Rock Follies

Was it really thirty years ago I watched this?

I haven't seen it again since then, but I recently got a chance to watch the British DVDs (the series isn't released in the USA). Seeing the awful boyfriends (Spike and the commune, Jack & Carl) rang all too true - I was at University with some of these guys. The music, of course, is excellent - what else would you expect from Roxy Music? But what really tickled me was seeing several of the 1981 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy cast - Stephen Moore, David Dixon and Simon Jones (plus, of course, Rula Lenska). In fact some of Stephen Moore's lines as Jack sound as though they could have been written for Arthur Dent - at one point he even complains about Thursdays.

I remember staying up all night when this was on for an interminable PBS fundraiser in New York. I was so wild about it I even donated whatever it was...$50?, anyway an astronomical sum for me then so that I could snag the album. (as in vinyl 12-inch.)

Darling husband recently bought me a turntable so that we can listen to the old LPs again, and "Rock Follies" was one of the first on. There are really only 3 good songs ("The Road," "Good Behavior," and "Sugar Mountain") and all of them are sung by Julie Covington.

It was a fun little program; thinking of picking up DVD next time in England.

I watched it and enjoyed it - clever comedy, and the relations between the chief characters kept changing, not re-cycling the same plots as many comedies do.

The three woman come from different backgrounds and have very difference approaches to life. Each also has a distinctive relationship with the man in their life, though this too alters, with some characters growing more important and others dropping out.

I know nothing about the actual pop world but it seemed very plausible, the way ambition would lead to a loss of ideas, not necessarily leading to success.

The adventures of three young women from diverse show biz backgrounds meet at an audition and form a rock trio with hilarious results; including a tour where one of the venues is a Scottish country & western bar. Great performances and good singing and outrageous humor. Good songs too! ("I used to be in talkin' pictures, talkin' pictures, if you know what I mean" is a hoot.) British humor at its best by, ironically an American author. My thumbs are way up. Love to see this again - it was run on PBS. RB

This is the type of show/movie/presentation I like writing about because it is rather obscure and only the 'faithful' will fully understand. PBS in the States in the late 1970's and early 1980's brought over some highly enjoyable British comedic fare, with 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', then 'No, Honestly', 'Rock Follies', and of course, 'Are You Being Served'.

It was, like, once you got hooked on watching one, you would stay to see the next. Rock Follies which followed the trials and tribulations of three young women who hoped to make it as a rock singing group was probably the weakest of the four as it seemed to lurch between biting comedy and bitter sweet drama with each episode showing the girls barely making it in whatever venue they were unceremoniously dropped, and then failure settling in.

If you really enjoy seeing a musical group starting from scratch and following their lives as they face numerous hurdles both professional and personal, with what would appear to be an insider's look at the music business, and you enjoy the music, then I would recommend this. And for those who remember that rather 'infamous' advertisement for a hair product, you'll get to see who Rula Lenska was. One of the first celebutantes (who really was neither, just like some we know today ;)

It's not for everyone's tastes but British tele can be that way to an American audience. Now when does Season 2 of Downton Abbey return?