James Burton

As a footnote to the film EPiC, one of the world's finest rock guitarists is James Burton. He has had a long and distinguished career. James was born in 1939 and continues to thrive to this day. It was James who organised the TCB Band for Elvis and led it from 1969 until Elvis's death in 1977. Here are the two of them below. 

Below is a picture from the "Legendary James Burton in Star-Studded Palladium Benefit Concert" on 4th June 2023. (See YouTube). Burton profoundly influenced both Ronnie Wood and Brian May in the photo. Then it was long-time fan Keith Richards who gave his induction speech to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

There is a huge amount about James Burton on the internet that I don't have to repeat here. Only that I knew nothing about him until I saw the film EPiC. And I should have done as he played on Ricky Nelson recordings in the fifties. See YouTube for "Ricky Nelson - Hello Mary Lou (with a solo by James Burton).". The same Ricky Nelson I saw at the Royal Albert Hall on 17th November 1985.

EPiC, The Bride! and Sinners

 

What can I say? I was never a big Elvis fan, so my review of EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert would be a little biased. His personality and presentation on stage in that Las Vegas residency did nothing to change my mind. In fact, I could hardly believe how awful it was. This film left many critics, including Mark Kermode, enthralled. My best memory of Elvis was pre-Beatles, when we just heard his records on Radio Luxemburg. And an unnamed DJ persistently attempted to bring Elvis to the UK. 

Director Baz Luhrmann's opening montage was so fragmented. But we do see clips from those repetitive films he made after coming back from the army. This material is all before we get to the Las Vegas concerts, which could apparently be three times a day and each only an hour long. I have to say that the sound in the cinema from this restoration was wonderful. The band, singers and orchestra were exceptional, with Elvis's voice as good as it got. Except that at times it seemed like he was just a covers artist, as these were mainly standards, not Elvis songs. Is "Bridge Over Troubled Water" suitable for a crooner and full orchestra? That was particularly awful. As was the end of the otherwise superb rendition of Suspicious Minds. Why did he have to mess about with the ending? But his voice was strong and in tune. 

But I was far more interested in his lead guitarist, James Burton, who was always next to Elvis. (See separate post). I was also amazed that the drummer was close to the singer and not at the back, which is more often the case. What I did not know was that he was often doing three performances a day, and each one might be no more than forty minutes? Then at the end of the film I heard a few bars from American Trilogy and was so disappointed we didn't hear more. (It's on YouTube Live from Honolulu). Instead we get lots of interviews with Elvis that are mostly embarrassing. Obviously the director thought not. He says he wants to go to England and Europe, but that's just a lie. It may be that my memories of Elvis are pre-Beatles, with songs on Radio Luxembourg. 

The critics are mainly in awe of Elvis, especially Mark Kermode, who called it a "montage tone poem" at the top of his power. "Different takes of the same song were great." Tom Shone in the Sunday Times gave it five stars for the "oh so glorious concert film" where "the results are spectacular". The review for Roger Ebert tells us the film "features restoration of the two concert films from 1970 and 1972 ... I gasped at the clarity. "He was right there.

After "Wuthering Heights" with inverted commas, here is The Bride! and an exclamation mark. But let's for once start at the end with the credits and Bobby Pickett's 1962 song Monster Mash. I remember it well. Number one in the USA and number three in the UK charts. The BBC originally banned the song, but it eventually made it onto their Juke Box Jury. (A must-see on early Saturday evenings). The song sums up this bonkers film. At the beginning I failed to recognise Annette Benning as the equally bonkers Dr Cornelia Euphronimous, who is visited by the sad monster that is Frank, played by Christian Bale. She agrees to bring a female body back to life for him. And so here is Jessie Buckley, fresh from her award-winning role in Hamnet. I thought there might have been someone different, if not better. 

We may be reminded of the 1935 movie The Bride of Frankenstein, but no, as Jessie points out, she is "just the bride". As the pair create havoc, enter Penelope Cruz in a decent role as the assistant to the man from the FBI. Well, we are set in the 1930s. Maggie Gyllenhaal directs with relish. I liked how she introduces Mary Shelley at the beginning, moaning about what she can or cannot write and the plight of female authors. But here is the story she really wanted to publish. (That would have made some book). Critic Peter Bradshaw called it "a violent black comedy". Although it was a kind of horror story, it never once had me looking away. But this is an expensive movie with great locations and extras. Yes, there was some violence, but hardly graphic, so a 15 certificate was about right. 

Maggie Gyllenhaal has made a great transition from acting. Lots of movies and a Golden Globe for best actress in the BBC's The Honourable Woman (2014). I still want to see her first film as director, The Lost Daughter (2021), that was Oscar nominated for best adapted screenplay, amongst many others. But it's on Netflix.

Let's begin with the Academy Awards for Sinners. Best original screenplay by writer/director Ryan Coogler. I didn't hear enough to judge. There was a lot of mumbling and loud music. (Far better was Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value.) Best actor for Michael B. Jordan. Probably because he played both twins Smoke and Stack, because otherwise I have no idea. (Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon was far, far better.) Best cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw. First woman and woman of colour ever to win this award. I wouldn't argue with that. The best original score is for Ludwig Göransson. Agreed. The film was also nominated in twelve other categories, including best supporting actress for Wunmi Mosaku, who we remember vividly playing a detective constable in Vera. 

My immediate impression when the film began was that ultra-wide screen. Fortunately, Cineworld in Hemel Hempstead showed it on one of their largest screens. Apparently it was filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 (2.76.1). There were other scenes shot in IMAX (1.43.1) but not available in this theatre. 

The film was advertised as a vampire movie, but nothing in the first half gave any indication this was the case. That all changed later on. Nothing too gory, fortunately. What I did like was the 1930s setting. The location photography was excellent, the costumes fantastic and the music, well. I was interested in blues and gospel when I was a teenager. It forms a part of traditional jazz that I used to listen to in the 1960s. And I knew about Robert Johnson and the Black music from the Deep South. (See my post about Mark Radcliffe's book Crossroads. So I was quite happy to sit there and listen to the soundtrack and forget about the speech. 

As for the acting, I found it awkward and far too serious. Take note, Michael B. Jordan. The only light came from Hailee Steinfeld as Mary. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian tells us it "indirectly takes inspiration from the legend of Robert Johnson and the devil" and is "a black version of Dusk Till Dawn" that was constantly in my head later on. Like Peter, I would have preferred this film as a drama without the supernatural stuff. But it was definitely worth waiting for the post-credits sting at the end.

Films of the year in the winter 2025/26 edition of Sight and Sound magazine gave Sinners the second place. Alex Ramon said it was one of 2025's "unexpectedly thrilling experiences at the cinema". I beg to differ. I wanted more plot and a better story. It was just OK. 

 

GWR - Five Go On Adventures

This is an update to my post from April 16, 2025, all because now we have the fifth instalment of the Famous Five Adventures on the Great Western Railway.

Five and the Dragon Quest

This can be found on YouTube, as can all the other four.

16th April 2025

I first noticed these wonderful short advertisements for the Great Western Railway at the cinema. The adventures of the Famous Five can all be found on YouTube or elsewhere on the net. They just take me back to when I was young, although Mother was very much against anything by Enid Blyton.

Five Go on a Great Western Adventure

The first of these short films was produced in 2017.

Five and the Missing Jewels

Following the success of the first episode came the next adventure in 2019.

Five Get There First

George's parents bid farewell to the gang in 2023, as they race them by car to their destination. Guess who wins.

Five and the Thrilling Engagement

Then this year came their latest adventure with a lost ring. The film is currently available in theatres and on television.

There might be another one in the series when I spotted an advertisement in The Sunday Times for "Five Steal the Show." However, it is only a teaser for "the wider campaign", which highlights unexpected destinations, including enjoying a show at the Royal Albert Hall.

The cover supplement of this week's Sunday Times magazine featured all the places you can visit on Great Western Railways' "The Line to Legend Land".

The Garden Awakes - March 2026

The sudden growth of all the plants and shrubs is remarkable. There isn't much colour yet, with the exception of forsythia, which appears to be doing better this year than in previous years. Let's start with the main border. The first photo below showcases the prolific sprouting of alliums. The sprouting of alliums is significantly earlier than I recall. There is room in the second photo for a new plant in the middle of the geraniums. But the most amazing plant is in the third photo. The delphinium on the left has suddenly put on a spurt when there was nothing two weeks ago. Then finally my favourite astrantias look like they will be successful this year.

Last year I split this huge geranium.

And these are the pieces that are growing near the dwarf wall.

Nearby, the acanthus is putting on new growth.

There's not much to see in the wildflower border, except the Spanish and English bluebells on the left are doing well.

Next to the side patio, this echinacea is sprouting at the base.

Opposite, the Philadelphus "Belle Etoile" is coming into leaf.

As is the clematis.

But it's the last shrub in this area, the spirea, that has put on the most growth.

The campanula next to the conservatory is in full leaf.

The geranium in the large pot has put on some growth.

These geraniums look as if they will do OK.

The lawn has had a second cut and is looking fine with the edges trimmed.

The moss killer is having an effect at the far end.

There is little to see in the long border except for the forsythia at the top. But the very last shrub is the Elaeagnus ebbingei, or silverberry. It has been pruned again, so I'm hoping it will be in much better shape.

This is the better of the two pots outside the front door. These little violas are lovely. I would have thought the other pot, sheltered and under cover, would be better. But it's had little water, so that has now been rectified.

A few days ago I cleared all the rubbish under this hedge at the front, and it does look a lot better.

"Wuthering Heights", Crime 101 and Cold Storage

 

I wasn't interested if "Wuthering Heights" wasn't true to the book. This was a typical Emerald Fennel movie, concentrating on the visuals rather than the story, which, to be frank, is pretty repetitive and bare on plot. It is more like an art house film with added intensity. All the performances were fine: Margot Robbie as Catherine just doing enough to look the part, and Jacob Elordi never smiling once and just this side of wooden. But the star for me was Martin Clunes, well known in our house for Doc Martin but sounding awful in the trailer for Mother's Pride. Here he is outstanding as Catherine's father, the horrible Earnshaw. The best acting I had seen for a very long time.

The critics were mixed in their reception; Tom Shone in the Sunday Times, who hated the film and the direction, said, "With the scenes of her degradation, the film flares briefly into life." I thought it was much better than that. Let's then talk about the soundtrack. Composed by Charli xcx, I was not looking forward to that part of the film. How wrong I was. This turned out to be the best original music for a movie for years, if not ever? From the opening song House through to Out of Myself and Eyes of the World, this is just class. But I was not prepared to be blown away by the music over the end credits. I was stuck in my seat when Altars played. This had not happened since 1997's El Matador by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs played at the end of Grosse Pointe Blank. 

I think I might be going off crime thrillers. Of its kind, Crime 101 was fine: formulaic car chases and a detective chasing a thief. A one last job scenario. Not a lot else. A week later I can hardly recall the plot. Chris Hemsworth, Barry Keoghan and Halle Berry turn up for director Bart Layton, writing with Don Winslow, on whose novella it is based. How Peter Bradshaw gave it four stars I will never know. 

I very nearly missed Cold Storage. The trailer did not look promising. But in the end it was amazing; it went so fast, had such a great pace, was so funny and surprisingly well written and directed that the whole cast bought into it. More of a drama, thank goodness, than the obvious horror-sci-fi-comedy-thriller it turned out to be. It never outstayed its welcome at an hour and a half. I didn't know the two young leads, but they were great: Joe Keery as Travis and British actress Georgina Campbell as Naomi. Add in Liam Neeson, playing at last to his seventy-three years (Northern Irish); Vanessa Redgrave and Lesley Manville (two more Brits), the latter brilliant with two great one-liners; and we have a great cast. The filming took place in Italy, so that's maybe why there are so many Brits in the cast.

And the horror? It was more funny than scary, thank goodness; some sort of parasite fungus. Well directed by Johnny Campbell, another Brit who started out with TV series such as Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, and Westworld and his first film, Alien Autopsy. It was well written by David Koepp based on his 2019 novel. And with two great songs: 'I Get Around' by The Beach Boys and 'One Way or Another' by Blondie. It was good fun and properly presented. 

Mark Kermode's Surround Sound - Part 3

Chapter 6: Switched-on Electronica

I did wonder if there would be anything I would like in this chapter. But there was. Starting with Anna Meredith's "startling electronic accompaniment" for Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade (2018). Meredith comes from a classical background and is a composer-in-residence for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She composed a brand new piece for the Last Night of the Proms. We hear about her background and early influences. Mark name-checks more composers using synthetic music, most of whom are women. 

A part about the use of the theremin was less interesting. Can you call it an instrument without touching and just waving your hands in the air? We then hear about Bernard Herrmann's use of electronic and acoustic instruments for The Day the Earth Stood Still. Then a long introduction to The Forbidden Planet (1956) and the electronic soundtrack by Bebe and Louis Barron. (Hands up anyone who has heard of them). It may be a favourite film of Mark's, but not me. He calls it "the silver screen's first all-electronic feature score" and missing an Oscar nomination, as it was "electronic tonalities" and not music. They were also not a member of the musician's union!

Alan Parker's Midnight Express (1978) did win the Oscar for Georgio Moroder's electronic score. We hear all about this composer, but not his Together in Electric Dreams. There is then a tedious part about Tangerine Dream and their scores for films of which I had never heard. And more boring stuff about the composers Walter/Wendy Carlos and Benjamin John Power.

Soundtrack Selection: Blade Runner (1982)

Mark says that it is "hard to overstate the significance of Vangelis's score" for this film. " Composed, arranged, produced and performed" by just this one man. He had won the Oscar for best original score for Chariots of Fire. We hear all about his background as well as all the different synths he employs. Apparently there was no release of the soundtrack until ten years later when the Director's Cut was put out. Mark says, "For many, this soundtrack is the sound of science fiction." One of my favourite films, and this has reminded me of what we heard.

Chapter 7: Play through the action

"I would hate to be stuck in the action picture thing." So said Hans Zimmer in the early nineties before he went on to do just that. He composed the music for so many blockbusters. Mark does give us some history of early action movies, starting with 1903's The Great Train Robbery. It was Miklós Rózsa who composed the score for Ben Hur (1959), the world's most expensive picture at that time. He composed three hours of music, of which two and a half were used. Amazing. Using the hundred-strong MGM Symphony Orchestra, they spent seventy-two hours in the studio.

We then hear the advantages of using silence in films, such as the iconic scene in North by Northwest and the crop duster plane attack. Mark tells us about all those composers for the Mission Impossible films. Next comes Lorne Balfe and all the action movies he scored before a mention for Jerry Goldsmith and all his films. He used to tell his students "to score the emotion, not the visuals".

But the best part of this chapter was about Laura Karpman (no, I hadn't heard of her). She "started writing music at the age of seven", so definitely a child prodigy. She attended Juilliard for a doctorate in musical composition and (eventually) made it to scoring a film. She was nominated for an Oscar for her score for American Fiction (2023; see post 15th March 2024) and co-founded the Alliance of Women Film Composers. There is a lovely story about her work on The Marvels movies. 

Sound designers who worked on the Christopher Nolan films get a mention, some of it a bit too technical for me! Composer David Arnold talks about volume: "When the music is loud, a lot of the effects and the bits and pieces are redundant in a way." 

Soundtrack Selection: Crash (1996)

Mark tells us his favourite score of 1996 was for David Cronenberg's Crash, composed by Howard Shore. Apparently, the Cannes jury president Francis Ford Coppola vetoed the film for the Palme d'Or and refused to present the jury prize it won. Even the Evening Standard called the film "beyond the bounds of depravity". It was banned in some cinemas. Mark refers to "the fetishised eroticism of car crashes".

With "brittle-edged electric guitars to the fore", Shore says his score came out of his for Madame Butterfly (1993), a three part harp piece developed for electric guitars: "jagged and abrasive" for those car crashes. Mark thinks it "sounds pretty much perfect to me". But I'm not sure.

Chapter 8: Pop goes the Movies

Now I thought this might be the best chapter, but how wrong I was. Maybe because this was about making pop songs into the score. Was it director Richard Brooks who started it all? He put a Bill Haley B-side into the opening credits of "Blackboard Jungle". This was Rock Around The Clock (1955) that got cinema audiences dancing in the aisles and not the A-side, Thirteen Women. (Who knew?) We hear all about the history of its inclusion. Then we go back to a long and equally boring piece about the film St Louis Blues (1929), then pages and pages about more early movies. Mark has gone off piste to talk about the films themselves. But there is a mention for The Girl Can't Help It (1956) with its line-up of pop royalty, and then all those Elvis films and, of course, The Beatles. 

George Lucas it was who directed American Graffiti (1973) and what Mark calls "the finest jukebox movie" that had over forty songs on the soundtrack. (See my post of 7th October 2021; even the list of songs makes me go all nostalgic). But why, oh why, do we have to read about Pirates (2021), which ripped off the previous film, or Philip Kaufman's The Wanderers (1979)? Then a section on films set in the Vietnam war such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Good Morning Vietnam. This section finishes with pages and pages of the most obscure movies as Mark goes on and on.

Soundtrack Selection: Never Let Me Go (2010)

We hear all about the disappointing reviews for this film. It lost money, as not many went to see it. I was not surprised, as it is such a harrowing story. The book is saved by the sheer brilliance of the author, Kazuo Ishiguro. I called it "compelling and shattering". Who thought it would be successful on the big screen when it becomes so much more visual? My post on the film of the 5th of June 2011 described "the sadness of the character's predicament and the horror of what put them there". Back to Mark, and it's Rachel Portman's score that did rather better than the movie. Mark says it's "one of my favourite film scores of all time. He feels it's a passion project. She conducted a forty-eight-piece orchestra. 

Chapter 9: A Frightful Noise

Yes, it's about music for horror films. Mark starts with William Friedkin's The Exorcist, but there is so much about the film itself that is all so familiar. Somehow it's all for an introduction to composer Bernard Herrman, who Friedkin wanted for the music. But that didn't happen. Instead we hear Friedkin's story and all the films he scored. These all lead to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, another film Mark describes in detail, especially that opening chord.

We hear about another composer that Friedkin rejected, Lalo Schifrin, before we are told about those existing compositions that were used. These included Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells Part 1. (But what I didn't know was that the narrator of this music was Vivian Stanshall who I had seen live fronting the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band at Sussex University.) On to Rosemary's Baby and the score composed by Krzysztof Komeda. 

Then, of course, there's Don't Look Now starring Donald Sutherland and the wonderful Julie Christie. (See my post on 9th December 2022). Directed by Nicolas Roeg, Mark says it is "now considered to be one of the greatest British movies ever made." I said in my post that it was more of a "psychological thriller" than a horror movie. The film is "worth watching just for Julie Christie: beautiful, fragile and vulnerable." The haunting score was written and partly performed by one Pinot Donaggio with a "superb use of strings" and a "perfect synthesis of dread and horror". Mark and the director go into detail about how the score was envisaged. "The top-line melody revolves around five notes that can be played by the right hand hardly moving, starting with the little finger on the perfect fifth top note , then moving down to the root note on the thumb, and back up, step by step, finger by finger – to the fifth, back to the little finger. Meanwhile ...." it goes on and on. I have no idea what they are talking about. 

Then we are back to Tubular Bells and two more pages of huge detail. Better is "John Carpenter's self-penned theme to Halloween" and another long discussion about the notes and time signature. which is all beyond me.

Soundtrack Selection: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

David Lynch's "misunderstood masterpiece" (according to Mark) was trashed by most critics and failed miserably at the box office. (I'm not surprised, as this was the only film among Mark's Soundtrack Selections that I had not seen). Mark goes on, "A great horror movie" and "boasted the finest soundtrack of the year". Then there's "one of the great film scores of the decade, composed by Lynch's long-time collaborator Angelo Badalamenti". 

But it sounds to me as though Mark also thought the film was poor as he was very critical of the dialogue. He only appreciated the music. The composer also worked with the director on Wild at Heart and Lost Highway. Mark then tells us that the "main theme is built upon suspended chords". No idea what these are. But "Badalamenti's subtly provocative music provides the emotional backbone." Mark finishes with "the film is now recognised as a lost classic". I'm not sure.

End Titles

We hear all about those screening rooms in one part of London: "the square mile of Soho's district". Then how "movie soundtracks went mainstream" and now on CD's and "streamed at will". There are now "limited edition remastered or extended scores". With LaLaLand records at the forefront.  Mark finishes with how film scores are now played live with an orchestra in a concert hall. They have really come a long way.

Notes and Sources

Twelve pages of invaluable references and a thirtysix page index. A book to revisit in time. 

Tell Me Evrything, The Proof of My Innocence and Three Days in June

I have loved all of Elizabeth Strout's previous nine novels, and "Tell Me Everything" is no exception. It was great that so many of the characters from her previous novels are here again in Crosby, Maine. Bob Burgess is, perhaps, the central character, but here are also Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, William, Margaret, Amy and Isabelle. All a little older if not wiser.

Lucy is now quite a famous author, back from New York and meeting Olive, who just might have some stories for her. After a cool beginning, their relationship warms through time. It's Christmas, and Bob Burgess remembers why he never liked this time of year. But after the Christmas Eve service (his wife Margaret is the priest) they meet up with Lucy and William. However, it's the part when Bob meets up with his previous wife Pam, who has a problem with her current husband, that the writer excels at.

The book then takes a different turn when the body of Gloria Beach is found, and lawyer Bob takes on her husband Mathew as a client. But soon we are back with Olive and Lucy and more wonderful stories. Olive talks about Amy and her mother, Isabelle. Amy now "this high muckety-muck doctor".
As we approach spring, things get difficult between Bob and Margaret. At the same time there is a wonderful close relationship between Bob and Lucy when they meet for walks and conversation. And now it's Lucy telling stories to Olive about families they both knew. Bob thinks he might like Lucy too much. But an argument out of the blue puts paid to that. There is a reminder that when you are married and fall for another person, find something horrible to argue about.

It's left to Lucy, this time, telling stories to Olive. But when all is said and done, it's the writing that is just so great. Many of the chapters begin with the weather. "It was June now, but the day was oddly cold and the wind was furious." I cannot remember a June like that.

Phyl is back from uni and finds the "stultifying affluence of home". Jonathon Coe's book then strays into political territory as her mother, Joanna, invites an old friend to stay. Christopher Swann writes a left-wing political blog. He arrives with his adopted daughter Rashida, close in age to Phyl who shrieks, "Oh no!" However, they become close friends and are there at the very end of the book.
It's Christopher who might be in danger when he infiltrates the right-wing TruCon conference in an old swanky mansion. It's when Detective Inspector Prudence Freeborne turns up that we find the best character in the story. All the interviews she does are all so familiar.

Part 2 of the book is actually an eighty-page memoir written by the now deceased Brian Collier, who was at St Stephen's College, Cambridge, all those years ago with Joanna and Christopher. I think this part is a mirror image of the author's own time at uni because I'm not sure why it is here. There are deaths scattered around the book, but it's all a bit of a jumble. Inspector Freeborne is trying to make sense of it all, thank goodness, and everything is wrapped up at the end. If you had been making notes along the way, you might have made sense of the conclusion. As it is, the rush at the end left me in a daze. As it is, Coe is such a good writer that I enjoyed the book, and it was good that Phyl and Rash closed it together.

The day before, the day of and the day after the wedding of her daughter Debbie. Gail relates her experiences of not just those three days, but of times in her life up to this point. The story centres on the unannounced arrival of Max, her ex-husband, complete with a suitcase and a cat. He expects to stay along with his cat. He sounds like a complete idiot, but possibly not as awful as he once was. Debbie is marrying into a family who is in complete charge (maybe that's for the best). The wedding rehearsal goes fine.

The day of the wedding goes to plan, and even the reception Gail finds tolerable as she just listens to the guests on her table. They go on and on, which is fine. Gail and Max make a discreet exit. It is part three, the day after the wedding, that concentrates on their backstory and divorce that is not as expected. But with Max preparing to leave, what is Gail thinking? Only a short book, this is a typical Anne Tyler story about how people share their lives. It is thought-provoking in asking us if we are just the same. The writing, as ever, is first class. Gail and Max will stay with me for quite some time.