Just watched this documentary on the Roland 808 drum machine on Amazon Prime, lots of great interviews.
One of my favorites is the short film about the composition, arranging and performance of the music for the film "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," Herzog's film about the artwork in the Chauvet caves in France. Great music and a really insightful documentary about the music and the recording and the instruments.
The Last Waltz which I saw in the cinema with 3 other people...with beards. I was only 15 and a punk. Totally out of place, but loved it!!! End Of The Century which I also saw at the movies - alongside a full house of fellow rowdy Ramones fans - of course! Brilliant fun. Walk On By - The Story Of Popular Song. The BBC have made some of the greatest music documentaries over the years, but this one I don't think has ever been exceeded. Beautifully told from start to finish. I saw it when originally broadcast, but only managed to record 3 episodes sadly ....and this little gem, unmentioned so far, but up there in my top ten: The story of Jerome Felder, A.K.A Doc Pomus - brilliant songwriter, one of life's great battlers and a beautiful soul. You’ll never hear Save The Last Dance For Me in quite the same way again. See it!!!!
Can't You Hear The Wind Howl & The Hunt For Robert Johnson both are about the blues giant The History of Rock n Roll(10 part doc) No Direction Home-Dylan ELVIS 1956 Stones Gimme Shelter Sex Pistols Great Rock & Roll Swindle Woodstock Monterrey Pop The Compleat Beatles You're Gonna Miss Me-Roky Erickson
Wrong I have it & it is all 10 episodes on 9 DVDs Its proper title is The History of Rock N Roll It is the best doc on RocknRoll.Period.
Man, this guy is BORING. But good research on the subject. Could've been half the length and twice as interesting if the VOX Earworm team did it, IMO.
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould DOA (Sex Pistols' U.S. tour plus assorted punk bands) Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars The last in particular has some awful technical issues due to lighting, but I think all three do a fantastic job of capturing an atmosphere as well as telling a story.
It's been mentioned before, but Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together is about the giants of New Orleans Piano: Tuts Washington, Allen Toussaint, and Professor Longhair. One of the better PBS documentaries was a 4-part series called American Roots Music. American Roots Music - Wikipedia This next item is not specifically a documentary, but if you're into classical music you may wish to check out Leonard Bernstein's The Unanswered Question, a series of six lectures at Harvard. You can find them on YouTube.
"I generally try not to hold being British against people" is a strange thing to come out with. Why on earth would you have to "try" not to hold someones nationality against them? Weird. Anyway, Bono isn't British. He's Irish.
I just watched this last night. Well made. It is a little weird to have a documentary for a 20-something. I accomplishes (what may have been one of) it's goal. I am more likely to go see her if/when she comes to town.
I have seen a LOT of music documentaries. It is hard to remember which were the best ones. Many have been mentioned above. There have been many Beatles and The Who documentaries. Always fun to watch though I don't really remember which is which and which were the best. The Stones however - has there ever been a decent Stones documentary? Gimme Shelter was mentioned, but that is really about one event.
Lydia's an old soul in a young body. Try to see Lydia with her band your first time out instead of solo. They are are tight knit and energetic unit.
I realize this won't appeal to the majority BUT....The greatest documentary, featuring some of the world's greatest musicians playing fabulous music is Calle 54, the legendary doc about Latin Jazz! For the more musically adventurous, it's outstanding!
To answer my own question, I watched Crossfire Hurricane on netflix last night which was not half bad. It took them up to the time I saw them in 1981. I know there have been others, they just don't stand out.
My list would be: The Decline of Western Civilization (Doc On late 70s punk scene in LA) Beware Of Mr Baker (Documentary about Ginger Baker of Cream fame) The Filth And The Fury (Sex Pistols doc) Some Kind of Monster (Metallica warts and all doc) History Of the Eagles (Eagles doc) End Of the Century (Ramones doc) Woodstock (exactly what it says on the tin) Beyond The Lighted Stage (Rush doc) Flight 666 (Doc On Iron Maiden’s 2008-09 tour) The Last Waltz ( The Band doc)
