Ben King was otherwise known as the guitarist in Goldenhorse, but he had some songs that he needed to get out there, so he went off on a little side project which resulted in a self-titled solo album.
“No Ordinary Day” was the single, a sweet pop song, but this wasn’t its original music video. The first version featured Ben jumping on a trampoline. (You can see excerpts of it in this Nightline interview.) Up and down and up and down. It joined Pavement’s original “Rattled by the Rush” video on the list of music videos that can cause motion sickness. So it’s not surprising that the NZOA-funded version is a lot more relaxed and still.
“No Ordinary Day” superimposes Ben on vintage photos of Auckland. So there he is, in black and white, wandering across Wellesley Street with a pedestrians casually in the middle of the road and trams rolling along their route, motorcars nowhere to be seen. The only recognisible building is the Auckland Art Gallery, back when it also housed the city library and municipal offices. Even the familiar Civic theatre corner is yet to acquire its landmark.
Ben is the only thing that moves in these scenes, as if he’s discovered the secret of time travel, but can only ever explore a fixed moment in time. Like a rubbish Doctor Who episode.
The idea of Ben King wandering around old photos never seems to go anywhere. There doesn’t seem to be any point to it, other than it being provided as an example of something that can happen on a day that is not ordinary.
It seems like so much effort has been put into making a video that doesn’t move around all the time, that the end result is a video that doesn’t really go anywhere.
Best bit: the baby’s pram in mid-push across Wellesley Street.
Director: Marek Sumich
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… the story of a rollie.
“Baby’s Been Bad” is a cheerful ska number, but like the group’s previous video “Golden Dawn”, this one gets a bit weird. It’s like Goldenhorse are slightly afraid of the straight pop songs they’ve written and have to do something to warp them a little.
It’s a quiet afternoon at the Skateland roller rink. A concession stand girl and the emcee both look bored. Ok, it’s time to shake this up a little. Send in the punks!