William H Macy and Oscar-nominated Alec Baldwin are exceptional in this downbeat Vegas-set drama from first-time writer-director Wayne Kramer. Hardly anyone does pent-up malice better than Baldwin, and he's particularly combustible here as an old-school casino boss under pressure to modernise his operation, who turns somewhat unreasonable when Macy tries to walk out on him.
In the early '80s, energised by hip hop and electro, New Order produced a string of acts for Factory under their short-lived studio moniker Be Music, the results of which were greeted with indifference on these shores. Quite why is hard to fathom since, as Twice As Nice attests, tracks like "Sakura" by Section 25 and "Motherland" by RFATP were taut, bewitching slices of robo-funk that still excite today. The other producers herein (Arthur Baker, Mark Kamins and Donald "Dojo" Johnson of A Certain Ratio) all had their moments, too.
In 1967, John Peel used to justify the frequent inclusion of Bee Gees tracks on his legendary Perfumed Garden show by saying, "If you're going to copy anyone it might as well be The Beatles." He was right, of course, and this excellent comp is testimony both to that assertion and the undeniable endurance of the Gibb brothers' early material. Gerry Marsden, Billy J Kramer, Marmalade, Status Quo and Paul Jones are just some of the acts who elect to don the red velvet cape of love in order to deliver appropriately idiosyncratic interpretations of those delightfully eccentric songs.
