A Good Band is Easy to Kill

Last night, I watched "A Good Band is Easy to Kill," a documentary chronicling Beulah's last tour. Appropriately, the band is touring in support of Yoko, an album about break-ups, because "A Good Band is Easy to Kill" is not so much a tour documentary but a film about a band on the verge of its own breakup.

Infamously, the movie opens with Miles telling an interviewer that Yoko is a "realer" album than Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. The opening interview sets the tone for the rest of the film; Miles is so desperate for success, you get the sense that he really doesn't understand why Dylan gets critical props and mainstream acceptance while he has to settle for indie-kudos. Even though the film is a little slow, it's a fascinatingly realistic and empathetic portrait of an aging band that knows its window for financial success and security has passed, a band stuck in obscurity when obscurity is no longer glamourous. On the other hand, Miles & co. recorded music that meant something to a lot of people, and part of their general disillusion must stem from that passion – I don't think Miles knows what to do besides make music. And he certainly made some beautiful music.

Check out the film here
(Pete Farrell)