For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.
Death is a classy early punk band that packed politically charged lyrics with aggressive and funky playing. They’re great players, which shows in a lot of my favorite songs of theirs being instrumentals. Still, “Politicians In My Eyes” is an iconic track. Their catalog is a bit confusing. It consists of the occasional non-album single and three LPs recorded with the classic lineup, one of which was not released for decades; then they reformed without their deceased guitarist David Hackney and are still actively recording. On top of all this, the bundle has gone through many name changes. I’ve defined the band as whatever includes its two constant members, Bobby Hackney on bass and vocals and Dannis Hackney on drums. Another amusing discovery is that before David died, the other two members formed a new band called “Lambs Bread” and released several obscure albums. If you consider that even in the music labeled “Death” the guitarist changed, then there’s no reason not to consider Lambs Bread more of Death. The cherry on top is that the guitarist of reformed Death, Bobbie Duncan, had played in Lambs Bread. It is worth noting that much of Lambs Bread is so obscure that I couldn’t find it online. I will still list the info I found.
Another frustrating fact is that while a lot of 70s classic lineup demo material has been released, some doesn’t come with a recording date. The release with this problem is listed as being cut vaguely from 1974 to 1976. It’s also said to mostly predate the band’s 1975 studio recordings. How I’ve ordered things, any song without a known recording year I’ll assume is 1976, which leaves one album’s worth of material with confirmed dates of some 1973 or 1975 and a follow up. However, I suspect that if I did have all the dates the first album would be the 1973 tracks and a ton of demos, then the second would be the studio sessions and what came after. Fortunately, the sequences I’ve made are still strong regardless.
Alternate ideas for this album title were the group’s early name RockFire Funk Express, their first album’s name …For the Whole World to See, or my Spotify playlist Introduction By David. I picked the one I did as it’s been a little joke that’s run through my mind for a while. This album is a bit longer than I’d have liked, but some of the band’s completed albums are similarly lengthy. Also note that for the World album, originally Death were to record twelve tracks, but only got to do seven. This resulted in a little under thirty minutes. Thus, you can imagine that those twelve songs may have totaled around forty-five minutes if completed. Another concern is that the album is front loaded with too many instrumentals, but I wanted to preserve the actual sequencing for World within this one. Otherwise, I might have moved one of the instrus to around the middle of side b.
Death – Can You Give Me A Thrill??? (1979) – YouTube, Spotify
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Can You Give Me A Thrill???” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“People Look Away” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“The Storm Within” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“David’s Dream (Flying)” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“We Are Only People” (Recorded 1976)
SIDE B
“North Street” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
“Restlessness” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
“Open Road” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
“Dannis On The Motor City Drums” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
Anything I couldn’t find by Lambs Bread is simply not linked. However, you can find some of their material for purchase on their website: https://www.lambsbreadband.com/
“We’re Gonna Make It” (1992 (Featuring Death’s classic lineup))
“The Masks” (2011)
“Keep On Knocking” (2011)
“Cease Fire” (2017)
“Give It Back” (2018)
“World In Disguise” (2023)
There are modern-era live recordings and a documentary for those interested. Considering how there are no released demos of the studio material of the 70s and 80s other than just once, I bet there are some that were recorded, but not released. Hopefully they will be in due time. More new music, such as LPs, would also be nice.
This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!
For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.
With my recent Buddy Holly fan album and story project, I canonized his two proper studio albums as having happened as I didn’t want to alienate those that would prefer to enjoy the official albums as is. My plan was to continue this methodology for the post-Buddy years. On top of that, considering the fact that Jerry Allison is by far the only consistent member, I came up with some fun albums based on the logic that any song with Jerry is the Crickets. I then listened to my albums with this concept in mind. While some may still prefer listening to the official albums as they are and slotting the stray track ones in, I have found many of the official and personal sequences problematic for a few reasons: Some of these tracks are quite bad and some albums have tracks that would fit better elsewhere. Thus, I’ve decided to publish my stray track sequences here, as well as certain story ideas that can’t be reused, then I’ll write the narrative around what I think would make the best albums, with new sequences that arrange any track how I see fit.
For those that are fans of Jerry Allison or Sonny Curtis, I hope I can do them justice by accumulating so many rare recordings, especially because some are quite solid. One example is that Allison, Curtis, and famed Crickets bassist Joe B. Mauldin did some better known recordings as the Crickets, but also some obscure ones under different names. Those obscure ones are gathered and treated like just any other Cricket track.
During the Bobby Vee and later Jerry Naylor eras of the group, there is shaky and unreliable personnel info. Thus, things are listed vaguely.
Any album without a tracklist is an official album, not a construction of mine (unless where noted).
Based on some research, I think that almost every recording credited to Sonny Curtis as a solo artist prior to his 1979 solo album features the then-current Crickets lineup. There’s a few cases where either a track from a Crickets album is released as a solo Sonny single or the personnel is simply known to include them. However, his first two singles and flipsides have worse odds of featuring them, but I still wanted to include those regardless. The other oddity here is from the 1955 recordings he did. Him and Buddy Holly did six songs together. Five were released on my Buddy Holly & The Two Tones project, but one more, “Queen of the Ballroom”, was excluded due to their being a version with Buddy on vocals. This track almost definitely lacks Jerry Allison, but I didn’t want any of these early rarities to go absent from these albums, so here they are.
The primary source I used for information was Praguefrank, as well as Discogs, Nor-Va-Jak Music, and the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
The first post-Buddy lineup
The Crickets & Their Buddies Volume 2 (1959) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
Billy Walker – “On My Mind Again” (Recorded April 8th, 1957)
Hal Goodson & The Raiders – “Who’s Gonna Be The Next One Honey” (Recorded May 2nd, 1957)
Hal Goodson & The Raiders – “Later Baby” (Recorded May 2nd, 1957)
Johnny “Peanuts” Wilson – “I’ve Had It” (Recorded November 10th, 1957)
The Roses (Robert Linville, Ray Rush, David Bingham) – backing vocals (track 3)
Buddy Holly – guitar (track 6)
Larry Welborn – bass (track 6)
Dudley A. Brooks – piano (track 8)
Johnny Mann, Alan Davies, Bill Lee – backing vocals (track 8)
The Crickets – In Style With The Crickets (1960) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Earl Sinks – lead vocals (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 1-12), lead vocals (tracks 1, 7)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 1-12)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-12)
Dudley Brooks – piano (tracks 1, 2, 3, 7)
The Roses – backing vocals (track 12)
Tommy Allsup – rhythm guitar (tracks 1-5, 7-10)
A common issue with the one-off singers is they can’t sing very well. Bobby Vee and Johnny Burnette are personal least favorites. However, there are some gems. David Box is excellent and by far the group’s best singer that went for a Buddy Holly-vocal style. “You Made Me Love You” also has phenomenal backing vocals.
The Crickets & Their Buddies Volume 3 (1960) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
Derrell Felts – “It’s A Great Big Day” (Recorded February 13th, 1959)
Jimmy Bowen – “You Made Me Love You” (Recorded February 21st, 1959)
The Everly Brothers – “(Til) I Kissed You” (Recorded July 7th, 1959)
The Everly Brothers – “Oh What a Feeling” (Recorded July 7th, 1959)
Jack C. Smith – “Honeysuckle Rose” (Recorded 1959, Released May 1960)
David Box – “Don’t Cha Know” (Recorded August 11th, 1960)
SIDE B
Derrell Felts – “Lookie Lookie Lookie” (Recorded February 13th, 1959)
Jimmy Bowen – “Eenie Meenie Minnie Moe” (Recorded February 21st, 1959)
The Everly Brothers – “Let It Be Me” (Recorded December 15th, 1959)
The Everly Brothers – “Since You Broke My Heart” (Recorded December 15th, 1959)
Jack C. Smith – “There’ll Never Be Another” (Recorded 1959, Released May 1960)
David Box – “Peggy Sue Got Married” (Recorded August 11th, 1960)
Derrell Felts – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 2-4, 8)
George Atwood – bass (tracks 2, 8)
Jimmy Bowen – lead vocals, guitar (tracks 2, 8)
Don Everly – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 3-4, 9-10)
Phil Everly – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 3-4, 9-10)
Chet Atkins – guitar (tracks 3-4)
Lightnin Chance – bass (tracks 3-4)
Floyd Cramer – piano (tracks 3-4)
Jack C. Smith – lead vocals (tracks 5, 11)
David Box – lead vocals, lead guitar (tracks 6, 12)
Ernie Hall – drums (track 6)
Howard Collins – guitar (tracks 9-10)
Barry Galbraith – guitar (tracks 9-10)
Mundell Lowe – guitar (tracks 9-10)
Lloyd Trotman – bass (tracks 9-10)
Hank Rowland – piano (tracks 9-10)
Johnny Burnette & The Crickets – Dreamin’(1960) – YouTube
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Dreamin’” (Recorded January 7th, 1960)
“Kaw-Liga” (Recorded January 7th, 1960)
“You’re Sixteen” (Recorded September 19th, 1960)
“I Beg Your Pardon” (Recorded September 19th, 1960)
“Singing The Blues” (Recorded November 29th, 1960)
SIDE B
“It’s My Way” (Recorded September 19th, 1960)
“That’s The Way I Feel” (Recorded November 28th, 1960)
“Little Boy Sad” (Recorded November 28th, 1960)
“I Love My Baby” (Recorded November 28th, 1960)
“(I Go) Down The River (Recorded November 28th, 1960)
PERSONNEL
Johnny Burnette – lead vocals (tracks 1-10)
Howard Roberts – guitar (tracks 1-2)
Glen Campbell – guitar (tracks 1-2)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-10)
Johnny Mann Singers – backing vocals (tracks 1-2)
Joseph Gibbons – guitar (tracks 3-10)
Vincent Terri – guitar (tracks 3-4, 6)
George Callender – bass (tracks 3-10)
Ernie Freeman – piano (tracks 3-4, 6)
Milton Pitman – guitar (track 5, 7-10)
Johnny Burnette & The Crickets – Let’s Think About Living (1961) – YouTube, Spotify
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Let’s Think About Living” (Recorded November 29th, 1960)
“It’s Only Make Believe” (Recorded November 29th, 1960)
“Oh Lonesome Me” (Recorded November 29th, 1960)
“Dream Lover” (Recorded November 30th, 1960)
“You’re So Fine” (Recorded November 30th, 1960)
SIDE B
“Blue Blue Morning” (Recorded November 30th, 1960)
“Pledge Of Love” (Recorded November 30th, 1960)
“Honestly I Do” (Recorded September 22nd, 1961)
“Fools Like Me” (Recorded September 22nd, 1961)
“God, Country And My Baby” (Recorded September 22nd, 1961)
PERSONNEL
Johnny Burnette – lead vocals (tracks 1-10)
Joseph Gibbons – guitar (tracks 1-7)
Milton Pitman – guitar (tracks 1-7)
George Callender – bass (tracks 1-7)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-10)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 8-10)
Dick Glasser – guitar (tracks 8-10)
Clifford A. Hils – bass (tracks 8-10)
unknown – mandolin (tracks 8-10)
Bobby Vee & The Crickets – Rock Around With Bobby Vee (1961) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Stagger Lee” (Recorded September 12th, 1961)
“Party Doll” (Recorded September 13th, 1961)
“Come On Baby” (Recorded September 13th, 1961)
“Lonely Weekends” (Version 2) (Recorded September 20th, 1961)
“Mountain Of Love” (Recorded September 20th, 1961)
SIDE B
“No One Knows” (Recorded September 20th, 1961)
“I’m Feeling Better” (Recorded September 28th, 1961)
“Shanghaied” (Recorded September 1961)
“Keep A Knockin’” (Recorded September 1961)
“It’s Too Late” (Version 2) (Recorded September 1961)
PERSONNEL
Bobby Vee – lead vocals (tracks 1-10)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 1-7)
Red Callender – bass (tracks 1-7)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-10)
Cliff Crofford – lead vocals (track 7)
Sonny Curtis, Joe B. Mauldin, Howard Roberts, Earl Palmer, Ernie Freeman, and Gene Garf have been credited as being part of both sets of Bobby Vee recordings. The main four players listed above are probably on at least most of all the Bobby Vee tracks.
Bobby Vee & The Crickets – Bobby Vee Meets The Crickets (1962) – YouTube, Spotify (Personnel matches the previous Bobby Vee album.)
Despite Bobby Vee’s recordings with Allison being credited as The Crickets, the reunion of Sonny Curtis, along with newbies Jerry Naylor and Glen Hardin, is in my eyes the closest we get to more of the Crickets sound. Mauldin is sometimes credited as being part of the group from the early to mid 60s, but that does not seem to be true. Oftentimes, other players are credited as having partaken in them. There’s some very barebones recordings from 1961 of Allison singing that I suspect were recorded with help from the Bobby Vee-era lineup, but that’s just speculation. If there had been an album of this, I would have made them a Jerry solo album, but as just three recordings, they’re included here. This album probably would have only been released like this if the band needed material quickly, as the flow isn’t great. Still, these songs, as well as the whole Naylor era, are mostly good.
The Crickets – Fell In Love With A Face (1962) – YouTube, Spotify
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Fell In Love With A Face” (Recorded February 2nd, 1962)
“Never Ever Told Me” (Recorded February 2nd, 1962)
“There’s No Better Way To Die” (Recorded February 2nd, 1962)
“Bottom Of The Sea” (Recorded February 2nd, 1962)
“I’m Not A Bad Guy” (Recorded March 9th, 1962)
“I Don’t Need A Friend” (Recorded September 18th, 1961)
SIDE B
“I Believe In You” (Recorded March 19th, 1962)
“The Real Thing” (Recorded June 4th, 1962)
“My Little Kim Ruth” (Recorded September 18th, 1961)
“It’s All Right With Me” (Recorded September 18th, 1961)
“Smooth Guy” (Recorded February 29th, 1960)
“So You’re In Love” (Recorded February 29th, 1960)
“Break It Easy” (Recorded June 19th, 1962)
PERSONNEL
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, lead vocals (tracks 11-12)
Red Callender – bass
Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals (tracks 6, 9-10)
“Looking All Over Town” (Recorded October 17th, 1962)
“Teardrops Fall Like Rain” (Recorded October 17th, 1962)
“Farewell, My Bluebell” (Recorded October 23rd, 1962)
“The Ballad of Batman” (Recorded 1962)
“Batmobile” (Recorded 1962)
SIDE B
“Lost And All Alone” (Recorded April 3rd, 1963)
“Don’t Try To Change Me” (Recorded April 3rd, 1963)
“Surfin’ Special” (Recorded June 14th, 1963)
“April Avenue” (Recorded June 14th, 1963)
“A Harlem Girl” (Recorded July 17th, 1962)
“Brand New Doll” (Recorded July 17th, 1962)
PERSONNEL
Jerry Allison – drums
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, vocals
Red Callender – bass
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals
Glen D. Hardin – piano
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 5-6)
Glen D. Hardin and Joe B. Mauldin have sometimes been credited as playing bass. Ernie Freeman has been credited on piano.
The Crickets – California Sun / She Loves You (1964) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Jerry Allison – drums
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, vocals
unknown – bass
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals
Glen D. Hardin – piano
Buzz Cason – backing vocals
Glen D. Hardin and Joe B. Mauldin have sometimes been credited as playing bass. Ernie Freeman has been credited on piano.
Despite my criticism of some of the one-off projects, this album is solid other than the Everly Brothers tracks. If it wasn’t obvious, Eddie Cochran is rivaled only by Holly himself and a few others, but that track is out of place for the Crickets. Still two great cuts, regardless.
The Crickets & Their Buddies Volume 4 (1964) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
Eddie Cochran – “Cut Across Shorty” (Recorded January 8th, 1960)
The Raiders – “Dardanella” (Released November 1961)
The Everly Brothers – “No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile” (Recorded September 20th, 1962)
The Everly Brothers – “Dancing On My Feet” (Recorded September 20th, 1962)
Lucille Starr – “The French Song” (Recorded October 24th, 1963)
Joe Carson – “Be A Good Girl” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
SIDE B
Eddie Cochran – “Three Steps To Heaven” (Recorded January 8th, 1960)
The Raiders – “What Time Is It?” (Released November 1961)
Lucille Starr – “Sit Down And Write A Letter To Me” (Recorded October 24th, 1963)
The Everly Brothers – “The Facts Of Life” (Recorded January 16th, 1964)
Joe Carson – “Guess You Don’t Love Me Anymore” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
PERSONNEL
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-11) (Possibly not on track 10)
Eddie Cochran – lead vocals, guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 1, 3-7, 9-11)
Conrad ‘Guybo’ Smith – bass (tracks 1, 7)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 2-4, 8)
Unknown other musicians, possibly Bobby Keys on sax (tracks 2, 8)
Don Everly – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 3-4, 10)
Phil Everly – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 3-4, 10)
Billy Strange – guitar (tracks 3-4, 10)
Red Callendar and/or Pat Vegas – bass (tracks 3-4)
Ray Johnson – piano (tracks 5, 9)
Lucille Starr – lead vocals (tracks 5, 9)
Joe Maphis – guitar (tracks 5, 9)
Bill Pitman – guitar (tracks 5, 9)
Wilbur Pitman – bass (tracks 5, 9)
Herb Alpert – trumpet (tracks 5, 9)
Joe Carson – lead vocals (tracks 6, 11)
James Burton – guitar (tracks 6, 11)
Billy Mize – steel guitar (tracks 6, 11)
Bob Morris – bass (tracks 6, 11)
Billy Armstrong – fiddle (tracks 6, 11)
Bobby Bruce – fiddle (tracks 6, 11)
Glen D. Hardin – piano (tracks 6, 11)
Ray Pohlman – bass (track 10)
Hal Blaine – drums (probably on track 10)
Leon Russell – keyboard (tracks 10)
Harold Cliner – trombone (track 10)
Kenneth Shroyer – trombone (track 10)
John Audino – trumpet (track 10)
Anthony Terram – trumpet (track 10)
Sonny Curtis (Possibly with The Crickets) – Beatle Hits Flamenco Guitar Style (1964) – Archive.org
PERSONNEL
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar
Likely present
Jerry Allison – drums
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard
Tommy Allsup & The Crickets – The Buddy Holly Songbook (1964) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Lynn Bailey – bass
Jerry Allison – drums
George Tomsco – guitar
Tommy Allsup – guitar
Buzz Cason – piano
The Crickets – Surfing, Bo Diddley, and Beatles!! (1964) – YouTube
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Don’t Breathe A Word” (Recorded June 14th, 1963)
“Bring Back My Surfboard” (Recorded June 14th, 1963)
“Don’t Say You Love Me” (Recorded June 28th, 1963)
“A Beatle I Want To Be” (Recorded Late 1963)
“So Used To Loving You” (Recorded Summer 1963)
“Right Or Wrong” (Recorded August 1st, 1963)
SIDE B
“Playboy” (Recorded December 12th, 1963)
“(They Call Her) La Bamba” (Recorded March 23rd, 1964)
“All Over You” (Recorded March 23rd, 1964)
“I Think I’ve Caught The Blues” (Recorded August 27th, 1964)
“Bo Diddley Bach” (Recorded June 1964)
“I Pledge My Love To You” (Recorded June 1964)
PERSONNEL
Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals (track 10)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (absent from track 10)
Red Callender – bass (absent from track 10)
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals (absent from track 10)
Glen D. Hardin – piano (absent from track 10)
Buzz Cason – backing vocals, lead vocals (track 10)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (track 10)
George Tomsco – guitar (track 10)
Stan Lark – bass (track 10)
Glen D. Hardin and Joe B. Mauldin have sometimes been credited as playing bass. Ernie Freeman has been credited on piano.
“Lord Of The Manor” and the Carson tracks are the ones here I like.
The Crickets & Their Buddies Volume 5 (1968) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
Joe Carson – “Release Me” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
Joe Carson – “Who’ll Buy The Wine” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
The Everly Brothers – “I Used To Love You” (Recorded November 12th, 1965)
The Everly Brothers – “It’s All Over” (Recorded November 12th, 1965)
Rusty Steagall – “Motel Rooms And Coffee Shops” (Recorded March 1st, 1966)
SIDE B
Joe Carson – “I’ll Be There” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
Joe Carson – “Fraulein” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
Rusty Steagall – “Playboy Heart” (Recorded March 1st, 1966)
The Everly Brothers – “Lord Of The Manor” (Recorded February 27th, 1968)
Jammë – “Empty Feelings” (Recorded 1968)
PERSONNEL
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-10) (Possibly not on tracks 3-4)
Sonny Curtis – guitar (tracks 1-4, 6-7, 9)
Joe Carson – lead vocals (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
James Burton – guitar (tracks 1-4, 6-7, 9)
Billy Mize – steel guitar (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Bob Morris – bass (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Billy Armstrong – fiddle (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Bobby Bruce – fiddle (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Glen D. Hardin – piano (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Doris Hallcom – bass (tracks 3-4)
Jim Gordon – drums (probably on tracks 3-4)
Don Randi – harpsichord (tracks 3-4)
Leon Russell – keyboard (track 4)
Rusty Steagall – lead vocals (tracks 5, 8)
Don Lanier – guitar (tracks 5, 8)
Glen Campbell – guitar (tracks 5, 8)
Larry Knechtel – bass (tracks 5, 8)
Don Randi – keyboard (tracks 5, 8)
Terry Slater – bass (track 9)
Don Adey – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (track 10)
Timmy Smyser – bass (track 10)
Paul Downing – lead guitar (track 10)
These two Sonny Curtis albums, as well as some Crickets or Sonny material from around this time, are incredibly strong and deserved to have been released on Crickets albums. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say that Style is the best work covered in this post, being comparable in quality with Buddy Holly.
Sonny Curtis (Possibly with The Crickets) – The 1st Of Sonny Curtis (1968) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard
Likely present
Jerry Allison – drums
Sonny Curtis (Possibly with The Crickets) – The Sonny Curtis Style (1969) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar
Likely present
Jerry Allison – drums
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard
Lee Dresser & The Crickets – El Camino Real (1969) – Archive.org
PERSONNEL
Rick Cathaway – bass
Jerry Allison – drums
Lee Dresser – lead vocals, guitar
Glen D. Hardin – piano
Eric Clapton & The Crickets – Eric Clapton (1970) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Eric Clapton – lead guitar, lead vocals
Delaney Bramlett – rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Stephen Stills – guitars, bass (track 11), backing vocals
Leon Russell – piano
John Simon – piano
Bobby Whitlock – organ, backing vocals
Carl Radle – bass
Jim Gordon – drums
Bobby Keys – saxophones
Jim Price – trumpet
Jerry Allison – backing vocals
Bonnie Bramlett – backing vocals
Rita Coolidge – backing vocals
Sonny Curtis – backing vocals
The 70s is the beginning of the downfall of the Crickets. This era is consistently okay, with this album of mostly Buddy Holly covers being one of the better efforts.
The Crickets – Rockin’ 50’s Rock’n’Roll (1970) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Sonny Curtis – lead vocals, lead guitar
Jerry Allison – drums, vocals
Jerry Scheff – bass
Glen D. Hardin – piano
This is one of the weaker albums I constructed simply because it spans from the mid 60s to the early 70s. It was one reason I found issue with this “stray track” idea. Note there’s two 1972 Sonny Curtis tracks I could not find: “Sunny Mornin’” and “Lights Of L.A.”.
The Crickets – Million Dollar Movie (1971) – YouTube
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Million Dollar Movie” (Recorded Mid 1968)
“We Gotta Get Together” (Recorded August 27th, 1964)
“Everybody’s Got A Little Problem” (Recorded August 28th, 1964)
“Now Hear This” (Recorded January 1st, 1965)
“Thoughtless” (Recorded January 2nd, 1965)
“Rave On” (Recorded January 3rd, 1965)
SIDE B
“A Million Miles Apart” (Recorded Mid 1968)
“Last Call” (Recorded July 1966)
“Love Is All Around” (Recorded Fall 1970)
“Here, There And Everywhere” (Recorded Fall 1970)
“Unsaintly Judy” (Recorded Spring 1971)
“You Don’t Belong In This Place” (Recorded Spring 1971)
PERSONNEL (Only confirmed contributions listed)
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals (tracks 4-6)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 1, 7-12), lead vocals (tracks 7-12)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 2-6) (Probably on every track), lead vocals (track 2)
Glen D. Hardin – (Possibly plays piano on tracks 1, 7-12)
Buzz Cason – lead vocals (tracks 2-3)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 2-6)
George Tomsco – guitar (track 2)
Stan Lark – bass (track 2)
Lynn Bailey – bass (tracks 3-6)
Johnny Rivers & The Crickets – L.A. Reggae(1972) – YouTube
PERSONNEL
Joe Osborn – bass
Miss Bobbye Hall – congas, bongos
Jerry Allison and/or Jim Gordon – drums
Dean Parks and/or Larry Carlton – guitar
Herb Pedersen and/or Michael Georgiades – backing vocals
Gary Coleman – percussion
Larry Knechtel and/or Jim Webb and/or Michael O’Martian – piano/organ
A Long Way from Lubbock is an officially released album, though one frustrating issue is that it pointlessly takes recordings from the previous two 1973 albums. There were two much better ideas that could have been used for a follow up. There’s basically one album’s worth of strays listed below that have no overlap with previous albums. The other idea is to cut out the dud tracks and make these albums all much shorter. The Remnants album is bizarrely forty minutes long. The album listed below was all recorded in 1973, except for “Carolyn Walking Away”, where that’s just a guess.
The Crickets – A Long Way from Lubbock(1973) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“That Is Not What I Need”
“Carolyn Walking Away”
“Rock’n Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)” (Recorded October 1973)
“My Mama Sure Left Me Some Good Old Days” (Recorded October 1973)
“An American Love Affair”
“He’s Got A Way With Women”
SIDE B
“You Make It Way Too Hard”
“Ain’t Protestin’” (Demo version)
“Ain’t Protestin’” (Band version)
“Bony Moronie”
“I Like Your Music”
“Now & Then It’s Gonna Rain”
PERSONNEL
Sonny Curtis – lead vocals, lead guitar
Ric Grech – lead vocals, bass, piano
Jerry Allison – lead vocals, drums
Nick Van Maarth – lead vocals, guitar
Albert Lee – lead vocals, guitar, piano
Steve Krikorian – vocals
Lee Dresser & The Crickets – To Touch The Wind (1975) – Can’t find
PERSONNEL
Lee Dresser – lead vocals (tracks 1-12), guitar, banjo, harmonica (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Larry McNeely – banjo (tracks 1-12)
Pat Smith – bass (tracks 1, 7)
Al Garibaldi – drums (tracks 1, 7)
Dan Crary – guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Pete Jolly – piano (tracks 1, 7)
Red Rhodes – steel guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Joe Osborn – bass (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Jerry Allison – drums, hambone (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Ron Dasaro – organ (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Doug Gilmore – hambone (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Glen D. Hardin – piano (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Al Perkins – steel guitar (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
The Teesdale Street Choir – backing vocals (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Originally this album spanned into the 80s with a few solo Sonny singles. Two issues with that is that those 80s tracks almost certainly lacked Jerry Allison and Sonny’s real solo career where Jerry was absent is quite confusing. Many of the released albums are unavailable online and I later found more stray tracks. There’s also some repeats from one album to another. Thus, you can think of this as the last release of his for quite a while with Jerry before they went separate ways into less documented music, though it’s quite short. I liked that the 1973 strays perfectly make up their own album, while this is everything after in the 70s. Note that a track called “When It’s Just You And Me” is from 1975, but isn’t accessible. If it was, it would make this one a bit longer.
The Crickets – Reunion(1978) – Archive.org (All tracks recorded in 1978 except where noted otherwise.)
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“It’s Only A Question Of Time” (Recorded July 10th, 1975)
“Where’s Patricia Now” (Recorded February 1976)
“The Breeze”
SIDE B
“Mulholland Drive”
“It’s Only Rock’n’Roll”
“Cruise In It”
“Rock Around With Ollie Vee”
PERSONNEL (Only confirmed contributions listed)
Sonny Curtis – lead vocals, lead guitar (tracks 1-7)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 3-7)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 3-7)
Mauldin, Curtis, Jennings, and Allison
Note that half of Rollin’ and a 1982 track called “Dream Well All Of You Children” are missing. Also, the three Sonny Curtis albums listed below are not fan albums and instead are official. I’m writing out the tracklisting to make it more explicit what I do have. The personnel notes will be absent for solo Sonny due to this article being more about Jerry.
Sonny Curtis (1979) – Archive.org (Missing Two Tracks)
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“The Cowboy Singer”
“Walk Right Back”
“So Used To Loving You”
“Tennessee”
“Do You Remember Roll Over Beethoven”
SIDE B
“It’s Not Easy Being Fifteen”
“I Fought The Law”
“I’ll Stay With You” (Can’t find)
“Cheatin’ Clouds” (Can’t find)
“Ain’t Nobody Honest”
Sonny Curtis – Love Is All Around (1980) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Love Is All Around”
“You Made My Life A Song”
“Eager For The Edge”
“The Real Buddy Holly Story”
“Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover”
SIDE B
“Wild Side Of Life”
“The Cowboy Singer” (Same recording as on the 1979 album)
“I Fought The Law” (Same recording as on the 1979 album)
“Walk Right Back” (Same recording as on the 1979 album)
“The Clone Song”
With one exception, the personnel for the Waylon Jennings albums won’t be listed due to how confusing it all is.
Sonny Curtis – 1981 and 1982 loose tracks – Archive.org
“Good Ol’ Girls” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“Married Women” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“Rollin’” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“More Than I Can Say” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“I Like Your Music” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“The Christmas Song” (Chestnut Roasting On A Open Fire) (1981)
“Together Alone” (1982)
“Love is All Around” (From Sonny Curtis (2007)) (Unsure of recording date, very roughly guessing 1982)
“Hung Up In Your Eyes” (From Sonny Curtis (2007)) (Unsure of recording date, very roughly guessing 1982)
“My Worst Enemy” (From Sonny Curtis (2007)) (Unsure of recording date, very roughly guessing 1982)
“Party Of The First Part” (From Sonny Curtis (2007)) (Unsure of recording date, very roughly guessing 1982)
Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson & The Crickets – WWII(1982) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Waylon Jennings – guitar, vocals
Jerry Allison – drums
Gene Chrisman – drums, percussion
Chips Moman – guitar
Reggie Young – guitar
Willie Nelson – guitar, vocals
Bobby Emmons – keyboards
Johnny Christopher – guitar, backing vocals
Bobby Wood – piano
Toni White – backing vocals
Mike Leech – bass
Jerry Bridges – bass
Waylon Jennings & The Crickets – It’s Only Rock & Roll (1983) – YouTube, Spotify
Waylon Jennings & The Crickets – Never Could Toe the Mark(1984) – YouTube, Spotify
Most of the Payne stuff feels like a parody of the band, with the new lead singer doing a bad Holly impression. It’s a shame Allison and Mauldin didn’t make Crickets albums with Waylon Jennings or Sonny, especially because most of the Crickets’ 60s and 70s songs lack Mauldin and now that he’s back they’re either inactive or making such poor material.
Gordon Payne & The Crickets – Jigger, Crank & Jive (1988) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Back Home In Tennessee” (Released 1988)
“Blackmail” (Released 1988)
“I Can’t Hold On Any Longer” (Released 1988)
“For A While We Helped Each Other Out” (Released 1988)
SIDE B
“I Got A Woman” (Recorded Late 70s-Early 80s)
“She’s Got A Right To Cry” (Recorded Late 70s-Early 80s)
“Do You Ever Think Of Me” (Recorded Late 70s-Early 80s)
“Let’s Do It Again” (Released 1988)
PERSONNEL
Gordon Payne – lead vocals, lead guitar (tracks 1-8)
Jerry Bridges – bass (tracks 5-7)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-8)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 1-4, 8)
The Payne lineup
Gordon Payne & The Crickets – T-Shirt (1988) – Archive.org
“I Think I’m In Love” (From Spectrum (1987), though recorded in 1985)
“Now I’ve Got A Heart Of Gold” (From Spectrum (1987), though recorded in 1985)
“Monetta” (Recorded 1990)
“Evening Shade” (Recording date guessed 1990)
“I Fought The Law” (Recorded June 1990 in Torino, ITA)
Sonny Curtis – No Stranger to the Rain (Released September 1990) – Archive.org
“I’m No Stranger to the Rain” (Possibly the same recording that was on the previous album, Spectrum)
“Hello Mary Lou”
“You’re the Lesson I Never Learned”
“When Amarillo Blows”
“Back When Has Been Lover”
“I Saved My Last Name for You”
“Bad Case of Love”
“Think It Over”
“That’ll Be the Day”
“More Than I Can Say”
“Well, All Right”
“Rock Around with Ollie Vee”
“Midnight Shift”
Gordon Payne & The Crickets – Double Exposure (1993) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Gordon Payne – lead vocals, probably guitar
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar
Jerry Allison – drums
Joe B. Mauldin – bass
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard
Too Much Monday Morning is a shockingly good album that goes to show how much a shame it was that this lineup wasn’t more often all together. Naylor, and especially Sinks and Box are good, but Curtis’ voice feels more at home with the Crickets. After this album, the band would go back to being an oldies act, often redoing their own songs needlessly. Admittedly, not many people are out asking for the next hot Sonny Curtis and the Crickets album.
The Crickets – Too Much Monday Morning (1996) – YouTube, Spotify
The Everly Brothers, Eric Clapton, Nanci Griffith, Bobby Vee, Albert Lee, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Rivers – guest vocals
Many, many more guest performers. Only ones that have previously worked with the Crickets are listed here.
Mike Berry & The Crickets – About Time Too! (2005) – YouTube, Spotify
PERSONNEL
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals
Joe B. Mauldin – bass, backing vocals
Mike Berry – lead vocals, backing vocals
Chas Hodges – piano, backing vocals, guitar
Chad Hodges & Jerry Allison – Before We Grow Too Old (2007) – Archive.org
PERSONNEL
Jack Clement – dobro
Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals (tracks 7, 10)
Chas Hodges – piano, lead vocals, guitar
There seems to have been a whole album of John Beland tracks recorded, but this is the only one I could find. The Limitations’ “Well… All Right” I also can’t find.
The Crickets & Their Buddies Over The Years (2013) – Archive.org
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
J.J. Cale – “I’m A Gypsy Man” (Released 1976)
John Beland – “True Love Never Runs Dry” (Recorded 1978)
Bobby Vee – “Buddy Holly Medley” (Recorded April 16th, 1989)
Dale Hawkins – “Rain On The Roof” (Recorded 1990s)
David Falconi (Might be misspelling his name) – keyboard (track 3)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (track 3), possibly plays bass on tracks 4-7
Dale Hawkins – lead vocals, guitar (tracks 4-7)
Ray Flack – lead guitar (tracks 4-7)
Joe Osborn – possibly plays bass on tracks 4-7
unknown – piano (tracks 4-7)
Joell Le Sonier – accordion (tracks 8-9)
Margot Buchanan – backing vocals (tracks 8-9)
Sam Brown – backing vocals (tracks 8-9)
Sonia Jones – backing vocals (tracks 8-9)
Gerry Conway – drums (tracks 8-9)
Brian Hodgson – bass (track 8)
Paul Henry – guitar (track 8)
Rufus Thibodeaux – fiddle (tracks 8-9)
Nick Payne – harmonica (track 8)
Lonnie Donegan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (tracks 8-9)
Sticky Wicket – washboard (track 8)
Vic Pitt – bass (track 9)
Chad Hodges – performer (track 10)
Dave Peacock – performer (track 10)
Albert Lee – guitar (track 10)
Track 2’s personnel information is especially confusing, but it does seem Allison, Mauldin, and Curtis are on it in some capacity.
This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!
For those not in the know, fan albums/album edits are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.
The recent release of the “final” Beatles single got me wondering how long of a Beatles “reunion” album you could make and if that could become a fan album. Considering that the John Lennon demos come from the late 70s or early 80s, ideally the other tracks would come from that same time period. That didn’t get very far, so I decided to include cases after the band’s breakup where there’s just three members together and extend the timeframe out more. This created two issues. The album is still too short and there’s a severe lack of Paul. Paul and George almost never seemed to collaborate after the breakup. Thus, I turned to some sources that might be too strange.
The best is an edit of “Grow Old With Me” by “Rarebeatles” that surprisingly effectively mixes John’s vocal, George Martin’s orchestration, and the backing track of the Ringo cover that featured Paul on bass. An edit like this may have been an ideal “b-side” to “Now and Then”. Another source was the mid-90s jam between everyone but John, for obvious reasons. These may be too informal, but I like them. Note that tracks that don’t feature all three Beatles or were originally from released albums are excluded, to not have duplication. Finally there are two tracks from the “Everyday Chemistry” edit, which takes stems from different solo Beatles songs. They were mainly included to give more length and I simply like them.
This edit is not very fluid, due to the different sources, but I found it an interesting listen. Other similar concepts for this lower the number of Beatles needed to just two or stay in one time frame. Those are indeed more cohesive, so this should be looked at as an experiment to be more Beatley in numbers than style. This is pretty much the closest we’ll ever get to a “true” reunion we can actually make. I also worked on this project months ago and only now got around to finishing and releasing it. For those that want a little narrative for this album, here is what I thought of:
After John Lennon returned to music in 1980, he decided to get the other Beatles together to record an album. After some resistance, he barely managed this. The band began recording, often not together, before John tragically died. The others were not terribly keen on continuing the project, so took a break before realizing John would want them to finish it. Thus, they decided to play by their own rules and do some informal jams, as they were prioritizing having fun, before the daunting task of adding overdubs to some unused John recordings. Due to knowing that he wouldn’t be on every track, and being more interested in their solo projects, the remaining three figured why bother being on every track if it was already fine by their standards? A 1973 outtake called “I’m The Greatest” that happened to feature everyone but Paul was dug up and included as “the imagined single that carried us to this point”. Its mocking lyrics of Paul were favored by George and Ringo due to him not wanting to contribute his own songs to the LP. The album was then named 40 in reference to John. The cover was a then-recent picture of the band. The record received negative reviews, with critics noting the severe lack of cohesion. There was more praise for the tracks that used all the band members and didn’t draw from many or informal sources. Some considered just releasing the singles, “Free As A Bird/Grow Old With Me” and “Now And Then/Real Love”. The remaining members were not new to such criticism and didn’t much care, having solo careers waiting for them.
Mia Barcia-Colombo, Giovanna Clayton, Hillary Smith – cello (track 1)
Mike Valerio – double bass (track 1)
Linda McCartney – backing vocals (track 2)
Denny Laine – backing vocals (track 2)
Al Kooper – electric piano (track 2)
Herbie Flowers – bass (track 2)
Ray Cooper – tambourine (track 2)
Jeff Lynne – backing vocals, guitar, producer (tracks 3, 9)
Joe Walsh – guitar (track 5)
Jim Cox – piano (track 5)
Allison Lovejoy – accordion (track 5)
Rhea Fowler – violin (track 5)
Bianca McClure – violin (track 5)
Lauren Baba – violin (track 5)
Isaiah Cage – cello (track 5)
Billy Preston – organ, piano (track 7)
Klaus Voormann – bass (track 7)
Jérôme Leroy – conductor (track 1)
Paul McCartney, Giles Martin, Ben Foster – string arrangement (track 1)
Jack Douglas – string arrangement (track 5)
George Martin – orchestral arrangement (track 5)
This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!
Just as The Irishman feels like it’s related to Goodfellas, the same can be said for Casino. The theme of crime drawing out the worst of violent and selfish hotheads (who tend to be played by Joe Pesci) is prevalent to the point that with The Irishman and to a greater extent Casino, they work less on their own. The 1995 outfit contains similarities in the performances of Robert De Niro and especially Pesci. While both still turn in solid portrayals, especially with De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, they are clearly aping off of the good graces of what’s come before. The beginning of the movie is like a trailer, with excessive narration and attention-grabbing imagery from De Niro and Pesci as Nicky Santoro. They vaguely discuss having done a rise and fall that we’re about to see, without a sense of reflection or personality that might come from a real person. Their lines and characterless deliveries feel like impersonal documentary narration due to the extreme excess of spectacle and establishing dialogue, with the cast a step away from saying “This is just Goodfellas with some twists, so we hope you remember that movie.” The dialogue is all style, and lots of it, and no real substance. The opening moment of Sam seemingly being blown up is also comical and spoils part of the movie. Throughout the film, the score is edited chaotically, with snippets of songs coming and going, reflecting the worst of this movie’s impulses to be a rearranged version of what’s come before.
After this introduction, De Niro dramatically improves, producing an effortless likability, probably from how in control he is and how layered Sam is. It becomes clear he’s trying to make himself look as good as possible, so it’s so fascinating seeing how he copes with certain issues. When he does something like yell in public, you get the sense that he is trying to exert the power he’s been given and maintain social good graces. His foil comes with Sharon Stone as Ginger McKenna. She is introduced at surface depth, just having the core qualities of her character type. She is pretty, she likes money, and she is dishonest. Martin Scorsese has had a way with weak female characters and Ginger is often used as window dressing. This is subverted when the second half of the movie focuses on her and allows Sharon Stone to turn in an emotional and open performance of a woman losing her mind. The rawness of her mirrors the gruesomeness of Nicky, both are mean in their own way. One of the most interesting parts of this story is seeing how her behavior changes Sam, with there being great contrast on how he is with people like Don Ward or even his friend Nicky and Ginger. This second half corrects some of these aforementioned wrongs with the Ginger character, but this leads to the greater issue of how disparate the film can be, with certain plot points unresolved.
Pesci is extremely entertaining, as is typical for him, but he doesn’t draw interesting developments from Sam or the main plots in the way he has in past works. As such, he plays more as comic relief here. His various conflicts with Sam don’t have much of a climax. Something happens that may lead you to think something big will happen between them at the end, though there isn’t really. There is an arguable example of “something big”, but it doesn’t tackle the nuance of their relationship. Another backhanded compliment about the film is that from around the thirty minute to ninety minute mark, it has a very good story about the issues in Sam’s business life, then most of the rest of the film is about his personal life with Ginger. Both main plots are intriguing and complimentary, with there obviously being parallels between the two, but the issues of the first half fizzle out with little to tie them off. Ginger is then the focus. More resolution to the beginning segment and a more complex introduction to Ginger would help a lot. Another way to help them is to have both going on simultaneously. This movie is based on a true story, so maybe it wasn’t true to life that these were happening at the same time, but it’s hard to believe there was no overlap and the film takes so many creative liberties that all of the film character names are fake.
SPOILERS
While De Niro does bring a lot to the role, the script somewhat lets the character down by glossing over much of the complexity of the real life person Sam is based on. This is typified by the feud between Sam and Ginger seeming mostly caused by Ginger, though what seems to actually be true is that Sam’s basis was much more of a problem than is portrayed. While the other mentioned films do the same thing of a lighter treatment of the lead, they trade that in for the ending of The Irishman and what that says about the character and Goodfellas essentially sucking us down into the mind of Henry Hill and sitting next to him as he tries to get out of his erratic state. Sam has an almost limitless amount of power due to his wealth. The one way he doesn’t have power is that he can’t make Ginger either love him or behave as he wants. His confrontation of this problem is minimal. We’re simply told he doesn’t want her to go instead of really feeling how he does without her. We don’t even see him particularly vulnerable. He’s often very confident and has a strong backbone. When Ginger is caught saying she wants to have Sam killed, nothing changes. Sam doesn’t even seem afraid for his life. That scene may as well not be there, though in the moment we get some really quality acting from the rage of the two.
Especially considering that Sam never took back control of the money that he let Ginger have the key to until well after things spoiled for them suggests that in the eyes of Sam, Ginger’s behavior is not as extreme or inexcusable as it would seem to the audience. As is, he just comes off as stupid for not seeing the writing on the wall, due to us not seeing much turmoil from him between what she’s doing and his love for her. By contrast, we get a better sense of the love Sam has for his daughter, like when he shows concern unseen before when he finds her tied to the bed. In fact, Nicky and Sam are portrayed as surprisingly good parents. It’s just a shame we don’t see much of this, with Nicky’s son having almost no screen time and us not really seeing Sam care for his daughter until she was kidnapped.
While the power of the film comes from its strong tales, certain themes can still be read. The most evident is how love and criminality both can be dangerous and look absurd from an outside perspective. The characters show what the appeal might be. Logically speaking, Nicky was setting himself up for a whacking due to how volatile he is, wanting to follow his own personal goals even at the cost of others. Yet, to extrapolate this, why would anyone even want to be a gangster or more vaguely a criminal due to the high risk? This is best demonstrated in the end when various mafia bosses lean on the safe side by killing anyone they think might rat on them. Even if you do everything you’re supposed to, you could still be murdered if someone is just trying to be precautious. All of this seems pointless when the mafia bosses are depicted as extremely frail, so why bother getting into this stuff for just a little money? Love is essentially criticized as it initially leads to Sam allowing Ginger far more forgiveness than he should give, and later his love of his daughter leads him to threaten Ginger in public, which could have gotten him in trouble, though it doesn’t. The film also points the finger at Sam for his criminality. He initially wants to keep a low profile, but gets into trouble due to his relatively minor criminal past. His power inflates his ego to the point of him doing absurd things like getting a tv show when everyone wants him to keep quiet.
A lot of these themes should have been emphasized more, as they feel almost incidental. Ginger loving her ex mirrors Sam loving Ginger, but Ginger and her ex’s dynamic is never resolved. If it was, it could make for an interesting comparison or contrast with Sam’s romance. Why Nicky decided to sleep with Ginger could have been established better, like if it was set up that Nicky was the type of person that wanted to do whatever he could to hurt someone he feels hurt by as much as possible. Nicky crying at the sight of his brother being beaten shows a side of him that wasn’t seen before and almost seems here to force something else for the audience to think on or to give him more humanity. He has already been humanized because real people do what he does. The mafia aspect of the movie is relatively minimal, with you having to read in why they do what they do. While that’s okay to a degree, they are simply too off to the side until they suddenly come around at the end. You can imagine Scorsese wanting to fill in the blanks with Goodfellas, which is much more about being a “gangster”.
Due to the disjointed storylines of the film, it would be difficult to tie up the movie in a satisfying way. It doesn’t, with two of the three main characters simply being killed off. Such endings betray their various plots and issues, essentially sweeping them under the rug. Those deaths feel moralistic, as if saying that’s the consequences of their bad actions, which is simply boring. There’s also a severe lack of tension due to the ending being about mostly no name mobsters getting killed, when this movie before barely focused on the mob. The way this plot point provides a climax makes it feel forced in to add some violence and conclude the film. Due to us consistently seeing Sam and his development, his ending works much better, with his failed murder attempt “freeing” him from this stage of his life and encouraging him to go back to essentially what he was doing before, with the message probably being that it’s best to quit something like this while you’re ahead, instead of going down with the ship in the way Nicky does. Nicky is suspected to be the person that tried to kill Sam, but he earlier was opposed to the idea of killing him and the two didn’t seem to have that much bad blood. However, it is believable that Sam would think Nicky would try to kill him and that such a murder would be so despicable that it’s for the best Sam leave this life behind him. It is a shame we don’t see how this apparent betrayal by his friend makes him feel.
Sam’s ending is very understated, with the last shot literally of Sam reflecting, which could be seen as disappointing, but at least leads to contemplation of the character and the story, unlike with something like Nicky’s demise. This ending comes after cinematic shots of casinos being knocked down and replaced, with the intense glamor suggesting this has a sense of glory and power for someone else, with Sam upset he’s not the one with that power. When he says at the end “Why mess up a good thing?” in reference to his current life, he is mourning the loss of the good thing he had and is enjoying the way he currently has respect. The gorgeous shots of the buildings going down is a literal way Sam’s past has gone away.
OVERVIEW
Part of what makes Scorsese’s films so engaging is the deep look inside the heads of their characters and the many aspects of their lives. It all comes across as a very full picture. As such, the “telling and not showing” of the very beginning of this film is rather bizarre and unnecessary, as some of it could simply be shown. One example is when Sam mentions how charming Ginger is, with us not seeing much of her like that. The first thing we see her do is try to steal and then Sam immediately jumps to his infatuation with her. Despite the varying negatives of Casino, the strong and engaging performances and stories makes it a satisfying viewing, though reeks of lost potential if handled a little better. It’s hard to say this picture is a failure, as it has all the qualities of great Scorsese, they’re just a bit muffled.
No matter what anyone has or could say about this film, you can’t deny that it is one of the most definitive statements on the lifestyle it portrays. The tension and developments come from the varying, sometimes minor, ways that being a criminal affects people. Even when we get into tangents like the main character’s belle, her behavior is almost always colored by what she’s gotten herself into. Through her and the main character of Henry is a brilliant look at mobsters through simply watching a few of them live their lives. Beyond the core handful, most have very little to do, so the prominent cast are asked to tell us a very grand story, which they do through excellent acting and a rather long runtime. Ray Liotta as Henry Hill is the most relatable and humanized gangster. Despite this, and also that the movie features his narration and is based on a book Hill wrote, we avoid vulnerability or a complexity of emotions from him. He is almost always taking a situation and either trying to enjoy the ride or get out ahead. As such, it can be easy to forget at times what he’s a part of. Just as his goals are immediately and simply stated to be about living an easy life, we are asked to just enjoy the journey he is on. When things happen to him, we feel them as we’ve seen Liotta’s lively and realistic portrayal. He is mainly interesting in what he represents and brings out in others, especially with the paradoxical answer to the big question of whether or not this movie glorifies gangsters.
Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito and Robert De Niro as James “Jimmy” Conway are hard to discuss without spoilers. Their point is to cover different types of behaviors and mentalities in the mob. De Niro as always has this effortless class that he always maintains with a smile or sliding a little bit of money to another. Pesci on the other end has an explosive temperament and whose callus attitude colors how these criminals manage to do what they do. His many memorable lines tell you what gangsters supposedly think. Karen Hill, played by Lorraine Bracco, represents the human aspect of the story. While the three men cover the corners of what it means to be a gangster and what it’s like, Karen often concerns herself with the fallout of whatever has happened. She also explains, frankly quite clearly, some reasons why someone would want to marry a gangster. Emotions are often plastered to Bracco’s face, which give relief to the dense scenes of violence.
The “gangster life” is depicted in a far rosier way than you might expect after seeing the later Scorsese flick The Irishman. In fact, one of the first scenes of the film is a romantic and inviting scene of 50s life. While more and more this perception is challenged, it doesn’t completely. The most telling example of this is that the last time we see Henry, he looks pretty good and not much older than in the 60s. In fact, all of the characters are shown as sympathetic and likable to a degree, like they are to be enjoyable and entertaining, almost letting you forget their gruesome crimes. The various killings or cadavers are treated as comedic or like just another thing to discover, with little look at the horror of it outside of what Henry witnesses.
The inviting and lively world makes for excellent pacing and an exciting story, which leads to this lifestyle’s portrayal as just as exciting. As a narrative, you can’t deny the intrigue in simply seeing various little events hit Henry and seeing in what little ways it affects him and how he tries to manage with changing stresses. Due to the slight ways problems buildup, you realize overtime how he progressively becomes less carefree. The narration suggests Henry probably survives and is in a relaxed state, which furthermore adds to the sense of this being an adventure. Those that get the bad end of the stick are not covered with great depth. Despite some narration from Karen, the story is essentially always on Henry, which gives minimal opportunity to turn your sympathies off or disconnect from him. An example of this is in the freeze frames, which detail important moments of Henry’s life. Many of the freeze frames showcase moments of Henry receiving something, which in turn color his life. While not exactly a freeze frame, the photographs of Henry just enjoying life with his gangster friends are the most important, telling us of how close he is to them, which makes for important contrast with the ending.
A common theme is contrast between the brutality of being a gangster and something far more cheery, like community or upbeat music. The usage of “Frosty the Snowman” takes on an ironic approach when it plays over the outburst of a serious issue, representing when the positive attitude the film has at points changes. Earlier, young Henry has a cavalier attitude to his father beating him, which may as a bonus suggest Henry’s worse qualities come from childhood trauma. We see Henry meet a large group of gangsters, as if they’re celebrities for the young protagonist to admire. Henry later enters a club through a kitchen, with his nice suit and ability to do as he pleases going against the type of life he’s wanted to avoid around him.
There are plenty of fun little moments. One example of the tense pacing is the scene of one character going to look at dresses, with the slight strangeness and emptiness of the scene, as well as how long it goes on, creating this unnatural and uneasy vibe. Past established information about the characters add to the drama here. Another example is the excellent music, especially with the “Layla” scene. The final act gets quicker and puts you in the cocaine-fueled headspace. The famous last scenes are as good as its reputation proposes, summarizing the whole story in a powerful few lines and shots. One nitpick is the weaker scene of Tommy and Jimmy with the former’s mother. They seem to be trying to improvise something to say, reminiscent of a friend doing a silly Italian impression.
SPOILERS
Some miscellaneous comments include: The movie should have revealed why Paulie, played by Paul Sorvino, didn’t want Henry dealing coke, as that would punctuate the ending of the two characters. It doesn’t make much sense that Jimmy would want to kill Karen. It seems the reason for him doing this was to test if Karen trusted him, which would tell him if Henry trusted him. If he had killed her, that would just push Henry to the authorities even more. The reason this scene is in the movie is probably because in real life this basically happened, only there was an actual reason for Jimmy to whack her. Next, the very detailed look into seemingly any ol’ day of Henry’s life, as well as the very fast pacing, spoils that something “big” will happen, as otherwise we wouldn’t see so much of it.
Another way this film is less scathing against this lifestyle is that Henry is never shown to kill anyone and at points is disgusted by the violence, as if he is pure and worth rooting for. His friends that do do the acts are shown getting punished. In fact, the scene of Henry, Tommy, and Jimmy eating with Tommy’s mom seems to be humanizing all three, though also separating Henry from the others. He appears closer to the camera and covered in shadow, like he’s not part of them. The painting the mom shows depicts two dogs going in opposite ways, mirroring Henry feeling said conflict and distance. Later, the three digging up a body has beautiful lighting and use of darkness, making the experience cinematic. Tommy making a slightly humorous comment before dying, as if it’s to be taken lightly, is probably the only time this is an issue. His death is later taken with some weight, so it should have some here.
Even if Henry didn’t kill anyone, he did participate in a deadly system and support his friends until his own neck was on the line. The reason he doesn’t do the worst of it and gets off well at the end is for catharsis, to see the likable lead journey up and down and give relief in his reward. If we weren’t supposed to like him, why have the story lose tension and decompress itself with Henry escaping, instead of on some moment of him losing in a more real way, like going to prison? This is also very reminiscent of old movie tropes. In 1930s films with gangsters and criminals, oftentimes at least one reforms and is given some honor and/or a woman. No Limit and The Public Enemy are examples. This was done as a simple way to not let a bad person off the hook and if they are going to survive to the end, let them not promote a dangerous lifestyle. The difference between those and Goodfellas is that the hero gets into worse debauchery and doesn’t even honestly reform, but he is still living the same life in essence.
The bizarre and fake-sounding laughter is perhaps the first sign of how unglamorous being a gangster can be, showing a fakeness to how everyone acts, probably because they don’t want to start trouble. While Henry celebrates the idea of being able to do anything he’d like, it progressively becomes clear to him that this means he could be killed unceremoniously as others can also do what they like. He is shown to be shocked by some of the mindless killings and violence of his friends. Even then, he shows loyalty to them until it seems that one of his friends is going to have him killed. Perhaps he would’ve taken a sentencing if it wasn’t for that? While the constant killings of Jimmy have their reasoning, it ultimately is what dooms him. Just like in The Irishman, we are following the one gangster that was lucky enough to escape a serious punishment or death. Another element of the story details the negative side early on…
Karen watching The Jazz Singer adds to the constant contrast of something heavy and something light, while also suggesting one way she copes with her stress, enjoying light entertainment, and probably relating to its story about a fellow Jew who feels ostracized by those around him. Whether or not she finds much fulfillment in life by the end is left ambiguous, though the answer is probably not. Her husband and her are left without the sort of money they could use for something like rehab for their cocaine addictions. Their clear lust for doing bad things also isn’t satisfied or tied off. In fact, with Henry it’s explicitly stated that he doesn’t want to stop. Karen’s desire to keep Henry in her life probably will not work out in her favor, as he is never shown having remorse for his cheating or wanting to stop. She even has to apparently have almost no contact with her parents out of fear that that will lead to someone getting in danger. While some say the movie is really about Karen and what happens to her, that is muted by how the last scenes are solely about Henry and how he feels. At that point, Karen loses autonomy.
The real point of her narration seems to be to give a more nuanced view of the events than what Henry could do alone. We get a good look of Jimmy’s ill will when she experiences what she thinks is a hit attempt from him. After just looking at Henry’s world, including him being late for his date, we’re pulled out of his view by hearing Karen’s feelings on the matter, as if she’s telling him the world is not all about him. While Karen’s usage as representing Henry’s homebase is serviceable for the story, there is a feminist critique in it and in other scenes. Women are sexualized quite a lot. You could argue the point of this is to show the excessive and joyous lifestyle Henry lives, but it goes a bit far. Karen giving Henry head only seemed to be there to grab any audience members who may not have been paying attention. The numerous scenes of women’s bodies suggests that that is essentially the big thing they’re adding to the story, perhaps a few more male butts in seats? The view that Karen is the “counterweight” to Henry is mere interpretation, and thus easier to miss than the sexualization.
The most damning the film is against gangsterdom is in how the principle characters act. Tommy takes to heart the “ability to do anything” that Henry falls for. This not only hurts many people around Tommy, but Tommy himself. His death being implied as coming from one of his reckless murders is one of the clearest cases of how this sort of thing can catch up to you. Jimmy trades in Tommy’s thoughtlessness for something seemingly better but just as detrimental. He’s honest to himself about how dangerous his surroundings are, which leads him to decide to kill most of his own friends. In turn, he’s also losing a lot of support for himself and giving Henry ammunition to turn against him. Him at all making Henry aware of his murders of their comrades is in itself foolish, but maybe he either wanted someone to trust or he wanted another opinion on the matter? Jimmy crying over Tommy’s death suggests the sense of humanity that the former is ignoring in others he kills and how inherently selfish he is. This speaks to the contradictions in doing what he does.
Jimmy’s understanding of his predicament probably influences his behavior. Maybe he gives people money to quickly get them on his good side and put them in a false sense of security? Maybe he helps Tommy with his killing, as he doesn’t want to get in heat? By extension, the character of Morrie represents Jimmy deciding to kill the others off. It seems the only reason Morrie was alive up to that point was that he owed Jimmy money. Once that was settled, Morrie irritated him, which in turn pushed Jimmy to realize that killing everyone would make things a lot easier for him, especially because the others were making poor decisions. Thus, it is possible that if everyone followed the rules, Jimmy wouldn’t have felt pushed to take them all out.
Henry challenges this lifestyle in a different way, with dishonor. While he keeps his nose out of the murders, he can’t resist the temptation to allow things to get in over his head. He shows an awareness of the threat of this when he promises his wife he won’t get imprisoned, as those that do make idiotic mistakes. If he was “logical”, he would understand that dealing coke, or at least doing it, would not end well. However, he bought into the idea of being able to do what he wants. He eventually gets so deep into his cocaine business, which he was told not to do, that his only options are to rat out all his friends, even Paulie who didn’t do him any wrong, or to die. Thus, he was forced to essentially break the bond with those he was so close to initially. He also yells at Karen in front of their child, leaving a bad impression on her. Despite this whole movie being Henry’s story, the children barely factor into it, as if he didn’t really care about them.
Beyond Henry not respecting the “family”, which is a concept often talked about, no one really does. The notable example is Jimmy and Tommy’s killings, which prove that the idea of them being family is just to create false security. Even if not intentionally, that is the product. Paulie on the other hand does show respect for the concept. When Henry makes a confession to him that could get Paulie in trouble and the former whacked for the trouble, Paulie helps him with some money. Henry then betrays him more. In turn, he is really betraying and disapproving the concept of the “family”, which seems to be what the movie is really trying to prove. It goes against both the moral gangster and the nameless gangster. These are people, but still out for themselves. Henry may have “won”, but most don’t. Despite all this, probably the reason Henry went to Paulie for money is because he did trust that his “family” would help him.
The ending showcases this dual mindset of Henry, who never shows remorse for his actions, just like with Jimmy and Tommy, he doesn’t regret it, and doesn’t show signs of stopping. However, his inability to ever back down does cost him. Jimmy, Tommy, and Paulie also don’t back down and end up in vastly worse positions, showing this was all more a matter of luck. Henry pointing them out in court punctuates how badly they’re being screwed by him for doing the same song and dance, while also mirroring the earlier court scene of Henry being celebrated for not ratting on anyone. What’s so brilliant about this finale is how it tells you what we’ve already learned, but makes it a revelation. Even when we’ve seen violence be glorified or Henry arguably take a lesson in some way or him defeat immense odds, he still wants to get ahead like any other gangster and isn’t so different, despite the contrast with how his life ends up. Just like how cheating through life hasn’t failed him yet, he probably will not stop trying. Paulie can be seen as the product of stopping the cheating. In fact, him ratting is simply another cheat, just as the other gangsters do in their lifestyle. He simply now can best cheat by following the rules, but that alliance is as temporary as Jimmy was to his life. As the final shot of Tommy shows, he even can be whacked and maybe even haunted if he accepts morality.
OVERVIEW
There is a definite comparison between the final shot and the ending of The Irishman, as does the ending music, saying what happens if you do things “My Way”, with the films showing the benefits and drawbacks of that through the lens of a life of crime. Whether or not Goodfellas glorifies that crime doesn’t matter in one important aspect; it doesn’t change whether or not the movie is good. In fact, it doesn’t matter much that it is such a thorough dissection of the “gangster life”, which seems to be a big reason why it’s so liked. The film is extremely exciting and interesting, with that and the essentially perfect pacing propelling it to masterhood.
See for a cop tasting some untested cocaine to make sure it’s actually cocaine.
For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.
The Monks are generally known and defined by their one and only LP, as if nothing else was ever made. While that’s not far from the truth, there is a little more they did. That material is consistently less hard hitting than the famous album. The group are still surprisingly strong at infusing psychedelia and pop, with the drumming a particular highlight. That being said, these aren’t must-listen recordings by any means. While The Sonics managed to get almost a second full length worth of hard edged tracks, and all the way to a third of very quality work, these stray Monks would almost best be described as a different band. If you like the famous Black Monk Time and want more of it, you should go to other bands with a proto-punk style, as Black is all you’ll get from the Monk pot. If you want decent rock tunes and interesting alternate versions of songs, then here you go, what is essentially another group.
These two album names were apparently considered to be the names of potential follow-up albums. I don’t think they’re great titles, especially because of the change in sound for one and the same songs of the other, but I thought it was cute to do. If albums of new material had come out under those names, it probably wouldn’t have been like what’s below, with album-only tracks that were never recorded.
The three “fan albums” are Silver Monk Time, which details demos and live cuts of what’s on Black and also… Gold Monk Time, which features no overlapping songs with Black. The third are stray “modern” recordings by members of the band. Just for fun, also included is the live reunion album and more solo projects, as well as a list of what exists, but I couldn’t find.
THE MONKS – SILVER MONK TIME
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Boys Are Boys (1964)”
“Monk Time”
“Love Came Tumblin’ Down”
“Space Age”
“We Do Wie Du”
“Boys Are Boys (1965)”
“Pretty Suzanne”
“Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy”
SIDE B
“Oh, How To Do Now (1965)”
“I Hate You”
“Boys Are Boys (1966)”
“Oh, How To Do Now (1966)”
“Complication”
“I Can’t Get Over You”
“Cuckoo”
THE MONKS – GOLD MONK TIME
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
“Monk Chant”
“I Can’t Get Over You”
“Cuckoo”
“Love Can Tame the Wild”
“He Went Down to the Sea”
“Pretty Suzanne”
SIDE B
“Hushie Pushie”
“There She Walks”
“Julia”
“P.O. Box 3291”
“I Need U Shatzi”
“Yellow Grass”
“I’m Watching You”
GARY BURGER & DAVE DAY – IT IS CHARLES TIME
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
The Spectors – “Oh, How To Do Now” (1993)
Alec Empire & Gary Burger – “Monk Time” (2006)
The Fall & Gary Burger – “Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy” (2006)
The Havletones & Dave Day – “That’s My Girl” (2006)
SIDE B
Charles Paul Wilp & The Monks – “It Is Charles Time” (2006)
Faust & Gary Burger – “Beware (The Transatlantic Feedback)” (2006)
Dave Day – Having A Party With Dave Havlicek (1994)
Dave Day – “I Want The Right To Be Free” (1997)
Dave Day – “Don’t Ha Ha” (1997)
THE MONKS ARE
Gary Burger – lead guitar, lead vocals, tambourine
Larry Clark – organ, backing vocals, piano, tambourine
Dave Day – banjo, rhythm guitar, banjo guitar, tambourine, backing vocals
Roger Johnston – drums, backing vocals
Eddie Shaw – bass guitar, backing vocals, trumpet, brass instruments
This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!
Red Dwarf had a series in 1997 and 1999. While there wasn’t one in 1998, you could still get close to a series-worth of material in Red Dwarf Night, a special which celebrated the franchise’s history. There were five half hour programs, though one was a reshowing of the series six episode, “Gunmen of the Apocalypse”. The original four had their own Red Dwarf theme song-styled intros, so they’re kind of like a 1998 series. One of those programs features the characters getting in an adventure, albeit an unconventional one, so you do get a stealth bonus episode from this special. Some of the material featured in Night won’t be covered, due to a focus on non-documentary-esque material. It’s amusing that there’s a title card saying “Red Dwarf X” (as in the tenth anniversary), considering there would one day be a series with that name.
‘Night’ Bumpers
Patrick Stewart has such a great voice and there’s something so novel about his inclusion. The “BBC Two Icon” bumpers are pretty amusing, featuring it and a scutter getting into brief romps. Some of the segments are very strange.
Can’t Smeg Won’t Smeg
This kind-of episode of the show is such a delight. A general highlight of Red Dwarf is when the main leads can just bounce off each other (especially in front of an audience) and create comedy from air. Them cooking might not sound interesting, but they make it work with the little bantering and fast pace. The cast are clearly good at playing to an audience. They manage to find little comedic things to do to get attention and not make this just a cooking show. Kryten using that vacuum cleaner is a favorite moment, as is Lister losing his cool with Ainsley Harriott, which feels authentic. The Red Dwarf crew are disgusting, with Lister eating out of containers. Them not breaking character really adds a layer to the experience.
Danny John-Jules is great at cutting food. Perhaps everyone’s favorite part is Duane with the rice? It’s just such a great gag! Rimmer is underutilized. Seeing as his actor had recently left the show, maybe this was written without his inclusion, only for him to be added in when he did come around? Ainsley Harriott is fun, especially when he gets outraged. What’s up with his little dance as he pours food and the face he makes when feeding Kochanski? Amusingly, Kochanski serves very little role, as if it had been realized she doesn’t really work in the show. In the 1999 series, there’s almost no attempt to fit her into the show, with it being focused on other characters. Still, she gets a little bit of material. Kochanski’s face as she watches the meals being prepared is hilarious. It would’ve been nice if Kochanski’s reactions to eating the food were real. Imagine if someone intentionally made them disgusting, so as to get a visceral reaction from her?
It’s not all good with her… Have the writers ever met a woman before? The jokes about Kochanski not being hungry because she ate a stick of celery, and also her asking everybody to look at her butt seem like either no one had any ideas for her and/or they wanted to give the male cast some eye candy. Duane’s comments about Kochanski later are strangely sexual, as well. Some deleted scenes from series seven and eight depict Lister as sexist for no discernible reason. Here, he gets a random sexist line.
Such shortcomings are insubstantial when compared to the highlights. While Can’t Smeg Won’t Smeg doesn’t hold a candle to series one-six, it’s better than series seven. It has the same creative team and everybody is wearing their series seven costumes, so it’s nice to see this era go out on a relative high. This certainly isn’t for everyone, but for others it’s surprisingly funny and engaging.
For friends of continuity, there’s two places this could go in the series. Neither are where it aired, in between series seven and eight. The most natural choice is after series eight, this being just one of their many misadventures before Back to Earth. It’d be funny to think that after all she went through, Kochanski decided to leave because of eating the meals this episode. It could also be set between series seven episodes three-eight, with one of the virtual reality machines. Imagine one of the leads wanted to live through an episode of Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook and got the others to come along? Maybe this is “Better Than Life”, and thus it became somewhat demented? Ainsley Harriott, Rimmer, and Duane Dibbley would be artificial creations if this was the case. The Cat leaving could represent the Cat deciding to leave the game.
A creature turned the Cat into Duane Dibbley in series six. A fun fan theory is that it is hiding around somewhere and turned the Cat into Duane, as how else would he be here? In between the Cat leaving and Duane arriving, there could’ve been more things going on we just didn’t see.
Universe Challenge
In “Universe Challenge”, questions were asked about the cast members’ early appearances in media and whomever a question concerned was allowed to answer. You’d think that’d make answering a little too easy, as they’d most likely know the answer. There is one fun moment where Danny John-Jules says, “What?!” in response to Craig Charles answering a question pertaining to the former person. Chloë Annett is very good at acting uncomfortable (as she seems in Smeg). “It’s meeeee!” is a very funny part. The best part is seeing the cast react to something amusing or embarrassing about them.
Children In Need (Not part of Red Dwarf Night)
The group is weirdly slow, as if they had no time to rehearse. If they in fact didn’t, you’d think their natural chemistry would carry them further. Kochanski almost feels like an afterthought. No one really knew what to do with her when Rimmer rejoined. The Channel 5 joke is quite good.
Most of the material covered here featured on the “Xtended” VHS tape, later popping up on the series seven DVD. Some deleted scenes featured in the extended edits are not in the compilation of deleted scenes, unfortunately. It’d be nice to have something more comprehensive. It’s fun to watch a proper episode and then its deleted scenes, but not so much to have to essentially rewatch it with those few added bits.
Episode 1: “Tikka to Ride” Deleted Scenes
Lister in the computer room is so visually dull. No wonder it was replaced with something a little more interesting. Lister trying to brush aside the smoke is funny. Some of Lister’s dialogue with Kryten is even less realistically delivered than it was before. In the proper episode, Rimmer seems too uninvolved. Here, he gets some jokes in a scene that would’ve been early on in the episode and would’ve been a nice Rimmer moment. This should’ve been in the episode. The scene of the Cat after being confronted by the FBI doesn’t really make sense, explaining why it might’ve been cut, but it is still funny. It is ultimately better off that it was removed.
Episode 2: “Stoke Me a Clipper” Deleted Scenes
There’s a little work done to explain plot holes, but if you reintroduced these scenes, the story would still feel underdeveloped.
SPOILERS
If Ace left his crew for dead and took the time drive, wouldn’t the crew have still reset to being alive again as per the logic that was explained at the start of “Tikka”? Rimmer talking about a coffin for Ace is funny. It doesn’t make sense that Ace would be unable to travel farther in the universe than here, but he could still train Rimmer.
Episode 5: “Blue” Deleted Scenes (All SPOILERS)
“We’re getting nowhere, bud. He won’t throw any of his stuff away because it reminds him of the good times he had with Rimmer. I must’ve blinked and missed them!” is a good line, many Cat bits have been removed. The virtual reality scenes are fun, though why would Rimmer write in his journal that he likes and can eat spicy curry? Is that such a flex?
Episode 6: “Beyond a Joke” Deleted Scenes
The Cat being distracted by looking at himself in the mirror is a gag reminiscent of series one and two. There’s a scene where Lister is bizarrely very condescending to Kochanski. The Cat’s “vampire” joke is funny, but out of place in the scene. The episode “Backwards” featured Lister and the Cat just hanging out and having a conversation about nothing. It’d be nice to get such a scene somewhere in this series where the Cat could do this joke.
SPOILERS
Kryten was told that finding information on his creator would depress him. Able literally said finding out is what destroyed his life. Kochanski also cautions against it. He then just brushes those off. Why wouldn’t he take their warnings seriously? At least he should lean on the side of caution and not look. That’s such a forced way to get him to know the information. He could’ve just been told it against his will.
The scene of Kryten discussing his origins with Lister is one of the weaker moments of the proper episode. The better moments were deleted. They don’t move the plot, which might explain their removal, but at least they’re funny. Apparently Lister doesn’t want it known he reads. In the series two episode, “Kryten”, he was growing mold to mess with Rimmer. These moments suggest he pretends to be dumb, possibly because he finds it funny. It seems that the occupants of “Jane Austen World” ate curry before Kochanski warned them not to.
Kochanski’s apparent romantic attraction to Lister is emphasized with things like her seeming to like it when Lister jokes about them going on a date. Epideme apparently still being alive is too similar to the ending of “Polymorph”.
Episode 8: “Nanarchy” Deleted Scenes
The proper episode’s gag about “naming five famous limbless people” goes on so long. Here, it’s said it was cut down to “avoid overkill” and only seconds were removed. Surprising no one thought to make it shorter. Holly’s gags are fun. They’re reminiscent of the early series. They might not have fit in series seven, but they would’ve worked better in series eight, which tries more to replicate the earlier styling of Lister and Holly joking around. The line, “I realize now I am definitely not a woman.” implies Holly thought he was transgender. Why would computers have or think they have gender dysphoria? Was this intentional?
Episode 1: “Tikka to Ride” Extended
The opening of Starbug in space has its charm, but the CGI does look dated. Poo being let out of the ship is a third grade-level of humor. It’s so offbeat. Lister mentioned wanting to keep a journal of life on ship, only for us to never see him do this again. The first Cat and Rimmer scene is very awkward. It feels like everyone is pausing for a laugh track. Sound effects aren’t added in, either. It comes across as a rehearsal of the material. The deleted scenes version is superior.
There is some striking imagery throughout, like when the group are inspecting the ship. The group sitting around playing cards is a funny bit. The ending is needed to make the story feel complete. In the broadcast version, things aren’t really wrapped up.
SPOILERS
Arguably, everyone being convinced to not use the time drive to return to Earth is them basically giving up on their main goal in life. If they’re afraid of causing issues with time, then they can never go back.
Episode 3: “Ouroboros” Extended
How did anyone think “ouroboros” was supposed to say “our Rob or Ross”? The opening scene of Lister freshening up is even more awkward without the laugh track to mask its issues. How did no one watch that and not think the laugh track was necessary? The only particularly noteworthy deleted scene is alternate universe Cat getting the chance to speak. It’s not a great scene, but it’s nice to give a little more to the minor characters.
SPOILERS
I forgot how out-of-the-blue Kryten getting upset over Kochanski was. You’d never think that’s what’s coming next after seeing the earlier bits. So little time is spent on the interesting Lister’s lineage stuff and instead Kochanski and Kryten. This episode really suffers from trying to be a million ideas at once. It’s setting up Kochanski and Kryten, Kochanski and Lister, Kochanski on her own, and the plot of this particular episode.
Episode 4: “Duct Soup” Extended
There either being a lack of comedy or more surreal comedy makes this episode work reasonably well without a laugh track. Kochanski talking about her brother is fun. Lister risks getting caught in the water, so he can save the Cat.
SPOILERS
The scenes in the ducts progressively start to get compelling, when they’re in tandem with good jokes. It’s at first hurt by things like the Cat and Lister at first having a comedic conversation, only for its flow to cease for the sake of a monologue. Starting with the scene that feels like a Breakfast Club pastiche, we either get some scenes that were deleted and for the best due to not being very funny, bad for pacing, and/or plot information that’s similarly not compelling. Kochanski telling Kryten her relationship with Lister is “all in the past” has similar issues in terms of flow.
Smeg-Ups
These aren’t too funny overall, though that may be just a personal preference. Highlights include Danny John-Jules’ extensive line flubs, including one point where he stops talking mid-sentence, starts smiling, then everyone starts laughing; “Kryten, smells good, what is it?” “Something I– forgets line *bleep*.”; and Chris Barrie saying, “That’s one for the Smeg-Ups”.
The bookending segments seem like they wouldn’t work as well where they originally were on the Xtended tape, but all bundled together it’s easier to take them all in. The idea of the gang just hanging out and goofing around is of course a good one.
OVERVIEW
Overall, the deleted scenes would’ve generally felt slow in the proper episodes. Whether or not they’re better than the released material is hard to say due to not being watched in the episodes, the video quality being lower, and not modified to feel like a completed work. There are some scenes that are quite good and obviously should’ve been included, while some of the material that did make it should’ve been cut. As a whole, it seems the right choices were made regarding what to keep. That is to presume that most of the episodes weren’t poor to the point that almost everything should be cut from some. The deleted scenes, including horrible sexist Lister, are nice to have just for fun and it’s a shame they weren’t around for VHS viewers.
The “Extended” VHS tape of these episodes is such a scam. The differences are very minute. Due to missing the laugh track and some unfinished-feeling scenes, you’re basically getting the same ol’ episodes, but now more awkward, sometimes coming across as rough cuts.
Context for those unfamiliar with Red Dwarf(Spoilers for S01E01, S07E03, and S08E01 of the show)
Dave Lister, played by Craig Charles, was the last man alive. He’s living in the mining ship “Red Dwarf” with his roommate, Arnold Rimmer, played by Chris Barrie; a member of a species of evolved cats, “The Cat”, played by Danny John-Jules; as of series three, a robot, Kryten, played by Robert Llewellyn; as of series seven, a parallel universe version of his girlfriend, Kristine Kochanski, played by Chloë Annett; and as of series eight, numerous other former crew members of Red Dwarf, most notably the captain, Hollister, played by Mac McDonald.
“Only the Good…” is sadly one of the weaker episodes. There’s a lot of filler before the plot gets going. The material here is a lot more lifeless than some of the filler in “Pete”. The first half and second half of the episode seem unrelated, as if elements of two scripts were accidentally pasted together. The first is about general life on the ship, with some setup where you could imagine resulting in a comedic fight between main and recurring cast members, and the second a far more interesting sci-fi-esque story. Elements of that sci-fi story in a way summarize all of Red Dwarf. If the episode stuck to that one idea, it might’ve been a more satisfying finale to the show than it is. Due to all the unresolved ends, this is perhaps the most poorly-constructed episode of the whole show.
The characterization of the cast is consistent to how it’s been in series eight, inconsistent. Lister and Kryten cause trouble in ways that just seem mean and petty, which is somewhat out-of-step with Lister and very with Kryten. Kryten even does something that could potentially get Lister and Rimmer killed. Why would Hollister trust Rimmer to help him when sick considering what happened in “Pete”? Why do Kochanski and Kryten act like they’re friends when they don’t like each other?
There’s not much closure to the various elements of series eight, particularly with the recurring characters. It could lead someone to think that a series nine would undo some of what happens and essentially continue the format. Many of the players just stop appearing as we focus first on just the leads and then just Rimmer. The last appearance of Lister, the Cat, Kryten, and Kochanski is six and a half minutes before the end credits. Those four and others get to appear in the alternate and admittedly worse ending. This episode feels like the first of a two-parter.
SPOILERS
Rimmer trying to shut up the vending machine obviously wouldn’t work. He should’ve just left. Kryten and Kochanski talking about Lister’s prank goes on forever. Why would Rimmer drink the hooch considering he thinks it’s lethal? The duo failing inspection as well as Baxter wanting to hurt them doesn’t come back into relevance. We see the Cat attempt to be hospitalized, but not Kryten and Kochanski. Why not either show both or neither? You’d think the Cat would rather fake illness than get his face punched. Still, him stealing the fries is funny.
Lister was willing to sacrifice his freedom, so he could save the crew’s lives. Rimmer on the other hand didn’t care about them dying. This is a good way to parallel the two. It’s a shame Hollister and others are hurried out Red Dwarf as soon as possible. It would’ve been a more interesting angle to have the episode focus on different character’s reactions to the microbe, at least make it feel like their presence this series has mattered. There’s no explanation of where Kryten’s parallel dimension device comes from. There was in a deleted scene. It’s really needed as it feels so inexplicable. How could they possibly have this thing? The alternate ending has the unfortunate implication of suggesting Lister was so uncaring about his friends that he’d let them get lost in space and possibly die. Thus, the ending we got is much better.
It’s very telling that what was for a while the last episode of the show didn’t focus on Lister, but instead Rimmer. This episode was arguably intended to be the finale. It captures the essence of Rimmer, where he gets exactly what he has wanted, to be captain, but due to circumstances lost out on that opportunity. If he had decided to forget about saving the others and instead stayed in the mirror universe, he would have achieved his dreams. Him being selfless is what screwed him over. Rimmer almost hopelessly running from Death itself is kind of the perfect ending. It emphasizes the comedic peril the cast get in taken to its logical extreme. Here, that’s taken even further. Rimmer is now alone and technically captain of the ship. It makes me wish that this was saved until the actual finale of the show. Perhaps the crew find Fiji as the ship is being destroyed? The others all get there, but due to contrivance Rimmer doesn’t.
OVERVIEW
It’s essentially a fact of the universe that of the first eight series of Red Dwarf, seven and eight are the weakest. Seven seems to have bigger dreams, due to its characterization of Kryten and Kochanski and trying to create a dynamic that works with this new lineup. Eight goes for much smaller fish. The dynamic is essentially Lister, Rimmer, and whatever we decide on at the moment. Depending on who you ask, there are at least three and at most five other main characters. They sometimes blend into the background of the actual recurring cast. Something that really needed to be explored is if, why, and how the lead five associate with each other. It made sense before that they would stick together as there’s so few of them and so scary a universe outside. Now, they have the opportunity to make new friends, but generally are together. Especially after Kochanski in series seven and Rimmer in early series eight, you’d think those two would want to avoid the others. You’d also think series seven Kryten would want to be with Lister. Lister and Rimmer are very close and the others are moderately so to them. It’s fine to have this relation, but explore why they have it this way.
If you removed the Cat, and Holly, the series would only be minimally different. Removing Kochanski and Kryten would take a little more work, but all episodes could be kept relatively similar. In fact, due to Kochanski upsetting the dynamic with the types of lines she gets, she arguably should’ve been written out or given the type of role she had in series one and two. She’s something out of reach of Lister and barely appears. Seeing as in series seven and nine she wants to leave them, why would she act differently here?
To demonstrate series eight’s disinterest in being cogent, you can about believe it was originally an unrelated prison show repurposed to include Dwarf in it. This change in format doesn’t feel like a logical progression of what we’ve seen before. If these scripts were written for another show, that would make sense in explaining why many interesting ideas weren’t explored, such as how Lister and Kochanski feel about finding their old friends now alive. The Cat could meet Frankenstein, we could get jokes like the leads describing their experiences, giving knowledge on things they discovered from being able to wander the ship (that was explored a little), original Kochanski!
Imagine an episode where they try to escape the Tank and use their understanding of the ship against the officers that might not? What if Kochanski had a boyfriend that dated the original Kochanski and doesn’t know what to think of this new one? This series as is pretty easily could’ve been about them landing on a prison planet where such events occur, and there are no returning characters. Why make it about the old “Hollister crew”? Ideas actually featured like the time wand, non-senile Holly, and Cassandra essentially get just an episode. Further exploration of their implications could mean a lot. Another reason to explore the lore more is that “Back in the Red” is definitely the best looking story here due to it not being predominantly set in “the Tank”.
The comedy is generally not as bad as some say, especially when it comes from actors having straightforward interactions without there being a lot of wacky hijinks or seeming like the series is trying to appeal to fans of other types of comedy. The character of Talia and the gags related to her are just uncomfortable to watch. While many of the bit players, like Baxter, don’t add much, Ackerman and Kill Crazy’s actors are clearly having a lot of fun and putting that in their performances. They’re quite funny and while they are best focused on only a little in a show about Lister and Rimmer, it’d be fun to get a spin-off about Hollister and company getting into misadventures. Imagine an episode where due to not having the same methods of defending themselves, the officers of Red Dwarf are forced to work with or under the prisoners.
There’s an undeniable charm to the beautifully simple idea of “four guys that are at best lukewarm about each other are stuck in deep space as strange things occur.” Perhaps the lack of that in series seven and eight dooms them to feel off, but the charm is still there in moments, especially in series eight. There is something very Dwarf about every episode sans “Krytie TV”. Rewrites to make the comedy and action tighter and going back to the “four guys” concept could’ve made these episodes about as beloved as others are. Even if the series was still set in the Tank, the episodes could have still focused on the four leads instead of the Cat and often Kryten being away, so it feels like the four are still a team as much as ever. Another way to help this era would be to make series seven and eight the last series, after series nine-present. “After years of Lister, Rimmer, Kryten, and the Cat, they’ve come full circle.”
Unlike series seven, eight can usually manage to be decently funny. Imagine a six-episode series of a two-part “Back in the Red”, “Cassandra”, “Pete”, and a two-part finale that may deal with things like the escape attempts, the appeal, and/or the microbe/mirror universe plot? A rank of series eight’s episodes would go: “Krytie TV”, “Only the Good…”, “Back in the Red 2”, “Pete 1, “Pete 2”, “Cassandra”, “Back in the Red 3”, and “Back in the Red 1”. The first three are the bad ones. A rank of series eight’s stories would go: “Krytie TV”, “Only the Good…”, “Pete”, “Cassandra”, and “Back in the Red”. The first two are the bad ones.
ON THE CORNER AND OFF THE WALL
Here’s a modified excerpt of my 2017 review:
Season 8: All our main characters (except for Holly) are prisoners, Lister or Rimmer do something stupid, the captain gets upset. The other FOUR characters just give comic relief. Minus Back in the Red Parts 1, 2, and Episode 4, “Cassandra”, Series 8 was painful to watch. The last episode was the worst of the whole show. I would hate to watch it as the intended finale and get such a disappointing ending. Kristine Kochanski, while annoying in Series 7, became more chill and likable in Series 8. It’s a bummer that when the show was making her funnier and more interesting, she left the show. Human Rimmer had some differences from Hologram Rimmer. Human Rimmer is meaner, less funny, and less interesting. I was waiting for him to leave and be replaced with the funny Rimmer when he returned in Series 9 after being absent from part of Series 7 and 8.
Context for those unfamiliar with Red Dwarf(Spoilers for S01E01, S07E03, and S08E01 of the show)
Dave Lister, played by Craig Charles, was the last man alive. He’s living in the mining ship “Red Dwarf” with his roommate, Arnold Rimmer, played by Chris Barrie; a member of a species of evolved cats, “The Cat”, played by Danny John-Jules; as of series three, a robot, Kryten, played by Robert Llewellyn; as of series seven, a parallel universe version of his girlfriend, Kristine Kochanski, played by Chloë Annett; and as of series eight, numerous other former crew members of Red Dwarf, most notably the captain, Hollister, played by Mac McDonald.
“Pete” is sometimes derided as the worst episode of the entire franchise. However, it has more merit than it is given credit for. This episode can be appreciated for world building. Sequences focus on showing us what prison life is like. Some of these scenes are quite funny, though mostly don’t add to this story or really mean anything, unless you’re interested in the setting or characters. Some highlights are Warden Ackerman’s scene with the Cat (“You spoke again.”), Lister tapping the pole, Kill Crazy wanting to fist fight a t-rex, and the “egg” gag. Better than those are Lister and Rimmer talking about planes. The two have such natural chemistry that such a meandering conversation feels very natural and humorous. For the sake of pacing, it’d work better at the start of an episode. Another is when Hollister tells Lister and Rimmer about his encounter with the dinosaur. The scene focuses on three funny people who are able to give great line deliveries and make great faces. Lister and Rimmer have many moments to play off of each other and they’re so much fun.
There’s a subplot about Kryten’s penis that was taken from “Cassandra” and added here. It would’ve made way more sense in that episode as here it is extremely pointless. It’s plopped in the middle of this different story. It also contradicts Kryten seeming to come to terms with his female identity in “Krytie TV”. A good non-comedic moment is when the leads run into a room lit in green. The lighting and cinematography are sharper there. The group being alone together and against an uncaring world is part of the past series’ charm and it’s a welcome addition to series eight, which sadly lacks that element. The filming helps evoke that.
There are so many duds in this script that it’s easy to understand why people don’t like this episode. Kryten gives a tedious explanation of how the time wand works. There’s an extensive basketball scene that doesn’t feel like the same show. The score throughout the episode is more reminiscent of a 90s basketball movie than Red Dwarf. Kochanski and the Cat are turned into children briefly. The recap at the beginning of part two goes on so long. When it ends, some of the previous episode plays to segue into the new material, more than is necessary. The CGI is infamously not very good, though it’s better than you’d think with the show’s budget. Model work is of course superior. Some of the Hollister scenes both feel like filler and are too wacky for their own good. One way to improve them is to spread them over the course of the series, so Hollister is progressively changing instead of it happening in two episodes. Logical issues include: How was Birdman allowed to have a bird on the ship when pets aren’t allowed? Why would Lister and Rimmer play pranks on someone? All that’d do is get them in trouble. Hollister even points this out.
“You were supposed to be picking up Rice!” “I did. We’re meeting for drinks on Thursday.” and especially the boob job joke illustrate one of the big problems with this series. There’s a lot of mindless sexual humor. It also demonstrates Kochanski’s devolution from being someone with goals and a personality to someone who acts like a misogynist’s view of how women act. She doesn’t functionally do anything beyond these gags. Another common trope of shows losing steam is when stupid characters are given jokes where they act like children, suggesting no one could think of something better. Lister seems fooled by a children’s game at one point.
PART 1 SPOILERS
Why would Hollister have any interest in Lister and Rimmer playing basketball against the guards? How is that even a punishment? Ackerman is really funny when he’s beating up the Cat, though the beating looks clearly fake. Why wouldn’t Ackerman beat up the Dwarfers in “Cassandra” for singing if he has this rule about not talking? It seems Lister and Rimmer got in trouble for trying to shortcut the potato cutting, but what’s wrong with that? The “virus” would probably do a better job than they would. Rimmer shouldn’t have shaken Hollister’s hand, especially because he’s never done it before. “There’s something wrong with Pete, he’s gone all stiff!” “He must have drunk the guards’ half-time juice. [Which gave them erections.]” is a great line.
Once again, because of the leads someone is killed. We don’t really learn of Birdman’s relation to Pete other than a line of dialogue from Lister after he died. He should’ve had more establishment. It’s a good touch to have Rimmer run one way and the others another, then Rimmer runs after the others a second later.
PART 2 SPOILERS
Why would Kryten throw the time wand to Bob? Obviously Kryten would want to have it. Lister’s caring side is shown when he seems concerned over Bob, a scutter, being eaten. Hollister describing his incident with the dinosaur is disgusting, though amusing. To exemplify the filler, Lister and Rimmer use the time wand to make Hollister say the same thing for thirty seconds. When the time wand is taken, why don’t they tell Hollister that Kill Crazy and Baxter stole it? Why would Hollister have the leads and not trained officers get the time wand back? The reason why Kill Crazy and Baxter want to fight Lister and Rimmer is pretty poor and is just a way to make the episode longer. Them ultimately turning themselves into gorillas is funny; shame that wasn’t delved into, like seeing how they did it.
Why wouldn’t Lister and Rimmer try to use the time wand to their advantage, like by undoing their issue with Hollister? You’d think Rimmer would be afraid of how Lister destroys the time wand. In the process of stomping on it, he could’ve triggered it to do something. Them trying to put the time wand back together after destroying it is a good bit to show the actors’ chemistry. How did Pete give birth? When would she have had a chance to become pregnant?
OVERVIEW
Despite initially thinking this was one of the worst episodes of the show, it has a mini-sci-fi concept and some good world building scenes. There are a lot of moments that should’ve been cut, but at least they’re not as bad as they could be. If you cut this down to one episode with the best bits, it’d probably have a better reputation. Even taking in the full sixty minutes in all its glory, it’s not too intolerable. This is Kill Crazy’s last episode, he will be missed.
The Filme Diary 