The first time I ever saw Ashton Kutcher was the very first episode of "That '70's Show"---a show that I fell in love with right away. As it went on to become one of the best sitcoms in the past ten years, I at first saw star Topher Grace as becoming the superstar of the bunch. However, as the third season began, I began to realize that Ashton Kutcher was the valedictorian. As terminally clueless, and childishly impish, stoner Michael Kelso, the former straight-A college engineering student has created one of the most memorable sitcom characters of the modern television era. His impending superstardom seemed more & more destined to be. By the beginning of the year 2000, I was wondering when his first movie would come out. By the end of the year 2000, my question had been answered, though not my prayers.

As Ashton's film career began with the incredibly unfunny DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR?, I shook my head with disappointment at how the lowest-common-denominator mindset of Hollywood was going to drag him down along the forgotten road of Typecast Alley. I missed the few other comedies he did afterwards (TEXAS RANGERS--2001, JUST MARRIED, MY BOSS'S DAUGHTER--both 2003), but after viewing my DVD rental of THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT (2004) last week, I was disappointed no more.

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT shows the beginnings of Kutcher's hopefully-maturing career-turn as a real all-around actor. This isn't an Oscar-caliber performance, but he brings a real heart & soul to his portrayal of a young man whose future seems inexorably bound to his past---a past to which he discovers he can return at any time in order to affect his present. Evan tries to fix what went wrong in his life; however, in doing so he creates unintended consequences for himself and his beloved Kayleigh (a radiant Amy Smart, showing real depth of character here).

This DVD shows both the original 113-minute Theatrical Version and the full 2-hour Director's Cut. I saw only the latter version, which is said to be the superior cut. I have not yet seen the original, so I am unable to compare the two versions. I will just say for now that the Director's Cut had a similar effect on me as the incredible Adrian Lyne-directed 1991 psycho-horror flick JACOB'S LADDER (1991): both films begin as strangely perplexing, but develop a strangely hypnotic and engrossing quality as well. As much as I wondered what the *beep* was going on, I just couldn't take my eyes off the bizarre action unwinding onscreen. And then *THE ENDING*---> Unexpectedly blindsiding, it pulls the previously indecipherable clues all together, and makes total sense out of senselessness, order out of chaos. Funny that the central theme of THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT *is* Chaos Theory!

Although it displays some of the more unpleasant qualities of a conventional horror flick (foul-mouthed youngsters doing things they have no business in doing, cute dogs existing purely for the purpose of being sadistically put to death), there is no doubt that Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber---the co-writers and directors who had previously teamed up to write the 2002 chiller sequel FINAL DESTINATION 2---have crafted a truly original story that contains a deceptive amount of substance behind the blurry, slick style. Some people---especially kids, it seems---did not particularly like the Director's Cut ending. I say that this is the only true ending this story could have had. (It also serves my strongly-felt theory that movies like this are most decidedly not meant for kiddies.) It makes me all the more curious as to what alternative kind of ending was edited into the Theatrical Version in order to 'please' the audience (whatever it was, it sure didn't seem to please many). Well, it looks like I'll just have to purchase this loaded-with-extras DVD to find out. That's just fine with me, as the Director's Cut alone is worth the money! If you're like me and passed on seeing THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT during its theater run, take another look at it on DVD. It may just surprise you, too!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED; AGES 16 & UP

Witness ALONG CAME POLLY (1994), a cute comedy surrounded by scatology.

It's too bad. This is a movie that could have been very good, if not for the desperate plot manipulations, fart jokes, poo jokes, pee jokes and other things that detracted from my enjoyment of what should have been a pleasant "opposites-attract" screwball comedy. But because of the above annoyances, we're left with a hit-and-miss PG-13 version of THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (which I saw just once, several years ago, and really didn't think all that much of it). You know that it's not coincidental that Ben Stiller, the star of that seminal (ouch, maybe I shouldn't have said that) 1998 gross-out comedy, also stars in this film. Why does he always seem to be attracted to projects like this? Probably to maintain his status as Gross-Out Movie King, I guess.

Oh well, in ALONG CAME POLLY, Stiller plays yet another disarming, pathetic yuppie with a weird name. Reuben Feffer marries the Jewish woman of his dreams, Linda Kramer (a throwaway Debra Messing), yet she throws herself at the hunky nudist scuba-diving instructor Claude (Hank Azaria, probably up to his one-hundredth foreign accent by now) on *the first night of their honeymoon*! Catching them en flagrante delicto (boy, I've always wanted to use this delicious Latin term in a movie review!), Reuben's carefully-laid plans (okay, I've gotta stop using expressions like these now) suddenly blow up in his face. Dejected and angry, he comes home alone wondering, how the h*ll could this have happened? You see, good ol' Reubie's a risk analyst for an insurance company, and lives his life purely according to careful and extensive analysis of the risks involved. He carries a laptop around with him that contains a specially-designed algorithmic program that assesses the risk of any given venture, including budding relationships!

When suddenly, as the title says, along comes Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), a free-spirited girl he used to know in high school, Reuben thinks her sudden appearance is a definite sign that he should go against his better nature and just throw caution to the wind! That leads to a whole bunch of tasteless and not-very-funny scenes like the Mediterranean dinner date that gives Reuben a case of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which winds up at Polly's apartment in a very MARY-like scene which involves the ruining of a Prince family heirloom (don't ask).

Apparently John Hamburg, who both directed and wrote the screenplay, couldn't think of enough funny "Dharma & Greg"-type episodes to fill the film's 90 minutes (and play cleverly on the film's basic "opposites attract" theme), so he has to resort to farts, poo and pee in order to illicit laughs. Too bad, because there was real talent available here: Ben Stiller has shown himself to be a hilarious, character-driven comedian throughout his now-approaching-20-year career (wow!), and Jennifer Aniston is extremely funny and likeable in playing the kind of role at which Ellen DeGeneres made a fortune. Australian actor Bryan Brown avails himself very well in the parallel story of a billionaire, risk-taking magnate whom Feffer's company is debating on whether or not to insure. On the other hand, we have the talented chubby actor Philip Seymour Hoffman as Reuben's strangely off-kilter, womanizing best friend Sandy Lyle. He seems kind of out-of-sorts here, and halfway through, I saw why: his role was obviously intended for Jack Black, and there's no questions that Jack Black would have been a funnier---and more believable---Sandy Lyle. We also get a badly-miscast Alec Baldwin trying (and failing miserably) to co-opt a Yiddish-New York accent as Reub's boss Stan Indursky. His role goes absolutely nowhere, much like the majority of this film. Hank Azaria can be very funny in good movies, but what does it say that his most memorable scene is the one that shows his b*tt?

ALONG CAME POLLY isn't an awful film, but I really think that Ben Stiller needs to finally graduate from being Gross-Out Movie King to doing what he always did best: just making us laugh. Even good ol' Ben finally baring his own not-bad-looking b*tt in the final scene doesn't make up for the lack of smart comedy that there should have been in this film.

NOT RECOMMENDED

In 1982, Black Sabbath finally recorded their first live album for U.S. release, the palindromic---and appropriately titled---LIVE EVIL. After ten years with original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, this was something that they were inexplicably doing for the very first time in their already long and distinguished career, which had grown rather spotty in the late 70's with Ozzy. Understandably, this was perceived as a slap in the face to Ozzy, who quickly followed this double-album with one of his own, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, which consisted solely of Black Sabbath songs sung by Ozzy with backing from Brad Gillis on guitar, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums. As the man who had drugged and drank himself almost completely out of the business by 1979, Ozzy sure had a lot to prove with this record. He proved himself marvelously. In fact, in comparing SPEAK OF THE DEVIL with LIVE EVIL, it's clear that Ozzy proved he could not only still sing the old Sabbath stuff well, but he could do it better than his old mates could with his replacement, Ronnie James Dio.

I happen to be a true Black Sabbath fan, as I love their music throughout their long, episodic career, spanning over thirty years with ever-changing lineups. Although some lineups were more successful than others, Black Sabbath always managed to write excellent, melodic Heavy Metal music that touched on many themes, other than just the occult, and managed to transcend the simplistic headbanging of most of their counterparts. Out of all these incarnations, save for their ten-year stretch with Ozzy, none other was more successful than their three years with Ronnie James Dio. After their very successful studio albums HEAVEN AND HELL (1980) and MOB RULES (1981), they pieced together LIVE EVIL from several live performances on the latter record's tour. The result sounds...well, rather pieced together. Although this album held out the promise to those of us who couldn't wait to hear what the band sounded like with Dio singing the classic Ozzy tracks, the result is not quite as rosy as what we had hoped for. For one thing, the sound is not the best, although I suspect the Remastered version significantly improves upon it. Some of the performances work, while others don't.

What does work is the shiveringly effective version of "Black Sabbath" which begins with a one-and-a-half-minute folk-guitar intro by Tony Iommi, who then busts loose into the famously slow, brooding riff. Dio's performance is very expressive and respectful, as he takes time to build to the crescendos; indeed, the song is performed slowly and deliberately, and ends up lasting over eight minutes! Dio also does a very good job with "War Pigs"; although overdoing the vocal fills quite a bit (as he is typically wont to do), he still performs the song well in his unique style. This version, which clocks in at over nine minutes, doesn't match the original but nothing really could, anyway. I do like Vinny Appice's drum solo at the end, though, and it kind of leads into yet another very-well-done classic, "Iron Man." Dio sings this one in a growling manner, and again uses his unique delivery effectively to evoke a real sense of danger in the song. Tony Iommi blazes into two lightning-fast guitar solos, and Terrence "Geezer" Butler works the bass frets like a madman. These three classics back-to-back-to-back---"Black Sabbath," "War Pigs" and "Iron Man"---are worth the price of this CD by themselves.

Unfortunately, certain things don't work as well, like the muddy rendition of "N.I.B." Although Dio generally sings his own era of Black Sabbath songs well, his early rendition of "Neon Nights" pales in comparison to the studio version on HEAVEN AND HELL, and causes us to wonder exactly how much vocal doctoring is done to Ronnie's voice in the studio. Also, the super-medley of "Heaven And Hell/Sign Of The Southern Cross/Paranoid" is way too extended and, for some reason, the ending of "Heaven And Hell" is added to the end of "Paranoid" (which is played too fast and rather underwhelmingly). Also, I don't care for the fact that "Fluff" is included as a 'live' track, when it is obviously the studio original being played over the loudspeakers after the band has left the stage and fans are filing out of the arena...not to mention the album fades out after just a minute of it!

Even though I find Ozzy Osbourne's SPEAK OF THE DEVIL to be the superior live album, I still recommend LIVE EVIL to any true Black Sabbath fan, even with its faults. I do agree that Ronnie James Dio is not the most consistent Heavy Metal vocalist around; however, he still does well enough on enough songs to make this CD worth purchasing. Or, perhaps, one may prefer to purchase the Remastered version, which hopefully delivers much improved-upon sound quality. I may just purchase it myself in order to find out!

RECOMMENDED

First, I need to correct something on my recent review of Ozzy's DIARY OF A MADMAN. I just read a website interview with bassist Rudy Sarzo, who replaced Bob Daisley in 1981 and recieved credit on this album alongside drummer Tommy Aldridge (who replaced Lee Kerslake the same year); Rudy admits that DIARY "was already in the can by the time Tommy and I came aboard." Here I was in my review of this great album, giving credit to Rudy Sarzo for his great & prominent role on bass guitar, when it was actually Daisley's playing that was recorded! Also, Rudy Sarzo was not born in Italy like I had thought (his accent sure sounds Italian to me!); instead, he's from Cuba. Oh, well...just proves that I, like other reviewers, are just fallible human beings and occasionally make mistakes like everybody else! ;-)

I still think that Rudy Sarzo is one of the best bass guitarists to come out of the 1970's-'80's Heavy Metal scene. He proves it here on Ozzy's 1982 live album, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL---on which he actually *does* play! Recorded at the famous Manhattan rock club The Ritz on September 27th, 1982---just a few months after Ozzy (and the rock world) was devasted by the untimely and, let's face it, completely avoidable death of 26-year-old guitar virtuoso Randy Rhoads, Ozzy had to quickly scrap plans for a live album of his solo recordings, which of course would have prominently featured Randy. Instead, with Rhoads' sudden and shocking death and with his former bandmates in Black Sabbath releasing a double-live album with Ozzy's replacement Ronnie James Dio---something they never did in the 10 years Ozzy sang for them---Ozzy set about to show them up by recording his *own* live set of Black Sabbath tunes! With gifted bassist Rudy Sarzo in the Geezer Butler role, and---believe it or not---Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis in the must-have-been-high-pressure-filled Tony Iommi role, Ozzy played The Ritz to a surprised and packed house. I can sum up this performance in one word: wow!

I like the stylistic difference between the raw, powerful, pure blasting Black Sabbath original sound and this lineup's smoother, rumbling take---it makes this dynamic live performance not a retread but a fun reinterpretation that somehow still remains true to the classic original versions. Ozzy and Gillis/Sarzo/Aldridge really walked a fine line here, and they come through brilliantly. SPEAK OF THE DEVIL is one of the most fun live albums to listen to!

Now, you may ask, which live album is better: Ozzy's SPEAK OF THE DEVIL or Black Sabbath's LIVE EVIL? The answer, in my humble opinion, is without a doubt SPEAK OF THE DEVIL. Most versions on this album are far better than the Dio-led ones on Black Sabbath's LIVE EVIL, with very few exceptions. But LIVE EVIL's my next review...for now, enjoy Ozzy in all his nostalgic splendor!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

In 1980, the deposed original lead singer of Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, made an absolutely brilliant career comeback with BLIZZARD OF OZZ, which went multi-platinum with its hard-hitting, well-produced sound featuring the lightning-fast riffage of young, up-and-coming guitarist Randy Rhoads. Hailing from California, and the original lead guitarist of the hard-working (but at the time, hardly known) Quiet Riot, Rhoads brought a very upbeat American sound to an otherwise all-British-veteran musical cast, and was an instant hit with the young crowd. Rounding out Ozzy's backing band were the well-respected Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake on bass and drums, respectively. After a completely sold-out smash tour, Ozzy made his first in a long line of lineup shakeups, replacing Daisley & Kerslake with Rudy Sarzo (not coincidentally, another Quiet Riot veteran) and Tommy Aldridge. Randy Rhoads was back in great form, branching out more so on this album; as a result, most songs don't start out like a "Crazy Train" clone. This album is more polished than the previous, and contains more of the wonderfully atmospheric keyboards by fifth member Don Airey. Ozzy's songwriting hits on familiar themes relating to individualism and what his eyes have seen.

Things get off to a fine start with "Over The Mountain." As with "I Don't Know" from his 1980 solo debut BLIZZARD OF OZZ, Ozzy sure knows how to start his albums off in blistering form, with Randy Rhoads employing similarly fast riffing to great effect. Things get even better with the spirited "Flying High Again," with begins with a rather slow guitar crunch and bass/drumbeat and, as a result, sounds very different from most songs of the Rhoads era. Although the pace picks up at the verse second-halves and choruses, and contains a more conventional-sounding Rhoads guitar solo, it shows that even the early Ozzy era has some variation in sound. It also shows that Italian-born Rudy Sarzo was truly one of the best bass guitarists around, being much more prominently featured here than he would be on Quiet Riot's first two releases in 1983 and '84, on which he would be sorely under-appreciated by the egomaniacal Kevin DuBrow. But the best song on the entire album comes next: "You Can't Kill Rock & Roll" is an incredible anthem that begins like a ballad, with soft keyboards and low-register singing, till it whips into the hard-hitting choruses. Again, very different-sounding than other Ozzy songs of this era; in this case, even Randy's guitar solo sounds different! Don Airey gets a lot of quality time in on keyboards, creating a real multi-dimensional effect to this song.

"Believer" starts out with a menacing riff with sinister bells ringing in the background and is a deep, heavy track that is nevertheless polished to a smooth finish. "Little Dolls" begins with a pounding, syncopated drumbeat and rolls into a bass-heavy mid-tempo groove. Musically, it's a remarkably upbeat song (considering the voodoo theme) and features a surprisingly spacey-sounding guitar solo. "Tonight" is the album's ballad; more of a power-ballad than the light "Goodbye To Romance" found on the previous album, with one wicked Rhoads guitar solo. Again, Don Airey's light & sweet keyboards punctuate the proceedings and creates a real ambience here. Clocking in at nearly six minutes, this song has pretty much everything; Randy Rhoads does a minute-long outro that is fast and fluid. It literally gives me goosebumps!

For the final stretch, we get the stomping "S.A.T.O." (no, I don't know what the initials stand for), which has a real rollicking feel to it, and again sounds very different than anything on BLIZZARD OF OZZ. It has many quick stops & starts and kind of reminds me of something that a great Southern Metal band would do, like Molly Hatchett, albeit in polished form. It fades out quickly & goes right into the title song, which is an incredible 6:15 epic that has taken its rightful place as an all-time Ozzy classic. I love Ozzy's poetic, haunting lyrics as he sings eloquently about mental illness: "Screaming at the window/Watch me die another day/Hopeless situation, endless price I have to pay." It's a great way to end a great album. Like BLIZZARD OF OZ before it, DIARY OF A MADMAN is a must-buy for any Ozzy fan.

MOST RECOMMENDED

When I first heard about Ozzy Osbourne when I was 13 years old back in 1980, I was told by a sort-of friend who hated him so vociferously that to me at the time, Ozzy sounded like a real no-talent slimeball. I knew nothing of Ozzy's seminal influence as the original lead singer of Black Sabbath; in fact, I didn't even *know* Black Sabbath for anything other than their demonic-sounding name! I wasn't even into heavy Metal at all back then. I certainly knew nothing of Ozzy's talent or influence on heavy rock. Then, later that year, I first heard "Crazy Train" and I was stunned: *This* was the same guy who likes to pee on things, inlcuding the Alamo, and bites the heads off birds??

Of course, I became fascinated with Ozzy in part because of his contradictory aspects. I fell in love with "Crazy Train" and as soon as I first heard "I Don't Know" a couple of years later, I had to FINALLY go out & get the album. I purchased BLIZZARD OF OZZ (1980) on vinyl---of course---in 1983. I purchased the 1995 remaster on CD just a couple of years ago. As influential an album as this was back then, we really take for granted the fact that, when Ozzy assembled himself on lead vocals, Randy Rhoads on lead guitar, Don Airey on keyboards, Bob Daisley on bass guitar and Lee Kerslake on drums, Ozzy was operating heavily on a wing and a prayer---and on heavily controlled substances. His attempt at a comeback after being dismissed from Black Sabbath for good after their so-so NEVER SAY DIE! (1978) album was almost not to be.

As I and many others have learned in the past few years, thanks to Ozzy's candor on VH1, Ozzy was down & out in 1978 when he met Sharon Arden, the daughter of a record company exec who had given up on Ozzy as a drugged-out has-been. Sharon saw something special in him. Soon, they became romantically involved, then married. She tried to shop BLIZZARD OF OZZ around to everybody, and was soundly rejected over & over again---until a growing division of Columbia, Jet Records, decided to give him a shot. (Of course, it was at the release party for the record that Ozzy got drunk and bit the head off a dove that had been released as a sign of goodwill!) Ozzy waded through his newfound infamy while many people---like me---became awed by his music.

After all, what's not to love about his music? On Black Sabbath's NEVER SAY DIE, Ozzy and his soon-to-be-former bandmates sounded rather disjointed & tired. Just as Sabbath became re-energized by the arrival of Ronnie James Dio (culiminating in their own great 1980 album HEAVEN AND HELL), Ozzy became re-energized as well. Working with great British Metal veterans Daisley & Kerslake, and especially with young up-and-coming Californian guitar virtuoso, Randy Rhoads, Ozzy finally re-found his musical inspiration. Ozzy's sound was now very modern and very American. Even with his penchant for drugs and drink, his high tenor voice was in great form. The great, fast-riffing, heart-pumping opening song "I Don't Know" became an anthem for disaffected youth, and the equally-driving "Crazy Train" became the most popular Heavy Metal song of 1980, directly causing a huge resurgence in the popularity of heavy Metal, which in the wake of Disco in the late '70's had been dismissed as "dead music." Talk about rebirth!!

Thanks to this rebirth, I became a huge fan of the music that ended up informing my high school years. I appreciated the melody that went along with the heaviness of the music. All of Ozzy's songs on this album are melodic, and not all of them are heavy. Witness "Goodbye To Romance," a non-heavy, acoustic ballad that shows Ozzy did have a heart, after all! Randy Rhoads' light, acoustic instrumental "Dee" also shows that metallers are not just about "noise." Then, we have the song which actually took four years to become controversial, the unfairly-maligned "Suicide Solution." Let me tell you something about my experience listening to this song: No, I didn't take drugs, I didn't drink, I didn't worhip Satan and this song certainly didn't make me want to kill myself. Enough said. :)

"Mr. Crowley" has a great keyboard intro courtesy of Don Airey, again showing that guitar isn't the *only* instrument used in Heavy Metal. The last three songs never really made much of an impression on me, but that's probably because I played the other songs hundreds of times each! Maybe one of these days, I will revisit "No Bone Movies," "Revelation (Mother Earth)" and "Steal Away (The Night)." Even just on the basis of the first five classic 80's tunes alone, Ozzy Osbourne fully deserved his comeback all the way, and BLIZZARD OF OZZ became his first of many multi-Platinum albums which all shared incredibly smooth production values, great blazing guitar riffs and melodic singing by Ozzy, who never gave himself enough credit for his unique voice. This is still one of the all-time greatest rock albums of the 1980's.

MOST RECOMMENDED

In the late 1970's, the veteran Canadian Hard-Rock quintet April Wine took on a tighter sound than they had generally displayed on their mid-70's offerings. They began with 1978's FIRST GLANCE, which featured the blistering, multi-layered guitar workout of "Roller" and the harmonica-heavy confessional "Rock 'N' Roll Is A Vicious Game." They upped the ante in 1979 with the appropriately titled (and sexually suggestive) HARDER...FASTER. Recorded in '79 and released in early 1980, this album showed off April Wine's ever-increasingly complex musicianship and higher decibel register, and became what was one of their best albums up to that point.

The band gets off to a thunderous start with "I Like To Rock," which lets loose with a guitar assault that shows clearly that they had become a full-fledged Heavy Metal band, despite their penchant for sound variety and the occasional slow number. The synthesizer arpeggio has been used in countless commercial breaks in TV sports programs and still never fails to inspire a bit of excitement. (Channel 9 in New Jersey used it quite a bit during N.Y. Mets broadcasts in the early '80's!) The ending is one of the best in rock 'n' roll history, as one guitarist starts playing the riff to the Beatles' "Ticket To Ride" while the second one goes into the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" and the third goes into the riff for this song itself; all three guitarists overlapping each other with such perfect timing. It's great! "Say Hello" takes it down a notch or two; however, even being the 'slow' track on this album doesn't prevent it from being a taut, upbeat song, with one killer guitar solo! "Tonite" is a great example of April Wine's incredible versatility; starting out as a mid-paced acoustic-guitar tune with soft, melodic vocals by guitarist, lead singer and chief songwriter Myles Goodwyn, it launches itself into a brilliant speed-metal workout which lasts until the final minute of the song, which ends with the original acoustic treatment. Bald and bearded drummer Jerry Mercer shows he can beat the skins like a madman, while bassist Steve Lang keeps perfect time with him. (April Wine never got enough credit for their great rhythm section.)

While the macho braggadocio of "Ladies Man" never made much of an impression on me (in more ways than one---wink, wink), one of the album's biggest surprises comes next: Guitarist Brian Greenway takes over on lead vocals on the romantic anthem "Before The Dawn," which he penned, and gives an excellent, emotional performance---and plays a mean lead guitar solo to boot! The Goodwyn-sung "Babes in Arms" and "Better Do It Well" fare okay, but then it's time for this album's biggest surprise of all: An absolutely *brilliant* cover version of the King Crimson classic "21st Century Schizoid Man" closes it out, and in such great style! All three guitarists (Goodwyn, Greenway and Gary Moffet) interplay so well in the instrumental section, and Brian Greenway gets his second and final lead vocal, sounding just as evil as Greg Lake did when he sang this song for King Crimson back in 1969! (For some reason, they misspelled his name in the songwriting credits.) With this track, April Wine show that they were always one of the most talented Hard Rock/Heavy Metal bands around, even if their popularity was confined mainly to their native Canada.

With HARDER...FASTER, April Wine showed that they were just about to "journey to the stars" with their blazing "rock 'n' roll guitars"---their next album, 1981's THE NATURE OF THE BEAST was even faster and heavier, plus it gave us one great rock album cover! It would produce April Wine's great power ballad and only U.S. Top 40 hit, "Just Between You And Me"; however, American stardom was unfortunately not to be for this Montreal quintet. It's too bad, although April Wine has definitely taken on the mantle of being a rock connossieur band, which is pretty unique and cool in its own way. They are among my favorite rock bands of all time, and HARDER...FASTER shows why!

MOST RECOMMENDED

...for only one song. The power ballad "Just Between You & Me" was by far the most-played song by April Wine on American radio in the early 1980's. Played mainly on the hard rock stations, the single went up to about #60 or so on the Billboard charts. The album, THE NATURE OF THE BEAST (1981)---not to be confused with British metallers Iron Maiden's 1982 release THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST---briefly broke the American Top 40. Considering how good it is, it should have done even better!

This album starts out with a clear modern-sounding '80's tinge with "All Over Town," a brief (3-minute), medium-paced, surprising hybrid of Hard Rock/New Wave that sounds jarringly different for April Wine. Not great, but somewhat catchy. The next track, "Tellin' Me Lies," follows pretty much in the same vein: Again, it is a 3-minute medium-paced HR/NW song; however, it is very repetitive and not one of April Wine's better songs.

At this point, you're thinking the rest of the album's gonna be quite lame, but---ah!---things immediately get better with the more Wine-like, evocative "Sign Of The Gypsy Queen." At nearly 4:30, it is the longest track on this rather short album, and it is wonderful: Beginning with a brisk-paced Hard Rock/Heay Metal instrumental intro theme, Myles Goodwin gives a melodic and emotional performance as he sings about a town that was predicted for doom & destruction by a local Gypsy Queen. The song features a slow, two-minute instrumental mid-section in which Myles plays bluesy guitar notes, before returning to the final verse/chorus that speeds back up again. The song really paints a picture; indeed, you can see a desert town somewhere out West, under darkening skies, with people trying to escape a coming storm on horseback. The song never fails to give me chills to this day, and is still one of AW's all-time greatest! Then comes the equally-good "Just Between You & Me": The album's lone hit, it is a beautiful melodic power ballad that features early-'70's-type fuzzbox guitar from Myles Goodwyn, who is every bit as talented a guitarist as he is a singer. I love the French lyrics in the final chorus repitition! The bass-playing by Gary Moffet is slow, pronounced and deep---evocative of the sadness associated with lost love. The drums by bald, bearded Jerry Mercer are slow but contain a certain upbeatness on the verses. Again, one of this band's greatest songs ever!

"Wanna Rock" is a fast, very short (2:06) electronic-sounding combo of bluesy Hard Rock with a New Wave beat. As cheesy as it has been described as being by a previous reviewer, it is actually kind of catchy. When I play songs from this album, I usually play it. "Caught In The Crossfire" is like a great Sci-Fi story set to music, and is extremely well-done. "Future Tense" keeps up the Sci-Fi bent, and is not as good as the previous track but still okay. But then, AW hit gold on THE NATURE OF THE BEAST's final four songs, beginning with "Big City Girls," their ode to "ladies in the night" which has a crunching guitar riff that sounds vaguely similar to the Scorpions' "Big City Nights" (which, by the way, was not recorded until 1984, so April Wine had the idea first). Then comes the speed-Metal (yes, you read that right) of "Crash And Burn," a two-and-a-half-minute explosion of fuzz-guitar riffs and one incredible solo by Myles himself (as good of a guitarist as Brian Greenway was, Myles' guitar is what dominates throughout most of this set). "Bad Boys" has a Bad Company-ish hard guitar riff and some good lyrics about a guy trying to leave a life of gangs for the girl he loves. Lastly, Song #11 is the very hard, upbeat & positive anthem "One More Time" which ends this great album on a multi-layered note, consisting of great work by all three guitarists in this incredible band.

What else can I say? April Wine is one of the greatest unsung veteran Hard Rock/Heavy Metal bands in history, and THE NATURE OF THE BEAST is probably their all-time greatest album.

MOST RECOMMENDED

DELIVERANCE (1972) was adapted from the great and controversial best-selling novel, written in 1970 by James Dickey. Made by British director John Boorman, who was relatively new to Hollywood at the time, this film was a faithful adaptation of the book, with the exception of some humor being interlaced into some of the earlier scenes. In some ways, it is even more disturbing; by juxtaposing some light comedy in the first half, Boorman makes what happens in the second half that much more nightmarish by comparison. And it is a nightmare...happening in the middle of the woods on a sunny day in the deep South.

The book told the story of four middle-aged surburbanites---Ed Gentry, Lewis Medlock (guess he did have a last name, after all), Drew Ballinger and Bobby Trippe---encouraged by nature-loving, alpha-male Lewis to brave the rapids of a river before it gets dammed for good. Told in first-person by Ed, who harbors latent homosexual desires for Lewis (though never acts upon them), the men paddle downstream in two canoes---Lewis & Drew in one, Ed & Bobby in the other---when they are separated at a river fork. As Ed & Bobby manage to get their boat ashore, and try to figure out a way to rejoin their friends, they are confronted by two mountain men with shotguns. Both are ugly. One of them is toothless. The non-toothless one forces the chubby, soft-bodied Bobby to strip half-naked and then rapes him at gunpoint, as Ed is restrained by being chained to a tree. When he has finished with Bobby, the toothless man prepares to force Ed to go down on him when Lewis finally catches up with his lost friends and shoots the first attacker with his bow & arrow, killing him almost instantly. As the toothless man runs off, Lewis attempts to lead his friends to safety down the river. However, banjo-playing Drew is shot to death by an unseen sniper (presumably the Toothless Man) and Lewis is incapacitated in an accident soon after. It is up to citified friends Ed and the now-broken-spirited Bobby to somehow gather their muster, and for Ed to learn to use his long-buried primordial instincts to help them get out of this horrible situation *and* to not arouse suspicion by the law.

The book was a compulsive page-turner and nail biter, and the well-made film is no different in that respect. Deciding to work with a 30-something cast instead of 40-somethings, Boorman cast then-rising-stars Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight as Lewis and Ed, supporting player Ronny Cox (who would achieve stardom over a decade later in BEVERLY HILLS COP, 1984) as Drew, and then-unknown Ned Beatty (in his film debut) as the unfortunate Bobby. It was casting genius. Reynolds fills Lewis Medlock perfectly, with his macho swagger hiding a surprising sensitivity which emerges once he is rendered practically useless. This performance made him a superstar (and should have earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination), and began a decade of Burt dominating at the box office, though usually in Southern-fried comedies. Voight, who had already been Oscar-nominated as urban cowboy gigolo Joe Buck in MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969), correctly tones down his usual overplaying tendencies to convey Ed Gentry's low-key complacent nature. Ronny Cox brings Drew Ballinger to life, and nearly steals the show with the film's early "Duelling Banjos" scene, and shows a lot of dramatic ability in the film's darker half. But it's Ned Beatty, in his brilliant performance as the at-first clownish and wimpy insurance salesman Bobby Trippe whose horrific trial-by-fire at first breaks him, then rebuilds him into a man who can stand up for himself and prevail, that is the film's emotional centerpiece. He definitely should have earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for this very difficult role. Kudos must also be given to Bill McKinney, as the Mountain Man who rapes him; his portrayal is among the most chilling and creepy in cinematic history.

Speaking of that, this was the very first time male-on-male rape had ever been depicted on the big screen. John Boorman directed this scene with utmost care for his actors, while creating a scene that was in some ways even more horrific than had been described in James Dickey's book (there is no "squeal like a piggy" order given by the Mountain man in the book). According to Burt Reynolds' account in his autobiography, Ned Beatty was only going to do one take of this scene and Bill McKinney took his Method Acting a little too far and actually seemes like he was really going to "bang" Ned Beatty (it is maintained that he even had an erection at the beginning of this scene!); Burt and director Boorman had to intervene at one point! No matter what actually happened, this scene was handled bravely, and considering the fact that it was filmed in 1972, was especialy not easy to do. Lastly, the author himself appears at the end as Sheriff Bullard, and is amazingly well-cast in a subtely threatening (as scary as heck) cameo.

DELIVERANCE is still no less impacting as it was over 30 years ago. It is a must-see for anyone who calls themselves a movie fan.

MOST RECOMMENDED; AGES 15 & UP

Shocking when it was published in 1970, James Dickey's DELIVERANCE has become a classic on par with J.D. Salinger's THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, or Kurt Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5. It is the full, unflinchingly honest story of one man's observations, experiences, travails and---yes---horrors of going out into the natural world for a taste of the wild life. An odyssey for which he had never been even remotely prepared in his life.

It is the story of Ed Gentry, his born-to-be-wild, alpha-male best friend Lewis (we never do find out his last name), and two acquaintances, soft-bodied insurance salesman Bobby Trippe and banjo-playing sales manager Drew Ballinger, as they set out on a three-day whitewater canoe journey. A canoe journey that would bring them much, much more than any of them---including Lewis---had bargained for. One that would bring them face-to-face with the wild side of human nature. One which they might not survive.

Told from Ed's viewpoint, DELIVERANCE is a powerful study in what happens when two extremes meet each other; when one has to play the other's game in order to hope for any chance of survival. When raw masculinity is freely expressed in one moment, then cruelly stripped away in the next. When one's biggest fear was making it through the daily grind, and who now must rely on his own long-atrophied natural instincts to achieve his own needed deliverance. This is a study in suburban routine and complacency meeting the ugly rural face of chaos. This is the story of the weekend these men had when they didn't play golf.

This is a story that is unsuspectingly brutal, not for the squeamish and certainly not for children. Everyone else should experience it. Whether it turns you off or intrigues your senses, one thing's for sure: DELIVERANCE is a novel that will stay with you long after you finish the journey.

MOST RECOMMENDED; AGES 17 & UP