// Category Archive for: Retrovirus

Blu-Ray Review: Night Of The Demons (Collector’s Edition)

By Brad Henderson

Angela is having a party; Jason and Freddy are too scared to come. But you’ll have a hell of a time.

That is the freaking tagline to Night Of The Demons. The box art for this movie always stuck with me when I passed by it and its sequel numerous times at my local video store as a child. My mom let me watch a lot of R-rated films but this one was off limits . . . until I was ten or so. Yeah, my mom is a badass and let me watch R-rated films when I was five, but it had to do with the content.

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DVD Review: Wakefield Poole’s Bible!

By Brad Henderson

When we see the rating X or XXX, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Hardcore porn? Or a film that has so much sexual content that it isn’t fit for an R rating? Sometimes neither of these things can be the case. Back in the 1960s and ’70s films that had sexual content were rated X because in that day and age it was considered too much. Those films are nothing compared to what we have today between porn and R-rated films that are deemed “extreme.”

Vinegar Syndrome is probably a name that you aren’t familiar with yet, but take note because these guys are true fans of vintage/art cinema. I was fortunate enough to watch one of their reissues, an X-rated film from 1974 called Bible! directed by Wakefield Poole. Just looking at the synopsis or reading about it you might think it’s a hardcore porno or maybe a sexplotation film. I’m here to tell you that it’s neither.

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Music Review: Love, Poetry and Revolution – A Journey Through The British Psychedelic and Underground Scenes 1966-72

By Melissa Bratcher

In just six short years, British Psychedelic bands went from singing songs about tea to songs about witches. Love, Poetry and Revolution: A Journey Through The British Psychedelic and Underground Scenes 1966-72 is a recent three-disc boxed set that plumbs the depths of the psychedelic revolution and collects these little-heard rarities alongside thoughtful, witty liner notes from compiler David Wells. Forgoing the more easily accessible, overplayed songs, Wells gives the listener gems by bands that never landed a recording contract, or perhaps only put out one album, alongside demos and alternate takes of more familiar artists like The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and The Spencer Davis Group.

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VHS Visions: Never Too Young To Die (1986)

By Brad Henderson

In 1986 a film was born. That film was Never Too Young To Die. It’s sad that many haven’t seen it, but that’s the point of this review. George Lazenby, Vanity, John Stamos, and Gene Simmons (yes, from Kiss) star in this magnum opus and give the best performances of their entire careers . . . I’m joking, but it isn’t that bad.

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Blu-Ray Review: Blind Date

By Brad Henderson

There are many ’80s comedies that were popular in their time but are slowly fading away. Blind Date isn’t the funniest flick from the decade, but we get to see Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger in a slapstick comedy love story directed by Blake Edwards . . . yes, The Pink Panther guy.

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DVD Review: Rewind This!

By Brad Henderson

VHS is slowly coming back. It won’t be readily available in stores again but there’s still a huge market for it under the table. I’ve been collecting VHS for many years and have quite the collection. I adore VHS for many reasons and I know others have the same feelings about this dead format.

Rewind This! is a documentary that focuses on the VHS boom and the effects it had on the film industry. VHS changed many people’s lives and altered the industry forever. Laserdisc, DVDs, Blu-Ray, and other formats didn’t even come close to doing what VHS did.

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DVD Review: ’83 US Festival, Days 1 – 3

By Melissa Bratcher

In the early 1980s, Steve Wozniak had a dream and a whole lot of money. He wanted to marry music, technology, and community, and so created the US Festival. Showcasing new technology and the best acts in current music, the community created itself in the desert (in ungodly hot conditions, because, well, desert) on Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends in both 1982 and 1983. Now, you can relive those sweaty, dusty days of 1983 in the only DVD release sanctioned by Unuson (an acronym for “Unite Us In Song”).

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Best Of 2013: Corey Cunningham of Terry Malts

Here are five reissues I liked this year:

Neo Boys, Sooner Or Later
Oh man, this was very overdue. I’m also really surprised that it took this long. Kudos to the fine folks at K Records for getting this late ’70s/early ’80s Portland punk band’s music back out there so a whole new audience can find it.

For Against box set
I was really excited about this. For Against is one of those perpetual underdogs and I love them for it. They’ll never be co-opted and have their name mined for all it’s not-quite-post-punk, not-quite-shoegaze glory in crummy new band’s one-sheet. Pretty great artwork here, too, by Independent Project Press guru Bruce Licher. (Captured Tracks)

Giant Henry, Big Baby
Numero Group puts out some fantastic records; everybody knows that. I really truly loved the Wayfaring Strangers series and the Codeine reissues as well. They never disappoint with the packaging either. This release is an early recording by Unwound (as a part of their reissue campaign for that band) when they were in high school playing under the name Giant Henry and it shows the group in it’s early Nirvana/Tad inspired phase. A++ release here, folks!

Philip Perkins, Drive Time
Full disclosure on this one: I re-released this with my friend Matt Kallman on our label Body Double, a subsidiary of Captured Tracks. That being said, it’s an obvious candidate for my favorite reissues of the year. This is a mid-’80s sound collage by a former conspirator in The Residents. The whole thing is presented as an alternative to the AM radio commuters often listened to back then. It’s perfect listening for a long drive. Trust me.

I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age In America, 1950-1990
This is not so much a “reissue” as it is a compilation featuring private press new age from before it was a recognized genre until its saturation point in the ’90s. You can’t go wrong with this and you’ll find yourself scrambling to a computer to find the original pressings on Discogs after your first spin. (Light In The Attic)

Terry Malts’ new album, Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere, came out through Slumberland Records on September 10.

Blu-Ray Review: Body Bags (Collector’s Edition)

By Brad Henderson

John Carpenter has blessed us with many great flicks and inspired a limitless amount of people. He continues to do so even today. Still, Carpenter has a few underrated flicks and Body Bags is one of them. The whole film wasn’t directed by The Horror Master himself, but he directed a segment and more importantly, he nailed it as the host of this anthology. Body Bags might not be the best thing ever but it is a blast. (Don’t take me too seriously when I say it may not be the best thing ever; I mean that in a very positive way, actually.) Now, Scream Factory has given us a pristine looking Blu-Ray.

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Music Review: Various Artists, Purple Snow: Forecasting The Minneapolis Sound

By Paul Casey

Purple Snow: Forecasting The Minneapolis Sound collects music from many musical outfits that helped shape the sound of the title. While the title is a nod to the importance of that miniature-sized and prodigiously talented man, the collection assembled by Numero Group has a broader interest. This is a work of love and commitment. It is a history lesson for those who think great artists are created in a vacuum. Everybody who has sat back and had a sob over the genius of Prince, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, or Alexander O’Neal and assumed they came out fully formed, should have a listen to this compilation.

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