Music Documentaries-tell me please
 

Channel surfing is in full swing for me, and nostalgia feels good these days.
Tonight I saw a good documentary on Lynyrd Skynyrd, taking me back to a nicer time and place. Last week I watched one on Led Zeppelin. Free Bird and Stairway to Heaven--needless to say, I had the air guitar out.

Can anyone point me to others that can take me back? I've seen them for the Eagles and of course the Beatles. and saw/liked Eat This awhile back. Are there any on the Doors, CCR, Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, the Who, or about 200 other bands you can share?

The Wrecking Crew
 

I enjoyed this .....it is about the L.A. studio musicians who played on just about all the hits of the 60s but never got the credits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZgBexrZvM0

I watched one on Netflix about ZZ top that I enjoyed called
Zz Top, That little ol band from Texas

Find the documentary "Searching for Sugar Man". You will be glad you did. It won an Oscar for best documentary in 2012. I saw this and was blown away. I became an immediate fan of a guy who I never knew existed and I am not a casual music fan.

Might not be your kind of music but "The Decline of Western Civilization" is really good.

I just Googled that as I had never heard of it before either. Looks like a good watch.

Thanks for sharing. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL5TffdOQ7g

"If I leave here Tomorrow"? Seen that about 6 months ago and that was a great documentary.
My wife and I seen them about 2 summers ago at the Budweiser stage in Toronto. Although, obviously, not with the original members, they put on a great show nonetheless.

The Linda Ronstadt documentary is really interesting. And the Ken Burns series on country music actually made me appreciate the history and sounds. Oh, and the Showtime documentary on the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album is a must-see.

The Who's "The Kids Are Alright" has been on Amazon Prime for a while now. Snippets from Woodstock and hilarious Keith Moon bits.

I'm old enough to have seen it when theaters use to run midnight shows on weekends. You'd get Rocky Horror, The Song Remains the Same, or Heavy Metal on a rotating basis.

Oh, and I second the Wrecking Crew doc on You Tube. Really interesting.

Can confirm. You can really appreciate what a courageous artist she was by taking control of her career and work, and going in new directions when it would have been easier, and more profitable, to stick with what sold.

Added in edit: The aptly named Muscle Shoals is also a great documentary.

You will not be disappointed. It's not just a great story, but terrific filmmaking as well. We've watched it numerous times even knowing what's at the end of the 'search'.

A couple more with links and blurbs:

Echo In The Canyon

Echo In The Canyon celebrates the explosion of popular music that came out of LA's Laurel Canyon in the mid-60s as folk went electric and The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield and The Mamas and the Papas gave birth to the California Sound.


20 Feet from Stardom

Filmmaker Morgan Neville shines a long-overdue spotlight on the hit-making contributions of longtime backup singers like Darlene Love and Merry Clayton.

Amy

As riveting as it is sad, Amy is a powerfully honest look at the twisted relationship between art and celebrity -- and the lethal spiral of addiction.

Watching Amy is really like watching a slow-motion train wreck. But she was so damn talented.

"Miles Davis The Birth of the Cool" was one of my favorites but A) you need to be a fan and B) it was on PBS and I don't know if it's just out there to watch yet.

The Wrecking Crew is a fantastic movie.

There is a great documentary on Lee Morgan, an under rated jazz trumpeter, I recommend as well.

The one I saw a while back on Lemmy was pretty good.
Lots of interviews, and he came across as being nice but sort of average. (Except in the drinking department... )

Not sure where you can find it streaming, but "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band" is excellent. I was never a super big The Band fan but this doc gave me tremendous respect for their songwriting and musicianship.

There is more recent documentary about Woodstock (last few years) this is really good.

Thanks for the tips guys-- I realize I have seen a few of those already and had forgotten.
Steve, I'm going to cut and paste a "review" of that documentary on the Band in a second--that I found in less than 30 seconds of google search. I have no clue if the things asserted are true and take no position. It just makes me skeptical of whether some of these are written with an agenda, but I guess that's true of anything historical that is presented from just a one or two person viewpoint. This is from someone posting under the name Michael Kennedy:

"Clearly, Robertson is counting on viewers being completely ignorant of the actual history of The Band, because this movie is an exercise in historical revision. Roberson warps the story through the omission of some very vital facts and by glossing over important details. He never mentions the fact that he took, and continues to take all the song royalties although other band members contributed to the songs and deserve payment. Subsequently, he made a lot of money, while others became destitute. Or the fact that after The Last Waltz was performed the others continued as The Band. They didn't want it to end. The Band didn't break up - Robertson quit. He is right about the drug use among the band members. It was ugly, and destroyed the harmony of the brotherhood. But Robertson seems to glosses over his own drug use In particular all the coke he and Martin Scorsese used while editing The Last Waltz (other band members were not included in the editing of the film). Perhaps that's why he is so prominently featured in the movie, while other band members - Richard in particular - have hardly any screen time. Robertson is great on a guitar, but he can't sing very well. The others were actually singing the songs (Although it looked like Robertson was singing in the film, I've read his microphone was turned off.) Also, there is no mention of Richard's suicide, or that Rick died of illnesses because of his terrible lifestyle and lack of money. Levon Helm, who went on to a very successful film and award winning music career, far more successful than Robertson, is treated as a footnote. Once Were Brothers is a movie by Robertson, about Robertson, with members of The Band as secondary characters. His praise for his ex-wife makes it look like they are both happy and harmoniously together, although there was a very ugly divorce decades ago. The movie is a good exercise in self promotion, but a thin biography of The Band. Garth Hudson, the only other living member of The Band, refused to have anything to do with this film. Smart man."

Andy Summers (The Police) - "Can't Stand Losing You" is fantastic.

Ginger Baker (Cream) - "Beware of Mr. Baker" is about as bizarre a music doc as you can get. I was mesmerized.

Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead) - "Lemmy" is my favorite music doc of all time.

Duff McKagan (Guns n' Roses) - "It's So Easy & Other Lies" is not a true documentary but an onstage autobiography. A must see also.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown

I enjoyed the Wrecking Crew. Another one I really liked was George Harrison: Living In The Material World.

Yeah, I was aware that a number of folks weighed in that it was a very biased take and that it was strictly Robertson's view of things. Was clear that whole movie was through his eyes. There was a lot of fighting and drug use and was unfortunate that a number of people went to the grave having grudges against each other for decades. I thought what was really sad was how there guys clearly loved each other and then things got all fucked up beyond repair. I still enjoyed it a great deal. Like any other band, be it the Beatles, Pink Floyd, or anything else, your view will vary based on where you were sitting.

In most bands, there seems to be the guy who is the business brain, who can be bossy and even obnoxious, but sort of keeps things on track when everyone else is hitting the drugs and generally losing their minds. I remember in the Eagles doc that was Glenn Frey. I think Robertson played the same role with the Band.

I loved the Wrecking Crew also. I think there was a doc about Muscle Shoals also that was good.

Billy Gibbons is on AXSTV or something like that. 673 on Comcast. Dan Rather has/had a show called the "Big Interview". Terrific job by Rather on all the one's I've seen. The Geddy Lee one is great, Lee shows Rather his baseball memorabilia collection, which looks awesome. ZZTOP grew up down the street from me, about 20 years before me.

FYI-Dan Rather interviews Robertson May 6 on AXSTV
 

Y'all's guy, Robbie Robertson, airs on May 6th at 8 eastern. New season of Dan Rather. I will follow-up after I see it. Rob

"You're Gonna Miss Me" about Rocky Erickson was wild. I had only recently learned about the 13th Floor Elevators, so it was fascinating.

"Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?" was great. I knew basically nothing about Nilsson, so it was all new information for me.

"Paul Williams: Still Alive" wasn't as good as it could have been because the documentary maker really made it about himself and his preconceived notions about Williams.

It isn't a "music" documentary so much as it is a documentary about musicians (punk rockers more specifically) and their journeys into father hood but it is a fantastic piece. I really enjoyed it - even though my eyes may have gotten sweatier than I would admit in public.

The Other F Word

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790867...?ref_=tt_ov_pl

Really appreciate all the responses. This should be keep me busy for awhile.

On a related note, I was playing around on the TV and added a new streaming channel that had several concerts. Watched an old the Who concert from Texas in 1975. It was neat to see what was basically considered a "showy" group in what would now be considered to be such an unpolished performance. Townshend windmills, Daltrey mic cord tosses and Keith Moon antics are now just nothing more than "meh" to the last couple of generations. But the music, well, wow.

I just watched the Robertson interview. I didn't learn anything new about the group, but there were some things about Robertson that I did not realize, such as his work on Raging Bull and other Scorsese stuff.

Growing up in the 70's I heard the Band's music, and thought of them as Dylan's electric back-up band. Robertson was a part of the band, like Tony Banks, of Genesis. He may have considered The Band as his band, but the public did not view him like say, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Worth a look.

Now that everybody's dead (except Garth and he's not talking), Robertson is free to spin his egomaniacal revisionist history. In his interview with Rather he cites "growing up" and drug use and undefined growing apart for The Band's demise. Make no mistake--Robertson alone pulled the plug. In my opinion he is an excellent song writer and guitarist, a mediocre singer and a self-aggrandizing phony.

I checked you can watch Muscle Shoals on youtube. A lot of bands recorded there. Bono, Jimmie Cliff, Aretha, Keith Richard all in this doc.

Not a big Duran Duran fan, but just watched There's Something You Should Know. I thought it was very good and well worth a watch.

Watched T Rex, Up Close and Personal, and didn't feel it was either.

I did enjoy the Beatles Doc "8 Days a Week" by Ron Howard.

Here's two I watched recently on Prime and really liked. Both revolve around the late '60's/early 70's NYC scene that lead to the Punk movement there in the late '70's/early '80's.

"Punk Revolution NYC: The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, and the CBGBs Set"

"Looking for Johnny: The Legend of Johnny Thunders"

You might like New York Doll. It's a documentary about their bass player Arthur "Killer" Kane. Really really good, but kinda sad at the end.

There are a couple great ones on Def Leppard. One is a movie about the band and the other is about their making the Hysteria album. Both are great.

Not often a band's drummer loses an arm in the middle of their making one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Levon Helm -Ain't in it for My Health.

- I also loved his small roles in The Right Stuff and Shooter.

- he had one of those speaking voices you don't forget.



seems like there was one - or at least should be one - on Warren Zevon

.

The Last Waltz is fantastic.

Doesn't seem to be any love for Rush here. LOL Both Beyond the Lighted Stage, and Time Stand Still are very good. The first one better than the second .

The Clash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sxz2NVFKhE

There will ALWAYS be love for Rusha s long as I'm breathing, lol! Beyond the Lighted Stage was great. Trent King

The Epix channel just started a two-part series call Laurel Canyon. A history of the people, places and music of the '60's that congregated around that famous street in Hollywood. Episode 1 was outstanding.

Fwiw, I drove that street from the Valley side to the Hollywood side and back every weekday for about 9 years. If I would have had more courage, I would have stopped and walked up to some of the homes. The series says the artists never locked their doors and were always jamming with each other. Pure history.

The recent documentary, Echo in the Canyon, same music scene, is great. Jackson Brown, David Crosby, Mamas and the Poppas, Neil Young, many others.

Last Waltz, one of the BEST.
Echo in the Canyon is excellent
No Direction Home - Bob Dylan from 1941-1965 (3 1/2 hrs.) Well worth every minute!

Hired gun was pretty good. About Studio Musicians. I learned that Billy Joel is a prick.

That was really disappointing to hear about how he treated his "friends" once he went big time. Amazing how well Liberty took it.

One I saw not too long ago that wasn't mentioned. "Eric Clapton: A Life in 12 Bars" was really good and I thought fairly honest.

And not a documentary, but one of my favorite movies of all time (Top 100 as I watch a LOT of movies).... "The Commitments"

Not a documentary either, but see Sing Street if you like 80s UK pop. Fun movie.

New HBO documentary on the Bee Gees ("How Do You Mend a Broken Heart") is fantastic. Highly recommended.

Thank you, Steve.

All Things Must Pass is excellent as well. Talks about the rise and fall of Tower Records

Highly, Highly recommend the Festival Express as well. Focuses on a huge tour across Canada in 1970. Centers around The Dead, The Band, and Janis Joplin.

Not a Bee Gees fan at all but watched this the other night when nothing else was on...and it was great. Really enjoyed it.