• 

  Night's Last Tomorrow

  Review by Mick Mercer: 'The Night's Last Tomorrow' As satisfying as last year's darkly compelling 'A Southern Tale' this album relaxes in some comfort. Sinnis has achieved a type of decisive bleakness here which means he can do it almost softly, as the Gothic and Country influences melt lazily or hazily together. Where 'A Southern Tale' seemed a closeted collection, as though recorded indoors secretively, trying to keep something out and thoughts locked in, this album seems bathed in cool light, as though recorded outdoors. Never maudlin, while definitely moving on from glass-half-empty to gargling-poison-dismissively, it takes dark moods and lightens the load while you listen. 'The Night's Last Tomorrow' is a wonderfully drippy thing, the delicate balance seemingly suspended from the steel guitar, as quality lyrics also hover, Sinnis' vocals quivering somewhat but sticking to the point in a masterful display. It lulls you completely, because in another style it could be deeply depressing but here it's a curiously blissful opener. In the troubled '15 Miles To Hell's Gate' he's like a swashbuckling son of Johnny Cash, swaying and crooning dramatically, then we move towards an almost laconic 'Your Past May Come Back To Haunt Me' which unrolls a soothing red carpet beneath twisted, suspicious lyrics all demurely wrapped in a smartly delineated arrangement that harnesses past styles and modern attitudes, allowing menace to mellow. 'Fallible Friend' could just as easily go with some mariachi, or frisky acoustic, but it's a plain and simple song instead, moving at a steady grim pace, like a crotchety Clint Eastwood whittling his own wooden leg. Time slows, it's that stately. 'Follow the Line' is easier on the ear, lilting musically while the vocals threaten to tip over the edge, which is almost out of character in this setting. An unexpected and dignified cover of 'Nine While Nine' also works very well with a refined delivery. We slide down a creepy chute during 'The Fever' with some queasy imagery, then skate warily over a playful lake of doubt in 'Skeletons' with it's cunning use of organ. 'Scars' is odd, like an old Simon & Garfunkel melody squashed flat, a fridge over befuddled slaughter, and the traditional 'St. James Infirmary' is very strange as well, as befits a song so old the original creator isn't positively known. This is a melodramatic piece of doom, where the words clash with the properly agonised mood. The protagonist's love is dead, in the mortuary (I assume) and he's proudly proclaiming, 'she'll never find another man like me.' Well, how gallant, unless I'm missing something? We touch down again on a softly sentimental 'Out of Reach', and perk up during the fabulous 'Quiet Change' which has a rising commercial tug about it, and then during a brilliant 'Gloomy Sunday' you get to see what Sinnis can do when cooped up with an unlikely task, like Roy Orbison walking down subterranean corridors, alone in the dark. Rewriting a well known song he tinkers with certain lines and while he changes the end for what must have been a personal need, at one point he actually improves a line completely and there's not many people can do that, which may explain why on his website lyrics are referred to defiantly as poetry. 'In Harmony' will confuse as the churchy feel professes a quiet relief that death is approaching, as a friend, in catchy surroundings, then it all dies slowly away for good with the suitably sensitive 'When the Light Blinds and You Follow' A remarkably assured album this, and in many ways it must be quite funny for him, considering his punky past. I bet half his relatives are thinking, 'he was bound to come to his senses eventually.' Mature, melodic and at times as restful as it is haunting, this is really quite superb and as he's releasing an album ever year you wonder when he'll peak, because this is still just the ascent.

  • Shop: odax
  • Price: 26.63 EUR excl. shipping
• 

  Mister Peepers: Season 2

  Journey back to Jefferson Junior High with Mr. Peepers (Wally Cox) that shy, quiet, slow-moving science teacher whose efforts to do the right thing always seemed to backfire. Robinson Peepers' antics with his best friend and fellow teacher, Harvey Weskitt (Tony Randall) and the school nurse, Nancy Remington (Patricia Benoit) made this classic 50s TV series a hit with the nation. One of the reasons we loved him was that although Mr. Peepers appeared laughable, easily bullied, baffled and befuddled by the other teachers and life in general, he quietly displayed the strength and conviction that ensured his life was fulfilled and that at the end of every episode he prevailed. An every-day hero in a crazy world, he displayed the virtues of putting the interests of others before his own, genuinely caring about his students and those around him, including his sister (Jenny Egan) and mother (Ruth McDevitt). in Mister Peepers, good guys finish first, in the last season of the show, he even marries Nurse Remington, the girl of his dreams. Your favorite episodes of this Emmy Award winning series, from 1952 to 1953, are compiled in this classic collection. Created in conjunction with the UCLA Film & Television Archives.

  • Shop: odax
  • Price: 52.81 EUR excl. shipping
• 

  Mork & Mindy: The Fourth Season

  The laughs continue in this three-disc, fourth season collection when Mork (Robin Williams) and Mindy (Pam Dawber) tie the knot. Mindy continues to teach Mork about human behavior, while America's favorite alien remains as befuddled and amusing as ever. Watch as this stellar couple honeymoons on planet Ork, journeys back to prehistoric times, and raises their very own hybrid son, Mearth (Jonathan Winters)! Join MORK AND MINDY as they travel across time and space on a series of zany and uproarious adventures that you don't want to miss!

  • Shop: odax
  • Price: 22.53 EUR excl. shipping
• 

  Bell, Book and Candle

  Meet Gillan Holroyd (Kim Novak), Greenwich Village's most seductive sorceress. Powerful, glamorous, and a wee bit bored, Gillian knows that witches can't fall in love. But they can have fun... especially if their lover belongs to another woman! So when Gillian discovers handsome new neighbor Shep Henderson (James Stewart) is the fiance of an old college nemesis (Janice Rule), she promptly puts the befuddled publisher under her spell. But while her sex hex may have heated up Shep's heart, it has also unthawed her own, leading to a romantic complication that not even Pyewacket, Gillian's mind-reading cat, could have foreseen. Presented in eye popping Technicolor transfer that beautifully captures James Wong Howe's stunning cinematography, BELL, BOOK and CANDLE co-starring Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold and Elsa Lanchester is a delightful spoof on witchcraft with the cast members at their very best. - The Motion Picture Guide

  • Shop: odax
  • Price: 39.72 EUR excl. shipping
• 

  Columbo: The Complete Series

  Legendary Peter Falk is a four-time Primetime Emmy Award-winner for his iconic role as the beloved, trenchcoat-wearing Police Lieutenant Columbo. Columbo is the landmark series that inspired a genre. Every criminal, every innocent victim (and some not-so-innocent ones), and every wily deduction are here in one definitive collection. All 69 episodes from it's seven seasons and all 24 television movies are together in this 34-disc anthology. Seemingly befuddled but always brilliant, the cigar-chomping detective will have you following the clues and asking just one more thing until the last case is cracked.

  • Shop: odax
  • Price: 118.90 EUR excl. shipping

---

---