In 1986 Julian Temple directed the film version of Absolute Beginners. The book, a 1959 Colin McInnes novel about life in London, race, class, sexuality, fashion, teenagers and jazz, is a post- war British classic, part of a trilogy McInnes wrote about life in London and youth culture. The film is maybe less a classic, more a brave/ doomed attempt.
It has its charms- at the time of its release I was sixteen and quite taken with Patsy Kensit- and an all star cast- James Fox, Edward Tudor Pole, Sade, Ray Davies, Steven Berkoff and David Bowie- but it was panned on release, seemed more of a marketing exercise than a film and couldn't quite work out what it was trying to do. The two leads, Patsy Kensit and Eddie O'Connell were unknowns and apparently didn't get on. The production company, Goldcrest, had two other major films on at the same time (The Mission starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons and Revolution starring Al Pacino) and Absolute Beginners didn't get the same financial support. Goldcrest went bust not long after.
The soundtrack however, is a different cup of tea entirely. There's plenty of jazz - Gil Evans, Slim Gaillard, Charles Mingus- along with some 80s London names- Clive Langer, Nick Lowe, Jerry Dammers, Ray Davies- as well as Sade and Smiley Culture. There's also Bowie's stone cold classic single title track, maybe his last truly great single...
Glossy 80s production, sweeping chord changes, the ba- ba- ba- oom backing vocals, and Bowie's lead vocal, a glorious, crooning, soaring thing, ever going upwards, the sound of young love.
The soundtrack is also home to one of Paul Weller's best Style Council songs. A film about 50s mod made in the 80s was always gong to have Paul turn up somewhere and The Style Council pulled out all their bossanova/ modern jazz/ pop chops for the song.
6 comments:
The 16yr-old me was also quite taken with Patsy Kensit. Top tunes here!
I’ll confess, 15 year old me was too smitten with Sade to be bothered with Patsy Kensit.
I saw Absolute Beginners at the cinema though (and Lethal Weapon 2) so maybe Patsy got to me on a subsconscious level!
And yes, that Bowie song is superb, especially the full 8 min version.
I've never seen the film but absolutely loved the book, thoroughly recommended (and great tunes here too)
The two best songs I will hear today. I’m with the peanut gallery on the full-length version of Absolute Beginners, but I do have the 7” and 12” on the shelf. - Brian
Yes, you're both right, the full length version is the best, no idea why I didn't post it tbh.
C- agree, love the book. All 3 of the trilogy are great.
Agree with your summary that the film didn't quite work. Bought the album at the time, primarily because of my infatuation at the time with all things Weller, and my copy is still in more than decent condition. Played it all the way through a few years back during one of the long lockdown years and was pleased to hear it had aged fairly well, although the second Bowie track 'That's Motivation' is a bit of a clunker.....
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