Pretty Baby (1978) - Malle, Nykvist and Shields bring Storyville to life

I remember when this first came out and all the stir centered around 12-year-old Brooke Shields playing a child prostitute named Violet. This was Shields first major movie role, after having had early success as a child model. Her acting is in fact quite excellent, outshining her costar Keith Carradine (who seems rather wooden at times), and at a level with the other adults in the film, notably Susan Sarandon who plays her mother Hattie.

The story, set in New Orleans' Storyville in 1917, just before the end of legal prostitution, centers around Violet's becoming a prostitute and her relationship with photographer Ernest J. Bellocq (played by Carradine and based on a real life character). Despite the dark subject matter, there are moments of lightness, especially in reagrds to Violet's relationships with the older prostitutes, and there are many colorful secondary characters. Louis Malle directs expertly and there many arresting scenes. Especially chilling and central to the entire movie is the scene where Violet's virginity is auctioned off to a bunch of  disgusting old men. Her subsequent deflowering is off screen and there is a shot of two little girls listening outside the room. Disturbing, creepy, and absolutely brilliant.

The best thing about this movie though, besides Brooke Shields' fine performance and Louis Malle's directing, is the exquisite cinematography of Sven Nykvist. Too much can't be said of the talent of Nykvist, who has an impressive body of work. He collaborated with Ingmar Bergman throughout the 1960s and continued that partnership in the 70s and 80s, winning an Oscar for "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982. His work for Louis Malle is no less impressive, giving New Orleans' Storyville district a distinct glow, yet with a feeling of gritty reality. It made the film a joy to watch, despite the sometimes ugly subject matter. Now I want to see all of those Bergman movies.

Favorite Album Covers: Muddy Waters by Phil Hays (1978)

Another gem from 1978, Muddy Waters' "I'm Ready", produced by Johnny Winter with a killer band including pianist Pinetop Perkins, guitarist Jimmy Rogers and harpist Big Walter Horton. A mix of blues standards and new original material, this was the middle record of three that Winter produced and my personal favorite. I admit that one reason I always liked this so much, besides the music, was the great portrait of Muddy Waters gracing the album cover. Painted by the late Phil Hays, it's about as congenial a portrait as I can imagine and a perfect invitation to the music within. Check out more of this illustrator's work here.

Kate Bush - "The Kick Inside" : strange phenomena from 1978

U.S. cover, the one I had.

The first LP by Kate Bush came out in 1978, one of the most extraordinary years in recorded popular music. Dozens of brilliant long players were released that year and it might be easy to overlook this  excellent debut. Bush was only 19 when this was recorded and it only made a small splash in the U.S. It was much bigger in her native England where her first single "Wuthering Heights" went to the top of the charts. Ostensibly a singer songwriter, she sounded nothing like the North American singer songwriters, certainly not like Joni Mitchell , Carole King or Carly Simon.

U.K. cover.

Kate Bush has a way of combining childlike wonder with an overt sensuality, especially evident in several songs here, "Moving", "Strange Phenomena" and "Oh To Be In Love" come to mind as being especially alluring. The first time I heard this it was like discovering a previously unknown forbidden world.

Japanese import.

As good as this recording was it only hinted at the genius that would emerge in subsequent releases. She'd get better each time as her songwriting became sharper and stranger, and the production and arrangements more wild, peaking with the incredible '80s albums "The Dreaming" and "Hounds of Love".

Of the three album covers pictured I definitely prefer the U.S. cover, maybe because it was the one I owned, but I think it's a great photograph. I find the U.K. cover too busy, and Kate is too small. The Japanese cover is okay but kind of boring. Her album covers would get better along the way.