....or whatever podcast app you favour.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I Predict that When I'm With You, there will be no Existential Threat unless we're Eaten By The Monster Of Love in this Cool World.

Welcome to episode 86 of See Hear Podcast.

You can follow Skizz' activities at http://www.skizz.net/ Our huge thanks go to the gents for sailing our ship.

See Hear is proudly part of the Pantheon Network of music podcasts. Check out all the other wonderful shows at http://pantheonpodcasts.com. The list of new shows is always increasing.

Send us feedback via email at [email protected]

Join the Facebook group at http://facebook.com/groups/seehearpodcast

Check out the Instagram page at www.instagram.com/seehearpodcast/?hl=en

You can download the show by searching for See Hear podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher.....or whatever podcast app you favour.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

See Hear Podcast Episode 85 - Hellzapoppin'

The early history of musicals often includes romantic comedies with slight plots as an excuse for big song and dance numbers (often in the context of “let's put on a show”). The romantic sub-plot is a big criticism of the Marx Brothers films at MGM, getting in the way of the anarchy of the masters of mirth.

In 1941, a musical was released by Universal that broke all the rules of narrative and made fun of those romantic subplots.

Welcome to See Hear Podcast episode 85.

After 3 years on Broadway, a Vaudeville revue of song and sketches called Hellzapoppin' was made into a film. Knowing that it was unfilmable in its stage form, it was recreated as something completely different. This may not have been the first film to smash down the 4th wall, but it made it into an artform. Hellzapoppin' also features satire, surrealism, self mockery a film within a film within a film....and some great dancing and even a few good songs (we ARE a music film podcast, after all).

A plot description of Hellzapoppin' would not do it justice..... Marx Brothers mixed with Warner Brothers cartoons is the best I can come up with. Check out the film at https://youtu.be/c2TOriWWSLE then listen to our thoughts. Bernie, Tim and I acknowledge that in many respects the film is way ahead of its time (we discuss what we believe it influenced) and in others is of its time. We don't all agree on its merits, but we had a great discussion and hope you enjoy.

See Hear is proudly part of the Pantheon Network of music podcasts. Check out all the other wonderful shows at http://pantheonpodcasts.com The list of new shows is always increasing.

Send us feedback via email at [email protected]

Join the Facebook group at http://facebook.com/groups/seehearpodcast

Check out the Instagram page at www.instagram.com/seehearpodcast/?hl=en

You can download the show by searching for See Hear podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher.....or whatever podcast app you favour.

Next Episode

See Hear Podcast Episode 87 - Interview with Scott Crawford, director of "Creem: America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine"

With the ubiquity of fanzines, blogs and podcasts in the 21st century, anyone can publish their critiques on any form of the arts (including your humble hosts of this very show). For better or worse, we don't have to limit ourselves to the opinions of those who claim to “know better”. There was a time, though, where we'd have to rely on information and analysis about music from the writers at publications like NME, RAM, Juke, Rolling Stone or any number of music magazines.

Welcome to episode 87 of See Hear Podcast.

In 1969 in that most rock and roll of cities Detroit, publisher Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay created Creem magazine. Unlike, the recently founded Rolling Stone which portrayed rock music as a serious artform, Creem was taking the piss out of popular culture – very much in line with counter culture values. It featured writers who would be gain fame and infamy like Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh, Cameron Crowe, Robert Christgau and Greil Marcus among many others who obviously loved the music being created but without being held hostage to its creators. The writers showed no fear no favour in how they wrote about bands. MC5 and Rolling Stones, “Exile On Main Street” received less than favourable reviews to start with, something that seems unfathomable now.

We're proud to welcome to the show, documentarian Scott Crawford to discuss his latest film, “Creem: America's Only Rock and Roll Magazine”. He had access to many of the surviving key players from the magazine's 20 year run and has come up with a fascinating look at how Creem was different from its competitors and why it was so beloved of many musicians. There's a gem of a story involving Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh, a typewriter and a dog. Wanna know more? Tune in.

Our huge thanks to Scott for being such a great conversationalist and for allowing us to spend time with him to talk about a truly interesting part of rock history. We at See Hear highly recommend you watch this film....here's a number of ways you can stream it. (Depending on where you are, you may need a VPN). https://www.creemmovie.com/watch-at-home/

Scott also has a great podcast called Spoke which you can check out here: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/spoke-scott-crawford-0zTir9pbt-A/

See Hear is proudly part of the Pantheon Network of music podcasts. Check out all the other wonderful shows at http://pantheonpodcasts.com. The list of new shows is always increasing.

Send us feedback via email at [email protected]

Join the Facebook group at http://facebook.com/groups/seehearpodcast

Check out the Instagram page at www.instagram.com/seehearpodcast/?hl=en

You can download the show by searching for See Hear on whatever podcast app you favour.