Amazing Grace * * *
By 1970 Aretha Franklin was the Queen of Gospel, Soul, Motown and Pop music in general. She'd had a string of hits and could be regarded as a global success.
Aretha had come from a church background and being part of the church choir is how she had started singing. Her father was a Baptist minister.
In 1972, at the peak of her fame, Aretha had decided she would like to return to the church and sing again. No easy task when you're a big star. But arrangements were made, and for two nights she appeared in the church to sing a selection of hymns. She would work with a legend of gospel music, Rev James Cleveland.
The recording of those performances has always been available, so hearing it is no great
revelation. It's a good recording, but we've always known that. But now we have a film that was "lost" for nearly fifty years. Truth is, they'd made a dogs breakfast of it, and the sound wouldn't synch. Further, Aretha did not want it released. They fixed the sound in 2011 but she still didn't want it released and successfully obtained a court order to prevent it. Well, she's dead now, so who cares about her wishes when there is a dollar to be made?
Despite the gushing reviews I don't think Amazing Grace is a particularly good film so much as an important documentation of the event. When it came to live performances there were some truly awful cinematographers in the sixties and seventies who wasted the opportunity to properly document the event. I guess their equipment was crap compared to what a camera operator has today but aside from that they seemed to have an obsession with tight framing. You look at a lot of the footage of pop music performers of that era and it's like the camera operators were having a competition to see who could get in closest to the face of the subject and there is a fair bit of that kind of silly "photography" in this.
But fortunately we do get to see the audience, the choir and other participants, and even Aretha herself as a whole person, rather than just a sweaty face isolated in extreme close-up.
It's also quite interesting to see how it really was. I always imagined a different kind of church. Surprisingly it's not packed. There are quite a few empty seats (though that might have been for practical reasons). Also I did not know about Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts dropping in.
There are some fine and virtuous speeches from her father and the Reverend James Cleveland. One could almost forget their own moral notoriety.
Then of course there is Aretha and that magical voice. When she sings a hymn and the congregation are lifted it makes Christianity a more attractive message than a thousand hours of christian rock or any bible thumping evangelist could ever do. I was almost persuaded.
Amen.
Aretha had come from a church background and being part of the church choir is how she had started singing. Her father was a Baptist minister.
In 1972, at the peak of her fame, Aretha had decided she would like to return to the church and sing again. No easy task when you're a big star. But arrangements were made, and for two nights she appeared in the church to sing a selection of hymns. She would work with a legend of gospel music, Rev James Cleveland.
The recording of those performances has always been available, so hearing it is no great
 |
| How sweet the sound... |
Despite the gushing reviews I don't think Amazing Grace is a particularly good film so much as an important documentation of the event. When it came to live performances there were some truly awful cinematographers in the sixties and seventies who wasted the opportunity to properly document the event. I guess their equipment was crap compared to what a camera operator has today but aside from that they seemed to have an obsession with tight framing. You look at a lot of the footage of pop music performers of that era and it's like the camera operators were having a competition to see who could get in closest to the face of the subject and there is a fair bit of that kind of silly "photography" in this.
But fortunately we do get to see the audience, the choir and other participants, and even Aretha herself as a whole person, rather than just a sweaty face isolated in extreme close-up.
It's also quite interesting to see how it really was. I always imagined a different kind of church. Surprisingly it's not packed. There are quite a few empty seats (though that might have been for practical reasons). Also I did not know about Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts dropping in.
There are some fine and virtuous speeches from her father and the Reverend James Cleveland. One could almost forget their own moral notoriety.
Then of course there is Aretha and that magical voice. When she sings a hymn and the congregation are lifted it makes Christianity a more attractive message than a thousand hours of christian rock or any bible thumping evangelist could ever do. I was almost persuaded.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment