Live It Up!

Forget the plot. Forget the acting (which isn't that bad). I finally found a remastered DVD of this film in excellent quality. I acquired the title track "Live it Up" on a 45 by Heinz, which made me want to see this movie. I love Joe Meek's music anyway, but to have clips of some of his stars (I don't care that they're miming) plus Gene Vincent!! well it makes this short film well worth having a look at.

It's short enough that you won't get bored if you're not really keen on the trivial amateurish story lines they had in these types of movies. The music interupts it regularly anyway.

Search out the DVD as the commentary is also worth listening to. A wonderful period piece, no doubt!! I gave it a 9 just because of its wonderful feel as well as the great music and the rarity of seeing any footage of these early 60's singers & groups.

Sit back & enjoy!!

I've been watching some of the US (dating before Hard Day's Night) rock and roll movies over the last few months, and this UK effort from 1963 is much better than virtually all of them. First, it's very well acted and the script is full of little details that make the characters seem real--the Dad who works the night shift and rides on his son, but privately hopes that the son proves him wrong and stands up to him; the Mom who once had been an entertainer of some sort and understands her son's need to perform, but is also grounded in the real world; the hilarious American TV and film producer who is a tasteless and boorish man (kind of like Jack Palance's character in CONTEMPT but funnier) yet incredibly creative in his own strange way (a shame he didn't arrive on the scene 30 years later, he could have worked for the Fox Network!). David Hemmings does a fantastic job as the young messenger-service worker who buys all the music magazines, practices the guitar, listens to records all the time, and has the burning desire to play rock and roll. UK singing sensation and Joe Meek protégé Heinz Burt, whose records I always enjoyed (and who sings a few songs here), handles the acting well also as a member of Hemmings' band (as is a young Steve Marriott). As for the music, well, how much do you like Joe Meek's patented other-worldly production sound? I played my fiancée a few of the songs, and she asked "is that sea of echo and all the distortion intentional?" Yes is the answer. Meek also wrote virtually all the music in the film, including one number sung by Gene Vincent (I thought I had most of Vincent's records, but I sure as heck do not have this Meek-produced song, which Vincent sings while polishing some huge steam-powered locomotive or something, and while flirting with a young lady). Some of the female Meek vocalists are a little imprecise in the intonation department, and on the whole the rockers work better than the ballads, which tend to be of the moon/June variety. But the rockers are incredible, including the title track, LIVE IT UP, which is performed a few times in the film. Some of Meek's fine instrumental units perform too, and it's fascinating to see a world depicted where the musical backdrop is produced by Joe Meek. It's like some kind of alternate universe. My copy is a few generations removed from a UHF TV broadcast in the early 80's (probably the last period when one could see something like this on TV), and it also sports the much less interesting US release title SING AND SWING. For any fan of Joe Meek or of David Hemmings, this is an amazing film, and as an American I find the depiction of the up and coming British rocker quite convincing. I wish that I had seen this film as a child back in the 60s--I didn't see it at all until the late 1980's. It is crying out for a DVD release. Fans of 1960's rock and roll films should track this one down...

Since I was only four in 1963 the actor who's presence in this film is for me most evocative of the early sixties is dear old Peter Glaze from 'Crackerjack'. But there's someone for everyone to watch out for in this agreeable time waster by veteran director Lance Comfort; including Kenny Ball and Patsy Ann Noble (stars of Pinetree Studio's 'Don't Give Me That Jazz').

And of course there's the 21 year-old David Hemmings, already capable of carrying a feature film on his young shoulders while convincingly playing a teenager.

This movie dates from the pre-Hard Day's Night era when Britpop movies were less concerned with a cohesive plot than simply assaulting the senses with as many potentially chart-making musical numbers as possible. It is particularly interesting because of the high ratio of musical numbers written and/or produced by legendary British maverick pop mogul Joe Meek, including songs by Heinz, Gene Vincent, Kim Roberts, Andy Cavell & The Saints and Coronation Street actress Jennie Moss as well as some of the background music. Too many people think of the British Invasion as starting with the Beatles in 1964; this movie showcases an earlier version of it and is a valuable document as such to anyone genuinely interested in studying the rise of popular music, fashion and teenage attitudes in Britain in the early 1960's.

As someone who lived through it, I am mortified to read some of the history of British rock and roll. It did not start with The Beatles. At the time that this film was being put together, The Beatles were just gathering their phenomenal momentum. And - although Cliff and the Shadows, Jet Harris and Tony Meehan and Helen Shapiro are omitted - this is what the British rock scene was like. There are some familiar people here: Australian actress/singer Patsy Ann Noble, Heinz from The Tornadoes is the singer in David Hemmings's band. Also watch out for cult band The Outlaws which contains Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, and Chas Hodges from Chas and Dave.

Some people think that all the music is by Joe Meek. Although the film is a must for Joe Meek fans, I know for a fact that Patsy Ann Noble was under contract to Norrie Paramor at EMI. So far as I am aware, she had no connection with Joe Meek at all.

If the story of the film is good or bad, and if the bands are miming, who cares? The film is a time capsule, and a look at a British pop industry that was about to undergo a huge revolution and would never be the same again.