Shout Factory has announced the upcoming Blu-ray release of Joe Massot's Wonderwall (1968), starring Jane Birkin and Jack MacGowran. The film was released on by Rhino on DVD in 2002 (with handmade edition in 2004), but has since gone out of print. Shout Factory's release will offer the first Hi-def edition of the movie. George Harrison provided the soundtrack, which fused electric and traditional Indian instruments in a kaleidoscope of sound. Harrison recorded the Wonderwall Music album between December 1967 and January 1968, and it was the first solo Beatles record and first release on the band's Apple label (personnel included Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Peter Tork of The Monkees, and members of The Remo Four).
From the press release: "Jack MacGowran plays Oscar Collins, an eccentric butterfly
scientist who becomes obsessed with his neighbour, Penny Lane ( Birkin) after
discovering a secret peephole in the wall between their flats. Penny is a young
and beautiful fashion model, who spends her days in her rainbow painted pop
apartment smoking dope, cavorting around in various states of undress and
making love to her sexy boyfriends. Collins is soon overcome by his delusional
fantasies about her, and repeatedly loses himself in trippy musical daydreams." The film also includes an appearance by Anita Pallenberg (Candy, Barbarella, Performance). Notable credits include Cinematographer Harry Waxman (The Wicker Man, The Pink Panther Strike Again, and The Family Way- w soundtrack by Paul McCartney), Production Designer Assheton Gorton (The Bed-Sitting Room, Get Carter, and The Magic Christian- starring Ringo Starr), and Costume Designer Jocelyn Rickards (From Russia With Love, The Knack…and How To Get It, and Blow-Up). Movie trailer below:
Spy Vibers will recognize the stars of the film from their iconic performances in the 1960s. Jack MacGowran appeared in The Fearless Vampire Killers (Polanski/1967), How I Won the War (Lester/1967), and in episodes of Danger Man, Secret Agent, The Avengers, and The Champions. Jane Birkin has been featured often on Spy Vibe. In addition to her relationships with James Bond composer John Barry and French composer/actor Serge Gainsbourg, Birkin had a successful career as a model and singer. She appeared in The Knack…and How to Get It (Lester/1965) and Blow-Up (Antonioni/1966). One of my fave Birkin releases is her 2006 arrangement of Bryan Ferry's In Every Dream Home a Heartache. Image below of Jack MacGowran in The Avengers ("The Winged Avenger") from Mrs. Peel We're Needed.
Wonderwall provides an interesting window into the world of 1967-1968, which began to highlight counter-culture and psychedelic pop fantasies in the context of youth, the arts, and society. This was the era of Barbarella, The Monkees Head, Magical Mystery Tour, Easy Rider, Yellow Submarine, Tonite Let's All Make Love in London, Girl On a Motorcycle, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Rosemary's Baby, The Party, and Danger Diabolik. There was definitely something in the water! Shout Factory will release Wonderwall on March 25th. Amazon pre-order page here. George Harrison's soundtrack album is currently out of print. The band Oasis often mined 1960s Fab culture for inspiration. They released their gorgeous mega-hit Wonderwall in 1995. Spy Vibe's review of the 1968 Exhibit here. Spy Vibe posts about the satire boom in England in the 1960s: UK Satire Boom, UK Satire/Surrealism Peter Sellers to John Lennon, The Prisoner Fallout.
Recent Spy Vibe posts: David Bowie at 67, Kevin Dart talks Ringo & Powerpuff Girls, Sherlock Exhibit, Fu Manchu history panel, Andy Warhol box set, Six-Million Dollar Man, Striped Light Nude, Buckminster Fuller, Dylan at Newport, Jane and Serge, The Goldfinger Variations, Mod Tales Interview, Pete Seeger nominated for Grammy,Kraftwerk returns to US, Beatles BBC on Fresh Air, Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist Editions, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Modern Architecture LP, Julius Shulman, Shane Glines Batman, The Prisoner and Captain Scarlet, Diego Fortunato and Verner Panton, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Assassination Bureau on DVD, new Young Bond series, new Hercule Poirot novel, Early Beatles image archive, Julie Newmar, Erno Goldfinger, Hitchcock tribute.
Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Ian Fleming Letters, Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.
Gifted songwriter Noel Gallagher (ex-Oasis) is currently meeting with the 007 team to discuss the possibility of writing and performing the title song for the upcoming James Bond film, Skyfall. Nothing is signed or official at this stage and the producers are meeting with other composers as well. Gallagher has been performing a song with his new band, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, called Freaky Teeth- a tune with classic Bond elements (see video below). It is possible that he might re-work the song or compose a new piece, but Spy Vibe has great faith in Noel's abilities to deliver the goods. Gallagher is on a world tour to promote his new album. Talking about his interest in the Bond franchise, he remarked to the press with his usual double-punch of wit and wisdom, "It's a bit of a piss-take that the greatest British agent of all time has to be sound-tracked by a bunch of Americans." The Sun's headline for this announcement added equal humor, linking Gallagher's Oasis hit, Wonderwall, with the film series, "And after all, you're my Thunderball." More at NME here. Image from the Guardian here.
In conjunction with the release of The Director's Cut of the Quadrophenia sessions by The Who, an exhibit has been launched at Pretty Green, the London flagship boutique for Liam Gallagher's fashion line. The exhibit Facebook page here. Even if you can't make it to this rare show, you can still enter to win a custom one-off by Vespa made to look like the scooter on the classic album's cover! Details here. Pretty Green offers a large collection of Mod fashion designed by Gallagher (Oasis, Beady Eye), Paul Weller (The Jam, Style Council), as well as pieces inspired by iconic gear from Swinging London. You can even find a Quadrophenia parka here. The Director's Cut will be released on November 15th. Spy Vibers interested in the Who should check out the excellent book, Won't Get Fooled Again, by music author Richie Unterberger. The film adapted from the Who's album is currently out of print. Below, Mods gather at the Who exhibit in London, Vespa's contest prize edition, and a video promo for The Director's Cut. It's a Mod Mod Mod world!
On the heels of Liam Gallagher's new single release with Beady Eye, Bring the Light, and his "Menswear Brand of the Year" award from Draper's Fashion Awards last week, Liam will be making an in-store appearance tonight at Selfridges, Birmingham, to unveil the Pretty Green autumn/winter collection. The event will be held from 6:00-8:00pm. More info here. Check out Liam's Mod fashion design company, Pretty Green here. Upcoming UK and European dates for Beady Eye at the band's website here. Congrats to Liam on the fashion award, and best wishes for Beady Eye as they play their first gigs since the disbanding of Oasis last year. Hope to see you guys in San Francisco soon.
Spy Vibe reported back in September 2009 about new fashion projects for Liam Gallagher in the wake of his brother Noel's split with their band Oasis (see Mod Fashion by Liam). Over the past year, Liam's fashion line, Pretty Green, has been a great success with limited edition clothing (see Mod Style: Pretty Green). N
ew arrivals include a "Lennon Military Jacket" that is seriously FAB! Speaking of The Beatles, Liam has a Beatles-related film in development (project news here).
Liam has re-grouped with other Oasis members as Beady Eye. The band has already been back in the recording studio and their first single will be released tomorrow via download and limited edition 7 inch vinyl. Check out their website for more info. Congrats to Liam and the guys from Spy Vibe! Looking forward to your new tunes! I'm also digging the Rubber Soul vibe of these first Beady Eye photographs, not to mention the very cool 1960s-style font for the band's new logo.
From the Beady Eye website: Beady Eye will be making available ‘Bring The Light’, the first track to be heard from their debut album, as a free download worldwide to their fans on Wednesday 10th November from 10am (GMT) from their website www.beadyeyemusic.com. The album was recorded over the past summer in London and will be released next year. A strictly limited 7" vinyl of 'Bring The Light' will also be available for fans to purchase. It will only be available through the Beady Eye website and comes with 'Sons Of The Stage' on the B-side.
ABBEY ROAD & BEN SHERMAN
Forty years ago on Saturday, one of the pop world's most infamous and imitated album covers was shot in a little side street in north London. The idea for the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album was initially to call it Everest, after the favourite brand of cigarettes smoked by their engineer Geoff Emerik. Then the thought of doing a Himalayan cover helped kill the idea, and instead they considered doing the shoot closer to home. “There's a sketch Paul McCartney did with four little stick men crossing the Zebra,” says Brian Southall, author of the history of Abbey Road Studios. “It gave a pretty good idea of what they wanted.”
On the 8 August 1969 that the Fab Four walked out of No 3 Abbey Road, having finished basic work on what would be -and they subsequently said they knew would be- their last album. A policeman held up the traffic, the band walked back and forth a few times and that was that. Brian Southall The photographer who took the famous cover shot was the late Iain Macmillan, a close friend of Brian Southall's, who knew the Beatles through working with Yoko Ono. “He was given about 15 minutes,” says Mr Southall. “He stood up a stepladder while a policeman held up the traffic, the band walked back and forth a few times and that was that.” He only took seven or eight pictures, now in the Apple archive, but they're fascinating for their difference to the end product we all know. (Lawrence Pollard/BBC World Service)
BEN SHERMAN
An announcement today that might be of particular interest to Spy Vibers comes from Mod designer Ben Sherman, who is planning a line of Beatles Fashion: Coinciding with Saturday's 40th anniversary of the Beatles sauntering across Abbey Road (at 11:35AM GBT to be precise) for what would become one of the most iconic album covers of its time, British clothing designer Ben Sherman has announced the launch of a Beatles--themed clothing line. Sherman’s Beatles Collection, set to hit stores next February, is all but nine articles: four t-shirts, four button downs and a mod era-inspired Harrington jacket.
Don’t expect the cotton short sleeves to come cheap. A regular Sherman shirt, like this John Belushi one, goes for a mean $45 on the designer’s US website. Given the tight restrictions with Beatles’ licensing- the Fab Four’s images, album artwork and memorabilia adorn the collection- a heftier price tag wouldn’t be that surprising. (Spinner). The book pictured above is My Favourite Shirt: A History of Ben Sherman Style. An additional item of note is that Mod musician and Oasis mentor Paul Weller (Style Council) has also been designing clothing. A shirt based on his original Ben Sherman has been selling well.
