Disentangling Fandanglement

I thought I was pretty much conscious of the complete world-weariness I’ve gradually descended into the past few years.  But the other day something happened that made me worry that I might be a lot worse off than I thought.  I watched Carmen’s legendary 1973 “1980 Floor Show” television performance and couldn’t figure out whether I actually liked it or not.  Let me explain.

I’m definitely a lover of progressive and glam rock, two terms easily applied to Carmen.  Hell, I’ll even say I’m a fan of flamenco, though I wouldn’t claim to know much about the genre which the Los Angeles-based band uses partially as a glamour enhancer.  I won’t try to deny that songwriter David Allen has mastered all of these styles and blended them seamlessly.  And there’s no doubt that the band is flawlessly professional: Angela Allen and Roberto Amaral don’t hesitate to pick up their tambourines after the elaborate dance interlude of “Bulerias”.  I’d even accuse the band of lip-synching if Amaral didn’t sing a bit off key at times (although someone offstage is definitely helping out with keyboards).

It must have been somewhere in the midst of Carmen’s ode on the epic struggle between man and beast, “Bulllfight”, that I smelled smoke and realized that my bullshit detector hadn’t gone off.  Had I been dazzled by the reflection off of Allen’s mirror ball guitar?  Was I seduced by the sweaty chest revealed by drummer Paul Fenton’s low-cut blouse?  Did I even smirk at Amaral’s huge, silly moustache?  You see my concern now?  I can’t tell what’s serious to me and what’s a joke.  I’ve become so used to treating everything around me as a subtly absurd joke that I don’t even know whether I take anything seriously anymore.

David Bowie probably didn’t share my concern when he booked Carmen as part of the NBC bankrolled event, one week’s worth of Burt Sugarman’s long running “Midnight Special”: Bowie and Marianne Faithful’s version of “I’ve got you, babe” would be utterly dismal if not for Bowie’s bizarre feather shirt and tight, sparkly red pants and Faithful’s assless nun-gone-Cleopatra getup.  There are actually some excellent performances on the special, which hasn’t seen official release yet (though you might  find a few scraps floating around the internet…).  Apart from tons of Bowie we also get performances by the Troggs and footage of Amanda Lear being a hottie.

Carmen was very lucky to get on this bill – they had only arrived in London earlier that year and had just released their first album, the excellent “Fandangos in Space”.  Still, their performance is impressive even compared to most of Bowie's songs from this performance.  Carmen released two more albums before calling it quits, with Jethro Tull and T-Rex to pick up the scraps of a unique if not quite tasteful band.  More info at the pretty complete Fandangos In Space fansite.

...Ah, I can’t resist it!  I know I’m supposed to only really post about obscurities, but I just can’t stop watching Bowie’s performance of Sorrow.  What the hell is Amanda Lear doing with that giant silver pole?

Comments

[jim]

I prefer to assume that everyone is at least partially aware of their of own ridiculousness. Otherwise you risk looking stupid yourself when the whole point was to feel superior! That's an mockable offense, ironically.

[napkin]

"....I smelled smoke and realized that my bullshit detector hadn’t gone off."

Funny.

Jim, you're making my head hurt with that shit.

[Listener Sharon]

I really thought that blonde MC was Ann Coulter in the freeze frame!

[K]

Hey Sharon, that was Mick Ronson! But then he was often referred to by Bowie as "Suzy Quattro" which is a dated reference but I think you get the drift. BTW, that screen cap was hilarious! Ronson looks a bit awed, the ass in question seems like someones last known photograph, and all you can see of Bowie is the cucumber in his leather trousers. Priceless.

Much of the Bowie material from the floor show was aired at the museum of television and radio in 2002 for their retrospective. Including some utterly goofy outtakes of "Sorrow" where Bowie busts out laughing halfway through the piece. Yes, I don't think anyone was taking themselves too seriously. That's why the pieces are so charming.

[Parq]

Being married to a Spaniard, I am more conversant that some FMUers, at least, with flamenco. The entire family stood around the ol' monitor and stared in disbelief. We finally decided that this is what we would have gotten if Spinal Tap had been Spanish. "¡Sí, pero estes van al once!"

[Antimax]

Now I know where the Mars Volta came from...