A JEM Records Christmas with The Weeklings and Lisa Mychols & Super 8

Have you finished that last minute shopping yet? Are the decorations up? Then it's time to sit back and queue up some classic Christmas music: maybe you'll kick things off with A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector? Or perhaps one of the Very Special Christmas compilations, or maybe even Bruce Springsteen's version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town?" If you need some new rock and roll Christmas music to listen to, look no further than a pair of delightful new holiday singles from a pair of artists on JEM Records. The Weeklings, the Beatles-inspired, power pop infused quartet, who recently released a superb album, The Weeklings Live! have issued a new holiday song entitled "Christmas Day." Written by Glen Burtnik and Bob Burger, aka Lefty and Zeek Weekling, the song follows in the tradition of their previous Christmas releases, such as "Gonna Be Christmas," which was featured in an episode of the CW series, Supergirl. The Bob Dylan inspired "Christmas Day" combines the witty stylings and ironic tone of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" with the festive spirit of the holidays. It's a unique and inspired tune, a rockin' holiday song, and it sounds fantastic. Check out the video for "Christmas Day" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2vAhRYN42A. Lisa Mychols and Super 8, who like The Weeklings, recently contributed a song to the excellent tribute album JEM Records Celebrates Brian Wilson, offer up a wonderful new holiday tune entitled "A Very Merry Christmas." The single features an absolutely gorgeous vocal performance from Mychols, and sterling work from Super 8, aka British musician and songwriter Paul "Trip" Ryan. It's a marvelous song that absolutely radiates joy and positive vibes. Mychols & Super 8 are both longtime veterans of the indie pop/rock music scene, and the talented duo is working on a new album that will be released on JEM Records in 2022. I'm really looking forward to hearing that record. "A Very Merry Christmas" is an ebullient gem of a song, produced by JEM Records head honcho Marty Scott, and it's very much in the style of the classic Phil Spector Wall of Sound. If there's any justice in the world, it'll become a rock and roll holiday standard! "A Very Merry Christmas" was just named a Coolest Song In The World on Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show on Sirius XM. Here's a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SPF-ryzuUM. Both "Christmas Day" by The Weeklings and "A Very Merry Christmas" by Lisa Mychols & Super 8 are available now from JEM Records.

Retro TV Fright Film: Fear No Evil

Louis Jourdan & Lynda Day

There have been a lot of eerie, supernatural themed small screen series and movies throughout television history, including Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, Charmed, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. However, the stalwart heroes and heroines of those shows weren't the first occult investigators to grace the small screen. Back in the early to mid 1970s, Kolchak: The Night Stalker battled monsters, vampires and werewolves in a pair of TV movies and a short-lived (but much beloved) series, and Gary Collins starred as Dr. David Rhodes, a parapsychologist, in The Sixth Sense, which ran for two seasons on ABC. Those shows were pre-dated by one of television's first occult investigators, Dr. David Sorrell, portrayed by Louis Jourdan in a pair of telefilms which aired on NBC, 1969's Fear No Evil and 1970's Ritual of Evil.

Fear No Evil tells the story of Paul Varney, who buys an antique mirror that has a strange effect on him. After attending a party at the home of psychologist Dr. David Sorrell, Paul and his fiancé Barbara are involved in a car accident in which he is killed. Barbara survives, but winds up in the hospital. She moves in with Paul's mother, but that creepy mirror has quite the hold on her, as Barbara sees an apparition of her dead fiancé in the mirror. The evil doppelgänger wants Barbara to join him on the other side. What's the secret of the mirror? Is Paul's friend and co-worker, Miles Donovan, involved in his death in some way? As Barbara begins to lose her grip on reality, it's up to Dr. Sorrell, who has some experience investigating supernatural events, to solve the mystery and help her.

The movie is atmospheric, chilling and fairly intense for its time. If you're a fan of well-mounted tales of the supernatural, you will really enjoy Fear No Evil. The teleplay for the film was written by Richard Alan Simmons, based on a story by prolific author Guy Endore. The wonderful cast features Bradford Dillman as Paul, Lynda Day (George) as Barbara, and Wilfrid Hyde-White as Dr. Sorell's mentor, Harry Snowden. Louis Jourdan is terrific as Sorrell, and there's a fantastic performance from Carroll O'Connor as Miles Donovan. If you only know O'Connor from his role as Archie Bunker on All in the Family, you may be quite surprised at his work in the film. He's terrific in the movie. There are also some familiar faces featured in supporting roles, including Katharine Woodville (who played Natira in the classic Star Trek episode "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky") and Marsha Hunt, who's icily effective in the role of Paul's mother.

Fear No Evil has an offbeat visual style, courtesy of cinematographer Andrew J. McIntyre, a top-notch score by veteran composer Billy Goldenberg, and solid direction by television veteran Paul Wendkos, who also helmed the big-screen thriller The Mephisto Waltz. The film was intended as a pilot for a weekly series titled Bedeviled that would have followed Jourdan's character as he investigated supernatural events plaguing his patients. Sadly, the series never materialized, but a sequel, Ritual of Evil, followed in 1970, which featured Dr. Sorell, once again played by Jourdan, looking into the terrifying events centered around a young heiress, which seem to be work of a powerful witch. It's another excellent thriller, and well worth watching. Both films are available on a double-feature Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, and there are audio commentaries for both movies by writer Gary Gerani, author of Fantastic Television, one of the first (and best) reference works centered on classic genre shows. Here's the trailer for Fear No Evil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfhvzFcWSVY.

Peter Jackson Helps The Beatles Get Back

I'm a lifelong fan of The Beatles. While I was too young to experience that first rush of Beatlemania (I was just seven years old when they broke up), I loved their music as soon as I heard it. Their albums were the first records I bought with my own money, and like many ardent fans, I enjoyed following their solo careers while reading the many books about the band, and snapping up any archival releases of their music. One of the most elusive titles in the Beatles pantheon is the 1970 film, Let It Be. The project grew out of Paul's desire to get the band back to their roots, and ease some of the tensions that had surfaced during recent projects, most notably during the sessions for The White Album. The original plan was for the band to give a live performance, featuring new songs, which ultimately could be broadcast as a TV special. Cameras would also follow the group as they worked on and recorded the songs for their new album.

Let It Be, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg (who had helmed several video clips for the band, including "Rain" and "Revolution") turned out to be a record of a band that was breaking apart. The film had some positive moments, including the now legendary rooftop concert that climaxed the movie, but Let It Be has historically been viewed by many as a documentary of the end of The Beatles, despite the fact that they rallied soon after working on the project to record their final album, the classic Abbey Road. Long unavailable on home video, except for bootlegs, the footage used for the film has been resurrected in a new form by director Peter (Lord of the Rings) Jackson, entitled Get Back. Jackson (an avid Beatles fan) was given unprecedented access to 60 hours of video and 150 hours of audio from the original sessions. He and his team spent close to four years working on the project, restoring the video and audio, and editing never before seen footage into a new documentary comprehensively covering the Let It Be sessions.

Get Back was originally planned to be a theatrical film, but the project ultimately became a three-part, eight-hour miniseries, which is now available for streaming on Disney+. The film is nothing short of astonishing. If you only know Let It Be from the muddy clips seen in other Beatles documentaries or  bootleg versions of the film, you'll be blown way by the incredible quality of the video and audio here. The other invaluable take-away you'll get from watching Get Back is that while there were tensions among the band members during this time, there are also moments in the film which illustrate the deep love the band still had for one another, and the remarkable creative chemistry the group shared. Just look at the scenes where Paul and John are work on the lyrics to "Get Back," bouncing off one another, and feeding off each other's energy. It's a startling contrast to moments like the often referenced tiff between Paul and George regarding the latter's guitar playing. Even that infamous scene (and George's temporary exit from the group) gains additional relevance and meaning in Get Back, which shows that The Beatles were still a band of brothers, despite their squabbling. 

The film also shows The Beatles clowning around and jamming on oldies like Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music," songs they'd played in their earliest days as a band at marathon shows in Hamburg, and at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. It's evident from the discussions seen in Get Back that the group (who had stopped touring in 1966) realized that while they had become wizards in the studio and pioneered new recording techniques on albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, they weren't sure if they could cut it as a live band anymore. It's clearly evident that in some form, they longed for a return to those simpler days, when it was just the four of them rocking out, and they weren't the world-renowned and instantly recognized band they had become. Several times during discussions about how they can pull of a live show, people in the band's circle, including Lindsay-Hogg and engineer Glyn Johns, remark that The Beatles "belong to the world now," something I think the group was a little uncomfortable with, since they really wanted to just jam and play together, like the old days. Just watch the sheer delight that shines on their faces a couple of songs into the rooftop concert sequence, as everything clicks into place.

Watching Get Back is a revelatory experience.With an almost eight-hour running time, it may be a bit much for the casual viewer, but true Beatles fans will really enjoy the film. The previously unseen performances (the group is shown working on early versions of songs like "Carry That Weight" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," (both of which would end up on Abbey Road) and the snippets of songs that would end up on solo albums by the band, including Paul's "Back Seat of My Car" and George's All Things Must Pass" are a lot of fun to watch, and even the tense moments between the group (while sometimes difficult to view) are given more context in the longer running time afforded in the documentary. What's undeniable from viewing the film is that these four men truly loved each other, and they were an absolutely terrific band, who made music that changed not just rock and roll, but the world. Get Back reminds us why we love The Beatles, and gives us a well-rounded portrait of the band not only as uber-talented musicians, but also as human beings. That is an invaluable accomplishment, and thanks to Peter Jackson and his crew, we have a new appreciation for, and a fresh perspective on, The Beatles and their enduring legacy. Here's a link to the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auta2lagtw4.