Comments: This is worth a watch just to see the way Andy Gill plays, and doesn't play, guitar. It's a weird mix of the times ... with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark doing "Enola Gay", which is about as poppy new wave as you can get, and then The Cramps doing "Tear It Up" while Lux Interior blows the microphone
It's filmed at several different locations so it's not like some big Paloozafest, but it is tangible how all this different music co-existed in harmony for a while
And Klaus Nomi. Godd damn
Previously:
A masterpiece picture captures what the music scene was like in 1981. This is when (some) punks started wearing white shirts and skinny black ties and the art crowd got dirty and they all mixed together creating mutual influence. You can tell a musical scene is healthy when you film 34 bands from all over the map and every performance kicks total ass. Even the Go-Go's are good here. If you think Devo was just some weirdo quirk band, they rock harder than almost any one in this film. The 2 minute Gang of Four performance will leave you speechless. And so, probably, will The Cramps, although it might be Klaus Nomi who steals the show.
1 The Police – "Driven to Tears"
2 Wall of Voodoo – "Back in Flesh"
3 Toyah Willcox – "Danced"
4 John Cooper Clarke – "Health Fanatic"
5 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – "Enola Gay"
6 Chelsea – "I'm on Fire"
7 Oingo Boingo – "Ain't This the Life"
8 Echo & the Bunnymen – "The Puppet"
9 Jools Holland – "Foolish I Know"
10 XTC – "Respectable Street"
11 Klaus Nomi – "Total Eclipse"
12 Athletico Spizz 80 – "Clocks Are Big; Machines Are Heavy/Where's Captain Kirk?"
13 The Go-Go's – "We Got the Beat"
14 Dead Kennedys – "Bleed for Me"
15 Steel Pulse – "Ku Klux Klan"
16 Gary Numan – "Down in the Park"
17 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – "Bad Reputation"
18 Magazine – "Model Worker"
19 Surf Punks – "My Beach"
1 The Members – "Offshore Banking Business"
2 Au Pairs – "Come Again"
3 The Cramps – "Tear It Up"
4 Invisible Sex – "Valium"
5 Pere Ubu – "Birdies"
6 Devo – "Uncontrollable Urge"
7 The Alley Cats – "Nothing Means Nothing Anymore"
8 John Otway – "Cheryl's Going Home"
9 Gang of Four – "He'd Send in the Army"
10 999 – "Homicide"
11 The Fleshtones – "Shadowline"
12 X – "Beyond and Back"
13 Skafish – "Sign of the Cross"
14 Splodgenessabounds – "Two Little Boys"
15 UB40 – "Madame Medusa"
16 The Police – "Roxanne"
17 The Police – "So Lonely"
18 Klaus Nomi – "Aria" ("Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" from Camille Saint-Saëns' opera
Summary: Punk, New Wave, Reggae and Techno bands from Europe and the US recorded live in several locations in 1980. The biggest names on the bill are the Police and UB 40 but every performance is a jewel, a time capsule of the influenced and the influential in rock music right up to today.
1. Driven to Tears - The Police
2. Back in Flesh - Wall of Voodoo
3. Enola Gay - Orchestral Manoeuvres
4. Ain't This the Life - Oingo Boingo
5. Respectable Street - XTC
6. We Got the Beat - The Go-Go's
7. Total Eclipse - Klaus Nomi
8. Foolish I Know - Jools Holland
9. Ku Klux Klan - Steel Pulse
10. Uncontrollable Urge - Devo
11. Puppet - Echo & the Bunnymen
12. Tear It Up - The Cramps
13. Bad Reputation - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
14. Birdies - Pere Ubu
15. Down in the Park - Gary Numan
16. Shadow Line - The Fleshtones
17. He'd Send in the Army - Gang of Four
18. Homicide - 999
19. Beyond and Back - X
20. Model Worker - Magazine
21. Sign of the Cross - Skafish
Bonus CD Track Listing:
1. Dance - Toyah Willcox
2. Health Fanatic - John Cooper Clarke
3. I'm On Fire - Chelsea
4. Where's Captain Kirk - Athletico Spizz 80
5. Bleed For Me - Dead Kennedys
6. Go Home - Surf Punks
7. Offshore Banking Business - The Members
8. Come Again - Au Pairs
9. Valium - Invisible Sex
10. Nothing Means Nothing Anymore - The Alley Cats
11. Cheryl's Going Home - John Otway
12. Two little Boys - SplodgenessAbounds
13. Madame Medusa - UB40
14. Roxanne - The Police
15. So Lonely - The Police
