Thu night : with 10-15 flicks in the backlog at home , i inadvertently ended up with something i'd already watched: Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home . Just like that. And discovered there a quote my friend Meraj had posted a couple of days before on FB. (Dylan " you can't be wise and in love at the same time").
Fri evening : library trip to get a few Hindi movies and i picked Scorsese's Shine A Light because it happened to be lying around on the counter. Just like that. And my friend Gaurav had mentioned that film in a comment on this blog recently too. (Gaurav : " the way he shoots Jagger , what can i say , Love ?") . Serendipity anyone ?
As filmmaking goes , No Direction Home is a brilliant documentary . But a lot of the music there doesn't do much for me. (Though it got me to the Highway 61 . . CD next morning). What i'd give to watch a similar film on Dylan's 1965-1975 period.
Shine A Light is only a concert docu , nothing more. But the music - and the grand olde Stones ! Ooh ! A couple things : first , if such a thing was possible Keith Richard has gotten even worse on that old guitar. Oh Keef , we love you for the original , genuine-article cowboy rockstar that you are. Just spare us those licks is all.
But second : the band as a whole - Keef , Charlie , Ronnie ,...man,just such presence ! Keef singing You Got The Silver is a stand out highlight. And then there's Mick the Jagger ! Mick Jagger. Jagger is effing incredible any which way you look at it. Showman ? Showbiz ? He is showbiz , he is effing it. Always was , always will be. Love , G, it's love !
PS : Re. Keith Richard's guitar strengths / lack thereof. Ron Wood isn't better either. Guitar isn't a strong point with the Stones ,period. There's a story going back to when Mick Taylor quit and Eric Clapton was rumoured to join the Stones but apparently the Glimmer Twins didn't want somebody that might remotely outstage them. I think that explains a lot.
Fantastic blog, love the bits on the guitar play or lack, but man, they could do air guitar and it'll still be so fucking hot, in my book, the best rock film ever, the story is their showmanship, their music. Lord, public viewing of this compulsory, save the games, open with it, and still better close with it, and play this instead of the national anthems. Let it be the first visual anthem. Let it bleed.
ReplyDeleteYeah , let it bleed i say ! uncommon wealth , innit ! Bring it on !
ReplyDeleteThere are Sly Stone grooves, Philly soul, rockabilly, Rhythm & especially Blues, an upbeat Ray Charles routine, Motown referencing "Happy Together", Marvin Gaye laments and a jazzy Southern marching band to carry us home. That said, this has a modern, edgy sound, cleaning off all sleepiness, played tight and mean. Saadiq has no time for middlebrow revivals. He pursues the heart and social significance of the classics and in doing so produces one himself.
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