THREE CD REVIEWS & bad movies made from better books
By Alex Ness
July 18, 2025
Easy to Enjoy! Edith Piaf, Anderson Charles
"EDITH PIAF The Platinum Edition" represents a large collection of a French singer, who was very popular, had fans across the globe, and who was at times controversial. Her two biggest international songs, I've been told are La Vie en Rose meaning to live seeing through a rose colored tint, and Non, je ne regrette rien, a song expressing a solidarity with certain factions, and not regretting anything done during that time. It was taken as a slogan and song to represent 1er Régiment Etranger de Parachutistes, 1er REP An elite unit of the French Foreign Legion who had refused orders and essentially mutinied, due to their disagreement with a French referendum regarding the Algerian war of Independence. The songs in this collection are very much well chosen, have good quality of sound, and have for 60 or more years since being made, are of a technically good quality. Do I think you would like it? It depends of course on where on the timeline your musical interest falls, but I definitely love it. The Non, je ne regrette rien is a favorite all time song of mine, and I often cry upon hearing it. But if it is French language and old, most Americans won't dig it.
"ANDERSON CHARLES: It's getting late" The genre of this CD is authentic Americana, with truly lovely songs, meanings and emotions. An opening song, Hillbilly Cats go to Mardi Gras is a delightful work with spunk and knowing, of happiness and youth. I liked it very much. As such it is emblematic of the whole of the work, intelligent, new while being reminiscent of past vibes. This entire work has a collection of good music and interesting lyrics. The song "A Gorgeous Mess" is a reminder of days when the worst part of life was paying taxes and feeling stalled for a future, but living in a moment of gilded youth. A voice reminds us of a woman he fancies, and every time she visits the bar he sees her coming in with a new beau, and he desires that she changes the beau, if it could be him. The work here is truly worth listening to, it is good. I am grateful for the review copy, and it lives up to the lovely art that appears on the cover.
It can be heard on various digital platforms, but if you like what you hear, buy it to support the artist in future endeavors.
You can contact Chuck here
Powerful Sounds!
CASSINI ECHOES: the only way out is through
Begun as the Sleeper Pins, moved to Layers and Layers at last, Cassini Echoes are the latest phase of evolution in the life of some truly beautiful and moving music.
Tyson Allison is a special voice and music writer, however loud the music, how apt the lyric, how painful the emotion or deep the love, there is nothing out of place, or imperfect. This CD takes at least two songs that were in earlier CDs, and has made both better. Black Swans is one, I'm Gonna Write a Song if it Kills me is two. The myriad of fantastically personal lyrics meets cellos, piano, drums and guitars, is good throughout. Too loud for folk, too quiet for rock, it defies labels, and when listening to the whole work, if you haven't felt your heart rise, raise your hands in grace and thanks, or smile, you might need a defibrillator. That is surely hyperbole, but in this case, however outrageous it seems, I think it is true. There is not a song that didn't move me.
https://www.cassiniechoes.com/
Good or Really Good Books interpreted in film poorly
EXIT TO EDEN Anne Rice in book form is about naughty lifestyles and characters seeking hedonistic activities. The movie of the same title is a badly played buddy comedy with a badly rewritten take on the world and setting, and characters of the novel. I'd read it since a friend said it was well written and not a romance, despite outward appearances. While still not my taste area, I really do like Anne Rice's words. I watched the movie since I thought it could be an interesting premise and expanded to the original premise jewelry theft. But it wasn't anything good. It was poorly acted, poorly interpreted and not at all funny, it was used as an excuse to see nearly nude people making stupid comments. Think 50 Shades of Gray with the two main characters played by Phyllis Diller, and Bobcat Goldthwait.
The book PROPHECY features a work by David Seltzer but it is a novelization of the film. However, Seltzer was the the creator of the concept and movie, so, it was way better than most novels that are adaptations. He knew his own story and wrote a good one in prose. But the movie, this is not cheese, it is crap. Poor effects, a wandering plot, and mostly bad acting, Talia Shire was the exception, I would not recommend this. The creature is a mutant from all the toxic pollution in the region's wood industry. And as monsters go, it should be a scary one, but it was a bear with jiggly flesh trying to kill, hurt, or scare humans. It was miserable.
FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC is a work written by VC Andrews, an author who was rather popular. But it looks different from a distance. It isn't a (healthy) romance. It isn't a mystery. It approaches horror, but it goes about things in a way that draw the reader in further, as a subtle horror movie would. Was the tragedy followed an innocent event, or was it murder? Was it romantic love? Was it greed? You go find out I am not spoiling things. But the 1987 movie was a crap fest. It managed to not tell the whole story, ignores the hiccups of plot holes due to self censoring, and missing out on why the book had a major focus but this movie skirts around the weird dynamic. VC Andrews wasn't my favorite writer. But if you going to tell her story, try following the work you are adapting.
CUJO by Stephen King and about a dog that becomes a killer due to being infected by a bat bite in the outdoors. Initially the dog is mentally slow, and sluggish, but ultimately, he is overtaken by the virus, and he is shown to have become rabid. The book itself is a well told, but less so than King's other works. Perhaps I don't find myself moved by what is a story about a dog killing people. The movie was worse however, in that it doesn't express fear, but violence and blood. It might be close to true to the novel, with one or two small changes. But, since it is a movie, one may be of the opinion that a movie might be expected to be more action oriented, and still able to reflect that characters in the book. In this film, I can't even remember the human characters. And I only saw the movie in the last two years...
NIGHTWING by Martin Cruz Smith I enjoyed the book, but never saw it as horror. So, if I was to judge it based on did it succeed in horror? No. Was it interesting and new for me? Yes. A shaman of sorts tells his foster son he wove a spell for the world to die that night. But there have been waves of bats from the nearby caverns, who have killed others. Setting a choice of believing the curse was real, and happening, or a natural event. It wasn't natural, but you can read and find out what it was. The film was horror, but did not do it well. The feeling of horror and setting failed. The special effects in all areas were flimsy. I watched on first run of the film, and fell asleep. As a much older man I watched and thought, I missed my nap. Nonetheless, the book was far better, horror or not.
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