With a family friend paying a Christmas visit soon,I decided to search around for a music documentary that he see during the holiday period.Picking up an old copy of a UK film magazine called Empire,I spotted a review for what sounded like a fab tune of a documentary,which led to me getting ready to meet the people 20 feet away from stardom.
Outline of the documentary:
Starting off in the early days of popular music,the film shows artists to largely play everything safe in their live performances,with the singers & their back-up singers (both groups of which were mostly Caucasian) giving stiled,reserved performances.As the 60's arrived,the civil rights movement in America began to make its voice heard loud and clear,with Motown and other record labels giving African-American singers the chance to unleash their voice.Whilst the singers find themselves delighted over giving dozens of soon-to-be classic songs their winning hook and fiery sass,they each soon discover how hard it is to reach the front stage.
View on the documentary:
Focusing a large section of the documentary on 60s Girl Groups, some of director Morgan Neville's interviewees sadly decide to take the opportunity to "re-write history", (or to put it in a more honest manner,lie!) with singer Darlene Love (whose comments in the interview led to Neville paying the rights for songs that Love did not perform on!) claiming that she performed on songs such as Da Doo Ron Ron & songs by The Crystals,with Love's Crystal "vocals" actually being those of Dolores La La Brooks.
Along with some of the interviews being a bit dodgy,Neville also takes an unexpectedly restrained approach to going into the full behind the scenes details into the making of the songs.Neville keeps away from revealing the business side of the music industry, (with the nearest that the film gets being 2 of the women saying that they had to get a second job,thanks to backing-vocal work drying up) and also avoiding any mention of the excesses displayed in the 60's/70's Rock scene.
Spreading an amazing soundtrack across the films 90 minute running time,Neville allows the music to shine bright like a diamond,as the soundtrack goes from pounding hard Rock to soaring melodies,with Neville displaying an amazing skill in tracking down rare solo recording of backing singers bringing now- famous songs bursting to life,with Ava Cherry, Robin Clark and Luther Vandross ripping the plastic from David Bowie's plastic Soul,and the still-pretty Merry Clayton giving a breath taking performance,which puts all of the unsung backing singers at the front of the stage.
Outline of the documentary:
Starting off in the early days of popular music,the film shows artists to largely play everything safe in their live performances,with the singers & their back-up singers (both groups of which were mostly Caucasian) giving stiled,reserved performances.As the 60's arrived,the civil rights movement in America began to make its voice heard loud and clear,with Motown and other record labels giving African-American singers the chance to unleash their voice.Whilst the singers find themselves delighted over giving dozens of soon-to-be classic songs their winning hook and fiery sass,they each soon discover how hard it is to reach the front stage.
View on the documentary:
Focusing a large section of the documentary on 60s Girl Groups, some of director Morgan Neville's interviewees sadly decide to take the opportunity to "re-write history", (or to put it in a more honest manner,lie!) with singer Darlene Love (whose comments in the interview led to Neville paying the rights for songs that Love did not perform on!) claiming that she performed on songs such as Da Doo Ron Ron & songs by The Crystals,with Love's Crystal "vocals" actually being those of Dolores La La Brooks.
Along with some of the interviews being a bit dodgy,Neville also takes an unexpectedly restrained approach to going into the full behind the scenes details into the making of the songs.Neville keeps away from revealing the business side of the music industry, (with the nearest that the film gets being 2 of the women saying that they had to get a second job,thanks to backing-vocal work drying up) and also avoiding any mention of the excesses displayed in the 60's/70's Rock scene.
Spreading an amazing soundtrack across the films 90 minute running time,Neville allows the music to shine bright like a diamond,as the soundtrack goes from pounding hard Rock to soaring melodies,with Neville displaying an amazing skill in tracking down rare solo recording of backing singers bringing now- famous songs bursting to life,with Ava Cherry, Robin Clark and Luther Vandross ripping the plastic from David Bowie's plastic Soul,and the still-pretty Merry Clayton giving a breath taking performance,which puts all of the unsung backing singers at the front of the stage.