Gasolin' is without doubt the greatest rock band Denmark has ever had. Not due to supreme talents by the band's members, but due to a strong will within the band, and also thanks to British producer Roy Thomas Baker who pushed the band beyond what they thought was possible of doing.
In this documentary the band members tell us of the hard beginning in 1969 and all the success they gained since. They tell us of all the disagreements that occurred, especially between Kim and Franz.
They tell us very briefly of their American tour in 1976.... and that's it... For people not caring enough to want this kind of information, that may be fine, but for a longtime Gas' fan such as myself, that just ain't good enough. We get to know that band's first songs were in English, then they switched to Danish... and then all of a sudden after Gas 5 they wanted to try in English again.... that's basically what you are told in this film, and Gas fans know that this is not true. Their 3rd album was recorded in an English version for the British market and also the 4th album... none of them were successful in any way, but Gasolin' nonetheless came to England and played in different clubs. On the back cover of the Gas 5 album you can actually see on the band standing on the Tottenham train station (don't recall its exact name).
This is the movie's cons.... they focus way too little on the English material of the band.... and this may be due to the fact that most Danes rather instantly dislike the English material.... especially due to Kim Larsen's Danish accent... But if you read Peder Bundgaard's book about Gasolin', it's pretty clear that international success was a more important goal to the band than this movie expresses...
The movie is not bad at all, but it could easily have been an hour longer so all aspects of Gasolin' could have been documented in it. The material recorded is good though. Very good actually. There's just something lacking.
Bonus material on the DVD is BTW top notch!
In this documentary the band members tell us of the hard beginning in 1969 and all the success they gained since. They tell us of all the disagreements that occurred, especially between Kim and Franz.
They tell us very briefly of their American tour in 1976.... and that's it... For people not caring enough to want this kind of information, that may be fine, but for a longtime Gas' fan such as myself, that just ain't good enough. We get to know that band's first songs were in English, then they switched to Danish... and then all of a sudden after Gas 5 they wanted to try in English again.... that's basically what you are told in this film, and Gas fans know that this is not true. Their 3rd album was recorded in an English version for the British market and also the 4th album... none of them were successful in any way, but Gasolin' nonetheless came to England and played in different clubs. On the back cover of the Gas 5 album you can actually see on the band standing on the Tottenham train station (don't recall its exact name).
This is the movie's cons.... they focus way too little on the English material of the band.... and this may be due to the fact that most Danes rather instantly dislike the English material.... especially due to Kim Larsen's Danish accent... But if you read Peder Bundgaard's book about Gasolin', it's pretty clear that international success was a more important goal to the band than this movie expresses...
The movie is not bad at all, but it could easily have been an hour longer so all aspects of Gasolin' could have been documented in it. The material recorded is good though. Very good actually. There's just something lacking.
Bonus material on the DVD is BTW top notch!
