Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2018
Images from the Internet
[No company listed]
97 minutes, 2013
www.johnotway.com/
https://vimeo.com/79400234
Images from the Internet
Otway, the Movie: Rock & Roll’s Greatest
Failure
Directed by Steve Barker[No company listed]
97 minutes, 2013
www.johnotway.com/
https://vimeo.com/79400234
When discussing cult legends, certain names continually come up, like
Alex Chilton, Nick Drake, Willie Alexander, and for those in the know, British
musician John Otway is up on that list. His fans are fanatical and essentially
paid for this documentary, for which I am grateful to be able to finally catch
up on viewing.
Y’see, I interviewed the dude in
New York for my ‘zine FFanzeen back
in 1980 (HERE),
and more recently (relatively) reviewed his second autobiography (HERE).
He’s a charming dude whose skills include amazing live performances, lyrics
that can be either completely deep and emotional or simply silly and whack-a-doodle,
and he’s an expert in manipulation. I mean that, of course, in a totally
respectful and admiring way. But more on that later.
While most of what is covered in this documentary is also in the book I
reviewed, there is a difference. First, let me state that the autobio is a
great read, and recommend it either way, as Otway ha a sharp turn of a phrase.
But the opening minutes of the documentary show why this film is so special
when he see him performing his signature hit, “Beware of the Flowers ‘Cause I’m
Sure They’re Gonna Get You (Yeah),” in front of a huge hometown crowd in Aylesbury,
outside London, in 1978. There ae a lot of performances here, and if I may be
so bold, perhaps a compilation of live shows over the years for a next project?
Having seen him play in New York, I know he’s an exciting performer. And
at the time I interviewed him (the day before he played) I learned that yeah,
he can be a bit of a (in his own words) prat. He had rock star idealism and
especially an ego that both served him well and also helped torpedo what might
have been a solid career. He worked against his own self-interests by focusing only on his self-interests in the past,
isolating his partner at the time, the appropriately titled guitarist Wild
Willie Barrett.
Let me digress here a moment… In the late 1990s, I saw a “Teen Idol”
show. The opening was Bobby Sherman, who had a moment of stardom only to have
it fade quickly. He was gracious and really happy to be there. The middle act
was Davy Jones (d. 2012), someone who had a similar path, but was obviously
bitter to the point where the person next to me started to cry.
My point is, Otway falls somewhere in the middle. When I interviewed him
way back when, I had (and have) no issues with him at
all. If the fame had stuck, who knows where his ego would have taken him; I
imagine not to good places, considering what he did with his first Polydor
paycheck, as shown in this film. However, with his being a “rock and roll
failure,” his perspective is different than when we met, and he seems (to this
viewer) to appreciate what he has, rather than expecting it.
The arrogance part has transformed into something else: exuberance, which
I would more accurately call chutzpah.
By accepting and embracing his fate as a “rock and roll failure” (much as
Leonard Nimoy did with Spock), this opened up a whole new world of
self-promotion that led him to rent out some of the biggest and prestigious halls
in England to perform in as marketing himself (and yet real gigs), and sell
them out. Once the Internet opened in the early 1990, Otway was one of the
first musicians to not only embrace the technology, but used/uses it to his own
advantage in, again, self-marketing. Brilliant albeit scary stuff to his
(again) management, who knew that if it didn’t work, the finances would be disastrous.
But they did it and most of the time succeeded.
Watching the film, you can see the sparkle in Otway’s eyes as even he is amazed at what he has gotten away
with over the years. And it seems like as scary as it was/is, he is enjoying it
wholeheartedly. My question, and of course there is no way to know this, is if
his success had been ongoing rather than a very bumpy road, would he still be
so appreciative?
Otway uses his teaching of a music business class at the Grange School in
Aylesbury as the framework for the film, going back and forth between his
lecture that is frank yet fun and informative, and additional interviews with
himself and others, some of which are archival, though most are for the
documentary. Nearly all these are with first-hand people, such as musicians who
played with him like Wild Willie and Steve Harley, his management team that has
worked hard to help Otway meet most of his outrageous dreams, media
personalities like Bob Harris of the “Old Grey Whistle Stop,” and various
producers, including the great John Peel and Neil Innes. Mixing my metaphors,
that’s just scratching the iceberg.
By far, though, it’s Otway’s fans – and this focuses more on those in
England of course – that have saved his ass on numerous occasions (and I mean
that in the best of ways), helping him finance his dreams, fill the halls, and
give him a 50 birthday present of a second Top 10 hit 25 years after his first
in 1978. He even let the fans choose which song to put into the stores (they
chose disco-ish “Bunsen Burner”; I would have picked “Too Much Air, Not Enough
Oxygen”)
Documentaries can be a bit dry, but this one is episodic to the point of
being epic, and there is absolutely not a minute that is wasted, even when it’s
just people talking. The projects, the ambition, the successes and the failures
are all part of a complex musical life of someone who is a bit manic, bold, and
exceedingly talented.
Now, let’s make this the big documentary, proper!
Bonus Videos:
Nice article, is there a password for that Vimeo link available?
ReplyDeleteJohn had graciously given a temporary password to the public for a limited time around Christmas 2018. Now it is back to being a pay-to-view. I have no control of that, and I would never share a private screener password anyway. 8)
DeleteHey, the man's gotta make a living! 8)