Wow, this was kind of heavy. After seeing Neil Young and Crazy Horse play live last night, now Caspar saw them again in this documentary by Jim Jarmusch. It was like you saw the show again, but in another year, another place, and more up close. In all its raw, 8 mm filmed material, with short introductions of the band members , its history and life on the road, the film does justice to its subject: four guys, two guitars, a bass and drums, plus a basket full of great songs; rock 'n roll in its purest form!
As I mentioned yesterday, I hadn't seen Neil Young and Crazy Horse live before. Funny enough, it was the documentary The Year of the Horse that I saw twice already when it was released in 1996, at the Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. What struck me most back then was the loud and intense way Neil and the band played. I really liked it; most of the songs in the film I knew already and I related to (see:CasparLive: Neil Young and Crazy Horse). Peculiar how that CD was released under the same name, but contains a very different set of songs. Now, after having seen the live show, I thought the film even more impressive. We get so close, almost as if we are on the stage with them. But do not think you can get in between them somehow. The movie shows clips from the past when the band was fighting over the vocal parts, but if there is anything clear that we get from the film is that this is a very tight band, both musically and personally.
Funny how the film has been critized by various people over the choice of Jim Jarmusch to use 8 mm film. It gives the film a grainy touch, which is amplified by editing loosely shot material for example looking outside from the touring bus while on the road. This choice can be explained two ways. From the one hand it might give the movie a sort of artsy fartsy look (dixit guitarist Poncho Sampedro), that combines nicely with Jarmusch' image as the intelectualist, New York film maker. But on the other, we can say that it supports Crazy Horse's raw music, and characters. Anyhow, in my opinion it works well. The film is a nice pastiche, with great live performances, and some more or less pivotal scenes from the past, and short interviews with the guys, Neil's father, and their long standing manager Eliot Roberts (see also: CasparCritique: David Geffen always wins). This way we get the whole picture and introduction to the band in a great way. Surely, as Poncho Sampedro states three times, the film maker will not tell the whole story on the basis of a few questions and in two hours, but that would mean that the story could not be told by anyone. So, this is comes close enough.
One last thing that struck me was that guitarist Sampedro and bass player Billy Talbot apparently do not use any effects, or guitar tuning. Now that I think of it, also Neil himself is able to force his guitar to the max getting feedback from his amps, still being able to play the intro to Hurricane afterwards in a tuned way. Also, the way they stay close to eachother on a stage, no matter how big it is; they're in it for the music, and their love of noise. After so many years, so many stories, so many songs and so many tours, Neil Young and Crazy Horse are still the same guys as they were before. No pretentions, plug in your guitars and let's rock! This way, a movie can hardly ever go wrong for me; I'll give it 4 stars out of five!
Showing posts with label Melkweg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melkweg. Show all posts
Casparcritique: Sound City
Even though some people might disagree, I always considered Fleetwood Mac one of the best bands around in the seventies. Their albums, called Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, are exemplary to me for what can be called the sound of the seventies (also see my former blog 'The sound of vinyl'). Thing is, I never realized that the first of these two albums was recorded in a legendary studio called Sound City. The closing of this studio inspired Dave Grohl to make a documentary about the place. Caspar Songs saw the film at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam last night, and had a great evening.
In the history of Sound City, there are actually two key albums, both turning the studio for the better in their own rights. After Sound City bought themselves a serious studio control board called Neve, which cost the price of two respectable houses, they had two young musicians, and love birds, in the studio recording their debut album. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, about to become legends, made their album, but the greatest contribution to music history are not the songs on it. When the studio directors tried to convince Mick Fleetwood to record the next Fleetwood Mac album at Sound City, they played the Buckingham Nicks tape. It inspired Fleetwood not just to use the studio, but also to take the couple along with his band. History in the making: a blues band turned to pop, and one of the monster selling acts world wide. If you listen to a song like Rhiannon, you'll get the sound we are talking about.
As it works, such a great success attracts others looking for the same kind of sound. After Fleetwood Mac, Sound City recorded many great artists in the seventies, early eighties, from a wide variety as Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, but also Barry Manilow, and many others. In the analog age, Sound City was in the eye of the storm when it came to recording pop-rock artists. But, the analog became digital, making Sound City outdated and struggling for survival.
The digital revolution didn't just change the way music was recorded. Moreover, it took over the way music was played. In stead of having to be able to play an instrument, you could (read: can) simply order a machine to do it for you. That way, the heart beat was left out, the soul hidden by a number of computer bytes. The quintessentially analog Sound City couldn't win that war. As we can see in the documentary, the people managing the studio were very kind and gentle, but not the kind of people to take on a battle bigger then their own.
Luckily, they hang out long enough to be able to stage the counter-revolution. A largely unknown band from Seattle called Nirvana came driving down in a van, and recorded a master piece at Sound City. Their album Nevermind was the turning point. This way not only music changed for the better, but it also put Sound City back in the centre of recording. Acts such as Rage against the Machine, and Queens of the Stone Age recorded their ground making albums on the warmth of the Neve control board, and made Sound City last another 20 years.
If the story of Sound City were to end here, the documentary would be the eulogy, the story of a legendary studio. Luckily, Dave Grohl is around and willing to play various parts at the same time. Of course, he was drummer of Nirvana, inventing one of the best recognised drum riffs ever (intro of Smells like Teen Spirit), front man of one of the biggest band at the moment (Foo Fighters), but also owner of a big home studio that could use a notorious control board. All these parts Dave Grohl plays, round up the story. Grohl bought the control board from Sound City, and decided to make a documentary on its history. One further decision he took, was to ensemble many artists from this history to make an album with them recorded, obviously, on the Neve.
Now, when someone plays that many parts, one has to be cautious not to place oneself too much in the centre of attention. I mean, as Grohl placed himself on the poster of the documentary, you might wonder what it is about: the studio, or an artist full of himself. Surprisingly, Grohl finds the exact balance for this. I mean, sure we he see him around a lot. He even manages to interview himself about the time Nirvana pulled up into the studio parking ground. But, at the end of the documentary, you realize that it was all about trying to capture the heart and soul of a legendary studio, and that is just what the film does. It portrays two key periods in its existence, concludes that the soul is in the control board, but moreover keeps its soul alive by taking it along and let it live on in new music. I guess there is just one question left unanswered, and that is why Nirvana choose Sound City? Dave Grohl doesn't remember it, Kurt Cobain sadly is not around anymore. This makes you wonder: was it chance, luck, or did someone realize that to make a great analog album, in a studio that probably wouldn't cost much in those days, you had to go to Sound City?
To round it all up: Sound City gets four stars out of five!
In the history of Sound City, there are actually two key albums, both turning the studio for the better in their own rights. After Sound City bought themselves a serious studio control board called Neve, which cost the price of two respectable houses, they had two young musicians, and love birds, in the studio recording their debut album. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, about to become legends, made their album, but the greatest contribution to music history are not the songs on it. When the studio directors tried to convince Mick Fleetwood to record the next Fleetwood Mac album at Sound City, they played the Buckingham Nicks tape. It inspired Fleetwood not just to use the studio, but also to take the couple along with his band. History in the making: a blues band turned to pop, and one of the monster selling acts world wide. If you listen to a song like Rhiannon, you'll get the sound we are talking about.
As it works, such a great success attracts others looking for the same kind of sound. After Fleetwood Mac, Sound City recorded many great artists in the seventies, early eighties, from a wide variety as Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, but also Barry Manilow, and many others. In the analog age, Sound City was in the eye of the storm when it came to recording pop-rock artists. But, the analog became digital, making Sound City outdated and struggling for survival.
The digital revolution didn't just change the way music was recorded. Moreover, it took over the way music was played. In stead of having to be able to play an instrument, you could (read: can) simply order a machine to do it for you. That way, the heart beat was left out, the soul hidden by a number of computer bytes. The quintessentially analog Sound City couldn't win that war. As we can see in the documentary, the people managing the studio were very kind and gentle, but not the kind of people to take on a battle bigger then their own.
Luckily, they hang out long enough to be able to stage the counter-revolution. A largely unknown band from Seattle called Nirvana came driving down in a van, and recorded a master piece at Sound City. Their album Nevermind was the turning point. This way not only music changed for the better, but it also put Sound City back in the centre of recording. Acts such as Rage against the Machine, and Queens of the Stone Age recorded their ground making albums on the warmth of the Neve control board, and made Sound City last another 20 years.
If the story of Sound City were to end here, the documentary would be the eulogy, the story of a legendary studio. Luckily, Dave Grohl is around and willing to play various parts at the same time. Of course, he was drummer of Nirvana, inventing one of the best recognised drum riffs ever (intro of Smells like Teen Spirit), front man of one of the biggest band at the moment (Foo Fighters), but also owner of a big home studio that could use a notorious control board. All these parts Dave Grohl plays, round up the story. Grohl bought the control board from Sound City, and decided to make a documentary on its history. One further decision he took, was to ensemble many artists from this history to make an album with them recorded, obviously, on the Neve.
Now, when someone plays that many parts, one has to be cautious not to place oneself too much in the centre of attention. I mean, as Grohl placed himself on the poster of the documentary, you might wonder what it is about: the studio, or an artist full of himself. Surprisingly, Grohl finds the exact balance for this. I mean, sure we he see him around a lot. He even manages to interview himself about the time Nirvana pulled up into the studio parking ground. But, at the end of the documentary, you realize that it was all about trying to capture the heart and soul of a legendary studio, and that is just what the film does. It portrays two key periods in its existence, concludes that the soul is in the control board, but moreover keeps its soul alive by taking it along and let it live on in new music. I guess there is just one question left unanswered, and that is why Nirvana choose Sound City? Dave Grohl doesn't remember it, Kurt Cobain sadly is not around anymore. This makes you wonder: was it chance, luck, or did someone realize that to make a great analog album, in a studio that probably wouldn't cost much in those days, you had to go to Sound City?
To round it all up: Sound City gets four stars out of five!
Casparcritique #1 Fanfare for the Common People
It's not that I am an expert on documanteries, but I do enjoy a nice interview, or an historical account of some band, a song. It might show how intrically musical lines sometimes are linked. And as I mentioned earlier (in Casparsong blog #1) that I was influenced by Britpop from the nineties, I didn't want to miss the docu on pop music form Sheffield in the Eighties, shown last night in the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam.
It's called 'The beat is the Law: Fanfare for the Common People'. Okay, I got it, Common People is the big hit of Pulp, and Pulp is form Sheffield. When we got to know Pulp, it was clear that the band had been togethere for a long time, before they got succesful. The docu showed what had happened in those obscure years, the eighties, sometimes called the lost decade...
As a contextualizer, it is good to know that those early eighties were not very happy ones in industrial Britain. Mrs. Thatcher took on the out-moded mining industries for a fight, responded by endless strikes from the part of the unions. Sheffield was one of those cities that was seriously hit by this social unrest. At the same time, there was nothing, no infrastructure what so ever, for youngsters with an interest in music, or the arts. So, there was no future but the doal, even if you had some kind of talent. Now for all those complaining about the budget cuts by the Dutch government, let this come as a consolation; when there is nothing, you have to create it yourself, and if you are talented, you'll make it anyway. As was done in Sheffield, some frontrunners started their own studio in an old abondened warehouse, called Fon. The docu showed clearly that there were some talented musicians around. Especially a band called Chakk sounded really good with a nice cross over of industrial, electronica, and new wave. Unfortunately, there was not enough of it in the docu, so let's all start looking for their obscure debut, and apparently only real studio album, called '10 Days in an Elevator'. Anyone that can give me a hint on how to get this album, is more then welcome!
Meanwhile, this not so very well known, nor succesful band called Pulp, is still part of the Sheffield scene. There are no serious remarks about them. Someone in the docu calls them 'a good band', but it is more likely they will split up due to a lack of succes. As the end of the docu draws to a close, all of sudden there is talk of two britpop bands: Pulp and the Longpigs. One is succesful, the other promising, but without the necessary succes and is not heard of again. The big question then is why? Why was Pulp, being a mediocre band, turned into a succes, why don't others make it? Was it the talent, or luck, of producing a hit single? Something lacking with Chakk (or so said the people at their record company), and Longpigs, but Pulp hit the jackpot with Common People? The documentary doesn't answer that question, and understandably so. I mean: if a hit single is all there is to it, it might make the scene where it all happende less important, and that was what the docu was all about, or was it? It looks to me the director wanted to tell the story of the impossibiities of the music scene of Sheffield, but needed a big name to make it more interesting for financiers and viewers. To me, it would have been better if they had made a clearer choice from the start to portray Pulp, from their waisted years in the eighties to their headlining Glastonbury festival in 1995. (ranking? 2 out of 5)
Ps. here's a clip from Pulp at Glastonbury. Too much violin, but that doesn't stop the crowd (wow!). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWaHnlt2I3U.
And, I found some Chakk on youtube.com as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWaHnlt2I3U. The search for their album is still open!!
It's called 'The beat is the Law: Fanfare for the Common People'. Okay, I got it, Common People is the big hit of Pulp, and Pulp is form Sheffield. When we got to know Pulp, it was clear that the band had been togethere for a long time, before they got succesful. The docu showed what had happened in those obscure years, the eighties, sometimes called the lost decade...
As a contextualizer, it is good to know that those early eighties were not very happy ones in industrial Britain. Mrs. Thatcher took on the out-moded mining industries for a fight, responded by endless strikes from the part of the unions. Sheffield was one of those cities that was seriously hit by this social unrest. At the same time, there was nothing, no infrastructure what so ever, for youngsters with an interest in music, or the arts. So, there was no future but the doal, even if you had some kind of talent. Now for all those complaining about the budget cuts by the Dutch government, let this come as a consolation; when there is nothing, you have to create it yourself, and if you are talented, you'll make it anyway. As was done in Sheffield, some frontrunners started their own studio in an old abondened warehouse, called Fon. The docu showed clearly that there were some talented musicians around. Especially a band called Chakk sounded really good with a nice cross over of industrial, electronica, and new wave. Unfortunately, there was not enough of it in the docu, so let's all start looking for their obscure debut, and apparently only real studio album, called '10 Days in an Elevator'. Anyone that can give me a hint on how to get this album, is more then welcome!
Meanwhile, this not so very well known, nor succesful band called Pulp, is still part of the Sheffield scene. There are no serious remarks about them. Someone in the docu calls them 'a good band', but it is more likely they will split up due to a lack of succes. As the end of the docu draws to a close, all of sudden there is talk of two britpop bands: Pulp and the Longpigs. One is succesful, the other promising, but without the necessary succes and is not heard of again. The big question then is why? Why was Pulp, being a mediocre band, turned into a succes, why don't others make it? Was it the talent, or luck, of producing a hit single? Something lacking with Chakk (or so said the people at their record company), and Longpigs, but Pulp hit the jackpot with Common People? The documentary doesn't answer that question, and understandably so. I mean: if a hit single is all there is to it, it might make the scene where it all happende less important, and that was what the docu was all about, or was it? It looks to me the director wanted to tell the story of the impossibiities of the music scene of Sheffield, but needed a big name to make it more interesting for financiers and viewers. To me, it would have been better if they had made a clearer choice from the start to portray Pulp, from their waisted years in the eighties to their headlining Glastonbury festival in 1995. (ranking? 2 out of 5)
Ps. here's a clip from Pulp at Glastonbury. Too much violin, but that doesn't stop the crowd (wow!). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWaHnlt2I3U.
And, I found some Chakk on youtube.com as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWaHnlt2I3U. The search for their album is still open!!
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