Aural Fixations

THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
Welcome to the Infant Freebase
Extended Revelation
Behind the Music
(Telegram/Hidden Agenda)
Most bands tend to be heavily influenced by one particular era (60s, 80s) or style (punk, psychedelia), with variations on the formula as needed. Then there's Sweden's The Soundtrack of Our Lives, who synthesize every style of music they've ever loved into one cohesive whole. Formed in 1994 out of the wreckage of legendary underground band Union Carbide Productions, TSOOL uses all the rock to which its members have ever listened as a basis for its own melodic excursions. (more)

Audio-Visuals

BOB DYLAN: DON'T LOOK BACK
Directed by D.A. Pennebaker
(Docurama DVD)
34 years after its release, Don't Look Back, D.A. Pennebaker's documentary chronicling Bob Dylan's final acoustic tour through England in 1965, stands as the definitive rockumentary. Pennebaker used the then-uncommon cinema verité method, in which the filmmaker simply turns on the camera and records the action in front of it. There's no script, narration or interviews here, not even any complete concert performances, just scenes from backstage, in the hotel room, in transit and from other mundane locations. It's not a completely unvarnished portrait, of course—judicious post-production editing keeps the story moving in the direction Pennebaker wants it to go, and Dylan was perfectly aware of being filmed, letting the camera see what he wanted it to see. But it's still a fascinating, absorbing, ultimately revealing glimpse into an artist who was already bored with his icon status and ready to move on to the next challenge. (more)