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A competent but unremarkable second hand story
The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 |
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Review by Andy Argyrakis When it comes to revolutionizing rock n' roll (particularly the punk, glam and experimental factions), David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed are amongst the most recognized and celebrated. And for an all too short but incredibly sweet period spanning 1971 to 1973, this unofficial holy trifiecta weaved in and out of collaborative circles, as chronicled in this documentary DVD. Clocking in at nearly two hours, there's plenty of tales being told (like Bowie's emergence from the one hit wonder world, Reed's post Velvet Underground reinvention and Pop's coming of age outside of The Stooges), but the main problem lies in the lack of current cooperation from its subjects.Sure, there are plenty of behind the scenes clips, scans of rare photographs and song snippets, but outside of some few quick quotes from old interviews, the majority lies in secondhand sources close to the scene, but not exactly in that ultra-tight inner circle. One of the most famous (or is it infamous?) is Angela Bowie, who was married to the chameleon during his bisexual phase, but has since cashed in with a sordid tell all book. However, she's still riding on his coattails recalling those 15 minutes of fame, toting her assistance throughout the Ziggy Stardust character creation and his coming out to the press. What seemed less self-serving was just how much Andy Warhol factored into her ex-husband's work, which of course tied back around to Lou Reed's time in the Velvet Undergound, as echoed by former Warhol clinger Billy Name. Additional contributions from MainMan Management vice president Leee Black Childers and scenster Jayne County further illustrate the outrageousness of the era, its cross dressing decadence and musical experimentations, but other than some colorful sound bites, they provide minimal insight. While it's all a fairly interesting tale of how everyone's careers intertwined and the players influenced each other (and perhaps even leveraged their artistic credibility against one another to gain even wider spread fame), there's absolutely no new ground covered that die-hards don't already know about. Instead, The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 serves as more of a postscript to that very era that had its heart in the right place, but not enough actual participants to truly hit the target. |