See Hear Podcast

It’s time to dust off the spandex, reglue the spikes onto your high heeled shoes and to find out the flame does indeed still burn for episode 39 of See Hear Podcast. This month, Tim, Bernard, and Maurice are joined by host of Love That Album: The Compilation Edition (and a gazillion other podcasts), Eric Reanimator to discuss the 1998 film Still Crazy penned by highly regarded English scriptwriters Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais. A once-popular band reform 20 years after their last disastrous show. They have many unresolved issues, and need to know if at middle age, they still have something artistically valid to offer each other and the music listening public. The film boasts an all-star cast including Bill Nighy, Timothy Spall, Billy Connolly and Jimmy Nail. The crew discuss 70s songwriters, Live Aid, confidence, getting the horn, Harry Potter, and the so-called physical similarity between a cast member and a See Hear crew member. What did we think? Download and find out. Many thanks to Eric for requesting

It’s time for See Hear podcast episode 38.   What do you get when you have a narcissist keeping everyone in his immediate circle in a powerless state because no one feels they can tell the emperor he’s behaving woefully?   Wrong answer… (well….right answer but not in this context). You have the 1972 cinema debut from Daryl Duke called Payday. Rip Torn plays Maury Dann, a regionally popular touring country singer. He’s never hit the Johnny Cash level of popularity, but he’s a king in his own mind and will throw those closest to him under the bus if it satisfies his requirements. The film covers a couple of days in the life….and it ain’t pretty.   Bernie, Tim and Maurice discuss this hidden seventies gem. The characters in this film are all three dimensional. Rip Torn brings some serious acting chops as he lays out the charisma and the nastiness in Maury Dann. The film is a downbeat, gritty look at life on the road for this manipulative man-child who is not out for any sort of redemption.   You can download the

See Hear podcast begins its fourth year with the discussion of an animated work from a revered observer of counter culture in the seventies, Ralph Bakshi.   In 1981 he released American Pop. It’s a film about four generations of a family originally migrated to America to escape Tsarist Russia. The son of each generation finds his own link to music, but at great cost. It’s about parallels to American music and history in the twentieth century. It’s about family lineage and how each generation is distant from the values of the previous one while still finding common ground.   On episode 37, Tim, Bernard and Maurice discuss how successfully a 90 minute film can achieve in telling a story scoped over a 60 year period. They discuss the look of the animation compared to other American animation of the period. Does the film successfully achieve what it set out to do? Tune in for their thoughts on the subject.   You can download the show by searching for See Hear podcast on iTunes or download from http://seehear.podb

As John Lennon would have said, Merry Krimble. It’s December 2016, and the See Hear podcast celebrates its third anniversary with a fireside chat about an iconic piece of animation. Tim, Bernie and Maurice are joined by host of the Macca-dedicated podcast Paul Or Nothing, Sam Whiles (who was also the co-host of the Down In The Hole podcast dedicated to Tom Waits). They chat about the 1968 full length animated feature, Yellow Submarine, a nautical fantasy about some obscure pop group called The Beatles (YAY) travelling in the titular transport to rid an idyllic land of music-hating villains (BOO). The film was not only successful in its day, but went on to influence a bunch of other storytellers and animators (we’re sure Terry Gilliam was one). It was an engaging conversation, not least of which because there was not a common consensus on the merits of the film. Who said what? Tune in and find out before the Blue Meanies put the Apple Bonkers onto you. Many thanks to Sam for taking the time to join us and even

  Hey there See Hear listeners,   We have two episodes of the show being released this week. Episode 36 will concentrate on a discussion of the full length 1968 Beatles animated feature, Yellow Submarine.   Today, however, to complement that episode, we present to you an interview Maurice had with author of the book “Beatletoons”, Mitch Axelrod. There are hundreds of Beatles related books covering music analysis, biographies, their professional day to day diary, tours, gossip and even description of what equipment they used (specific amplifiers, guitars, drumkits, etc). Mitch has written the only book about the creation and background behind the very successful weekly King Features cartoon TV show devoted to the Beatles.   Mitch was very happy to talk about how the cartoons came about, how the animated figures actually moved like their real-life counterparts, (but their voices sounded nothing like the real thing), why the cartoons are never likely to be officially released by Apple on DVD, and sixties cartoon

Time to get out your cans of V05, the Max Factor mascara, and tune into See Hear Podcast. For episode 35, Bernard, Tim and Maurice discussed 2001’s “Rock Star” starring Marky-Mark Wahlberg (and his metal bunch) and Jennifer Anniston. Set in the eighties (of course), Wahlberg stars as a singer in a hair metal tribute band, and then finds himself becoming the lead singer of the real band he’s paying tribute to. He’s living the dream……or is he?????? The crew discuss the Hollywood definition of danger, American film maker’s perceptions of the English, the film’s attempt at subtext, machismo with lipstick, where this film compares to other movies about bands, is hair metal real metal, and of course…..following your dreeeeeaaaammmmm. We wonder if John Waters had not already done so, should this film have been called Hairspray? As per usual, the crew had a blast raising our hands and banging our heads. Put away your Ratt records for an hour, and give the show a listen. If you dig what we do, could you please rate us

It's October....and approaching Halloween, Tim, Bernard and Maurice decide to get thematically appropriate. We've picked a horror musical rather than a music-centric story. Yes, indeed we bring you a tale about a boy, a girl, a sadist, a masochist, and an all-singing-all-carnivorous venus fly trap-like plant called Audrey II. We bring you the See Hear discussion on Frank Oz' 1986 filmed version of the stage musical, Little Shop of Horrors, itself based on the 1960 Roger Corman b-movie flick THE Little Shop of Horrors. Seymour works in Mushnick's flower shop in Skid Row wishing for a better life and is secretly in love with his shop assistant Audrey.  Audrey is dating Orin Scrovello a sadistic dentist but fantasises about a life out of a Home Beautiful magazine with Seymour. Audrey II wants food.....NOW!!!! It also has a more sinister long term plan... Who will win in the battle between Seymour and "the vegetable"?  Will Arthur Denton get a long.....slow.....root....canal? Will Ronnette, Crystal and Chiffon w

Welcome to episode 33 of See Hear.    A country girl hits her head and ends up in a dream in the Land of Oz She is gifted a pair of red shoes by the good fairy and goes off on a journey to see The Wizard accompanied by three friends – one with no brain, one with no heart, and one with no courage. Sounds familiar? Welcome to 1976’s “Oz: A Rock and Roll Road Movie”aka “20th Century Oz” for American release.   In 1976, Australian music film clip pioneer Chris Lofven adapted the Wizard of Oz to a (then) contemporary setting in rural Victoria and Melbourne. In recent years, the term “Ozploitaion” has been appropriated to define certain films of this period, and it seems that Oz has been overlooked. See Hear wish to bring it back to public awareness.   Bernie, Tim and Maurice welcome MikeWhite of The Projection Booth back to the show to discuss whether theadaptation was successful, the Australian film renaissance of the Seventies, andthe great Australia versus America debate on whether to compact a word with “ie

Welcome to episode 32 of See Hear podcast.   Can you imagine Francois Truffaut visiting New York in the seventies, walking into CBGBs, and thinking "I really need to make a film inspired by this new thing called punk"? (except he'd probably be thinking it n French....but apart from that, can you imagine it?) It seems that Ulli Lommel had one of those "what if" moments, and so a man more known for horror films came up with Blank Generation.   Blank Generation concerns the tempestuous relationship between a French journalist (Carole Bouquet) and a punk singer (Richard Hell) in NYC during the seventies. Does Godard and punk music mix? Does the film work as a romance? Does it work as a punk film? Does it work as a tribute to the French New Wave? Is it a decent way to spend 78 minutes? Will Nada and Billy ever get to the beach? Would GG Allin have liked it? Bernie, Tim and Maurice will clue you in.   But wait....there's more. Four years earlier in 1976, Amos Poe and Ivan Kral put together a film called

Welcome to episode 31 of See Hear podcast.  In a first for the show, Bernie, Tim and Maurice invite a film director on the show to discuss his work. Specifically, the crew is joined by Harry Hayes who has directed a terrific award winning documentary called You Better Take Cover. Back in 1981, Australian band Men At Work released the single Down Under from their debut album Business As Usual. The song became famous around the world and became an unofficial Australian national anthem - it has certainly been used at international sporting events involving an Australian team.  The story of the song's rise to fame would have been interesting enough for a short film, but the story had an unexpected second act. In 2008, Australian TV music trivia show Spicks And Specks posed an innocent question asking what children's nursery rhyme a flute riff played in the song by Greg Ham was based on -  the answer had sad and ultimately tragic consequences.  The crew ask Harry about what prompted him to put the documentar

It’s time for episode 30 of See Hear Podcast. This month it was Tim’s pick, and he brought to the table a late night cult classic in Perry Henzel’s 1972 film, “The Harder They Come” starring reggae superstar, Jimmy Cliff. This film is important in so many respects – it brought Jimmy Cliff to a worldwide audience, it had a brilliant soundtrack, and it was the first Jamaican feature film. Henzel declared he made it for Jamaica, but many people outside Jamaica have embraced it as it encompasses the well used movie theme of fighting back against a corrupt society in all its facets – employers, the recording industry, religion, and the law. Jimmy Cliff plays Ivan, a young naïve country man coming to Kingston hoping to make it in the music industry, but has his dreams crushed at every turn – until he decides to take matters into his own hands, for better or worse. Make no mistake - he is an anti-hero with many failings of his own. Tim, Bernie and Maurice discuss these themes as well the influence it has left on so

Welcome to episode 29 of See Hear Podcast. Our beloved Bernard was suffering the effects of the summer flu and was too croaky and sneezy to partake, but Tim and Maurice soldiered on joined by Robert Hubbard to discuss a rock opera from 1974 called Catch My Soul. Not for the first time is the story of Othello discussed on the podcast. Catch My Soul debuted as a stage show in Los Angeles, before finding life on the stage in England. The setting of the story and the songs evolved reflecting real-world events. In 1974, the popularity of the rock opera allowed Catch My Soul to be financed for film without too much issue….and then sank without trace. Producer Jack Good supposedly tampered with the film after Patrick McGoohan had approved a final cut following a life revelation. To say there is a lot of interesting history associated with this film would be mild. Tim, Robert and Maurice discuss the origins of the show, its original cast members, its transfer to (and quick disappearance from) the big screen, and t

Welcome to episode 28 of See Hear Podcast. It's Bernie's selection this month, and he's gone for a film based on a song. It's the Arthur Penn-directed "Alice's Restaurant" based on the song of the same name by Arlo Guthrie.   The original song / monologue was a funny (allegedly true) tale about how Arlo gets arrested for dumping garbage away from the city dump and then gets rejected from being drafted to fight in the Vietnam war.  He's not moral enough to kill people because of his "criminal record" as a litterbug.   The film tells this tale, but (by necessity) fleshes out the story into an episodic series of events concerning Arlo, his friends Ray and Alice, the hippies they become surrogate parents to, and conservative America at war with itself as well as being at war on the world stage.   The music connection? Well it is based on a song, but music was a huge part of the counter culture of the period. Arlo is caught up in the values and the music of his predecessors as well as his contempor

Episode 27 of See Hear Podcast is ready for your aural consumption. So Tim, Bernard and Maurice are discussing a film about a band who go on the road and…well…shit happens. Could be any number of films? It’s a mock-documentary. Hmmm….still leaves a couple of choices. Okay, it’s been cited as one of the greatest ever films out of Canada. Okay, now you just have to know that we’re talking about Hard Core Logo. Bruce McDonald released this gem in 1996 about a punk band that reform to do a benefit gig, then follow up with five gigs through western Canada.  Different ambitions and egos collide, medications go missing, goats get sacrificed, and home truths get told. The film is about friendships, trust, putting on a macho face to cover insecurity, and investigates whether you should be able to have the same ambitions and life at 35 year old, as when you were a 17 year old. Not without humour, but it is certainly a darker film than the one it’s frequently compared to, “This Is Spinal Tap”. The See Hear crew r

Back in February, Bernie and Maurice were joined by Frank Santopadre and Tish Grier to discuss Bill Pohlad's 2015 biopic on Brian Wilson, Love And Mercy for episode 25 of See Hear. In April, Maurice interviewed Darian Sahanaja (Wondermints and Brian Wilson Band) for Love That Album episode 89 on the final day of Brian's 2016 tour of Australia. The last part of the interview featured a discussion about Darian's work as musical consultant on Love And Mercy.With Tim and Bernie's blessing, Maurice thought it would be a good idea to present this segment as a bonus episode of See Hear.  Darian coached the brilliant Paul Dano to play piano in a style similar to Brian, and came up with the idea to use real musicians rather than actors to play The Wrecking Crew as they recorded Pet Sounds. Listen to Darian discuss the creative process  in his work on the film. If this short discussion has you interested to hear more, look out for episode 89 of Love That Album podcast to hear a whole lot more about Darian and his

Episode 26 of See Hear is available for your earholes. It’s the final of our 2015 listener requests. The fact that it’s 2016 shows we’re a bit disorganised, but as Bernie suggested, that’s fitting with the subject matter. Eric Reanimator requested we watch and discuss Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements, directed by Gorman Bechard and released in 2011. It’s a documentary about the beloved 80s punk / pop band from Minneapolis. It uses the common documentary trope of the “talking head”perspective, but unlike many other documentaries (music or otherwise) this is all it does. There is no Replacements archival footage, nor any interviews with the band. There are producers, peers and fans all giving their stories of gigs witnessed, tutus, trashcans, favourite albums, and teen angst. Bernard, Tim and Maurice discuss whether this approach to the subject matter actually helps or hinders in appreciating who the Replacements were. There is a lot of digression from talk of the actual film to discussing

It’s time to get out your surfboards, hang onto your ego, and plug in your theremin as See Hear Podcast heads for the beach. Tim is absent, but Maurice and Bernie are pleased as punch to be joined by two fellow Beach Boys devotees to discuss Bill Pohlad’s 2015 biopic of Brian Wilson, Love And Mercy. For the first part of the show, Frank Santopadre of Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast and writer Tish Grier join the See Hear crew to discuss the Murry Wilson School of parenting, mental health issues, the Wrecking Crew, Beach Boys albums that are not Pet Sounds or Smile, and the contributions to the Beach Boys sounds by members that were not Brian Wilson. The second part of the show is devoted to a discussion on the merits of the film. Given the many flaws usually inherent in a biopic (and we name-check a few), how does Love And Mercy compare? Tune in and find out. Once again, many thanks to Frank and Tish for giving to the show so generously of their time and knowledge. If you dig what we do, coul

See Hear podcast is back for 2016. Did you miss us???? Don’t answer because….telling the truth can be dangerous business. Tim, Bernard, and Maurice discuss a film hand-picked by the wonderful Frank Santopadre of Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast. That film is 1987’s Ishtar starring Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty as Chuck Clarke and Lyle Rogers, two awful songwriters and lounge singers who get sent to play gigs at a hotel in Ishtar, but get caught up in American / Middle Eastern politics. Strangely familiar? The film was a financial failure with rumours of creative conflict between the director, comedian Elaine May (of the brilliant May and Nichols duo) and Beatty & Hoffman. It has long been derided by the critics and many others as one of the worst films ever made. With bravery and fortitude, the See Hear Crew went in to find out if the film was as bad as reports had made it out. We are pleased to report that there was disagreement among the crew as to the film’s merits – conflict makes a film

Time to get your facepaint on, dig out the platform shoes and fake chest hair, and arm yourself with your love gun…..Yep, the See Hear crew are back to discuss the Hanna-Barbera production, KISS Meets The Phantom of the Park.   Bernard, Tim, and Maurice are privileged to be joined by Mike White of the brilliant Projection Booth podcast to talk about the cultural phenomenon that was KISS in the 1970s. What does any self-respecting pop culture icon do? Why, make a quick cash-in film, of course!!!! Is this film in the same league as A Hard Day’s Night? Ummmm……..not exactly….   The film is set in an amusement park where KISS are going to perform a series of concerts, but they are at the mercy of a mad scientist (do films have any other kind?) who clones KISS to….ummmm…..take over the amusement park.   As well as the film, we talk about KISS as a band, Paul Stanley’s delightful concert banter, and how would they have fared if they’d never put on the makeup and cod-pieces at the start. We find connections to

It’s time for episode 22 of See Hear podcast. How does music affect you? Are you one of those people who says that great music can transport you to another place? Jazz musician Sun Ra felt the same thing, but he meant it a little more literally than most. In this episode of the podcast, Tim, Bernie and Maurice discuss important issues such as isotope teleportation, transmolecuralisation, and teleporting people from Earth to Saturn via music. Well….they actually discuss the film released in 1974 written by and starring Sun Ra called “Space Is The Place”. Ra was certainly out there with his beliefs that he was born on Saturn and descended from the Egyptian sun god, Ra. On the other hand, he was extremely articulate, very well read and philosophically rational Oh….and he was a true jazz pioneer. The film is a mix of the power of music, blaxploitation and science fiction as Sun Ra battles the evil Overseer for the right to transport the Afro-American community from Earth to another planet when he determines t