Recently, VH-1 Classic ran the movie Urgh! A Music War, which I always try to catch when it’s on television. This was a shortened version of the movie, and it cut out six acts from the original theatrical release. I wrote a review of the movie here and listed the six acts they cut out, and provided two links to videos of the missing acts.

The most curious cut by VH-1 was the absence of The Cramps, since the image of strong>Lux Interior was featured prominently on the original movie posters and the performance is a definite highlight of the movie.

The uncut versions I’ve seen on IFC and Sundance are still missing the scenes from Gary Numan and Splodgenessabounds. Numan owns the rights to his performance, and I think Splodgenessabounds was cut out because, frankly, it’s not that good. (There is a YouTube clip of that in the review).

Even with the cuts, though, it’s still a fantastic movie with great music by the well known (The Police, X, Devo, Joan Jett, the Go-Go’s), the new wave cult artists (Oingo Boingo, Wall of Voodoo, OMD, Echo And The Bunnymen) and the obscure (Toyah Wilcox, Klaus Nomi, The Au Pairs).

Right now, the movie is unavailable on DVD, and it seems that it will never be released for home viewing in that format. Miles Copeland, when negotiating the contracts, opted to give the exclusive electronic rights to the RCA “Selectavision” format, which died in 1986. To top that, the contracts can’t even be renegotiated because the originals have been lost, probably during Thomson‘s purchase of RCA.

Without the original contracts, nothing can be renegotiated, and changing the contracts for over 30 acts without the originals would result in astronomical legal fees and endless negotiations with attorneys.

The music from the concert was released as a two-record soundtrack, containing 27 of the 34 songs, and later, released on CD. But the CD only had 21 of the songs, leaving some worthy music on the cutting room floor.

So what’s a rock-and-roll fan to do?

Well, music geeks, there is a site that is a great resource for all things URGH! In fact, you can purchase copies of the movie on DVD and the soundtrack, though the legality of these CDs and DVDs may be questionable at best.

I did buy the CD of the soundtrack, and the sound of the officially released CD is great. The other songs (contained on a “˜bonus’ disk) do suffer from some loss of sound quality, as the transfer to CD from the other formats caused some loss of sonic clarity.

However, thanks to the Internet, music fans can purchase the movie and the soundtrack at this time, at a reasonable price. So if you dare, go check out that site and discover the great music contained in URGH! A Music War.

I was minding my business on a Sunday night when Eve emailed me a link to this blog regarding music changes and scene deletions in the first season DVDs for the fine show WKRP In Cincinnati.

What a shame, I thought to myself, a damn shame.

WKRP was one of those touchstone television shows for me. It aired at the exact right time and place in my life to fully understand all aspects of the humor and of the music.

The show started in 1978, when I was 12 going on 13. I was already a big rock-and-roll fan and also very interested in radio. (In fact, at times I dreamed of working at WLS in Chicago, the huge AM radio station that played the hits and had the coolest DJs I could here in Indiana.) This was a show right up my alley, and I was so happy when after a rocky start, the show survived and lasted for four seasons.

It earned a rightful place as one of the best comedies ever. The outright buffoonery of Les Nessman, Herb Tarlick, and Arthur Carlson was perfectly balanced by the normalcy of Andy Travis, Bailey Quarters, and Jennifer Marlowe. Plus, Dr. Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap were the coolest DJs ever.

To this day, I can break out laughing at the mere thought of the Thanksgiving Day episode, or the episode where Venus and Johnny Fever get drunk on the air (well, Venus does) and probably the most hilarious thing, for me, was the jingle that they produced for the funeral home.

Aside from the comedy, there was the music. Now, it may be a stretch now to think of a radio station that would play Dr. Johnny Fever’s rock-and-roll in the morning, and have Venus’ soul in the afternoon, but back then some radio stations still had the DJs program their own shows to an extent, so it didn’t seem THAT odd to me. But the best thing as a music fan was hearing the snippets of actual songs, just like they were playing them on the air.

It’s not every day that an album review in Rolling Stone turns me into a quivering mass of geek, but recently, one small review did just that.

It was a little blurb about the CD re-releases of Another Monty Python Record and Monty Python’s Previous Record, complete with bonus tracks. I have those on vinyl, but my turntable is broken, so for years I had been unable to listen to them.

Of course, as soon as I finished the review, I dashed to the computer to see if they could be (legally) downloaded, and in fact, they were on iTunes. So after a quick download, those classic albums were mine.

Almost every geek my age knows all about Monty Python. Who among us doesn’t know every line from their movies? Some of us with serious Python-geek issues have the complete TV series on DVD, the book of the scripts, and the compilations of songs and “˜greatest hits’ on CD. Some of their later albums were available on CD as well, but they haven’t held up as well as their earlier work.

But the early Monty Python albums weren’t available on CD, until now. These two CDs are the troupe’s second and third record, and were the first ones available in the United States. They were released even before PBS started to show the TV show. In fact, the popularity of these records on some FM radio stations spurred PBS to import the show.

The first Monty Python album was just a recording straight off of the first season of TV show skits from the BBC, and while it has its moments, it’s definitely best in a visual medium.

These two records, though, while having many sketches in common with season two and season three of the TV show, are totally reworked for the audio market, and the new material definitely uses the sound medium to its comedic potential.

Another Monty Python Record was released in 1971, and brilliantly combines some of the favorite season two sketches and new material. The group blends sketches together, such as the Spanish Inquisition showing up during the Architect’s sketch. The long form “Piranha Brothers” sketch really works as an audio bit as well.

The second half of the album drags a bit, with some long bits that are only mildly amusing. The bonus tracks are just OK, except for a downright hilarious one for “Treadmill Lager.”

Monty Python’s Previous Record, released in 1972, is their audio masterpiece. The troupe maximizes the potential of sound as comedy, with all kinds of effects and noises enhancing the sketches. “Dennis Moore” holds the first half together, and to me the pacing of this bit is better on album. The “Money Programme” and “Eric The Half A Bee” are riotous as well.

The second half could be even better, as the Pythons move into game show parodies, a marvelous bit on soccer goalies paying tribute to the Yangtze River in poetry and song, and the capper was a fairy tale that concludes the record that will leave one rolling on the floor even on repeated hearings. The bonus tracks, though, are less than stellar, and one can see why they were left off of the record.

It feels good to have these two albums now in my iPod and on my computer, especially when you put your iPod on shuffle and “The Travel Agent” sketch comes on right after “Black Betty” by Ram Jam. That’s quite the juxtaposition, and I don’t think Python would have it any other way!