Some viewing

 23rd Century Giants: The Story of Renaldo and the Loaf (2021)

While watching this film (available on Tubi and other streaming services), I was pondering the pros and cons of digital technology with respect to music and film production. The cost of making a feature film has been tremendously reduced. It's no longer necessary to shoot on film stock, and feature films have been made on iPhones. Besides those of travel, dubbing, and hired personnel, the cost is mostly for the cameras and storage media. I know that's a simplification, but mostly true.

While theatrical presentations have substantially been reduced, streaming services have opened more possibilities for getting work seen than physical home video media ever have.

This mostly sounds like a positive, which indeed it is. And yet, how much do we need? Are all the movies necessary?

Which brings me to 23rd Century Giants. Here's where I back up and get a little more autobiographical. The Ralph Records bug bit me as a senior in high school. I went away to college as a music conservatory student, but in my spare time listening to Ralph releases. 

For such a small label, the quality and variety of music on the label as amazingly high. Between 1978-1984, Ralph released albums by The Residents, Snakefinger, Tuxedomoon, Yello, MX-80 Sound, Art Bears, Fred Frith. Fred's album Gravity nearly hits my "desert island discs" consistently. Tuxedomoon released two great but highly different albums on Ralph. Yello also released two albums on Ralph before being signed to the big leagues.

And then there's Renaldo and the Loaf. Not my favorite of the bunch, but their LP debut Songs for Swinging Larvae is a solid, funny, interesting slab of primitive weirdness. So much so, that I guess there was some accusation that R&TL was The Residents. I don't hear it myself, despite the sliding scale of the descriptor "weirdness." The voices don't match (essential for The Residents), and R&TL were far more involved with studio production (editing, tape loops, backwards playback, etc). 

I like the album. Much of it is memorable and strangely catchy. I later bought their followup, Arabic Yodelling, and I don't remember it at all. I also found the R&TL/Residents collaboration, Title in Limbo, a rather unmemorable release. Maybe I'm the one who's selling those releases short; maybe one LP by the group is all I need.

Nonetheless, I have an affection for that time and scene. There were a few years where, if it was on Ralph, it was worth checking out. 

This all leads me to this documentary. I don't want to say it's bad (it's not, it's well made), but I found that their story is just not that interesting.  It's mostly the story of two friends, frustrated folk musicians. They got more and more involved in their own musical world, eventually releasing a tape of their oddball songs.

Long story short, they get attention from Ralph, release Songs and several other albums, and then their lives go in separate directions for several decades. They're eventually reunited, start releasing new music, and actually perform live for the first time. 

It's lovely. But it's not a particularly compelling story, in and of itself. The movie is largely a fan piece, albeit a very good fan piece. I felt more or less the same about Zappa and Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents. 

Similar to those two films, my favorite element in this film is the archival materials presented. There are quite a few photos and even some brief films of the two of them, and I say, more! I've never seen any of those things before, and it was fun to see images of the two young self-proclaimed Surrealists/primitive folk weirdos. 

The film has its usual parade of talking heads, both fans and people associated with Ralph Records. A telling moment was Homer Flynn of Ralph Records/Cryptic Corporation talking about business strategy for the label. They thought that by signing more groups, they'd have more of a revenue stream to support The Residents. The problem was, recording studio time costs money. But R&TL bought their own recording equipment (similar to The Residents) so the cost of producing music was significantly reduced. It's why Ralph released more albums by the group while others were dropped.

All in all? I mean, I liked this even if I wish it had more archival materials. Will it introduce more people to the music? Maybe, but I suspect it's mostly for those of us who are already there. Still, if like me you have any affection for that time and place, it's worth a view.