Friday Flashback: Rec. #231: Gentlemen and Players

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Who doesn't love a good cat-and-mouse suspense novel set at a British boys grammar school? With an allegorical chess framework, no less.

Comparable to: Impossible not to imagine the cast of The History Boys running around St. Oswald's, with Richard Griffiths fitting into the role of Roy Straitley, the eccentric and hunted Classics teacher, quite nicely. Or is that just me?

Opening lines: "If there's one thing I've learned in the past fifteen years, it's this: that murder is really no big deal. It's just a boundary, meaningless and arbitrary as all others --- a line drawn in the dirt."

You might not like it if: Author Joanne Harris clearly had so much fun coming up with the character names. (Using the Dickens method of nomenclature, we've got Bob Strange, Dianne Dare, John Snyde, Chris Keane, Mr. Meek, Dr. Tidy, etc.) 

But the overt chess references (I'm looking at you, Pat Bishop and Colin Knight) might make you feel a bit bludgeoned.

How to get it: In print, Kindle-able, and surely available from your library system.

Connection to previous Wreckage: I first mentioned Gentlemen and Players during Personal Wreck Week (List #1). The History Boys was Rec. #115.

[Originally posted 4/29/12.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #241: The Name of the Rose

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Umberto Eco's first novel is a medieval whodunnit set in an Italian monastery. With this bestselling doorstopper, you get a monk-murderer, accusations of heresy, casks of pig blood, secret symbols, and some unexpectedly baroque descriptions of illuminated manuscripts.

Comparable to: Like If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, this novel is set up as a postmodernist puzzler. Also like If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, the original language of the book is Italian.

Closing lines [no spoilers; don't worry]: "It is cold in the scriptorium, my thumb aches. I leave this manuscript, I do not know for whom; I no longer know what it is about: stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus."

You might not like it if: Well, it's a 600+-page novel in which a lost work by Aristotle plays a pivotal role and Latin is strewn about with reckless abandon. 

It's rather difficult to pinpoint why exactly this was such a popular success that it inspired a movie adaptation, a board game, a radio drama, and a video game ... but it was and it did.

How to get it: The Name of the Rose is widely available. Easy to buy, borrow, or download to your Kindle.

Connections to other Wreckage: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler was Rec. #261.

[Originally posted 6/3/12.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #361 and Rec. #362: The High Concept of Concept Albums --- Two Case Studies

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

Case #1 (Rec. #361): God Help the Girl

The album after the concept album:
God Help the Girl, 2014 film soundtrack

Lifecycle:
Single --- Come Monday Night --- May 2009
Main concept album --- God Help the Girl --- June 2009
Single --- Funny Little Frog --- July 2009
EP --- Stills --- November 2009
Single --- Baby, You're Blind --- May 2010
Film (God Help the Girl) January 2014

What the concept album did: Under the leadership of Stuart Murdoch, indie pop group Belle and Sebastian acts as the backing band to fictional character Eve.

What the concept album couldn't do: Adding a mannered two-step dance by Emily Browning and Olly Alexander takes the last minute of the song "The Psychiatrist Is In" to the next level of sublime. The film also features assorted snarky visual gags and some inspired hair/wardrobe combos.

Case #2 (Rec. #362): Here Lies Love

See also Rec. #187

The album after the concept album:
Here Lies Love, 2014 cast recording

Lifecycle:
Song cycle performances --- Adelaide Festival of Arts --- March 2006
Live performance --- Carnegie Hall --- February 2007
Concept album --- April 2010
Off-Broadway musical --- 2013-2014

What the concept album did: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim tell the story of Imelda Marcos in 22 songs, featuring a wide range of vocalists, including Santigold, Martha Wainwright, Florence Welch, Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Sia, and Steve Earle.

(I know that's a lot to take in. See Rec. #187 for further information.)

What the concept album couldn't do: The off-Broadway disco musical is an immersive theatrical experience. There are rolling platform stages and a DJ and screens everywhere and audience dance breaks and a news camera on walkabout and some very helpful people in bright pink jumpsuits. It's nonstop, but not overwhelming.

[Originally posted 11/12/14.]