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I have two recent documentaries to recommend.

Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years, by director Ron Howard. This was a fascinating look at the early Beatles, when they toured the US, Australia, Japan, etc. There is a lot of footage I had never seen, some current interviews with Paul and Ringo, and older interviews with all of them. They have also done some excellent restoration of sixties concert footage. The film had a limited (one week) run in theaters, then went straight to HULU, which is now subscription, just like Netflix. The movie will be available for purchase in November.

Ole! Ole! Ole! - Documentary about The Rolling Stones 2016 tour of South America and first time concert in Havana. I've never been to a Stones concert, but, wow! they still, even now, in their late sixties, seventy?, put on a great show! And there are some interesting fan cultures in S.A. - one in Argentina called the Rolingas. So the movie shows the fans - one guy doing a great impression of Mick's moves. In many countries the Stones were banned for many years, so these concerts are huge events. The cinematography is wonderful. One of the highlights is Mick and Keith playing and singing Country Honk (backstage somewhere) - we saw it in a theater and the audience broke into applause after that song. CraveTV is going to acquire this movie and Havana Moon (the movie about/of the Havana concert).

Both are movies are well worth seeing. We thoroughly enjoyed them.

I'd love to hear recommendations of other music movies or documentaries.

Lynn

I tend to lean on the humorous side so my two are:

A Mighty Wind

Spinal Tap

Dennis

Whiplash (fictional story about a young jazz drummer at a prestigious New York music school). Highly recommended.

Searching for Sugar Man (Oscar winning documentary from 2013 about a singer/songwriter from Detroit who is unknowingly very popular in South Africa)

jayswett wrote:

Whiplash (fictional story about a young jazz drummer at a prestigious New York music school). Highly recommended.

Searching for Sugar Man (Oscar winning documentary from 2013 about a singer/songwriter from Detroit who is unknowingly very popular in South Africa)

I would second "Searching for Sugar Man" if you haven't seen it. It's about the American singer/songwriter Rodrigues (I think he spells it with an "s") who spent much of his lifetime in oblivion until he discovered how popular he was in South Africa. I know Neil put up a couple of his songs a while back. It's definitely worth watching.

Here is a link to the Searching for Sugar Man trailer.

Another Oscar winner from a number of years ago is Once.

Singer/songwriter/street performer from Dublin meets a woman who encourages him to get his music recorded.

Link to trailer:

For the Love of the Music: The Club 47 Folk Revival Great documentary..

"20 Feet from Stardom"


They are the voices behind the greatest Rock, Pop and R&B hits of all time, but no one knows their names. Now in this award-winning documentary, director Morgan Neville shines the spotlight on the untold stories of such legendary background singers as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Claudia Lennear, Judith Hill and more. These are the triumphs and heartbreaks of music's greatest unsung talents, featuring rare behind-the-scenes footage, vintage live perfoRmances


"Standing in the Shadows of Motown"

A 2002 documentary film directed by Paul Justman that recounts the story of The Funk Brothers, the uncredited and largely unheralded studio musicians who were the house band that Berry Gordy hand picked in 1959.
The Funk Brothers produced more hits than The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys together. It was their sound, according to Mary Wilson (of The Supremes), that backed The Temptations, The Supremes, The Miracles, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Mary Wells, among other noteworthy bands during their tenure from 1959 to 1973.

These are such good documentaries, especially "20 feet from Stardom"..
I think everyone will enjoy these two.

Max

Hi Lynn,

Thanks for the heads up on Eight Days A Week. I immediately went to Amazon to pre-order it. Always interested in new footage of the Beatles.

One of my favorite music documentaries is Beatles Anthology, a 5-DVD set. It has several scenes that I believe were in the Let It Be movie, altho it's been so many years since I've seen that movie I can't be sure.

I also like the documentaries in the DVD set British Invasion. It has DVDs on Herman's Hermits, the Hollies, Dusty Springfield, Small Faces, and Gerry and the Pacemakers. (Wonder if it's called British Invasion in the UK?)

And the History of the Eagles is another good one, as is Muscle Shoals, which documents the history of the FAME studios and the Swampers. (I may be prejudiced about the latter, since I grew up across the river in Florence, AL. It was kinda nostalgic for me.)

If you include DVDs that are more performance than documentary, I recommend the Complete Monterey Pop Festival (with Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and Mamas and the Papas) and The Last Waltz, the 1976 farewell concert/tribute for The Band which included Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Eric Clapton and many others.

Marc W