Customer Reviews

13 Most Beautiful ... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests

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Preordered this when it was first announced...being both a Warhol fan and a fan of anything Britta Phillips or Dean Wareham are involved in. The screen tests are breathtaking, backed by one of the most eclectic and satisfying soundtracks I could have imagined. The new studio versions of the Luna songs are fantastic, but of special note are the original compositions that Dean & Britta have come up with. If this is hinting at the direction of Dean & Britta's next album then I am EXTREMELY anticipating it. The covers are also of note, especially Velvet Underground's 'I'm Not a Young Man Anymore'.

BTW, my favorite screen tests are Ann Buchanan and Freddy Herko. However, they all are excellent.

BRAVO!

It's wonderful to have some of Warhol's screen tests available for the first time on DVD and the sound track by Dean & Britta on here makes this a perfect marriage of film and music. There's some breath taking stuff on here. While everything on here is noteworthy, particularly haunting is Eddie Sedgwick's screen test with the beautiful and sad "It Don't Rain in Beverly Hills."

The DVD is beautifully packaged with an accompanying book filled with info on the composition of music and information about the screen test subjects, as well as general info on the whole project from the Warhol museum curators. Dean Wareham is particularly insightful and forthcoming on his essay of the process of recording the music and his fondness(?) of the Warhol era and its subjects.

Go see the performance live if you get the opportunity.

I agree with everyone who says this is a great work. It's a little clichèd to say Dean & Britta's soundtracks 'capture' the subjects - the music just plain fits. Now c'mon, Warhol Museum - give us more! more! More AW Screen Tests along with D&B! Yeah! (& while I'm at it - please please get Chelsea Girls out!)

I recommend this video to any art lover or Warhol Fan. If you have a fascination for video art, photography, or even psychology and human behavior then you would have much to talk about while watching this film.
Also makes a great background video at cocktail parties.
Enjoy!

Very intense and beautiful videos, not to talk of the music!!!
A jump into the past!

I took a lot of Art History in School, but never appreciated Warhol. The American Experience Video changed my mind on him. And this Film reinforces just how much he reflected the moment and how he was leading the way forward for us all.

I first heard about the Movie Portraits in Songs for Drella, by Lou Reed and John Cale. And here they are! More powerful than I had ever imagined. The Music is perfect.

There is something haunting and beautiful about staring at these human faces... but because they are films, instead of still images, they also reveal glimpses into the personalities of the sitters as well, and that little glimpse makes all the difference.. for they reveal not only the other person, but also open up an image of oursevles.

This review is just for those who don't have any interest in Warhol to begin with or who have no emotional/personal relation or connection with the subject matter..

This is abolutely not worth watching.

People sitting there, doing nothing, along with a mediocre soundtrack of music sounds, sounds trying to be music...

I'm sure plenty of people love, admire and or appreciate this work, but for me, having not done a whole lot of drugs in my life, and not having grown up in the culture, it does nothing but cause me to write a review warning others like me to stay away.

It's a film of people's heads. That's the first thing. The second thing is they don't even talk.

Warhol was (in)famous for films of people doing absolutely nothing. I suppose that should've been a warning as to his screen tests. Still, I thought the people would be doing something. But it's almost as if they were told to do nothing. So, there they are, in closeup, in black and white, under one strong light, sitting there, doing nothing.

There are a few exceptions. Nico turns her head, runs her hand through her hair. Lou Reed drinks from a bottle of Coca Cola. There is a nice soundtrack of what sounds like Lou Reed songs. But it's a very strange viewing experience. Recommended for rental only if you have a burning need to see rare footage of a young Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, or Dennis Hopper sitting in closeup and barely moving. Edie is transfixing even here, and it's a shame she never made any Hollywood films that might have truly captured her for posterity, in the way no Warhol film could have done.