Arthur Brown

The dark side of the long-running music show, exploring the ruthless tactics of promoters and the demands of big name stars, the artists that admitted to performing drunk on-air, and how one presenter hosted the show drugged.

Alice Cooper at Cidade do Rock, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 21, 2017. Setlist: Brutal Planet / No More Mr. Nice Guy / Under My Wheels / Guitar Solo (Nita Strauss) / Poison / Halo of Flies (with drum solo) / Feed My Frankenstein / Cold Ethyl / Only Women Bleed / Killer / I Love the Dead (band vocals only) / Fire / School's Out

Paul and Jennifer Hemdale have just moved into their dream house. But their happy marriage is about to be put to the test as they slowly discover the secret behind the black room in the cellar. Something else is already living in their new home and it is growing stronger every day.

3.3/10

Phometrica tells the story of a couple, Stefania (Joanna Ignaczewska) and Jose (Tom Woodward). When Stefania falls pregnant, Jose becomes suspicious about the nature of the clearing work she's undertaking to help support the family. Paranoid that she's keeping something from him, he follows her. However, rather than reveal Stefania's secrets, Jose steps into his own nightmares and finds himself exploring his own guilt. Meanwhile as Stefania seeks to pull their life into some kind of order, the couple find themselves separated by the growing chaos, and are unable to escape their hopeless indulgence in their own suffering. Featuring Arthur Brown as cult leader Deacon Tavalouris, the film plays out in a series of fractured sketches that range from the comedic to the surreal.

7/10

Nigel Planer narrates a documentary which traces the origins and development of British heavy metal from its humble beginnings in the industrialised Midlands to its proud international triumph. Contributors include Lemmy, Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan from Deep Purple, Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and Saxon's Biff Byford.

7.6/10

Overview of Prog Rock history in the UK: Documentary about progressive music and the generation of bands that were involved, from the international success stories of Yes, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson and Jethro Tull to the trials and tribulations of lesser-known bands such as Caravan and Egg.

8/10

A two-disc retrospective of iconic Beat Club performances recorded between 1968 and 1979 for German Television. Artists include: The Herd, The Kinks, Blue Cheer, Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix Experience and many others.

Hawkwind performing live at Newcastle Opera House, 4th December 2002 with guest Arthur Brown.

When Hippies Ruled The World takes a trip back to the end of the psychedelic Sixties - the dreams, trips, movies, and music - to a time that love was all that was needed. From 1967 to 1970, the hippie revolution gave us great anthems, great events, great sex and great big afghan coats. The music was by The Doors; queen of the hippies Joni Mitchell; and the world was set alight by the number 1 hit Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Hippies dropped out at the biggest festival, Woodstock, and were turned on by LSD and free love. The whole experience was literally set on film by Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in Easy Rider while the hippest of all looked East and followed in the trail of the Beatles to India.

Portrait of an important American musician through the testimonies of fellow musicians and people from his environment, but also through archival material and documents from various stages of his life and career.

7.6/10

Over ten years, documentary filmmaker Peter Clifton has recorded performances by some of the biggest names in world pop rock. From 1964 to 1973, groups such as the Rolling Stones, Animals, Cream, Blind Faith, Pink Floyd and Faces passed through London, as well as emblematic singers of that period, some with meteoric trajectory such as Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix; others, poets of a single era, like Cat Stevens and Donovan, as well as those who would shine brighter a few years later, like Joe Cocker and Tina Turner. You can check it all out on this historic DVD, an indispensable document for anyone who appreciates the purest rock.

A psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy becomes a master pinball player and the object of a religious cult.

6.6/10
7%

The Committee, starring Paul Jones of Manfred Mann fame, is a unique document of Britain in the 1960s. After a very successful run in London’s West End in 1968, viewings of this controversial movie have been few and far between. Stunning black and white camera work by Ian Wilson brings to life this “chilling fable” by Max Steuer, a lecturer (now Reader Emeritus) at the London School of Economics. Avoiding easy answers, The Committee uses a surreal murder to explore the tension and conflict between bureaucracy on one side, and individual freedom on the other. Many films, such as Total Recall, Fahrenheit 451 and Camus’ The Stranger, see the state as ignorant and repressive, and pass over the inevitable weaknesses lying deep in individuals. Drawing on the ideas of R.D. Laing, a psychologically hip state faces an all too human protagonist.

6.3/10