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The Best Music Documentaries

Error Gorilla said:
On reading the UKNova FAQs, it seems they don't offer invites.
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Thanks for that - yeah, UK Nova open their doors every so often (very rarely) - I'll get in one day!

...off to ebay now...
 
Apathy said:
'Bad Meaning Good' (late 80s uk hip hop doc following westwood, london posse etc) and the Madchester sound of the north DVDs off ebay if that helps:)
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Especially need to get my hands on UK stuff - "BAd Meaning GOod" would be really usefull - if you get it back anytime soon, let me know - i have some money ready for a copy, or even a loan of. :)
 
Error Gorilla said:
I'm happy to download it for you, but it'd be a bit academic as I don't have a DVD-R drive fitted in my computer. I suppose it would be possible to download it and then upload it to a public tracker like the Pirate Bay if you want.

If someone with a UKNova account and DVD-R drive can help?
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I just had a thought - I wonder if you couldnt just download the .torrent's and email them or put themup on sendspace or something -- that way I could download them from here. - Perhaps UKNova charts your account and wouldnt allow me to do that.

If you would be willing to downlaod and post on Pirate Bay that would be amazing... its a fair old task, so dont worry if you dont get round to it.
 
The Blues thread reminded me of that 7part Blues series: "The Blues":

The seven-part film series includes:
Feel Like Going Home by Martin Scorsese
The Soul of a Man by Wim Wenders
The Road to Memphis by Richard Pearce
Warming by the Devil's Fire by Charles Burnett
Godfathers and Sons by Marc Levin
Red, White & Blues by Mike Figgis
Piano Blues by Clint Eastwood

http://www.pbs.org/theblues/
 
Just watched New York Doll - absolutely brilliant - what a an incredible human story - muss admit it brought a tear or two to my eye - check it
 
niksativa said:
Anglicised? Not sure - it was definitely a personal journey - through the eyes of the narrator (who was American no?) - I thought it was unique and revealing
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It was a british production using an american frontman - Jim White. My recollection from watching it was that it was made in such a way as to appeal to british preconceptions of the South.
 
Johnny Canuck2 said:
It was a british production using an american frontman - Jim White. My recollection from watching it was that it was made in such a way as to appeal to british preconceptions of the South.
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THe people in it were real enough - you could say it was selective, you could say it romanticised it - I guess thats all true - but its not a total myth: that world does exist to some extent.

It was also a deliberately magical journey - no mean feet of filmmaking to capture that atmosphere.

I think Im touchey at the suggestion that it was just some con to sell to the Brits - if you look at someone like Emir Kusturika and his films about Gypsies and related culture its just as magical and extreme, but definitely uncovers a core truth about the culture. I think that is a good comparison for what was done in Wrong Eye...
 
niksativa said:
THe people in it were real enough - you could say it was selective, you could say it romanticised it - I guess thats all true - but its not a total myth: that world does exist to some extent.

It was also a deliberately magical journey - no mean feet of filmmaking to capture that atmosphere.

I think Im touchey at the suggestion that it was just some con to sell to the Brits - if you look at someone like Emir Kusturika and his films about Gypsies and related culture its just as magical and extreme, but definitely uncovers a core truth about the culture. I think that is a good comparison for what was done in Wrong Eye...
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I could do a documentary on England that only focused on members of the peerage; it would be 'true', but not a representative sample of english life.

Most people in North America would see some parts of the rural South as being unusual and exotic; however, Wrong Eyed Jesus went for the most outrageous examples of the unusual and exotic.

The other 'british' element I found in the documentary, was how the narrator, White, was used. Often, a documentary is shot in a neutral fashion, merely presenting the topic without editorial comment. In WEJ, we get White looking into the camera, almost rolling his eyes at the quaint antics he's viewing. It's like he's sharing a joke with the viewer, while mildly putting down the subject.

The device gets used in other british documentary productions, to better or worse effect. It's used well in Lonely Planet, a little less well in Michael Palin's around the world documentary, and a little less well in Ewan Magregor's motorcycle trip documentary.
 
niksativa said:
-Do you have copies of any of the above? Would be willing to pay - PM me if so.
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Is the History of Hip Hop the one with Gary Byrd narrating and Brim. If so then I've got both of those. i'll PM you.
 
niksativa said:
Just been watching the acid house shock-horror documentary World In Action's "Lost in the Acid House" on YouTube:


Pure Comedy
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Indeed, I certainly laughed when I heard that this "craze has been described as a sinister, evil cult which promotes drug use". :D :D
 
Dubversion said:
Be Here To Love Me - film about Townes Van Zandt. Depressing business all round really - wasted talent, bit of a twat in many ways.
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Watched this last night. It's hard to take at many points. I don't think I've ever seen a more consistently unhappy musician on screen :(

I'm not sure his talent was that wasted. I think he left just enough.

As for being a twat -- kind of. The ECT did for him. And he certainly left a very fragile second son behind him :(
 
Joy Division doc had my riveted. I was fortunate enough to see it on the big screen in a cinema that played it very very loud. A wonderful experience that left me longing for more all too rare JD footage to be unearthed. I was way too young to have been into them at the time, so i didn't see them live, but Ian Curtis' stage presence even on screen is truly startling, often chilling and always mesmerising
 
Just watched 'Scott Walker - 30 Century Man' and would recommend. Not very keen on his later music but how he made it is pretty interesting.
 
Hip hop wise.

i love alkl the beef hip-hopumentries and mc: why we do it and umm another one that i cant rmemmebr the name of.

Can't find anything but beef on torrents though which is lame.


dave
 
ska invita said:
can anyone help me - I need to get together a list of great music documentaries - it might make a nice thread to read anyway.

I'll start with with "THe Ramones -End of the Century"

_I'd never really heard the Ramones before - but I walked away a fan.
Real insight into the band dynamics and the mind set of the boys.

I also loved the bit when Dee Dee Ramone became a rapper - I dont think it was a joke at all - I think it was sincere. I felt for all the guys in the band.

Youtube bit about Dee Dee being a rapper here:
http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=H-QveINMwkQ
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I am a Ramones fan and I didn't think it was all that good. It wasn't all that well thought out and the filming was horrific. I feel it kind of went through the motions and and no polish. I think it was OK, but it could have been much much better. For me it just sat back and banked on the fact it was a film length doc about the Ramones.
 
That Phil Spector one that was on BBC4 the other day was pretty good. Mixed the history up with this court case without being confusing.
 
just making my way through "jo strummer, the future is unwritten". kinda cheesey having people round fire pits on the river thames, but the rest is very informative and interesting.

CHECK IT!
 
mtbskalover said:
the clash, west wat to the world: good docu
the clash rude boy the movie : kind of a movie, but good
sublime -tales, lies and exagerations- ace docu, lots of interesting characters and footage.
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Just picked up the dvd of this for 50p. Not seen before :hmm: but it is in good nick and has the booklet in it.
 
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