Vic and Bob's House of Fools (2014)

Right from The Good Life/Robin's Nest parodied title credits Vic and Bob instantly set the tone for their new comedy. House of Fools is a nod to the sitcoms of the 1970, yet unmistakably modern in its approach - unmistakably Reeves and Mortimer. 

With the mainstream sitcom landscape seemingly a little stagnant it's a relief to have the duo back on our screens since the BBC inexplicably cancelled Shooting Stars.  And just as Shooting stars twisted the format of the panel show, House of Fools does the same to sitcom.  

Most of the action occurs in Bob's home, which is constantly filled with unwanted guests.  Vic  is the most long-term, much to Bob's annoyance. There's also the flamboyant, sexually charged Beef played expertly by Matt Berry, eccentric next door neighbour Julie (Morgana Robinson), Vic's jailbird brother Bosh (Dan Skinner) and Bob's Norwegian son Erik (Daniel Simonsen).

The first episode sees Beef setting up Bob with a hot date.  Now all Bob needs to do is clear out his guests so he and his date can watch a film.  After all, Conan the Barbarian is on TV at 2.30, on a channel past the fishing shit, but not as far as the Welsh stuff.  But there's a snag - Vic has broken the TV, which inevitably leads to the entire cast acting out the film in Bob's living room - duh.  Fans of the duo will be delighted to see some classic Reeves and Mortimer - the nutty songs, slapstick fights and silly gags:

"Morning Bob,"
"Why, no one's died?" 

In the second episode things become even more surreal as the boys are entrusted with the safety of Julie's pork pie. She's planning to give it to Bruce Willis in the hope that he will take the lead in the film adaptation of her erotic book "Nobbin' Hood" - her whole career depends on it.  Though this is no ordinary pork pie, it is - of course, a talking pork pie.  The pastry torments the gang with taunts of "eat me," and it doesn't take long for them to give in to temptation.  

In the world of Vic and Bob anything goes, however, this can sometimes make it a rather hit and miss affair. Indeed while channel surfing can be the equivalent of fishing for coins in a raging sea of diarrhea, as far as a comfortable viewing goes there's absolutely nothing like it on our screens.  With House of Fools dancing a line between the puerile and the ridiculous and the genius it's at least a refreshingly original bit of mainstream telly. 

Vic: "How long shall I cook this egg?"

Bob: "About six feet seven."

House of Fools runs for six episodes every Tuesday from 14th January until 18th February 2014, 10pm, BBC2.

David Lynch, William S. Burroughs and Andy Warhol: The Photographers' Gallery (17th January - 30th March 2014)

A trio of American cultural icons and oddballs make up The Photographers' Gallery first new exhibition of the year.  Photography doesn't immediately spring to mind when you think of David Lynch, William S. Burroughs or Andy Warhol, yet the work on display offers a real insight into their methods within their respective fields.  Shown across three floors, much of these photos have never been displayed in the Europe before and this is a rare opportunity to see this triptych under one roof.

David Lynch: The Factory Photographs.  John Lyon Gallery - 5th Floor 

David Lynch (b.1946) best known as the director of cult films as well as an occasional musician, actor and artist.  His photographic work is much less acknowledged (this is his first UK exhibition), but those familiar to Lynch's films should draw parallels between this work and his movies.  This series consists of black and white photos of the interiors and exteriors of abandoned factories and industrial wastelands composed in typically eerie fashion.

Shot in locations across England, Germany, Poland, New Jersey and New York.  Industry is a recurring motif throughout his cinematography - such as the industrial landscapes of Eraserhead (1977) and the factories in The Elephant Man (1980).  This fascination is particularly evident in the opening titles of his TV drama Twin Peaks (1990-1991) that features many close ups of machinery in a sawmill.  In fact many of these photos were taken when he was scouting for potential film locations. 

The eerie-ness and tension is furthered by Lynch's self-composed accompanying soundtrack that is projected into the gallery.  This synthesized white noise evokes a sense of the long lost industry that once thrived inside these now desolate buildings while sporadic percussive hits resonate like the ghosts of men working with machines in another world.  

"I got a taste for a certain kind of architecture and a feeling for machines and smoke and fear.  To me, the ideal factory location has no real nature, except winter-dead black trees and oil-soaked earth.  Time dissappears when I'm shooting in a factory, it's really beautiful." - David Lynch

David Lynch: The Factory Photographs is curated by Munich based author Petra Giloy-Hirtz. 

Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs. Barbara Lloyd Gallery - 4th Floor

One of 20th Century America's most influential and original writers, William S. Burroughs' (1914-1987) photography is pretty unknown and this exhibition is the first public display of his work in this area. 

Employing the same Dadaist cut-up techniques to his photographs that he applied to his writing Burroughs work is vaguely divided into street scenes, collages and portraits.  There are clippings of New York car accidents, before and after shots of a bed after a sexual encounter with lover John Brady - including a few rather grotty snaps of spunk stained sheets, even a photographic attack on a Cafe for serving him "outrageous and unprovoked discourtesy and poisonous cheesecake."

Many of these works don't seem to be complete, for instance there are a few hacked out clippings that have been mounted on the walls while there are a few sets of framed negatives.  The most enjoyable are the various portraits of friends, colleagues and lovers - including Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Brady as well as Burroughs' self-portraits.  

"The point is to make the camera your eyes and take what your eyes are scanning out of the larger picture." - William S. Burroughs

Taking Shots is curated by Patricia Allmer, Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, and author John Sears.

Andy Warhol: Photographs 1976-1987. Wolfson Gallery - 2nd Floor

What makes this exhibiton so intriguing is that it offers a chance to see a lesser known period in the career of Andy Warhol (1928-1987).  In fact Warhol only became - ahem, focused on photography when he became familiar with 1970's compact cameras.  

Warhol's photography -like his most celebrated art, consists of the everyday.  Looking at these photos you can almost imagine the artist mysteriously gliding through streets, buildings and celebrity parties with a camera hanging from his neck obsessively snapping away.  Paradoxically on the one hand these images are detached from his most well-known work but at the same time they're somehow undeniably Warhol.

Particularly Warholian images include a snap of a cupboard of filled with Hellman's mayo, Uncle Ben's rice and other branded foods (no Campbell's soup though) and celebrity images of Jerry Hall and Liza Minelli familiarly replicated and hand stitched together by the artist.  Images less in the typical Warhol mould are shots of gay pride marches, a man lying on a bench (is he passed out or asleep?) and a family flying kites.   

"I told them I didn't believe in art, that I believed in photography." - Andy Warhol

The Photographers' Gallery 16-18 Ramillies Street, W1F 7LW
From 17th January - 30th March 2014
10am-6pm daily, except Thursdays (10am-8pm)
Tickets from £4

Strangeways, Here We Come - The Smiths (1987)

Although The Queen is Dead is usually referred to as the The Smiths' masterpiece, recently topping an NME poll for their greatest album of all time, the band’s final outing is arguably their finest hour.  Released following the breakup of the group, Strangeways, Here We Come is the forgotten jewel in The Smiths' canon.  

Following the dissolution of the Morrissey-Marr partnership - British music's the most prolific songwriting duo since Lennon-McCartney, reports of in-studio squabbling during the recording of Strangeways began to emerge in the music press.  However, according to Morrissey nothing could have been further from the truth as he claims in his autobiography: “Strangeways, Here We Come is the most joyful and relaxed Smiths studio session, with crates of beer wheeled in at the close of each day and no war in sight.” 

The Smiths: Mike Joyce (drums), Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass)

The opening track 'A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours' develops a minor chord sequence played by Marr on keyboards.  The song is one of the most radical departures from The Smiths’ traditional sound, insomuch that it has no guitars.  The song was purposely written by Marr to prove that he could write songs on different instruments (despite previous piano driven B-sides 'Oscillate Wildly' and 'Asleep').  It was also a departure from the “jingle jangle” sound of previous albums. 'A Rush and a Push...' perfectly sets the tone for what would turn out to be the group’s farewell. 

Perhaps prophetically, mortality plays a part in much of Morrissey’s lyrics - 'Death at One’s Elbow', 'Unhappy Birthday', as well as 'Death of a Disco Dancer', one of the band’s most overlooked songs, with its descending chord sequence reminiscent of The Beatles' 'Dear Prudence'.  It is the most sonically engaging performance on the album.  In fact Marr said he was “trying to capture everything about the atmosphere of The White Album.”  During the song’s cathartic climax a jazzy piano motif akin to David Bowie’s 'Aladdin Sane' is played by Morrisey: “And I am loosely credited as a musician.”

Powerhouse Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before was initially slated as the lead single for the album but the pulled after a reference to mass murder (in August 1987, 27-year-old Michael Robert Ryan shot and killed 16 before killing himself).  With the BBC refusing airplay it was replaced by the cheery-yet slightly bland Girlfriend in a Coma.  Lyrically it’s perhaps the most morbid single Morrissey ever penned in which the girlfriend's fate is sealed in the closing couplet: “Girlfriend in a coma/ I know, I know it’s serious”.      

In Paint a Vulgar Picture Morrissey unleashes a tirade against the music industry (possibly former label Rough Trade and its founder Geoff Travis - though he denies this).  Indeed Morrissey’s predictions couldn’t be more accurate, and indeed today ring truer than ever:  

Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package!

Re-evaluate the songs

Double pack with a photograph

Extra Track (and a tacky badge)

Production-wise Strangeways is far and away the most crisp, colourful and ambitious record The Smiths ever laid onto tape, indeed as Slant Magazine said:  "Whether or not Strangeways, Here We Come ended the Smiths' brief career with their best album has been the subject of considerable debate for nearly a quarter century, but it definitively stands as the band's most lush, richest work."