I have started 2013 in a bit of a nostalgic mood. Not sure that this is in keeping with me moving forward, but its been an interesting distraction. I headed for music first due to a chance find in my sisters CD collection.
When I was a lot younger, I was transfixed by a band called Transvision Vamp! Well, truth be known, I was transfixed by the singer in Transvision Vamp, a certain Wendy James. You see, Wendy was every school boys fantasy.
A skimpy bottle blond who wore just enough to be classed as wearing “something” – but wearing little enough to reveal everything! So I listened to the CD in the car this week – bearing in mind that in my day this was a cassette and listened to over and over again. Fuck it was bad!
Transvision Vamp were pretty much a one hit wonder, with “I want your love“. To be fair, that still stands as a decent track and Wendys vocal delivery hits the spot. Sadly, the rest of the CD was pure crap – what was I thinking!
Another band I had on heavy rotation was Tears for Fears – whilst a different type of music and I guess a different motivation for listening back then, these guys at least stand the test of time. More will follow below.
I also embarked on a couple of films. The first being Gene Wilders “Woman in Red”. I remember getting bored halfway through this one when I first saw it. Only the attraction of Kelly LeBrock made it worthwhile.
In fact, I think Kelly was the only reason I even began to watch it due to the hype surrounding “that” scene. Perhaps my appreciation of films have matured or perhaps I can just relate to it now I am older, but how wrong can you be!
What an amazing film – its of course supposed to be a comedy, but I also found it depressing, disgraceful, warm and touching at the same time. Wilder plays the role of Teddy to perfection and you are left wondering what happens next – I won’t spoil it, but its worth seeing!
The other film I circled back to was the Lost Boys. A cult film if there ever was one, but in my youth, the opposite to the Woman in Red – this one I watched over and over on video. Sadly, this one didn’t do it for me now – really bad with a wafer thin plot – OK, I suppose any Vampire flick is!
Still, its made for an interesting time. Now I just have to start re watching the whole of the “proper” Star Wars trilogy (New Hope / Empire and Return) – if only to prove to young Ollie that Sci-Fi was invented before CGI crap infected the cinema!
So todays song circles back to Tears for Fears – “Head over heels”. I was introduced to them by a friend who I have since lost touch with. He was older and had more disposable cash than me, so he was into his sound system and CDs – man I was full of envy!
I couldn’t even borrow any of his CDs because, at the time, I could only play cassettes! We played this song into the ground and the opening lyrics were synonymous with one of his neighbours who I had a crush on. An older girl with a wicked smile.
Enjoy!