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DVD: The Electric Prunes: Rewired
Snapper Music
Reviewed by Alan Wright
Some 30 or so years after falling apart amidst managerial manipulations, loss of control over their own music and recordings, eventual replacement by outsiders resulting in a bogus Electric Prunes recording, and touring behind the name in the late '60s, most of the original band has reunited. They recorded a new CD called Artifacts and embarked on a European tour in 2002, by all reports astonishing audiences with their wigged-out garage-a-delic sound. This DVD is proof positive that a band can succeed on its own terms even today; perhaps even more so. The four original members - singer James Lowe, bassist Mark Tulin, guitarist Ken Williams, and drummer Joe Dooley - are joined by Cameron Lowe (James' son!) on keyboards and Mark Moulin on guitar. Shot with multiple cameras at a gig in Brighton before enthusiastic fans, this DVD is quite fantastic. Besides the band's impressive stage/light show, nice optical effects and editing have resulted in a very trippy and exciting video that becomes so much eye candy. From the opening song, "Lost Dreams," it's apparent that these guys still have the chops. The guitars are a little heavier than "back in the day," but the backline of Vox amps betrays a connection to their roots (the Prunes were sponsored by Vox and even did a well-circulated and hilarious advert for said product). For the second song, they break out the '60s classic "You Never Had It Better," replete with stunning dual fuzztone guitars and lots of weird Theremin sounds from James. Before "The Great Banana Hoax," James mentions that the last time they were there, they found themselves apologizing for America being involved in a senseless war, and here they are doing it again, since at the time this was recorded, the U.S. was gearing up for the big Iraq invasion.
The band performs "Ain't It Hard," with great harmonic playing by James, then the unmistakable rev-up guitar sound for their big hit "I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)" begins, right down to James playing finger cymbals. Then James breaks out the autoharp for an intense version of "I Happen To Love You" which segues into a rave-up filled "Got My Mojo Workin'." They play a couple more old faves, "Little Olive" and"Long Days Flight ('Till Tomorrow)," then two new tunes, "Devil's Candy" and "Bullet Thru The Backseat," before finishing off with "Hideaway," "Castaway" and the great closer, "Get Me To The World On Time."
Another readily apparent thing is how much of a monster bassist Mark Tulin is, as he can truly hold it all together with his thick, fuzzed-out bass while the rest of the band "freaks out" during appropriate moments. The whole band is tight as a drum, and faithfully recreates their classic '60s sound while updating it just enough to not sound like a complete retro parody either. No "come on everybody put your hands together" audience participation cheesiness, no drum solos, no attempting to sound like a radio friendly modern band. If anything, they sound even more freaked out then they did in the '60s!
Some of the DVD Extras include behind the scenes footage of the 2002 Rewired tour stops, including a hilarious snippet of them hanging out with the Damned (who covered ""I Had Too Much To Dream") at the Canterbury Fayre Festival, the making of Artifact VOX Fest III excerpts, 3D mushroom animation and many surprises.
© 2004 - Alan Wright