Good Music Docos / Documentaries

[UlricvonCatalyst]

There might be some interest here for Goodnight Brooklyn, a documentary about Death By Audio (the venue). Probably has A Place To Bury Strangers Content.

[sammynb]

There might be some interest here for Goodnight Brooklyn, a documentary about Death By Audio (the venue). Probably has A Place To Bury Strangers Content.

That looks good.
Did you know Famous Class Records released a flexi book of live stuff from DBA?

[frelonvert]

Beware of Mr Baker:
https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/075201-00 ... ditionnel/

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Not exactly Blu-Ray quality, but this Big Yin-presented documentary reuniting Jansch with his peer group is a rich vein of historic bounty.

Bert Jansch - Acoustic Routes

[Maggieo]

Beware of Mr Baker:
https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/075201-00 ... ditionnel/

"I'LL FUCKING PUT YOU IN HOSPITAL!!!!"

[PJazzmaster]

I finally watched "Conny Plank - the potential of noise"
Unfortunately my (high) expectations for this documentary were not met but it was still nice to watch.
https://thevinylfactory.com/news/a-new- ... n-the-way/

[shadowplay]

I finally watched "Conny Plank - the potential of noise"
Unfortunately my (high) expectations for this documentary were not met but it was still nice to watch.
https://thevinylfactory.com/news/a-new- ... n-the-way/

I usually find that the more I'm interested in something the worse the documentary is, it's much easier to enjoy somethign you know nothing about in my experience. Usually the main culprit is the 'talking heads', who tend to be chosen for who they are rather than what they know or have to say.

I think one of the absolute nadirs in this is one of the (manmanymanymanymany) Nick Cave docs where IIRC some kid is on making a comment despite barely having heard him and telling the camera that he's yet to get onto disc two of some greatest hits set.

Btw OT (and sorry OP) I was thinking you might like this record.

D

[cestlamort]

I finally watched "Conny Plank - the potential of noise"
Unfortunately my (high) expectations for this documentary were not met but it was still nice to watch.
https://thevinylfactory.com/news/a-new- ... n-the-way/

I usually find that the more I'm interested in something the worse the documentary is, it's much easier to enjoy somethign you know nothing about in my experience. Usually the main culprit is the 'talking heads', who tend to be chosen for who they are rather than what they know or have to say.

I think one of the absolute nadirs in this is one of the (manmanymanymanymany) Nick Cave docs where IIRC some kid is on making a comment despite barely having heard him and telling the camera that he's yet to get onto disc two of some greatest hits set.

Btw OT (and sorry OP) I was thinking you might like this record.

D

With that in mind, the Twisted Sister documentary is amazing. 2+ hours about their career before even signing a record deal. Candid and captivating (and gloriously capitalist) look into the era. I can't recommend this one enough.

The B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin 1979-1989 doc about Berlin has some amazing archival footage and is well done (and better reflects my record collection). I'm not sure why this didn't have a higher profile. In English and/or German. (The DVD is pretty cheap from amazon.de, with surprisingly cheap shipping, €5 or so to the US)

The Soundbreaking documentary series (on PBS) has been really fun, too. (We're still in the middle of it). Produced by George Martin, thematic looks at recorded sound: episodes focus on producers, multitrack recording, the human voice, etc.

[PJazzmaster]

I usually find that the more I'm interested in something the worse the documentary is, it's much easier to enjoy somethign you know nothing about in my experience.

Oh yes, I know what you are talking about

Btw OT (and sorry OP) I was thinking you might like this record.

D

Thanks. I'll give it a listen

[PJazzmaster]

With that in mind, the Twisted Sister documentary is amazing. 2+ hours about their career before even signing a record deal. Candid and captivating (and gloriously capitalist) look into the era. I can't recommend this one enough.

The B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin 1979-1989 doc about Berlin has some amazing archival footage and is well done (and better reflects my record collection). I'm not sure why this didn't have a higher profile. In English and/or German. (The DVD is pretty cheap from amazon.de, with surprisingly cheap shipping, €5 or so to the US)

The Soundbreaking documentary series (on PBS) has been really fun, too. (We're still in the middle of it). Produced by George Martin, thematic looks at recorded sound: episodes focus on producers, multitrack recording, the human voice, etc.

Thanks. I've seen the B-Movie one and will check your other recommendations.

[fortytwo]

The B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin 1979-1989 doc about Berlin has some amazing archival footage and is well done (and better reflects my record collection). I'm not sure why this didn't have a higher profile. In English and/or German. (The DVD is pretty cheap from amazon.de, with surprisingly cheap shipping, €5 or so to the US)

The Soundbreaking documentary series (on PBS) has been really fun, too. (We're still in the middle of it). Produced by George Martin, thematic looks at recorded sound: episodes focus on producers, multitrack recording, the human voice, etc.

The B-Movie looks really cool, gotta watch that at some point.

Does anyone know, on what platform I can watch the Soundbreaking series here in Europe?
I'm not sure that the PBS app for Apple TV works here.

[shadowplay]

With that in mind, the Twisted Sister documentary is amazing. 2+ hours about their career before even signing a record deal. Candid and captivating (and gloriously capitalist) look into the era. I can't recommend this one enough.

The B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin 1979-1989 doc about Berlin has some amazing archival footage and is well done (and better reflects my record collection). I'm not sure why this didn't have a higher profile. In English and/or German. (The DVD is pretty cheap from amazon.de, with surprisingly cheap shipping, €5 or so to the US)

I'd honestly rather spend four seasons on the pear of anguish than hear even one Twisted Sister song or see even a glimpse of Dee Snyders monstrous widow twanky puss, so that will be hard pass.

I've seen the other one and it's OK but suffers from me knowing a lot about it, much likeIndustrial Soundtrack For the Urban Decay which frankly just annoyed me in a way that wasn't unlike the time one of my kids thought it would be 'hilarious' to pick a Fast n Furious film purely because she wanted to seem me rant about how shite all the cars were. I had no real beef with the bands they chose, I just found it felt far too restrospective and lacked any sort of in period understanding.

I thought the Test Dept DS30 film was pretty decent though but I'm not sure how well it would fly outside the UK. given the socio-political context.

This is a pretty good documentary; Test Dept - Gododdin Documentary. These gigs/events were probably the most amazing, emotional and physical gigs I ever attended.

D

[cestlamort]

I'd honestly rather spend four seasons on the pear of anguish than hear even one Twisted Sister song or see even a glimpse of Dee Snyders monstrous widow twanky puss, so that will be hard pass.

It's much, much better than I could have imagined. It's more about the culture and economy of the music industry than the band.

The issue I have with many documentaries is that they don't really have a story to tell (especially painful when they address I subject I love -- case in point: I'd much rather watch a now-disgraced Donkey Kong champion than camera phone footage of Billy Corgan or Robert Smith mumbling about shoegaze). This one is the inverse: Extremely fascinating but about a band that I don't like at all. Really interesting take on the (greater) New York scene of the time, and the complete cultural (/economic/musical/etc.) divide between Manhattan and the surrounding area (Long Island, etc.). It undermines the prevalent narrative about the time (i.e. Television, et al, playing to only a handful of people, where this was an unsigned band selling out major venues).

That said, the feeling was not unlike watching a documentary on the Nixon or Bush administrations, for example, fascinating but also somewhat disquieting.

I also loved the Metallica Some Kind of Monster documentary on a number of levels (and I'm not a fan by any means). The band group therapy sessions are astounding, as are the group writing exercises...

Re: Soundbreaking. (Still working our way through it). It can be a little US-centric at times (such as the Sound & Vision episode being only about MTV and the US, for example), but with some good insights.

[SadFuzz]

Haha joy of the guitar riff is how I discovered mbv. It also kickstarted my pedal obsession.
Autoluminescent is good.
Don't know if it's too obvious but No Direction Home, the Bob Dylan doco is actually really interesting. Love the footage of him and the Hawks playing at "that gig" in Manchester.

[shadowplay]

The Voices of ...

It's a series of radio documentaries on BBC Radio 4 featuring artists ranging from Robert Wyatt, to the Unthanks, to Hannah Peel, to Anne Briggs, to Sharon Von Etten.

Quality!

D