Top Ten... Alternative 60s

In the first of a new (mini) series of Top Tens, we're going to look over the alternative classic of the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s. So, what do we mean by alternative? Well, alternative, for the purposes of these entries, means anything that is critically derided, overlooked by the public or just generally under-rated. Ultimately, though, it all comes down to how we argue it, so if you disagree, let us know!

FILMS - By The Writer

1. Repulsion (1965)
A chilling horror from Roman Polanski, Repulsion features Catherine Deneuve at her best as a glacial virgin fearful of sex. Obviously, being Catherine Deneuve, she attracts the attentions of several men and the strain eventually drives her mad. Sophisticated and genuinely terrifying, it’s all held together brilliantly by Polanksi, as he effortlessly creates a nauseating, claustrophobic atmosphere that hasn’t been bettered by any horror director since.

2. Barbarella (1968)
Jane Fonda may try to brush it under the carpet, but her turn in this saucy space romp is amongst the best female performances of the 60s. She plays the futuristic minx of the title, who cavorts through outer space doing…well, very little really except for wearing an array of skimpy outfits, talking vaguely hippyish nonsense about angels and love and being tricked into an orgasm machine by Duran Duran (the bad guy, not the band). The sixties in a nutshell then….

3. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
It’s Deneuve again, but this time she’s singing in Jacques Demy’s bittersweet musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. The French actress plays Geneviève, a naïve young woman who shacks up with another man when the father of her unborn baby is shipped off to war. Typical kitchen sink stuff, you’d think. Not so, because Demy’s film is a Technicolor treat for the eyes and ears in which every line of dialogue is sung. It’s really quite magical stuff and builds to a climax that somehow manages to make an Esso garage look romantic.

4. Walk, Don’t Run (1966)
This quaint romantic comedy was Cary Grant’s final film and while it’s certainly not his best, it’s charming and funny stuff. The one-time Archibald Leach plays Sir William Rutland, an English businessman who attempts to set-up tightly wound tourist Christine Easton (Samantha Egger) with American athlete Steve Davis during the Tokyo Olympic games. Entirely predictable romantic entanglements ensue, but with Eggar looking gorgeous and Grant producing his usual irresistible charm, Walk, Don’t Run is a thoroughly enjoyable flight of fancy which is far from the disappointing final Grant film that many believe it to be.

5. Cat Ballou (1965)
It’s Jane Fonda again, but this time she’s on earth in this bizarre comedy western from 1965. She plays the titular aspiring schoolteacher who is forced to hire a gunfighter (Lee Marvin) to avenge her murdered father. However, rather than being a sharpshooter, he’s a lazy drunk and his ineptitude forces Cat to become an outlaw herself. Fonda is typically brilliant, but it’s Marvin who steals the show as he slopes around like your favourite drunk uncle at Christmas. An under seen and surprisingly modern gem.

6. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Jason and the Argonauts is already widely regarded as a hugely important piece of filmmaking, but mostly for Ray Harryhausen’s stunning skeleton army. Of course, like everything the stop-motion master creates, the boney boys are deeply impressive, but there’s an awful lot to love elsewhere in Jason’s fight for the Golden Fleece, not least the appearance of Medusa who is played by Nancy Kovac but voiced by Pussy Galore. A real childhood classic.

7. Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill (1965)
The jury’s still out on Russ Meyer. Brutal misogynist whose films often featured women who were subjected to terrifyingly violent ordeals, or misunderstood feminist whose films often featured strong, sexually voracious women who refused to submit to mens’ violent whims? By common consensus, Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill just about falls into the latter category as it features an all-girl biker trio who run riot through the deserts of America. Quentin Tarantino would be nothing without it.

8. Barefoot in the Park (1967)
Without wishing to sound obsessed, this is Jane Fonda’s third entry on this list - hey, she was GREAT back in the 60s. But no matter how impressive the charming Ms Fonda is in this sparkling romantic comedy, it’s writer Neil Simon who excels with a typically witty tale of two newlyweds who struggle to settle into their dilapidated new apartment. A sharp, but still romantic, classic from one of cinema‘s best writers.

9. The Haunting (1963)
The sixties marked a watershed for modern horror with the likes of Psycho, Peeping Tom and Night of the Living Dead all pushing back boundaries. Sadly, their fame has overshadowed some of the more traditional fright-flicks of the period, and The Haunting is just one of the casualties. Directed by Robert Wise, it follows four people who get holed up in a haunted house. Pretty standard stuff you might think. But The Haunting’s brilliance is all in its direction, with Wise using light, shadow and suggestion to build a fiercely oppressive atmosphere that is just as scary as the ones Hitchcock, Powell and Romero created in the aforementioned taboo-busters.

10. Dr No (1962)
Dr No is hardly under-rated, but it is often overlooked in favour of the more obvious Bond classics of the 60s like Goldfinger, From Russia With Love and You Only Live Twice. It’s a shame too, because in this first entry into the mega-franchise, Connery mixes charm and danger perfectly and, unlike most other Bonds, actually has chemistry with his leading lady. Add into that exotic locations, an enigmatic villain and real intrigue and you have not only a great, overlooked Bond film, but also a great, overlooked spy film.

ALBUMS - By The Editor

1. The Ronettes - Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica (1964)
Phil Spector (whatever his personal 'issues') is the greatest pop music producer of all time, but he's best known for singles rather than albums. This means that this ludicrously-titled LP has been long-since forgotten and unavailable, even though it features pretty much all of The Ronettes' best songs, like Be My Baby, So Young, Baby I Love You, You Baby, Walkin' In The Rain, etc, etc. Pure pop perfection, so why is it so overlooked?

2. Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood - Nancy And Lee (1968)
There's never been a more surreal and fantastic partnership than Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. The beautiful daughter of a music icon working with a fairly dowdy and quirky songwriter with a voice deeper than the Grand Canyon. Somehow though, they have incredible chemistry, with their voices blending perfectly on playful tracks like Lady Bird and I've Been Down So Long, and reaching incredible and weird new heights on the classic Some Velvet Morning.

3. The Zombies - Odyssey And Oracle (1968)
Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper's are always the ones that get mentioned when you talk about the great adventurous pop albums of the late 60s, and The Zombies tend to get forgotten. It didn't help that they broke up when they finished it (intending it as one last, lasting statement, which it was), having been on a downward spiral commercially. It was most ignored at the time, but has become recognised as one of the great psychedelic albums and no collection is complete without it.

4. Laura Nyro - Eli And The Thirteenth Confession (1968)
Another album that would feature highly in most serious music fan's Top 60s Albums lists, but is hardly well known, Eli And The Thirteenth Confession has three hit singles on it, but unfortunately for Nyro, it was other artists who had the success with her songs. She never really became famous, even though this is an incredible collection of songs that take in jazz, pop, soul and folk.

5. The Beach Boys - Friends (1968)
The Beach Boys are hardly great underappreciated underdogs of the 1960s, but their albums after Brian Wilson's Smile meltdown don't always get the respect and acclaim they deserve. They were already an irrelevance by this stage, having been overtaken by bands like The Doors and the likes of Jimi Hendrix, but Friends is a really mellow and spiritual record that showcases the talents of the rest of the band as well as giving Wilson the chance to make simple but beautiful music.

6. Tammi Terrell - Irresistible (1968)
Yes, I've noticed that all of these albums seem to have come out in one year... Tammi Terrell is best known for her gorgeous duets with Marvin Gaye (still the benchmark for pop duets), but her only solo album shows that she was arguably Motown's most talented female vocalists (with a better voice than Diana Ross or Martha Reeves) and it's full of great soul music. Tragically, she died at the age of 24, so was never able to build herself the kind of solo career she had the potential for, but this is a lasting tribute to her talents.

7. The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina (1967)
The most obscure release in this list, The Left Banke are best known for one of the title tracks of their debut album, Walk Away Renee, which became a massive hit for The Four Tops. Not that they were a soul band, far from it, having been one of the best baroque pop groups in America in the late 60s. They didn't last very long and have been largely forgotten, but if you can find it, this is an album well worth listening to.

8. Vince Guaraldi - A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964)
The soundtrack to a documentary about Peanuts (which was never actually released, but led to the start of the TV specials), jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi helped set the tone for Charlie Brown's animated adventures with a classy and fun score that includes the famous Linus And Lucy theme that became the signature tune of Peanuts. Probably the most enjoyable and accessible instrumental jazz record of all time, no matter how much any of the purists might sneer at its simple melodies.

9. Stevie Wonder - Down To Earth (1966)
Compared to what he produced in the early 70s, it's easy to see why Down To Earth is such an overlooked Stevie Wonder album. It doesn't even have any of the hits that he had in the late 60s, but it's an important step in his development, with his voice moving from 'Little Stevie' to the warm and rich one we all know and love. It soars on this album, even when just running through the predictable cover versions that Motown made him include, and despite not being a classic, it's one of his most enjoyable records.

10. The International Submarine Band - Safe At Home (1968)
Everyone knows and loves Gram Parsons' solo albums and his work with The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, but his first band's album tends to get forgotten. It starts with one of his best songs, Blue Eyes, and also has Luxury Liner, another classic. The rest is padded out with covers of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, etc, but The International Submarine Band help Parsons start to take off here and it's a great album on its own merits.

WATCHING, READING, LISTENING TO

THE EDITOR

WATCHING: Slightly strange Chinese film The Heirloom, which was a ghost story, kind of, but had a bit more depth than most of them. Wasn't great, but was ok. Which is more than can be said for Scary Movie 4. I liked the third one, which was an enjoyable mixture of the Zucker/Nielsen spoofs like Airplane and Naked Gun along with the Charlie Sheen Hot Shots films. Nothing amazing, but good fun. Unfortunately, 4 finds them trying too hard to get back to the spirit of the dreadful Wayans brothers films 1 and 2. And it's really not good.

READING: Still reading The Dream Life Of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin and still enjoying it a lot. Sukhanov is getting deeper into his dreams of his childhood and starting to realise what a sham his life has become. It's basically Russian (as opposed to American) Beauty, but it's really impressive...

LISTENING TO: It's all classic soul at the moment, led by Marvin Gaye. From his legendary Motown duets with Tammi Terrell, Kim Weston and Mary Wells to his great solo stuff in the 60s to his amazing 70s albums when he really took control, it's all incredible. But even he pales in comparison to the likes of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, the two greatest soul singers (and arguably greatest singers) of all time. The only shame about them both is that they both died just as they were starting to transcend their genre and we will never know where their talents would have taken them...


THE WRITER

WATCHING: The Simpsons Season 7. Watching The Simpsons season-by-season on DVD rather than out of order on Channel 4 is an interesting experience as you really begin to get a sense of the show’s development and slow decline through the years. Season 7 is, for my money at least, where the cracks began to show. On the commentaries, the writers explain that they wanted to return the series to its family roots, and they achieve this with aplomb in episodes such as Mother Simpson, Bart Sells His Soul and Home Sweet Home-Diddly-Dum-Doodily. However, Homerpalooza and Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming, as funny as they are, display the roots of the show’s current obsession with zany humour and irritating tangents. Still, it’s a great season containing some truly great episodes which mostly stand up to endless re-watching.

READING: The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi by John Kenneth Muir. One of the few critical appraisals of Sam Raimi's career, this wonderful book strikes the perfect balance between intelligent insight and capturing the hedonistic joy of the director’s work. Indeed, it’s really quite amazing to read about his love of magic and the Three Stooges and see that such influences have survived even to this day and manifested themselves in that gloriously mad jazz club scene in Spider-Man 3. You don’t see Bryan Singer getting Clark Kent to swagger around Metropolis saying things like: “Now dig on this!” do you? Raimi gets Peter Parker to do it, though, and he’s all the better for it.

LISTENING TO: Batman Begins OST by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. These two composers have very different styles, but they come together on the superb soundtrack for Batman Begins to form a totally unique new sound for the Dark Knight - no mean feat considering how memorable Danny Elfman's scores for the original films were. The melancholic Corynorhinus is a heartbreaking lament, but it’s the orchestral drama of Molossus (the music used during the Batmobile chase), that leaves the biggest mark. Listen to it on your iPod to add extra intensity to your weekly shopping trip. Buying those peas will never be the same again!

READING, WATCHING AND LISTENING TO

THE WRITER

LISTENING TO: Send Away The Tigers, Manic Street Preachers: Arcade Fire and Radiohead aside, the Manics are the only band whose music gets me really excited anymore, so it's a relief to be able to say that new album Send Away The Tigers is easily their most complete effort since the criminally overlooked This Is My Truth. The title track is a brilliant opener and obvious choice for a single, while Autumn Song and the snarling Imperial Bodybags display the band at their most melancholic and angry respectively. Obviously the flaws are still there, with Nicky dropping a lyrical clanger every now and then (“send away the tigers, because they’re creeping up and dangerous”) and one or two of James' solos feeling a little indulgent, but overall it's a superb return from one of the country's best bands. Now, if only they could tell me what the artwork is all about…

WATCHING: Army of Darkness. The last thing I saw at the cinema was the slightly disappointing Spider-Man 3. Great middle hour full of brilliant Sam Raimi stuff, rubbish last act full of idiotic action forced in by the studio. So, in a bid to remind myself of just how great Raimi is, I'm watching the Evil Dead trilogy, starting, because I'm a back to front kind of guy, with threequel Army of Darkness. Bruce Campbell? In medieval times? With a chainsaw? Hail to the king, baby!

READING: Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil. This four-part comic from graphic novelist Jeff Smith focuses on Billy Batson and his alter ego Captain Marvel. It’s as brilliantly cute as you’d expect from the guy behind Bone and with DC presenting it in premium format without those irritating adverts for products you can only get in America, it’s well worth getting into. Better be quick though, last week saw the release of part three and everything's set for a thrilling conclusion.


THE EDITOR

READING - The Dream Life Of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin. Set in the dying days of Communist Russia, Grushin's first novel tells the tale of Anatoly Sukhanov, a successful art critic with a very comfortable life who starts to have visions of his childhood and realises that he abandoned all of his ideals and dreams and has become someone he never intended to be. The writing's very evocative and the story hooks you in quite quickly even without anything really happening. It's a familiar tale of a mid-life crisis, but the setting is intruiging and it's just a very enjoyable book.

WATCHING - Last film at the cinema was the impressive Bridge To Terabithia, which deals with grief in a very mature and moving way for a Disney film. Last film on TV was Heirloom, a Chinese horror film full of the usual foreboding cliches of scary children and ghostly visions, but with a decent plot about family loyalties and revenge that at least keeps you watching until the end. Aside from films, both 24 and Lost have been really very good recently...

LISTENING TO - Quite a lot of music recently that would be called 'guilty pleasures', not that I care much for that classification. Sure, the likes of Journey, REO Speedwagon and Foreigner aren't exactly cool and never really were, but there's nothing guilty about liking a certain kind of music or a certain band. It's much worse to listen to something just because everyone else tells you that it's amazing rather than enjoying something in spite of criticial derision. Conversely, I'm also loving Asobi Seksu, Tara Fuki and Azam Ali...

I have a confession to make: I'm a bit of a comic book geek. Yes, I know it’s un-cool, but there‘s just something about the big, bold world of superheroes that I can‘t help but love. On the other hand, though, I despise those peskily persistent reality TV shows that have cluttered up Saturday nights for what seems an eternity now. So, when I was handed Who Wants To Be A Superhero, the Sci-Fi Channel’s venture into the realm of reality, I was confronted with an inner dilemma Peter Parker himself would be proud of.

Thankfully, this six part show has about as much in common with reality as one of The Joker's maniacal schemes - and it‘s all the better for it. Debuting this weekend, it’s a wildly pantomimic flight of fancy which focuses on eleven random nobodies who have to live as self-created comic book characters in a bid to impress superheroic overlord Stan Lee. Whoever proves him/herself worthy of Lee’s praise will then be immortalised in both a Sci-Fi Channel original movie and Dark Horse comic book.

Unsurprisingly, such rewards attract a vast and colourful array of contestants, some of whom are more sincere than others. The mini-skirted Creature, gold-clad Lemuria and muscle-bound Iron Enforcer all seem to be budding actors cynically looking for a break, while the gladiatorial Ty'Veculus, with his entirely pointless apostrophe, is simply an irritation. Salvation comes in the shape of Cell Phone Girl, Feedback and the magnificently camp Major Victory, though, who bring a real sense of fun to their creations.

Sadly, some of this childish glee is hampered by the overwhelming American melodrama and the harshness of some of the tasks the contestants must perform in order to prove their superhero qualities (does anybody really need to see women attacked by two vicious, albeit highly trained, dogs?). Still, the group tackle them with such joy that it’s impossible not to be won over, making Who Wants To Be A Superhero simple, trashy entertainment which is perfect for the long, hot Bank Holiday Weekend.

Who Wants To Be A Superhero is showing throughout the Bank Holiday weekend on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Top Ten: Spider-Man stories

1. Amazing Spider-Man 121: The Night Gwen Stacy Died (June 1973)
One of the most influential comic books ever written, Amazing Spider-Man 121 finds our hero’s then-girlfriend Gwen Stacy kidnapped by the Green Goblin and hurled off the top of Brooklyn Bridge. You may remember a similar idea with Mary Jane Watson formed the end of Spider-Man 1, but there’s no happy ending here as Spidey shoots down his web in an attempt to halt Gwen’s decent, only for the jolting stop to snap her neck. Brutal, but brilliant.

2. Spider-Man: Blue (July 2002 - April 2003)
In true comic book fashion though, Gwen hasn't really stayed dead, with the writers preferring to clone her and have her bear the Green Goblin's children (!!!). Such revisions and re-interpretations have irritated fans, but some work, as is the case with Spider-Man: Blue. Told across six issues, this mini-series is written by Lost producer Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Tim Sale (who has created some of the art for Heroes), and retells the story of how Peter and Gwen first fell in love.

3. Spider-Man Annual 21 (1987)
After several break-ups and a couple of rejections, Peter finally persuaded Mary Jane to settle down and tie the knot in this memorable edition of the Amazing Spider-Man annual. Blending charming sentiment with a pleasing amount of good old-fashioned action, writer David Michelinie produced a story that tapped perfectly into the bittersweet brilliance of Stan Lee’s greatest creation.

4. Amazing Spider-Man 97: In The Grip Of The Goblin (June 1971)
At its peak in the 1960s and 70s, Spider-Man was a soap opera which focused on the tangled love lives of Peter, Gwen, Harry Osborn and Mary Jane, and this issue is a great example of that approach at its very best. Preferring to flirt with Peter, MJ dumps Harry, leading him into a downward spiral of self-loathing and drug abuse that is only worsened by the re-appearance of the Green Goblin. Classic stuff from Stan Lee, which has undoubtedly inspired Sam Raimi’s romanticised approach to the films.

5. Amazing Spider-Man 143: And The Wind Cries Cyclone (April 1975)
Despite boasting that it featured ‘possibly the most bizarre super-villain in the annals of Spider-dom’, this issue is best remembered for marking a turning point in the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane. Pete is shipped off to Paris to help out Daily Bugle editor J Jonah Jameson and on his exit from the airport shares a steamy kiss with MJ, thus cementing a relationship that had been simmering since the death of Gwen.

6. Amazing Spider-Man 50: Spider-Man No More (July 1967)
The basis for Spider-Man 2, this iconic issue sees Peter finally down his spandex and quit as the webbed wonder. As well as being one of the seminal moments in Spider-Man’s history, it also displays writer/illustrator team Stan Lee and John Romita at the height of their power as they effortlessly depict Peter’s growing frustration and eventual return to his superhero responsibilities in just twenty small pages.

7. Amazing Spider-Man 90: And Death Shall Come (November 1970)
Those Stacys never had much luck and in Amazing Spider-Man 90 it was Gwen’s father who bit the dust to sink Peter even further into his already-immense guilt complex. While Spidey and Doctor Octopus battle it out on the rooftops above, Police Captain George Stacy protects those below until tragedy strikes and rubble falls...

8. Amazing Spider-Man 480: Nuff Said (May 2002)
As anyone who suffered through the protracted torture of the recent Civil War story will know, Marvel love their gimmicks. Problem is, they’re usually all rubbish. Thankfully, they do sometimes get it right and this entirely dialogue-free issue, in which the then-separated Mary Jane and Peter muse on their troubled relationship, is a great example.

9. Kraven’s Last Hunt (September - November 1987)
Falling in line with the rest of the 1980s comic book industry, Spidey went dark in this title-spanning mini-series from writer JM DeMatteis. Russian jungle man Kraven the Hunter was always one of Spider-Man’s more ridiculous foes, but here he is given a noble demise as he moves in for one last battle against his webbed adversary.

10. Amazing Fantasy 15 (August 1962)
Here’s where it all began, not in Amazing Spider-Man, but the final issue of an anthology series called Amazing Fantasy. Our friendly neighbourhood wallcrawler graced the cover and eleven pages inside, paving the way for Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko to weave their teenaged tale of power and responsibility. Comic books would never be the same again…