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Post by dem bones on Oct 18, 2019 17:08:45 GMT
Rats! Excitement over, hopes scuppered, etc. Just when we were hoping she'd been abducted by a child-sacrificing Satanic cult, Tracy is rescued and returned unharmed to the Scooby bus by William Rivers, gentle giant and off-duty sports star, i.e., he of the freshly made bed at the hotel. Meanwhile, Johnny the retard has taken to leaving buckets of water by the bus door, so the Family don't go without. Smart "Ghost Town." You can't move for bastard Good Samaritans. Why can't people mind their own business? Laurie has come to the realisation that she's a mature woman now, so no more mooning over silly boys she doesn't really know. Forget 'Ben' the biker. Forget Lonny Wells, the singing star of Meet Me in the Islands and Warm Pacific Sands who she met that time at Westfall Fest where he was promoting his latest movie. Laurie is so over them. At last she's ready for a real man like, let's just say for example's sake, bronzed, muscle-bound William Rivers, who she takes for a Maharishi. Smirk. Pity he has good reason (with really big tits) for barely noticing that she exists! Enough. It pains to admit it, but after the pulse-freezing suspense of #2: The Haunted Hall, the icy dread of whatever the other one was, I expected so much more of Graveyard Hill than the very little it ultimately delivers. On paper it looks like a sure fire winner: an account of a way out adventure in the life of America's coolest rock band, penned by the author of Rest in Agony, The Frankenstein Wheel, The World Grabbers and Co. But books aren't written on paper and it seems to me that, after not much by way of excitement, the author leaves himself too little book to resolve the loose strands, so what should be the gripping stuff - a lead baddie succumbing to desert madness; an attempt to kill the family and their new pal, Johnny the retard; the arrival by helicopter of Laurie's back-on-again heartthrob, Lonny Wells, scouting a location for his next box office smash, Desert Rock - is crammed into too few pages. Most disappointing of all, a "phantom organist in the church loft" sub-plot is explained away in the most dreary fashion. Needless to say, Lonnie thinks Keith's Ballad of the Badlands is the top of the pops and invites the band to star in his next movie (as had Jerry Jingo in Haunted Hall). File under: The Cass was deserving of better than this. I'm gonna put Osmonds on now and I'd advise you to do the same.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Oct 18, 2019 20:18:02 GMT
Thanks for the summary. Especially because it means I now don't have to read it myself. I suspect that if I did, I'd pretty soon start to feel as if my brains had been sucked out through a straw.
You're a brave man, dem.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 9, 2020 17:12:01 GMT
OK, so this ain't really a the Cass/ Partridge Family title per se, but he's in it, it's great, and it feels like it belongs on this thread. So; Fab 208 Annual 1974 (IPC 1973) Beautiful bachelors: Five glossy pages of dishy unmarrieds (and their wow factor). Includes Jay Osmond, Robin Nedwell, Dave Hill out of Slade, pre-Wacko Jacko, HRH Prince Charles, Cliff Richards and, obviously, the Cass. Groups of the year: Alice Cooper, Slade, New World, T. Rex, Bread, Springfield Revival, Blackfoot Sue, New Seekers, The Faces, Wings, Strawbs, Roxy Music, Jackson 5, Sweet, Osmonds, Thin Lizzy, White Plains and the Williams Twins, all of whom, you'll note, have stood the test of time. Unlike the "here today, gone tomorrow!" so-called "popstars" of now, with their rude words, "twerking," and not talking properly. Boys-eye View: "Terry Edwards gives us a report on his all-male pad." The Two Sue's: "They talk about everything except their favourite subject - boys!" In this strip, black-haired Sue takes a leaf from Cleopatra's book to catch a pop group's attention. But will they give her the red carpet treatment? Mark Day - Join the Football Fans. The sacred do's and don't of attending a football match with your fellah! Dear Georgina: Top tips from FAB's beauty ed. Togetherness tanktops: Knitting instructions. Think you know astrology?: Win FAB's fantastic star-gazing diploma. Discover your dating rating: Look Pretty My Way: Beauty tips from Cilla Black, Marie Osmond, Susan Dey, Olivia Newton-John, Carol Hawkins and Lynn Paul out of the New Seekers. Derek Long - Flight 813 from New York is Delayed: A romantic love story. Helen Dalzell - July Girl: And another one. Going to all lengths: Avril Groom with advice on what skirt the clever bird is wearing now mini's are so last decade.
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Post by helrunar on Apr 9, 2020 17:43:06 GMT
Wowee Zowie Kev, it's a fab smash!
Who is Essex? (as seen in one of the cover photo boxes) He's so cuddly looking!
I'm trying, hard, not to die of larfs that they interviewed Ciller on beauty tips. "You get a lorra lorra pancake, choock.." (I realize that girls aren't ordinarily addressed as "chuck," but with Cilla, all bets are off!)
Ooooh, an all-boy pad! Nice way to tart up some bunch of dudes' grotty flat, no doubt.
A classic indeed! I'm not sure that all those bands have stood the test of time--even back in the day I thought the Osmonds were distinctly dire.
cheers, Steve
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Post by helrunar on Apr 9, 2020 17:48:12 GMT
Also, I gather from the uniform that "O'Sullivan" is one of those hearty sporty lads.Looks like he has nice hair.
H.
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Post by cromagnonman on Apr 9, 2020 18:09:40 GMT
Also, I gather from the uniform that "O'Sullivan" is one of those hearty sporty lads.Looks like he has nice hair. H. Sorry to disillusion you Steve but uber cool rock god Gilbert was actually a cloth cap sporting hob-nail boot wearing professional northern Irish gloomster who used to have hits about jilted bridegrooms threatening to throw themselves off convenient towers and cheery stuff of that sort. The Essex was the real glam rock deal, and made some decent films too like That'll Be The Day.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 9, 2020 19:01:19 GMT
Also, I gather from the uniform that "O'Sullivan" is one of those hearty sporty lads.Looks like he has nice hair. H. Sorry to disillusion you Steve but uber cool rock god Gilbert was actually a cloth cap sporting hob-nail boot wearing professional northern gloomster who used to have hits about jilted bridegrooms threatening to throw themselves off convenient towers and cheery stuff of that sort. Beat me to it, Crom. His Alone Again Naturally, is one of the most magnificently miserable hum-alongs of all time, a sort of Glam era Gloomy Sunday in which a guy contemplates suicide having been ditched at the altar. That's the first verse. For the rest of the song he reflects on the death of his parents and wonders if God is as merciful as he's cracked up to be. It was a massive hit, too. I bet even Peter Hammill was green. A classic indeed! I'm not sure that all those bands have stood the test of time--even back in the day I thought the Osmonds were distinctly dire. I don't usually do this, but Osmonds
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Post by helrunar on Apr 9, 2020 19:06:12 GMT
Oh of course, Gilbert O'Sullivan. I remember "Alone again, naturally." It had a very cheerful tune. Rather superficially perhaps, I never paid any attention to the lyrics.
Please do tell me lad Essex's "Christian name" so I can look out his films!
Whenever I look at old mags of this era, I'm struck and stuck somewhere between revelling in the baroque splendor of the design imperatives of that now remote era, and wondering at some of the trite tat we all exercised ourselves in obsessing over, way back when. It's strange when parts of one's own life vanish into history.
Wistfully, Steve
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Post by Shrink Proof on Apr 9, 2020 19:48:34 GMT
Please do tell me lad Essex's "Christian name" so I can look out his films! Wistfully, Steve It was David Essex. Well, it probably still is, actually.
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Post by helrunar on Apr 9, 2020 19:55:21 GMT
Thanks, Dr Shrink Proof!
I looked out the synopsis of David Essex's film That'll be the Day from '73 and this is what I found: "Despite his apparent intelligence, Jim decides not to take the exams that would pave his way to university. He lives, for a time, a life consisting of dead-end jobs and meaningless sex, before returning home to work in his mother's shop. But still he can't settle down. He begins to think that the life of a pop musician might be the thing for him."
The film includes appearances by Ringo, Billy Fury, Deborah Watling, and other names of the era... sounds like fun, maybe even fab.
cheers! Wishing you and yours health and sanity.
Steve
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Post by dem bones on Apr 9, 2020 20:07:17 GMT
Ray Connolly - Stardust (Fontana [5th impression], Feb 1975: originally 1974) Blurb; Jim Maclaine becomes a rock 'n roll superstar - in the sequel to That'll Be The Day
Tonight was the night: his golden opportunity. Walking right to the centre of the stage Jim took the microphone. 'And now, I'd like to do my latest hit record,' he shouted, and turning to nod to J.D. he began stamping his foot while away went Stevie with his guitar solo opening. From now on it would be Jim Maclaine and the Stray Cats, he was sure of that. Now there would be no stopping him.
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Post by helrunar on Apr 9, 2020 20:42:43 GMT
David was adorable! Dreamboat! And Adam Faith was recruited for the sequel.
It must all have been hot stuff at the time.
Thanks Kev!
Steve
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Post by helrunar on Apr 9, 2020 20:44:28 GMT
But really... Jim Maclaine and the Stray Cats??
The mind reels.
H.
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Post by cromagnonman on Apr 9, 2020 21:14:54 GMT
Thanks, Dr Shrink Proof! I looked out the synopsis of David Essex's film That'll be the Day from '73 and this is what I found: "Despite his apparent intelligence, Jim decides not to take the exams that would pave his way to university. He lives, for a time, a life consisting of dead-end jobs and meaningless sex, before returning home to work in his mother's shop. But still he can't settle down. He begins to think that the life of a pop musician might be the thing for him." The film includes appearances by Ringo, Billy Fury, Deborah Watling, and other names of the era... sounds like fun, maybe even fab. cheers! Wishing you and yours health and sanity. Steve Been quite a while since I've seen it now but I distinctly remember Ringo being pretty darn good in it. Essex probably never quite accrued the street cred of Bolan and it took him a long time to escape the perception of being where pubescent girls gravitated to after they'd been weaned off Donny and the Cass. But the 70s especially were pretty good to him and at least he made it out of the decade alive and not wrapped around a tree on Barnes Common. Too bad he had to eventually squander it all by going into Eastenders - the Elephant's graveyeard of artistic credibility. 1974: the height of glam rock. My recall should be awash with memories of Wizzard, Sweet, Bowie and Suzi Quatro and I suppose they are to a degree but they're all bloody trumped for some perverse reason by Terry Jacks and "Seasons in the Sun", another one from the Gilbert school of jaunty misery.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Apr 9, 2020 21:29:07 GMT
Thanks, Dr Shrink Proof! I looked out the synopsis of David Essex's film That'll be the Day from '73 and this is what I found: "Despite his apparent intelligence, Jim decides not to take the exams that would pave his way to university. He lives, for a time, a life consisting of dead-end jobs and meaningless sex, before returning home to work in his mother's shop. But still he can't settle down. He begins to think that the life of a pop musician might be the thing for him." The film includes appearances by Ringo, Billy Fury, Deborah Watling, and other names of the era... sounds like fun, maybe even fab. cheers! Wishing you and yours health and sanity. Steve You're welcome. I saw the film at the time it came out but remember little about it. I do recall that it felt as though it finally got into its stride and got going and then suddenly ended. And like an idiot I never dealt with that by going and seeing "Stardust", the sequel. Oh, and Mr Cromagnon is right, Ringo turns in a fine performance. Thanks for the good wishes for health and sanity. Am fairly healthy but being sane isn't how it's cracked up to be. And vice versa. Stay well...
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