RIP Phil Spector

Phil Spector, the (im)famous producer, creator of the Wall of Sound and assassin of the actress Lana Clarkston (Scarface) died on Jan. 16 2021 of complications of Covid 19, while in prison. He was 81. Spector was one of the most revolutionary music producers of the sixties creating a new, more sophisticated sound to basic rockn roll and rn B songs, starting with To Know Him is to Love Him, his first hit with The Teddy Bears band, the only group in which he also played. He worked with The Ronnettes, marrying (and terryfying) his then wife Ronnie Spector pulled a gun on John Lennon whose albums he produced, .He produced most famously LET T BE, Beatles' last album, and John and Yoko's work, George Harrison, Leronard Cohen (Death of a Ladies Man).MWas an influence on Brian Wilson and worked even with The Ramones (The End of a Century, 1980).  Played by Al Pacino in the HBO movie by David Mamet, Phil Spector (2013). 

https://www.tmz.com/2021/01/17/phil-spector-dead-dies-81/

Top albums 2020

al treilea top, dupa filme si seriale, cel de albume e mostly by the usual suspects si ce am ascultat mai mult in 2020 (Rolling Stone punea pe locul 1- Drive By-Truckers-The Unraveling, care da, e bun !)

no particular order:

Ozzy Osbourne-Ordinary Man, aparut in ianuarie, e cind anul parea sa fie normal, cu un single excelent,soulful, featuring Elton John

Bob Dylan -Rough and Rowdy Days, aparut in lockdown cu piesa magnum opus de peste 15 min, Murder Most Foul

Deep Purple -Woosh, mutat in iunie, sigle-urile Man Alive si Throw The Bones in before

Bruce Springsteen & the E. Street Band -Letter to You

Paul McCartney -III, decembrie

AC/DC -Power Up -no matter how weak, it's still AC/DC. Mostly a tribute to Malcolm Young, who composed or worked on most of the songs.

metalisch: U.D.O. & Das Musikkorps Der Bundeswehr (Corpul muzical la Fortelor Armate) - We Are One (2020)

Udo Dirkschneider goes symphonic, some nice armonies and Udo's voice is always great to hear !

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David Byrne -American Utopia (aparut in 2019), dar filmul-concert al lui Spike Lee pe HBO in 2020 atunci cind l-am si ascultat

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asa am ascultat si albumul lui Til Lindemann din 2019, F & M, de care habar nu aveam, via single-ul lui cu David Garrett, piesa schlager clasic Alle Tage ist kein Sontag (cintata si de Marlene Dietrich)

Blues:

Dion -Blues with Friends

Neal Black & The Healers-A Little Boom Boom

Malone Sibun Band -Come Together (Jan.)

Soundtracks

Bill & Tedd Face The Music -various sounding like actual bands /  Mark Isham

Tenet -Ludwig Goransson

re-issues:

Tom Petty-Wildflowers &All the Rest, with ag reat new video, Something Could Happen 

The Rolling Stones-Goat's Head Soup (1973) including the unreleased Criss Cross  & Scarlet 

Singles (& videos): 

Billie Ellish -No Time to Die (007)

Alice Cooper -Rock and Roll

Curtis Salgado-The Longer That I Live

Iggy Pop -Dirty Little Virus

Rolling Stones-Living in a Ghost Town  & Criss Cross & Scarlet 

Udo as Dirkschneider & The Old Gangs -Where The Angles Fly  an ol' familliar anthemic not on the 2020 album, out in September as a single 

Mike Campbell's band The Dirty Knobs-Fuck That Guy

Top Series of 2020

 After my Top of Films of 2020 here it is, the top of the series ! and FYI here's the top of the albums of the year 2020 !

1. Fargo season IV  (F/X)

better than the third season, this ganster story set in 1950 Kansas city has also an outlansish black and white surreal episode. Chris Rock is great as the black mob boss, Jack Huston brilliant as the compulsive detective, and the Italians are all a highlight. 

2. Raised by Wolves (HBOMax)

Ridley and Jake Scott direct and produce this classy (& classic) SF created by Aaron Guzikowski, shot in South Africa, with a lot of links to Promoetheus, Blade Runner and Alien series. 

3. The Mandalorian season 2 (Disney+)

Season 2 of The Mandalorian created by Jon Favreau is even better than the first one and brings it closer into the Star Wars  universe. Baby Yoda gets a name, the bounty hunter gets to show his face, and more surprises in this well serialised 8 episodes season.

and in no particular order, up to Ten:

Hollywood (Netflix)

Ian Brennan & Ryan Murphy reinvent Hollywood tales and destinies in the late forties. Revisionist limited miniseries, 7 eps. Trash and LBGB oriented but yeah, Hollywood...

The Boys season 2 (Amazon), not as much fun a season one tho. The Hitler / Goebbels refereences, kudos. 

Devs (F/X Hulu)

Alex Garland's intelligent SF AI Tech marred by budget constraints. 

The Third Day (HBO) 

-six eps miniseries with a great Jude Law, Wicker Man type of thriller, loses breath and grip after ep.3

Truth Seekers (Amazon)

Nick Frost & Simon Pegg supernatural /horror/apocalypse/conspiracy. spoof pomedy series was (too) minor fun, with a great Malcolm Mc Dowell in it. 8 1/2 hr. episodes.

Third season of Norsemen (Netflix), weaker then season one and two but still Monty Python deadpan anachronic nihilistic & sarcastic Northen humour fun. 

saw also:

Freud (Netflix), okeish cheesy Euro trash thriller. kinda guilty pleasure, and what The Alienist should've been. Gave up on that one on season 2, I guess they changed its title too, 

Very disaponted on the Penny Dreadful-City of Angles, witches del muerte, nazis and BS.

caught-up with Call my Agent ! (Dix Pour Cent) on netflix, the French comedy series, good fun, smart. Season 4 is out in France (Oct. 2020), I hope soon also on the Nflix.

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!!!-in the process of watching 30 Monedas (Alex de la Iglesia, HBO Europe) and the new version of  Stephen King'sTHE STAND. 

Top Films of 2020

It's gonna be in English tho. In 2020 I saw films worth mantioning in theaters (Tenet, Colectiv, Pinoochio), watched a lot of Netflix lucky batch of art films product but mostly It was a re-watch and catch-up pf old movies. managed to count (adding series) 370 films. Not so much, I think. so here we go, a TOP 12 adding one mini-series I Know This Much Is True-tough one- but basically a six-hour long film: "

The Top of 2020 series is here ! And the Top of the albums of the Year !

1. "Mank" (Netflix) David Fincher movie of the year !!!

“Uncut Gems” (Netflix) the Safdie Brothers , technically out in December 2019

 “Another Round” Thomas Vinterberg 

 "Tenet" (Warner Bros.) Christopher Nolan -my review here

 “The Painted Bird” Vaclav Marhoul (technically out in 2029) based on the controversial Jerzy Kosinski novel 

 "Pinocchio" Mateo Garrone 

 “I'm Thinking of Ending Things” (Netflix) Charlie Kaufman 

 “Babyteeth” Shannon Murphy

“The Hater” (Netflix) Jan Komasa 

 "Palm Springs" (Hulu/Neon) Max Barbakow -also comedy of the year, sorry Bill and Tedd Face the Music 

 "Da 5 Bloods" (Netflix) Spike Lee 

 “I know This Much Is True” Derek Cianfrance 

HBO mini-series, but like e six-hour movie with special points for Mark Ruffalo-actor of the year, together with Gary Oldman, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems and Mads Mikkelsen 

Mentions: 

Waiting for the Barbarians, Ciro Guerra's adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's Nobel awarded novel,  flawed but a different breed of film, The Trail of Chicago Seven, The Comey Rule with a great Jeff Daniels and Russian SF/horror Sputnik. 

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  Animation 

"Soul" (Pixar) Pete Docter & Kemp Powers 

  Documentary 

“Zappa” (Alex Winter) 

“Belushi” (R.J. Cutler, Showtime)

 “Colectiv” (Alexandru Nanau, also filmul romanesc al anului 2020) -my review here

 Concert Film of the Year

“American Utopia” (HBO, David Byrne's concert of the album named the same) Spike Lee