The Passing Show – The Life & Music Of Ronnie
Lane
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Documentary: B
Ronnie
Lane was a writer and bassist for the band The Small Faces, who had an
international hit with Itchycoo Park
in 1968. They revised themselves simply
as The Faces when lead singer Steve Marriott formed the successful Humble
Pie. In his place would be a
then-unknown Rod Stewart and future Rolling Stone Ron Wood would also do bass
along with Lane. They were more successful than Humble Pie or
Small Faces with hits like (I Know) I’m
Losing You and Stay With Me, but
at the height of their success, even as Steward had huge solo success staying
in The Faces, Lane left it all in 1973, two years before The Faces broke
up. Why?
The Passing Show – The Life &
Music Of Ronnie Lane
(2006) is a new documentary co-produced by the BBC that tries to explore why he
became a footnote in music history when he was so much more. Producer/directors Rupert Williams and James
Mackie load the 107 minutes of the this program with everything they could,
including Lane’s music, his rise to the top and sudden dropping out. Like Syd Barrett, he had more to offer and
would land up having health problems.
Unlike Barrett, Lane tried different public entertainment projects, like
that which became the title of this program.
No matter
his success or lack thereof, he kept plugging away on his own, holding on to
his brand of integrity and trying to do something different. Then he contracted Multiple Sclerosis and
slowly had to deal with its eroding results.
The documentary parallels the integrity of his music with the battle
against the still-fatal disease which he faced when far less breakthroughs had
arrived. The result is a poignant
portrait of a very influential and multi-talented artist whose time for
rediscovery is long overdue. Eric
Clapton and Pete Townshend are among the interviewees.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a bit softer throughout than usual,
in part because more of the footage than usual is old NTSC and PAL analog
video, but it plays just fine otherwise.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no surrounds, but is as clear as can be
expected for al the audio sources that have been edited together. The overall results are not bad
considering. Extras include four songs
with Lane for fans and a paper pullout inside the DVD case with an essay by
Andy Worthington, who is writing his biography.
- Nicholas Sheffo
