The Dodman Blog

I caught a chance hour and a half of John Cale (and ex wife Rise) on German satellite TV singing all the songs from Fragments of a Rainy Season in what looked like a small, smoky, crowded club. I was so transfixed I didn’t even think of recording it. I’ve been trying to locate a video ever since. This album is an equisite portrait of one of the best artists around singing and playing the pick of his own songs (plus one beauty from Leonard Cohen) from the past twenty years, accompanied by himself on piano or guitar. The original “unplugged”. Delicious.

Okay, the ‘plot’ is banal, but Rowan Atkinson makes this film hugely enjoyable. Me, Myself and Irene was dire but it was redeeemed by one thirty second scene (dry mouth in the police station). Johnny English has several such breath sapping moments; and even without them, it’s still fun. Puerile, in parts; but that’s the human condition, isn’t it? I loved it. The extras are a bit on the limp side, though.