 |
|
 |
|
Shining Road -- Dedicated/Arista ARV-460 Promotional Copy. 1994.
Approximate running time is 3:54. |
Scenes of Mexico (or Spain) figure prominently in this video from Loved. El Tambor (The Drum from the Mexican lottery card game made famous in the US by MTV s Top 20 clips) opens the video, then we see Jim walking a bicycle across the road. The video is set in a fairly flat, arid climate. Jim plays with the wheel and actually smiles into the camera. El Musico (The Music) appears, then we see someone playing the guitar. A glimpse of clouds, then we are shown Matt's face as he plays. La Estrella (The Star) is shown, then we see Alison's face peeking from behind a white pinwheel-type toy with a sun center. After a glimpse of a Spanish style white building, El Paraguas (The Umbrella) appears and then we re shown adorable Alison sitting Indian-style in the middle of the road under a black umbrella (and no, Alison is not wearing a dress this time. She's in a black shirt and shorts). We cut to Alison walking and twirling the umbrella, an image of Jim riding the bicycle across the road, and then Alison exiting a doorway of the building, wearing the black and white dress she has on in most of the Loved promo pictures.
As she sings and walks, she tosses yellow flower petals out of a vase. Occasional facial close-ups are mixed with images of her tossing the petals and sitting cross-legged in the middle of the road with her umbrella. After the first verse, we see Jim(?) and Mark (separately) playing the guitar in various spots in the building. Alison, in the black and white dress, then walks down the road with her umbrella.
When the second verse begins, she is wearing a red dress and comes out of a room beside a trail of yellow petals, sits on the floor, and sings. Behind her is a tiled wall. We then see the men playing on the railroad tracks through a small rectangle. The rest of the screen is obscured by a blue frame. There's only one close-up of Alison in this stanza; most of the time in this section she spends playing on the tracks with the guys. Matt plays with an old film camera. We then see him sitting in the middle of the road (where Alison was previously) in a red shirt, white pants, and sunglasses, ready to play the xylophone. Back at the tracks, Mark spins a ball on his finger.
Then mesa images appear: a train cuts through the plateau, we see cliff dwellings and running horses, and more buildings in the mission style. Alison is intercut with these images as she walks down the road or through the mission area. Then we come back to a close-up of Alison. Matt and his film camera go through the mission, passing a Day of the Dead skeletal figure of painted wood, and we see him start shooting (we don't see his film though).
The card for El Violincello (The Cello) appears and, as Superchunk says, here's where the strings come in. We see shadows of a wood framed car pass by on the white wall of a mission-style building. Then Jim walks his bicycle across the grounds as we see the men carry the wooden structure. We see more detail of the painted skeleton statue: he is riding a bicycle. The men finally bring the structure into sight, and we can see it is made of lots of wooden sticks. Matt and Mark are intercut into these scenes, as is Alison: all of them are shown watching this procession.
The card for El Mano (The Hand) comes up, and we see Cranes playing the card game with each other in front of a stereo on the second floor of one of the buildings. Then Alison in the road starts singing again, and we re treated to another facial close-up. The images switch from Jim in the road with his bicycle and back to Alison again. Then Alison's close-ups are intercut with the band in silhouette against an orange sunset.
Then the men who carried the wooden car light certain joints on fire: this is juxtaposed against the band in the sunset. The song ends as Alison spins the umbrella behind her and moves it in front of her - the scene then fades to black.
Reviewed by Jennifer Heinicke
|
|
|