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Various Artist: The Sacred Triangle-Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 (DVD)

At the beginning of the 1970's, three rock stars all seemingly going in different directions somehow managed to coverge for a brief time. David Bowie, yet to transform into Ziggy Stardust, was looking for his next hit after the early success of "Space Oddity", but finding it hard to come by. Lou Reed was desperately trying to make something of a solo career after leaving The Velvet Underground, one of the late 60's most psychedelic groups. Iggy Pop, after practically inventing punk with The Stooges, now hoped to drag himself out of a drug induced stupor long enough to make something of his sagging career. The Sacred Triangle-Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 documents how these three met at New York's Max's Kansas City bar in late 1971 and all their careers took a turn for the better shortly after. There's plenty of vintage footage of all three included here, and each musician is given plenty of background coverage so the viewer has plenty of info on their careers leading up to the magical meeting. Bowie fans will especially love the time devoted to their hero (he gets the bulk of the coverage on this DVD), especially his Ziggy days, complete with some great live footage, though of obvious sub-par quality. There's also some cool live footage of wildman Iggy Pop and The Stooges from their heyday which is a very nice addition here. Throw in some fascinating interview segments from those who were around the scene back then, like Angela Bowie (David's ex-wife), Andy Warhol's assitant Billy Name, Leee Black Childers, NY scenester Jayne Country (now she/he's a real doozy!), and others, and you have an entertaining film of three icons of rock and roll who helped create glam, punk, and psychedelia.

Added: November 6th 2011
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: More Information
Hits: 1852
Language: english

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Various Artist: The Sacred Triangle-Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 (DVD)
Posted by Scott Ward, SoT Staff Writer on 2011-11-06 15:43:11
My Score:

A perfect storm is the convergence of three particular weather phenomena that produce an unprecedented event when they are put together. This documentary details the rock and roll version of such a happening back when three of the music industries icons where trying to make their way in the business and how their coming together helped shape the careers of them all. Centering around the beginnings of Bowie and his interaction with the other pair, it paints a picture of Bowie helping to launch the solo career of Reed (with some major help from Mick Ronson) and actually held back the emergence of Iggy Pop while he was in the midst of becoming the superstar known as Ziggy Stardust.

This film depicts a time when Reed had just left The Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop was just treading water in the music business while Bowie was gathering steam that finally exploded on the scene with the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. During this time, he produced the album Transformer for Lou Reed which reinvented him as a solo artist after the break up of his band. Bowie's management team also in a way were responsible for the making of Iggy's Raw Power album but failed to capitalize on just what they had at the time.

It is a very interesting story and told through people who were there and experienced it such as Bowie's then wife Angie. It also goes into great detail about Andy Warhol's involvement and how his work influence the lives and careers of both Reed and Bowie with a lesser impact on Iggy. If not for Warhol, I doubt that either Bowie or Reed would have been the stars they are today.

The most interesting thing to me is how manufactured the whole Ziggy Stardust phenomena seemed to be. Bowie planned everything about the music, the presentation etc., right down to how it would be perceived when he put his arm around guitarist Ronson during a performance. We all know how fantastic that album is but all the hype and manipulation by Bowie and his manager takes something away from what I think is one of the greatest albums of all time.

This is a very enjoyable DVD without question. It depicts the events that surround the making of three legendary albums by three rock and roll superstars. You can also say that it shows the birth of both glam and punk rock as well. However you slice it this is a worthwhile movie that has many great live performances included and interviews that really give you a feel for the whole scene that was happening around them at the time.



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