Boulevard Entertainment presents three fantastic music documentaries All You Need Is Love – The Beatles, Leonard Cohen – Bird On A Wire, The World Of Liberace and the truly original surrealist film Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels from celebrated journalist and film director Tony Palmer, which come to DVD in July 2013.
All You Need Is Love – The Beatles
In the mid 1970s, at the suggestion of John Lennon, Tony Palmer took on a monumental task, to document the ‘Story of Popular Music’. The result was a series of films that set the standard for all subsequent biographers and documentary makers. All You Need Is Love – The Beatles is Palmer’s brilliant documentary on the world’s greatest ever pop group. Broadcast worldwide between 1976 and 1981, the film has never been repeated on television and comes to DVD thanks to Boulevard.
Leonard Cohen – Bird On A Wire
On 18 March 1972, Leonard Cohen began a 20-city tour, beginning in Dublin and ending in Jerusalem, taking in London, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Tel Aviv. The tour was billed as Cohen’s last ever and was filmed by Tony Palmer, the film he produced only received one showing at the time, until some 38 years later a friend of Palmer rediscovered it and he painstakingly recreated the 1974 film. Leonard Cohen – Bird On A Wire is the fascinating and touching film that originally aired on the BBC.
The World Of Liberace
In 1976, one of the biggest and most flamboyant stars of the seventies, Liberace the pianist and entertainer, published a coffee table book about his collection of homes, jewellery and costumes entitled The Things I Love. The World of Liberace is the film version of the book as told to acclaimed filmmaker Tony Palmer. As well as some great live footage Liberace takes us on a guided tour of his Hollywood and Palm Springs homes, as we discover his collections of chandeliers, rugs, furniture, cars, pianos, the gold candelabras and a glimpse of the real Liberace.
Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels
Co-written by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels is a musical surrealist film like no other. The film follows the exploits of The Mothers of Invention as they go crazy in the small town of Centreville. In the opening scene Zappa tells us ‘Ladies and gentlemen, you can go mad on the road’ and 200 Motels proves just that with cast members including real-life groupies along with The Who’s drummer Keith Moon as the Hot Nun and Ringo Starr as Larry the Dwarf. The film is interspersed with some of the band’s live performances. The film is interspersed with some of the band’s live performances including Lonesome Cowboy Burt, Magic Fingers and Strictly Genteel.