67 Ford Country Squire station wagon
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The X From Outer Space 1967 Review Part 4
Aliens In Costumes Or Make Up? Nope. How About A Treacherous Plot Mcguffin.
The Kaiju, given the name Guilala, is running rampant. This is the best part of the Kaiju movie for the suit actor and SFX team. They get to smash, crush and blow shot up on the sound stage! Yay!
It’s cool… But you will eventually get bored of the antics. It’s kinda boring without a rival Kaiju to fight, or Ultraman……
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Vivid descriptions of clothing and furniture swiftly became de rigueur in any piece of journalism. The New Musical Express, for instance, visited Paul in 1967 and found him ‘dressed in a green floral patterned shirt and green slacks, sitting cross-legged in a large green velvet armchair. Mike McGear, Paul’s brother, was just leaving with several kaftans over his arm.’
It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Derek Taylor (1987)
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Charlie Brown - Teton Tea Party
USA / 1967 / American Folk
This isn’t just American folk, it’s Old Time and Gospel, too, sung without pretense, played as roughly and as honestly as an old folkhead would who’d stay up all night with like-minded artists exploring the richness of the fierce spirit of independence of American pioneers, wanderers, and those who just want to be left alone. In a way, this music is escapist.
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The X From Outer Space 1967 Review Part 3
The… Oh Nature… That Is The Kaiju?!?
I skipped ahead a bit but we finally get to the Kaiju. We can break this part up into parts. First off Moon Base. Which turns into My Dinner With Sato aka Captain. Where we find out Moon Base is growing stuff like Apples and other things on the moon…
Does this count as In Before Space-1999? Technically the story made that important. After the moon was sent…
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Don’t Look Back"
- The Temptations
If it’s love that you’re running from, there’s no hiding place.
(You can’t run it, you can’t hide it, you can’t run it)
Love has problems I know but there problems, we’ll just have to face.
Oh yeah, yeah.
If you just put your hand in mine,
We’re gonna leave all our troubles behind.
We’re gonna walk and don’t look back. (Don’t look back)
And don’t look back. Oh yeah, yeah.
And don’t look back, baby. (Don’t look back)
(The places behind you let them re-remind you.)
If your first lover broke your heart,
There’s something that can be done.
(You don’t run it, you don’t hide it, you don’t run it)
Don’t end your faith in love because of what he’s done.
So if you just put your hand in mine,
We’re gonna leave all our troubles behind.
Keep on walking and don’t look back.
Forget about the past now.
Don’t look back, baby.
Keep on walking and don’t look back. Hmmm
(The places behind you let them re-remind you.)
[Instrumental]
Love can be a beautiful thing.
Though your first love let you down.
Oh yeah, yeah
‘Cause I know we can make love bloom, baby.
The second time around.
Oh yeah, yeah
So if you just put your hand in mine,
We’re gonna leave all our troubles behind.
Keep on pushing and don’t look back.
Now, till I say, we won’t look back, girl.
Keep on walking and won’t look back.
Forget about the past now, baby.
And don’t look back.
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, don’t look back.
The Temptations “Don’t Look Back” on The Ed Sullivan Show on November 19, 1967.
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The X From Outer Space 1967 Review Part 2
X? Or Is It The Red Scare?
We have a scene where two of the military execs talk about the mysterious threat. Hinting that the threat may either be aliens… Or from Earth. Huh. Really?
This is 1967 and I thought the Red Scare was done by then. I’m still sure it’s just aliens, since Kaiju are involved, but if this turns into a Red Scare movie? I’ll be kinda shocked. Maybe. But this movie isn’t…
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Week ending: 27th December
And that’s a wrap for 1967! It’s sure been a year. I feel like the hippie psychedelia of it all (rightly) stole the show a bit this year. But there’s been tonnes of easy listening gloop, too, a respectable amount of stompy rock, a couple of “fun” novelties and, of course, a hefty serving of soul. Speaking of which…
[[MORE]]Walk Away Renee - Four Tops (peaked at Number 3)
- This isn’t originally a Four Tops song. No, Walk Away Renee was originally a hit for a different band, the Left Banke. Interestingly (and kind of messily) it was written by that band’s keyboard player, but about the bassist’s girlfriend. Makes it kind of awkward to record, you’d assume. Worse, the titular Renée was also present for the recording. Talk about awkward! But clearly the song was successfully recorded and released - just in time for a soul update, a year and change later.
- The end result sounds good, as you might expect. The Four Tops are pros, and give it their all, while Levi Stubbs is, as ever, super emotional and intense, but in a mostly good way. The original song was also a baroque pop number, with lots of instrumentation, which translates well into a Motown sort of style - this version isn’t quite as classical-sounding, but there’s still a very lush, rich texture to it all. There’s also a pretty bit of piano underpinning it all, plus a solo on muted trumpet that’s wistful and yearning. I like it.
- Lyrically, it’s a song of heartbreak, with Levi singing about how the road signs, the empty lot they walked past, even the sidewalks seem to be sad and empty without the titular Renée. Just walk away, Renee, they sing, you won’t see me follow you back home. Well, I should hope not, that would be some stalker-ass behaviour! Dubious lines aside, though, it’s mostly fine, if a little overdramatic, at points. From deep inside, the tears I’m forced to cry, Levi sings, from deep inside, the pain that I choose to hide, and I’m forced to roll my eyes just a little bit. Get it together, man. I do like that the final conclusion isn’t purely self-pitying, though. Instead, the song ends with the Four Tops assuring Renee that she isn’t to blame. Sure, they’re hurting. But these things happen. It’s sad, and it’s hard, but nobody’s really at fault, at the end of the day. A surprisingly stoic conclusion.
I can absolutely see this one being a hit at Christmas and New Years’ parties. It’s not exactly jolly, but there’s a warm, full-throated, sing-along feel to it, even so. I’d definitely have put it on in the background, and probably enjoyed it just fine. It’s a little repetitive, perhaps, with the walk away Renee refrain repeating over and over. But that’s just going to ensure that it sticks in your head, come January. And heaven help anybody whose name actually was Renée, I’m sure they were absolutely sick of this one, and the jokes they were inevitably the butt of. Overall verdict: a fine way to end the year.
Favourite song of the end-of-year bunch: Walk Away Renee
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The original ‘Bedazzled’ is a very charming movie if you haven’t seen it. I was recently reminded of the scene where ‘The Devil’ explains his fall.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love the very dramatic scenes from movies like ‘The Devil’s Advocate.” But this is such an immediately relatable and human explanation.
Also Peter Cook’s Devil is such a petty little asshole.
Bedazzled (1967 film) - Wikipedia