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Review |
Rather than analyze new
releases song by song, we offer 'overviews' designed to give you a
better idea of how likely you are to like the album as a whole. Click on
the cover art to hook up with more reviews. And Listen for
yourself. Sample songs from the release through the player below the
review.
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Stones & Doors Candid Chronicles
Both DVDs offer remarkable behind the scenes footage
Image conscious artists rarely let cameras roam freely behind the
scenes unless there are guarantees that anything released requires artist
and/or management approval. It's almost unthinkable that any but a handful
of acts would permit the kind of footage that comprises the majority of new
DVDs about a pair of Rock's most influential and important acts to ever see
the light of day. Stones In Exile, the film that documents
the Rolling Stones flight to Southern France to escape astronomical
taxation in the UK and the recording sessions for Exile On Main Street,
and When You're Strange, a movie that chronicles the rapid
rise and tragic demise of the Doors, are both filled with the kind of
scenes and dialog that publicists and agents have nightmares about.
 When
You're Strange
Jim Morrison has been dead nearly twice as long as he was alive and the
collapse of the Doors was attributable to his downward spiral, so a
movie as candid about what was going on during the turmoil at both ends of
that saga is not as surprising as it is to have the Stones not only
allow an equally if not more candid one about themselves - but actually
participate and produce it! Both movies are remarkable.
Despite a surprisingly deadpan Johnny Depp narration, When
Your're Strange captures the mayhem, tenderness and many of the
other contradictions of Jim Morrison and making it easy to understand
how difficult his increasingly dysfunctional state must have been for the
band. Riveting concert and backstage scenes also capture the charisma he
somehow maintained even as his life was unraveling. The fact the band
emerged from Southern California and that Morrison was a film student at
UCLA accounts for why so much of the band's private time was caught on
film. When You're Strange also does a good job of presenting
the cultural and historical context of the period and relating it to what
was happening in Morrison's head.
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DOORS INSIGHTS
 Stones In Exile
This film puts you right in the middle of the chaos that
enveloped musicians, their lovers and surrounding cast of characters (some
invited and some not) that showed up at Nellcote, the estate Keith
Richards and Anita Pallenberg moved into on the French Riviera
after leaving England. Most of Exile On Main Street was
recorded in the steamy, dingy basement of the otherwise luxurious villa
overlooking the Mediterranean under conditions that make it amazing a record
came out of the sessions at all, but also contributed to what made it such a
landmark release.
As surprising as some of the comments and scenes Jagger, Richards and
Charlie Watts (who share producing credit) elected to leave in the
final cut are some of the far from flattering remarks about Mick and
Keith and the madness of what was going on left in interviews from
members Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman in bonus footage.
While there is a lot less film footage in Exile (some of it
from the notorious Cocksucker Blues) than in the Doors
movie, director Stephen Kijak and producer John Battsek manage
to create the impression there is much more by applying some of the
techniques Ken Burns pioneered that give the feel of live action to
footage that relies on still photos. What emerges is an amazing chronicle of
one of the more bizarre chapters in Rock history and a fascinating look at
the creative process prevailing against overwhelming odds.
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Consider both of these movies gotta see films.
MORE ROLLING STONES INSIGHTS
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