Heart of a Punk - Soul of a Rasta

"Oil City Confidential"
The Boy Done Good!

"The Filth & the Fury", "The Future is Unwritten" and "Oil City Confidential"; the trilogy is complete; the trinity fulfilled.

And so as we have said before - Julian Temple is completely admonished and forgiven for his past crimes (AKA "Absolute Beginners"). We will never mention "Absolute Beginners" in this Fanzine again, not even around Christmas time (gobble gobble). In our eyes Mr Temple is now a man without sin - go forth Mr Temple and sin no more (ie don't do Absolute Beginners II for fucks sake).

With "Oil City Confidential" Julian Temple makes it crystal that with this format he's become a serial killer. He once again employs his scrapbook montage, largesque projections and gathering of cracking anecdotal gems from the vox populi to compelling effect. This time round we not only get a potted history of The Feelgoods (from kids outside the Amusement Arcade to the Hammersmith Odeon); we also get a potted history of Canvey Island (a flat pre-fab world just below the water line) and the history of the 20th Century Canvey Islander (mouth open, beery breath, stains on the trousers; jellied eels he says. He's called John, Dad's called John, brother's called John and all of his mates is called John an all). Yep if there's such a thing as Documentary Noir "Oil City Confidential" should definitely be rammed firmly into that slot. The boy done good.

But for me "Oil City Confidential" is a secret film about the insular workings of the English Band and how they are predestined to implode; often at the height of their powers. It's all about cracks and divisions; and there are usually at least a couple of divisions in every band right from day one, it's just everyone's blind to them at the start.

The unequal division of labour is crack number one. The mighty rift between the songwriters and the non songwriters; the ticking time bomb which usually explodes when the royalty cheques start arriving. Even when there is a shared writing credit as there was with The Stranglers it's still going to end in tears and punch ups.

Then there's recreational division. A whole rift valley that divides the alcohol faction and the drug faction. Most bands have this divide. Throw in Women and musical differences (tee hee) and the seeds of discontent are soon in full bloom.

In "Oil City" we see that the Feelgoods had the full set of cracks from day one just waiting to open up. Johnson was the only songwriter; the only poor sod with that blindingly white piece of paper in front of him day in day out. Brilleaux, Sparks and the Big Figure were all alcohol based; whilst Wilko was off licking stamps and drinking tea. But it's not always the REAL divisions and ACTUAL tensions that kill a band. It doesn't matter whether the band plays only eight gigs a year like Oasis or 300 odd like Dr Feelgood. It's the IMAGINED, irrational and just plain stupid resentments that build up inside the old noodle box that do for most bands. And it's the IMAGINED, irrational and just plain stupid resentments that are the hardest to forgive or shake off.

There's a bit of dialogue in the 2007 film "There will be Blood" that comes pretty close to what I mean. It's when the Oil Baron Plainview (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) says "I don't want to talk about those things. I see the worst in people. I don't need to look past seeing them to get all I need. I've built up my hatreds over the years, little by little".

And that's what generally happens when men are with men 24/7. They build up my hatreds little by little and don't want to talk about it. They can start off loving and respecting each other - a band of brothers fighting against the world - but sooner or later it's going to end like The Lord of the Flies.

"Oil City Confidential" then is a timeless tale, a cautionary parable, a modern day odyssey. The story of The Feelgood's moulded and defined by their island home; setting sail on a beer dark sea to foreign parts; where their youthful brotherhood allegiances are tested in the furnaces of Babylon and finally rent asunder in the blinking of an eye. NOW GO GET YOUR OWN!

But of course the parting with Wilko was most definitely not the end of the story. And this must be borne in mind. I didn't get to see Wilko live with Dr Feelgood back in the day - it was just too early for me. But I did see Brilleaux, Sparks, Big Figure and Gypie. My remembrance of that gig are pretty similar to this slightly earlier review from '78.