Rock Follies

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 saw this as a teenager and thought it was fantastic. I recall it being a hilarious and involving story of a struggling girl group. I loved the songs and bought the album, and it's one of my favorite albums to this day.

43 years later I watch it again, and, well, it's awful.

At least the first episode is awful. I stuck with it for nostalgia's sake and it does pick up as it moves away from the Little Ladies pre-rock life to their time on the road. Most of the acting is weak, but Dee Covington is terrific as the edgiest member (she's also easily the best singer, later having a hit with Don't Cry for Me Argentina).

Their adventures are a mix of awful clubs, awful men, awful money men, awful choreography, way too many long speeches on this and that, and really terrific songs by Andy McKay (all the songs were apparently rerecorded for the album except Glenn Miller is Missing, and while the originals aren't as polished they're still generally quite good).

The great irony of Rock Follies is it's a series about the powerlessness of talented nobodies and the ways they are chewed up and spat out, and the idea for the series was actually stolen from a group called Rock Bottom, which came up with the idea as a vehicle for themselves and were quite upset to see it wind up as a vehicle for others (they eventually won a lawsuit). It's exactly the sort of thing that would happen in the series, and it's amazing to consider people creating a show critiquing the exact sort of exploitation they were involved in.

I saw the second season of Rock Follies years after the first, and I thought it was a terrible follow up, but now that I realize the original wasn't that good I suppose the sequel may have been about equivalent.

I don't know how much of my disappointment in this series is the difference between me at 18 and 60, and how much is that the quality of TV was so much worse in the 70s that there was a pretty low bar. Ultimately, the 17-year-old me recommends this, the 60-year-old me says don't bother, and both of us encourage you to get the soundtrack.

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.

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 was an enjoyable series with a musical storyline. It featured the trials of an aspiring all girl band, with entertaining and still memorable songs.

Julie Covington could sing, and had a huge number 1 hit soon after the show ("Don't cry for me Argentina"). Charlotte Cornwell could barely sing, but Rula Lenska could barely sing or talk.

I'm surprised this hasn't developed more of a cult following.

Whatever happened to Julie Covington, she seemed to dissappear completely?!