by hutchwp

Badly Drawn Boy live at Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, 16th July 2015

Setlist

1. The Shining
2. Everybody’s Stalking
3. Bewilder
4. Fall in a River
5. Camping Next to Water
6. Stone on the Water
7. Another Pearl
8. Body Rap
9. Once Around The Block
10. This Song
11. Bewilderbeast
12. Magic in the Air
13. Cause A Rockslide
14. Pissing in the Wind
15. Blistered Heart
16. Disillusion
17. Say It Again
18. Epitaph

Encore

19. A Minor Incident
20. I Love NYE / Something To Talk About
21. All Possibilities
22. I Saw You Walk Away
23. You Were Right
24. Silent Sigh

How Did We Get Here?

The first time I saw Badly Drawn Boy was during the infamous 2001 tour, which was to support his Mercury Prize-winning debut album The Hour of Bewilderbeast. I was only 15 at the time but I was completely dumbstruck by the completely unique style of concert I was seeing. His approach to dealing with his environment was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

Kicking the show off with three songs by the Royton Bellringers was the perfect way to set the audience up for what they shouldn’t expect. It was, at this point, unlikely that the album was going to get a start-to-finish play through from an obliging band. Arguing with the crowd about the location of a photograph of his newborn child he had passed around the standing section was a highlight. Refusing to take his hat off despite the fact the room was swelteringly hot in the venue showed an air of defiance. This was an artist who played by his own rules.

Over the intervening years there has always been a portrayed feeling that the audience was either getting in the way or at the very least distracting Gough. Sometimes it’s treated with ardent contempt. But there’s also an overarching feeling that it’s all part of the act. On many occasions, he has happily laid into one of the band members who hasn’t learned his part correctly, or even crowd members for talking. If you’re not aware of what a Badly Drawn Boy gig is like I imagine it must be hard to understand and enjoy. Being on board the rollercoaster can be one of the most rewarding live experiences around.

In some ways it is sad that Gough has become predominantly linked with his admittedly excellent debut album. In the years that followed its release he has provided many reasons to show it wasn’t a slice of luck. The more mainstream “About A Boy” soundtrack is filled with some of his best-loved songs, and this was followed in the same vein with the fuller-sounding “Have You Fed The Fish?” However, in providing a more robust and polished sound he moved away from many of the nuances that drew his fanbase to his fragile debut. Whilst this new-found sound had brought him some mainstream success this seemed to disappear slowly and, despite still producing some excellent music (the gorgeously orchestrated soundtrack to TV movie “Is There Nothing We Could Do?” is well worth checking out), people stopped listening.

Once More Around The Block

This tour is the perfect way for Damon Gough to remind fans old and new why they fell in love with his music the first time around. Whilst retreading old ground can seem a little like a cash-in for some artists, it makes perfect sense to reignite interest in The Hour of Bewilderbeast.

When the newly-formed backing band too to the stage for the first time it took a matter of seconds for the audience to realise what was about to happen. As the original recorded intro to “The Shining” resonated around the room, it became quickly evident that the album would be performed in its entirety. The sound of Alfie’s French horn and cello [1] faded away and all that was left was Damon and his acoustic guitar looking slightly daunted to do something he must have done 1000s of times already. There is something about the way he does this that draws the audience in time and time again, willing him to get through whichever of his intricately crafted tunes he is performing at the time.

Launching into “Everybody’s Stalking” allowed the crowd to liven up a little with the band unleashed for the first time. The four highly talented (and highly bearded) band members are obviously a tight group of musicians and were working off each other all night, clearly enjoying themselves. Dare it be said – at times these songs actually sounded better than the record.

The small snippets of ideas that added so much character to the original album were all present too, much to the audience’s delight. The excellent run of songs that starts with “Camping Next To Water” and ends with “Once Around The Block” was punctuated by a few nervous eyes looking around the stage as Gough worked out whether he should say “Body Rap” or just allow the recording to speak for itself. He eventually went for the latter – probably a wise move.

It was in these moments that the charm of the night really revealed itself. The Nottingham gig was the first night of the tour and there was bound to be a few mistakes as the technicalities of performing an album from start to finish were ironed out. I doubt an artist called Perfectly Drawn Boy would have been half as popular anyway.

The standout moment of the night was a beautiful rendition of “Epitaph”. As Gough stood there on the stage alone with just his acoustic guitar, he quickly realised that he wasn’t 100% certain of the lyrics and even less so on the guitar parts. Eventually opting to perform an acapella version of the album closer with the printed words, the audience’s response in singing every word straight back to him was so overwhelming that he was brought to tears.

He came back on alone following a short break to perform a handful of songs from later albums, eventually with his band joining him. Bringing the night to a close was “Silent Sigh” from the “About A Boy” soundtrack. With smiles beaming across the room, from the stage to the back row, it was a perfect way to end an excellent night of live music and will no doubt have the entire audience digging out copies of his albums and rediscovering him once again.

Badly Drawn Boy is on tour for the next month. Dates can be found on his website.

[1] The Hour of Bewilderbeast had many personnel involved, including several members of fellow Twisted Nerve label-mates Alfie and also Doves, who were complete unknowns when this album was recorded. It is best to think of the first half of being Badly Drawn Boy backed by Alfie, whereas the second half is mainly performed with Doves.

by hutchwp

The Dice Cup Café, Nottingham – Hall of Fame

Well, I always knew I’d make it into the Hall of Fame somewhere. It has finally happened. Admittedly I was hoping for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but The Dice Café in Nottingham is a close second.

The café isn’t actually open yet but it will be soon. It will be a central Nottingham café with a a huge selection of board games available to play whilst you eat and drink. Sounds right up my street. Here’s the link. See if you can find me then check out the café. It’s not too late to pledge!!

by hutchwp

Comic Con – The Best of the Trailers

So this year’s San Diego Comic Con has come to a close for another year. As usual, there were trailers aplenty. Here’s a selection of some of the more interesting ones.

The Walking Dead – Season 6 trailer

I’ve been reading the comic books of The Walking Dead and I’m currently about six comics ahead of the break point of the last season. Whilst the recent stories in the TV show have held pretty true to the comics, I’m hoping they take a divergence from the original stories soon. The trailer suggests this is the case as I’m having difficulty matching it up. Looks absolutely tremendous, with the focus appearing to be a difference of opinion between Rick and pretty much the entire group.

Fear The Walking Dead

On a similar theme, there’s going to be a new spin-off series to The Walking Dead titled Fear The Walking Dead. It follows a completely different set of characters though is set in the same universe. It’s a sort of prequel to the series and focuses on one Los Angeles family as the zombie apocalypse breaks out. It looks very similar to World War Z, but with Robert Kirkman on board it will doubtless have all the magic required to make it work.

Adventure Time stop motion episode Bad Jubies

One episode from the upcoming Season 7 of Adventure Time is going to be stop motion 3D. Looks pretty interesting. Jake, Finn and the gang are facing bad weather and are also made of play dough! Disaster is imminent. Whether it will be canon or not remains to be seen.

Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice – Extended Trailer

Expanding on the previous trailer and giving us a glimpse of the finer details of the plot and some new characters (including Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luther), this trailer is huge news. I’m willing to give this movie a chance and I think most are. It is the film that everyone has wanted to see for a long time. And, dare I say it, I didn’t think Man of Steel was a bad film at all.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Comic Con Reel

“Real sets, practical effects” opens the behind-the-scenes footage reel for the new Star Wars film. Those four words are all any fan has wanted since the underwhelming Episodes I-III. Well, I guess “No Jar Jar Binks” comes a close second. This is footage that just gets me massively excited. There is finally going to be a great Star Wars film released in my lifetime, knocking Caravan of Courage into second place.

Ash v Evil Dead

Will it be terrible? Probably. The new TV series puts Bruce Campbell back into the thick of it as mankind’s only hope against the Deadite uprising. It looks corny but will be good for some laughs.

Deadpool – Leaked Trailer

There’s some shady footage of the Deadpool trailer doing the rounds. I’m not going to link to it but it looks tremendous. Go seek it out.

by hutchwp

Yoshi’s Woolly World / Yosshī Ūru Wārudo ヨッシーウールワールド (Nintendo, 2015)

The latest entry into the Yoshi game series, Yoshi’s Woolly World, has been released in Europe and Japan as a Wii U exclusive. Due to a delay in the release of the Wii U Legend of Zelda game it is also getting a little more focus as one of two big games released by Nintendo this summer, the other being the unexpectedly popular Splatoon, released in May of this year.

The game is set in a thoroughly gorgeous knitted world made entirely of wool. The aim of the game is to take control of Yoshi and rescue your friends following an attack by the evil wizard Kamek, who has turned the rest of the Yoshi species into balls of yarn.

If you're looking for a challenge, you're in the wrong place.

If you’re looking for a challenge, you’re in the wrong place.

Gameplay

If you’re picking this up as a fan of any of the Wii U Mario games and hoping for a new challenge, you may well be bitterly disappointed. The core gameplay is very slow in pace. The lack of time-limit gives players the opportunity to appreciate the environment around them, which sets it apart from, say, New Luigi Bros U, which gives a 100 second time-limit to each level and ensures you have no time to look around at any point. There is no way to significantly speed up a playthrough, at least not until all the collectables have been discovered.

Another factor that means players have an easy ride is the fact there is no way to die. If Yoshi meets his demise, he simply respawns at a convenient position earlier in the level. This respawning has been commonplace in the increasingly forgiving world of video games – especially those considered to be for hardcore gamers – for the last few years but has been conspicuous in its absence in the Mario franchise. It’s a disappointment to see it here and with no lives to manage it is lacking in any concern for success at all.

Remarkably, there is also an additional Mellow Mode, which allows players to fly through the stages. Literally. Yoshi grows wings and takes flight to find all the collectables and avoid all of the obstacles in half the time. Fantastic.

The only thing keeping this from being a very easy interpretation of a Mario-esque 2D platformer is the inclusion of four different collectables. To fully complete each stage you must collect five balls of yarn, five flower heads, finish the stage with full health (you start each stage with half-health) and collect twenty stamp tokens. It’s quite a lazy way to make a game challenging but it does ensure that there’s a degree of replayability.

With its handmade feel it looks very similar to the Wii game Kirby’s Epic Yarn / 毛糸のカービィ, probably because it is from the same development house, Good-Feel. Indeed, they also share a producer in Etsunobu Ebisu and the same composer in Tomoya Tomita. That game itself was inspired at least in part by Yoshi’s Story on the Nintendo 64, so it’s nice the design has come full circle. If there is one redeeming factor it is the wonderfully realised world it inhabits.

Amiibo Support

The amiibo support is minimal at best. All that can be accessed is a reskinning of the controlled character with unusual character colours. It’s a nice touch but doesn’t really add much after the initial chuckle (which lasts around two seconds).

The amiibo support is minimal at best.

The amiibo support is minimal at best.

The amiibo functionality isn’t clearly explained in-game. It is activated by tapping an amiibo on the gamepad (the one with the screen) during the playing of a stage. In single player, this causes an additional second Yoshi to appear to assist Player 1. In Co-op mode, Player 1 Yoshi will simply be reskinned. The amiibo can also be activated in the amiibo hut on the main map.

Summary

It’s difficult to determine how popular this game will be. It definitely has a market out there. It is perfect for younger players and will undoubtedly be enjoyed by parents wanting some entertainment for them to enjoy with their children. For those players who enjoyed the likes of Champions Road in the excellent Super Mario 3D World, there’s not much to be found here.

Yoshi’s Woolly World is available to purchase in Japan and Europe now. It will be released in USA in October 2015.

by hutchwp

Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954)

In 1954, Audrey Hepburn was at the start of a run that saw some of her most popular roles, having been nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Funny Face the year before and also winning a Tony Award for her title role in the stage production of Ondine in 1954. Sabrina’s release saw her cement her position as a global star, providing an Academy Award nomination for her role, a win for the costume design for Edith Head [1] and garnering critical and commercial success worldwide. 

[SPOILER ALERT] 

The following paragraph summarises the synopsis, but potentially has spoilers for the first fifty minutes of the film. I’ve not seen the trailer, but I imagine it reveals more. Also, the film was released 61 years ago, so it’s hard to complain about spoilers. Skip it if you’re concerned. 

Audrey Hepburn stars as title character Sabrina Fairchild, the young daughter of the chauffer to the Larrabee family. Sabrina has been in love with the playboy David Larrabee (William Holden) all her life, despite the fact he barely notices her. Sabrina begrudgingly agrees to go to Paris to attend a culinary school, but on her return two years later she is a completely changed woman, full of style, charm and sophistication. Inevitably, David immediately takes notice, and his attraction to Sabrina jeopardises a pre-arranged marriage that has been organised to benefit the family business, much to the dismay of workaholic older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart), who formulates a plan to get the deal back on track.

[SPOILERS DONE]

It marked the first time Hepburn had worked with Billy Wilder, who was one of the most prominent film directors at the time. By this point he’d already notched up Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Ace In The Hole (1951) and Stalag 17 (1953), amongst others. His films had by this time won 8 Academy Awards and been nominated an additional 28 times. Ultimately, Sabrina would prove to be equally popular, adding an additional win and three further nominations to his belt.

The successes were completely justified. Wilder may be on comfortable territory with a fairly standard love triangle, but few director-screenwriters could inject so much life into the script. If you want to see Wilder capturing Hepburn at her most playfully charming, there are few finer examples than her journey back from the airport with Holden’s David. It’s perfectly written and delivered and is one of the film’s many highlights.

Much has been made of Bogart’s awkwardness on set. He was one of the most established actors in Hollywood and at the time was still one of the biggest box office draws. He frequently had disagreements with Wilder and Holden, and later publicly denounced Audrey Hepburn’s acting ability. The friction doesn’t really transfer to the screen, with all the actors apparently on top of their game. 

The only thing that stands out is the age of the actors in the love triangle. William Holden was 36, Hepburn 24 and Bogart 54. I agree to the much-discussed theory that Holden would have been better as the older brother Linus, with a younger actor appearing as David. Holden had proved to Wilder his depth as an actor in both Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17 and by comparison the character of David seems a little shallow. He handles it well, but age-wise having Sabrina fall in love with a man 30 years her senior seems unusual.

Sabrina has been remembered as one of Audrey Hepburn’s finest moments. It’s a quintessential part of her filmography: she was in the process of becoming a star, was able to show off her acting ability, had one of the greatest directors of all time directing her and was wearing de Givenchy’s costumes for the first time. If you’ve seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s and My Fair Lady, then this is your next stop.

Sabrina can be purchased as part of the Hepburn Collection Blu-Ray boxset.

[1] The costumes that Audrey Hepburn wears are absolutely beautiful, much like the actress herself. Edith Head was credited with the Academy Award for Best Costumes, but there is an ongoing suggestion that they were mainly created by Hubert de Givenchy. Both were adamant that they were responsible for the costume design until their deaths, though the fact that de Givenchy became Hepburn’s go-to costume designer for much of her career suggests it is more than likely that Head had little involvement with her clothing. Whilst there were many other characters to dress, the Oscar was clearly given as a merit to Hepburn’s memorable costumes.

by hutchwp

Tasting a scoop of The Magic Whip

Earlier this week an message was sent around to all those on Blur’s UK fan e-mail list to reveal that there would be a new ice cream available exclusively at Co-op stores across the UK from Wednesday 8th July. Moreover, each pack would come with a download code for an exclusive from the sessions for The Magic Whip but not featured on the album. This was music to my ears (figuratively and literally).

However, it isn’t all great news. The track being given away is called “Y’All Doomed”, which was previously available on the Japanese version of the album (and subsequently all over YouTube, including here). The song is fine but is obviously an outtake from the sessions, rather than a great song that didn’t fit with the album. Additionally, it was previously available to HMV customers on 7” vinyl back in March. So it’s not a new song, but it’s free, so we can’t complain.

 

The ice cream itself is actually really nice. We’re in great hands – The Licktators are experienced in creating some really delicious flavours (Marshmellow Law is particularly tasty). The Magic Whip is an old British favourite: raspberry ripple with vanilla ice cream. At £1.74 per 290ml I’d definitely buy it again. The packaging puts it firmly in the canon of the album, and it all sits together quite nicely.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to finish the rest of my serving. This third tub won’t eat itself.

[Note] I bought a few tubs of The Magic Whip so have a couple of spare codes to download the new single “Y’All Doomed”. Let me know if you want one of them.

by hutchwp

Jurassic World (Colin Trevorrow, 2015)

One of my earliest cinema memories involves Jurassic Park, the 1993 action blockbuster directed by Steven Spielberg that has gone down in history as one of the greatest action films of all time. Sat at my local cinema – Apollo / Unit Four Cinemas in Brierfield in the heart of Lancashire [1] – with my brother and mum, we were all on the edge of our seats as Dr Alan Grant attempted to get Alexis and Timothy over a soon-to-be-electrified fence. As the shots flicked between the party on the fence and Ellie Sattler in the control room re-powering the park, the alarms start to blast out and the suspense was way too much for my brother. With perfect timing, he stood up with clenched fists and shouted “JUST JUMP!” at the top of his voice. It’s a story that is still retold at family functions to this day. Occasionally I just send him a text saying “JUST JUMP!”. It never gets old.

Actually, what is interesting about this highly memorable scene is the fact it doesn’t really involve any dinosaurs. It doesn’t require any special effects or CGI until an entirely believable puppet raptor bursts through a wall over Sattler’s shoulder. It’s just a bit of tense music and some mild panic for some characters we all really care about.

Throughout the whole film the exhilarating pacing was always there and the effects were obviously well thought out to ensure a realistic and believable option was utilised. This kind of intelligent movie making was sadly missing from the two installations we’ve had to endure in the intervening years. Fans of the original were hopeful that this would all be corrected with this year’s franchise reboot. Sadly their hopes won’t be realised with Jurassic World.

Despite Chris Pratt's great performance, he can't save the film from its underachievements.

Despite Chris Pratt’s great performance, he can’t save the film from its underachievements.

The premise is excellent. Twenty-two years after the events of the first film, Isla Nublar, an island off the coast of Costa Rica, has been converted into the visionary park that Dr Hammond always dreamed of. Led by Dr Wu (the returning B. D. Wong) at the behest of Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), the scientific research team has secretly been working on genetic splices of dinosaurs in an attempt to turn around dwindling attendance figures. When their prize creation – an Indominus Rex – escapes from its enclosure, it is down to velociraptor trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and clueless park operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) to rescue Dearing’s two visiting nephews Gray and Zach Mitchell (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson respectively).

Much has been made about Dearing as a weak role model for girls. I have to say that when I stumble across these kinds of articles I tend to roll my eyes, but in this case the anger is very much justified. As operations manager for such a huge island resort, she is immediately shown as weak-minded and out of her depth in her job, lacking in the basic facts required for her position and wholly reliant on people around her to bail her out. When she finally decides to knuckle down and help out the cause, she decides to keep her high-heels on. In the end she spends the remainder of the film hiding behind her alpha male counterpart, being rescued and generally not being much use. The only other prominent female is Zara Young, Dearing’s personal assistant, who is too engrossed in her phone to do her job. When the original film had two very likable and head-strong female characters, this comes as a bit of a disappointment.

Indeed, there are only two characters of any substance. Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady is a blast from the past, no nonsense hero who makes decisions by taking matters into his own hands and has superior knowledge of pretty much everything in the park. He is a little cliched, but it’s something that can be forgiven when everyone around him is so difficult to get behind. Ty Simpkins’s Gray Mitchell, the younger of the siblings, follows up assured performances in Iron Man 3 and the Insidious series with a solid turn as the know-it-all excited teenager. He may be Tim Murphy reincarnated but in comparison to his wooden older brother he is a breath of fresh air.

The only thing less believable than the majority of the cast is the woeful CGI. There were a couple of moments that impressed, though these were generally in the dark and in short bursts. For the most part and especially in the day time shots, the effects were a distraction and this is a sin in the art of storytelling through film. The best films take you into a world and fully immerse you in what you are experiencing. An overarching question hanging over this film is how they managed to actually make the dinosaurs less believable than Jurassic Park, despite the fact they spent more money doing it. The mind baffles.

Jurassic World is certainly better than Jurassic Park III, and perhaps on a par with The Lost World, but for all the hype around it, it never quite lives up to the expectation.

Jurassic World is in cinemas worldwide now.

[1] From my childhood home in Burnley, the Brierfield Apollo was definitely the closest to get to. It was the setting for almost all of my earliest cinema memories: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (a hugely exciting 6th birthday treat in November 1990), The Never Ending Story II (December 1990), Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (July 1991), Hook (April 1992), Aladdin (another birthday trip in November 1992) and Jurassic Park (July 1993). The cinema shut down in 1997 upon the opening of Apollo Cinema in my home town Burnley, which then became the home of my teenage year’s of cinema (I think I saw two of the opening four films available in the first week – Batman and Robin then Beavis and Butt-head Do America – because there was a promotional offer to get people through the door). I think, however, all of these were preceded by a trip to see a re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at Loughborough’s Curzon Cinema in July 1987, which was abandoned because my grandma was ill.

by hutchwp

Kronk’s New Groove (Elliot M. Bour, Saul Andrew Blinkoff, 2005)

Having recently watched The Emporer’s New Groove, Disney’s 2000 animated film that failed to light up the box office but did go some way to maintaining their credibility amongst an otherwise troubled period, I decided to watch the sequel. Inevitably, Kronk’s New Groove was a direct-to-video release and it also has many of the hallmarks of most of the other Disney films that bypassed the cinema: short running time, sub-par animation and almost none of the magic of the original release.

One thing that is retained is the talented voice cast, including David Cross as Emperor Kuzco (cameo only), John Goodman as Pacha (cameo only), Eartha Kitt as Yzma (cameo only) and, of course, Patrick Warburton as the titular Kronk. It’s quite impressive that everyone was convinced back based on the premise of a flimsy sequel to a five-year-old film, though the fact they were probably only in the studio for a day may have helped.

We do, however, lose Sting’s excellent songs and score that were present in the original (though many of his songs missed out on the original, as fully explained in the excellent documentary film The Sweatbox). Indeed, there are only a couple of songs in the film and they’re pretty forgettable.

The film was so bad it brought some viewers to tears.

The film was so bad it brought some viewers to tears.

Many criticisms on this film centre on the lack of storyline. In truth, the basic premise isn’t even half as off-the-wall as the first film. In this one, Kronk tries to achieve the lifelong ambition of winning the approval of his father (“the big thumbs up from Papi”), trying to hide the fact he is a chef in a restaurant and pretend he has been more of a success. He takes on a scout team (of sorts), falls in love, rips off some old people with an elixir of life. It isn’t too bad, though it is a bit straightforward. It isn’t the storyline itself that causes the issues, but rather the pacing and lack of imagination therein. There’s obviously been a strict budget applied that goes beyond the poor animation and this certainly goes for the lack of time spent on the script and the fact that nobody realised it was completely lacking in humour.

In my opinion, this last point is the over-arching issue. Whilst the first film is full of huge laughs, most of which were memorable and quotable, there is nothing on that level this time around. Most of the gags are parodies of other films but they themselves are outdated: The Matrix and Titanic were both almost a decade old by the time of release, meaning the jokes were no doubt lost on the children at which this is aimed. Not only that, but they would have also failed to ignite any laughter in the parents sitting through it with them.

I don’t think this is quite as bad as the majority of reviews would have us believe (it holds a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). It isn’t a classic, and I can’t recommend you watch it unless you’re a hugely keen fan of the original, but it isn’t a film with out any redeeming qualities.

Kronk’s New Groove is available now on DVD. Strangely a standalone Blu-Ray hasn’t appeared yet.

by hutchwp

Film review – The Emperor’s New Groove (Mark Dindal, 2000)

The Emperor’s New Groove is widely regarded as the first post-Renaissance-period Disney animated film, the studio having seen huge successes with the ten Renaissance-period films bookended by The Little Mermaid in 1989 and Tarzan in 1999. That The Emperor’s New Groove was not part of this is down to an element of production hell, which caused a more serious and epic romantic comedy titled Kingdom of the Sun – in the same vein as The Lion King – to be thrown away before it evolved into the film we know today. [1]

Central to the original film were six new songs written and performed by Sting. Having seen close friends Phil Collins and Elton John experience huge successes with their films Tarzan and The Lion King respectively, Sting was able to approach the project confident that he would have a success on his hands. The songs themselves reveal a lot about the romantic-comedy themes of the film-that-never-was and help us construct what we missed out on.

Kingdom of the Sun concept art

Kingdom of the Sun concept art

One song we did get to hear was “One Day She’ll Love Me”, a duet with Grammy Award-winning folk-rock singer Shawn Colvin. This appeared on the soundtrack and would have fitted with the original storyline of the pauper (voiced by Owen Wilson) switching places with the emperor and slowly falling in love with his wife-to-be Nina. It was apparently due to appear in a palace party scene and is similar in many ways to “Can You Feel The Love” from The Lion King.

Another couple that appeared on the soundtrack but not in the film were “Snuff Out The Light”, a song to be sung by the villain Yzma (Eartha Kitt); and “Walk The Llama Llama”, a fun song to show the importance of llamas to Incan societies.

Three additional songs that were written by Sting remain unreleased and unidentified. I often wonder whether or not “After The Rain Has Fallen” was one of these songs. The song appeared a year after this film on the album “Brand New Day”, and has a few references that fit (a palace, princess betrothed to a man she doesn’t love) and a few that don’t, but could have been changed to distance it from the film. 

Two further songs were written for the new version of the film: “My Funny Friend and Me” and “Perfect World”. The latter was sung by Tom Jones.

So, whilst we were robbed of a film that could have been up there with some of the best Disney films of the 90s, we instead got a delayed film in a completely different mood but is actually a huge success story considering its journey. The plot makes no sense whatsoever – an emperor is turned into a llama by an evil power-hungry adviser, though he is rescued by a local farmer and the two form a buddy relationship to find the potion to turn him back to a human despite the fact he wanted to build a holiday home over the top of farmer’s house. Somehow, though, it works and we end up with a fast-paced, hilarious and beautifully animated feature film that was one of the last successes for Disney 2D animation before they gave up completely on it with the release of the lackluster 3D animated picture Chicken Little in 2005.

There is a generation of children who grew up loving animated films but for the first time in over a decade these were not Disney films. Instead, there were the excellent Pixar films such as Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles and the successful Dreamworks films like the Shrek series, Shark Tale and Madagascar. Of the Walt Disney Studios films released in this period, which also includes Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo and Stitch, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear and Home on the Range, The Emperor’s New Groove certainly stands out as the best of an admittedly mediocre bunch.

The Emperor’s New Groove is available to buy on DVD and Blu-Ray now. [2]

[1] The documentary film title The Sweatbox, which remains largely unreleased but for a few appearances online every now and then (it is owned by Disney), follows the problematic production closely and is worth seeking out. It isn’t the fantastic tell-all story people believe it to be but it is extremely interesting and has a few glimpses of how the original film was shaping up.

[2] I found the alternative poster for The Emperor’s New Groove on a site called Deviant Art, and it was done by an artist called Alejandro Cisneros. I don’t know much about the artist but his other artwork is really incredible. Check out his site!

by hutchwp

James Bay live at the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, 26th June 2015

Setlist:

Collide
Craving
When We Were On Fire
If You Ever Want to Be in Love
Need The Sun To Break
Let It Go
Scars
Move Together
Best Fake Smile
Get Out While You Can
If I Ain’t Got You
Hold Back the River

On 28th June 2013 I went to see Jake Bugg perform a set on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival. As the hot new acoustic folk kid on the block, there was a lot of anticipation around his performance. He walked out boldly, with just himself and a guitar, and launched into the romantic “Fire”. As the set progressed, it became increasingly obvious that he wasn’t going to interact with the audience. Indeed, his body language just didn’t have any command to it. Whilst he had the tunes, he didn’t have the charisma to fill such a big stage.

Two years on, 2015’s JB found himself in a similar situation. He has been something of a revelation this year – he has been playlisted frequently on both BBC Radio 1 and 2 and his last few singles have all troubled the Top 40 in the UK.

As he performed album track “Collide”, however, I couldn’t help but feel concerned that he might be swallowed up as well. Then the crowd erupted, he shot out a smile and all was well. It was a fantastic moment.

From start to finish he blew away a rammed Pyramid Stage with some breathtaking vocals and subtly restrained guitars. He’s clearly very popular and it’s easy to see why, especially when around 60,000 people are singing every word back to him on “Take Back The River” and “Let It Go”. For someone who was largely unknown a year ago he clearly has what it takes to command the largest of audiences. [1]

Well done sir, you were fantastic.

[1] Ironically Bay’s biggest hit “Hold Back The River”, which hit number 2 earlier this year, was co-written with Bugg’s regular collaborator Iain Archer, along with half of his debut album. Small world, eh?