Silvana Venturelli in The Lickerish Quartet (1970)

The Lickerish Quartet (1970) // dir. Radley Metzger

The Lickerish Quartet (1970)

Silvana Venturelli

The Lickerish Quartet (1970) dir. Radley Metzger

Check out a lot of the Jellyfish off-shoot bands and artists, if you don't know them already--The Grays, TV Eyes, Malibu, Logan's Sanctuary, Imperial Drag, Moog Cookbook, Lickerish Quartet, Jason Faulkner, Brendan Benson.

Thanks for the recommendations! I haven't listened to them yet, but I plan to check them out at some point :)

Movie Review | So Sweet... So Perverse (Lenzi, 1969)

I watched Umberto Lenzi’s Knife of Ice a few days ago, partially inspired by a half-remembered memory of Lenzi taking shots at Dario Argento during an interview. (For better or worse, these shots were not literal.) I had a few takeaways. Among them were that Lenzi actually could be a decent director if he applied himself, and that I liked stepping into the world of giallos enough that there’s a limit to how meaningfully I can really assess them, and that the strains of influence in that movie were pretty pronounced. Now, one of the claims Lenzi made in that interview is that even though Argento gets all the credit, it was really Lenzi who came up with the genre. So to test his claim, and inspired by an internet compatriot’s own exploration into Lenzi’s work, I decided to watch one of his movies that preceded Argento’s directorial efforts, and chose this.

What’s interesting that this isn’t really a giallo, or at least not in the fully formed state that one could associate with The Bird With the Crystal Plumage only a year later. For the record, I’m not saying that the genre materialized out of thin air with that movie, but merely noting that this has a transitory quality that makes it worthwhile in its own right. You take this movie, and you put beside it a Claude Chabrol thriller from the same era, and you drop in maybe The Lickerish Quartet and Camille 2000 by Radley Metzger, and you grab a Franco from the shelf, maybe Succubus, and while you have that one handy, why not also throw in some of Godard’s more colourful ‘60s efforts, or maybe even a Bond movie from the far cabinet? You place these movies close together, and realize that, even though these are movies we often look back on as being a part of different genres or movements, they are maybe not so far apart in how they look and sound. For a few years there, there was something of an overarching atmosphere of sexy, swingin’ European vibes hanging over the movies.

And I think that should give you a sense of what this movie’s like. Lots of handsome widescreen cinematography, lots of stylish, modish decor, and a cast of gorgeous women (Carroll Baker, Erika Blanc and Helga Line, who does not have the weird root vegetable makeup she sported in Nightmare Castle) and men who probably can’t be trusted or at least have too many secrets. In that sense, casting Jean-Louis Trintignant as the lead is an astute choice, despite not registering as remotely sexy (at least to this straight male viewer) but good at playing almost pathologically buttoned down. Where the movie goes won’t be a huge surprise if you read anything about this movie, but the sense of shock is further suppressed, as Lenzi directs the whole thing with an air of upper class detachment. These characters are so comfortable and complacent that they’ll do anything to alleviate their boredom, even if it involves a little murder.

In that sense, I think it’s sort of interesting to examine the presence of animal deaths in his work. Quite frankly, it’s an aspect that I could very much do without, but it’s very much present in the cannibal movies he’s best known for, and popped up in Knife of Ice as well. But here, it seems to click as an actual element of his world view. There are a number of scenes where characters nonchalantly hunt birds (which is probably less off putting to most than the more gruesome scenes in the other movies), sometimes not even paying attention where their guns are pointed. These characters seem so dulled by their wealth that their killing of these animals barely raises their pulse. There’s maybe some kind of class critique here (Lenzi also gives some of the men ascots, which is universally recognized shorthand for “rich asshole”), although given Lenzi’s willingness to indulge in this trope in his other work, it might have been worth turning the camera at himself.

He only sporadically interrupts this atmosphere with bursts of style (one scene has a camera swirling as if going down the drain, followed by slow motion in red), meaning that it never dissolves the barrier between the literal and the subconscious and psychological the way more defined giallos can do, even as the characters’ psyches deteriorate. And the movie’s relative bloodlessness means that it rarely offers the kind of thrills one might seek from a horror movie. But as an attractive, low energy suspense piece, this is relatively diverting.

Great week for new music, featuring the debut(!) solo album from David Paich, Todd Rundgren and Adrian Belew teaming up, Why Bonnie, Shad with the Lickerish Quartet, Pixies, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Demi Lovato, Silversun Pickups and much more! Enjoy!

Here is a listing of this week's artists, by twitter handle unless otherwise noted:

David Paich of @toto99com, with a couple others too @toddrundgren with @THEadrianbelew @PONYtoronto @Crimsonicband ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ (no socials. Just TRY doing a search) whybonnie (Instagram) @BonnieLegion with Qrittix @TheRyanAdams @ChiliPeppers @DeapVally rubygoon (Instagram) Shad (no luck with socials) and @TheLickerish @NcpNo @ezrafurman @butchwalker @Rubblebucket @PIXIES @YYYs @PanicAtTheDisco @mountain_goats @cassmccombs @Hot_Chip @SSPU @ddlovato @RussianCircles The Berries (on @rfcrecords) @thechatsband @motorpsychoband @oneida_official @earlyjamesbham @waltertrout @spielbergsband @SRSQmusic

Rules Free Radio Aug 9

Tuesdays 2pm - 5pm  EST Rules Free Radio With Steve  Caplan bombshellradio.com On the next Rules Free Radio with Steve Caplan, we'll hear a few of the late July releases including Toronto's Tallies, Maggie Rogers, Wilder Maker, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Sadies, and Amanda Shires. One from a compilation by the mid-60s garage band, Sons of Adam. We’ll check out other recent releases by Rogers & Butler, The Lickerish Quartet, The Petal Falls, Mama’s Broke, Hatchie, Damien Jurado, and a compilation by Steve Tibbetts. We’ll hear some more of the new JEM records tribute to Pete Townshend that we heard a few from last week. In the second hour, we’ll get into some Jump Blues and early R&B. Classics include Love, Little Feat, The Pretenders, The Sundays, J Geils, Rosanne Cash, Roger Daltrey, and a bunch more. All this and more on Rules Free Radio, Tuesday afternoon starting at 2 on Bombshellradio.com! The Lickerish Quartet - New Days Love - The Daily Planet Jellyfish - The King Is Half-Undressed The Gold Needles - The Good's Gone Carla Olson - I Can See For Miles The Gold Needles - So Sad About Us Johnathan Pushkar - The Kids Are Alright The Sons of Adam - Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day The Petal Falls - Nothing New Tallies - Hearts Underground The Pretenders - Talk of the Town The Sundays - Love Hatchie - Lights On Maggie Rogers - Want Want Wilder Maker - Against Numbers Clarence Gatemouth Brown - Okie Dokie Stomp Jimmy Witherspoon - Don't Let go Oscar Brown Jr. - Mr. Kicks Amos Milburn - Flying Home Jerry Granelli - Caldonia Louis Jordan - I Want You To Be My Baby The Style Council - Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse Joni Mitchell - The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines Mose Allison - I'm Not Talking J. Geils Band - Lookin’ For a Love Caz Gardiner - Everybody Kim Weston - I Got What You Need Blood Sweat & Tears - House in the Country Tedeschi Trucks Band - Gravity Little Feat - Dixie Chicken Pigeon Pit - River Song Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit with Bela Fleck - Nightswimming Amanda Shires -Take It Like A Man Mama's Broke - Narrow Line Rosanne Cash - What We Really Want The Sadies - All the Good The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues Shawn Barton Vach - Summer Side of Life Tchello Palma - Day Is Done Damien Jurado - Gork Meets the Desert Monster Rogers & Butler - Last Reply Roger Daltrey - Giving It All Away Simon & Garfunkel - Song For The Asking Steve Tibbetts - The Big Wind Read the full article

RADLEY METZGER

Camille 2000 (1969) // dir. Radley Metzger

The Lickerish Quartet (1970) // dir. Radley Metzger

The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976) // dir. Radley Metzger

The Image (1975) // dir. Radley Metzger

Score (1973) // dir. Radley Metzger

Eric Dover, Tim Smith, Roger Manning Jr. - From Slash's Snakepit to Jellyfish!

Today I bring you the Lickerish Quartet, Eric Dover, Roger Manning & Tim Smith. You may know them as being former members of the band JellyFish. Eric Dover has also played with Slash's Snakepit, Imperial Drag, Sextus, and Alice Cooper. Roger Joseph Manning Jr. was also in Imperial Drag. He was in the band the Moog Cookbook. In addition, he’s toured or recorded with Jay Z, Beck, Blink 182, & Johnny Cash. My third guest is Tim Smith. In addition to being in Jellyfish & the Producers he has toured with Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Sheryl Crow, & Sarah McLachlan.

Check out this episode!

The Lickerish Quartet, 1970

The Lickerish Quartet (Radley Metzger, 1970)

The Lickerish Quartet (1970)