A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
My record collection
#173: Dean & Britta - 13 Most Beautiful (2xCD)
This is my second copy of the double CD edition of 13 Most Beautiful but since the first was still in its shrink wrap this is the one I’ll actually get to listen to!
Because this is, in theory at least, a soundtrack album it should be about the film it soundtracks, although that seems less the case with this one since the whole film/presentation is episodic, and each episode requires a track the exact length of the episode, and each episode is of a fairly consistent length - as long as a 100ft roll of 16mm film.
I was a projectionist for about 18 months in the late 80s (so long ago) and so I know that…
One foot of 16 mm film is 40 frames
therefore…
100 feet is 4000 frames, shot at 25 frames per second that equal 160 seconds, so, each film is 2 minutes and 40 seconds long.
Warhol projected these slower to extend to around 4 minutes - which I suspect is projecting at 16 frames per second - which works out at 250 seconds or 4 minutes and 10 seconds.
So, in theory each of the tracks on 13 Most Beautiful ought to be that long, most are - this is what my DVD suggests:
- 01, Ann: 04:30 / 04:25 on disc 1 of the CD
- 02, Paul: 04:38 / 04:58
- 03, Edie: 04:18 / 04:47
- 04, Billy: 04:43 / 05:06
- 05, Susan: 04:20 / 04:37
- 06, Dennis: 04:31 / 04:43
- 07, Mary: 04:01 / 04:02
- 08, Nico: 04:38 / 04:51
- 09, Freddy: 05:12 / 05:11
- 10, Richard: 04:34 / 06:24
- 11, Ingrid: 04:33 / 03:52
- 12, Lou: 04:43 / 03:09
- 13, Jane: 04:34 / 04:29
Which, with a bit of leader I guess makes sense, except chapter 9, Freddy Herko, who for some reason over-runs!? The versions on this CD are mostly remixes, and as you can see often run a different length and the CD version of Not a Young Man Anymore isn’t long enough for the film!
It’s odd but I often don’t instantly think of this as a Dean & Britta album here are some reasons why:
- it has been released in different versions with different tracks/mixes/running order
- it is heavier on instrumental tracks than their real albums
- it contains songs/tracks that started life elsewhere
- its first release was a DVD
Of course it is a Dean & Britta album… or, is it?!
Track 7 on disc 1 is described as being Produced, performed and mixed by Anthony LaMarca - performed?? It’s certainly sung by Dean, but performed by Anthony?? Does this make it a Various Artists release??
Apologies for the random and probably incomprehensible ramblings of this post!
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/004
- Artist: Dean & Britta (or Various Artists)
- Title: 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests
- Notes: Double CD edition in card sleeve
- Format: 2xCD
Previously in my record collection: