It Might Get Loud

Another blog post... Another music documentary...

I’ve been on a couple of longish train rides recently and finally got around to watching It Might Get Loud. Essentially it's a film about three very different guitarists from three different generations. They talk about what they do and what inspired them to pick up a guitar in the first place. And, most importantly, it is a film where they play music - individually and together. The guitarists are Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White.

U2_1
Originally uploaded by yellowlinephoto

For me, it doesn’t work as a documentary. There is a structure there, or at least the film-makers have tried to impose a structure, but it’s not telling a story in the way the Rush film did, so I felt the structure was tacked on rather than scaffolding a finished whole. As a result, the film was episodic and while each of the episodes were individually interesting, I don't think it held together as a single piece.

What did work really well though, and what I liked best about it, was hearing them play their music and seeing their enthusiasm for music. For example, Jimmy Page puts on a vinyl single of Link Wray playing Rumble and looks like a kid in a sweetie shop! He clearly loves the piece and that he desperately wants you to love it too is clear from the way he describes it ...and plays along to it ...on air guitar! It is an outstandingly good segment and I suspect some of my fellow train travellers wondered why I was suddenly grinning like an idiot while I staring at a laptop screen!

What was impressive was their dedication to the guitar. The Edge at one point is talking about what inspired him to start playing and cites seeing The Jam and other similar bands on Top Of The Pops as one of his influences. He says that he realised: “If we believed fully in what we were about... that actually was far more important than how well you could play.” This may or may not be true but I think it is slightly disingenuous because all three were obsessive about playing their guitar, clearly they do care about how well they can play, and they all put an (unhealthy?) amount of time into learning to play. They describe taking their guitars everywhere: to school; to bed; and even to the toilet! So despite The Edge's statement, he can play very well indeed! And I must admit, The Edge's guitar skills were a revelation to me. I like U2 and probably own most of their albums but I've never particularly rated The Edge as a guitarist - I've considered him competent rather than outstanding. However, I think I've been unfair. He may not be a flashy, rock guitar solo kind of guy but he does what he does extremely effectively.

The section of the film that really challenged my assessment of The Edge took place a good bit into the proceedings when the three guitarists were jamming together on a version of In My Time Of Dying. They were all playing slide guitar and Jimmy was leading the way with a great Rock/Blues slide guitar sound. Jack states elsewhere in the film that he had wanted to dig deeper into music and" "...when you dig deeper in Rock n' Roll, you're on a freight train to the Blues." so he was clearly in familiar territory with this tune. He had a really dirty sounding Blues style and he was bouncing off Jimmy... and sounding awesome! In contrast, The Edge's guitar sounded lightweight and he appeared to be struggling to make a contribution. Then, all of a sudden, he played a lick that sounded like The Edge... then he did it again and went further still! He took what the other two were doing and rather than competing head to head, he added to the piece and transformed it. He didn't ride roughshod over the top and destroy what Jimmy and Jack were creating but instead he found a space where he could make a contribution and added something unique and special. Excellent and impressive.

So, not an outstanding documentary but some really interesting music. If you like rock music, if you like the blues, or if you just want to listen to three very talented guitarists doing what they do best, I strongly recommend that you track this film down. If you haven't seen it, what else can I do to convince to to check it out? If you've seen it, let me know what you think of it.

Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage

I saw the Rush documentary (see A Good Year For Rush Fans) on Monday night and I've been meaning to write something about it ever since.

259/365: One little victory
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

I guess it is difficult for documentaries to get wide distribution but it seems ridiculous that it only gets one night in a really restricted number of cinemas so I was pleased to see a few more showings have been added in July. (See More Screenings For Rush Movie.) I am on record as saying, on more than one occasion, that Rush are the greatest band in the world. Therefore, my opinion is not entirely unbiased, but the film was outstandingly good! If you get the chance to see it go.

It is not just for Rush fans although clearly there were a large number of fans in the cinema when I saw it: I think it would appeal to all music fans, or at least all rock music fans. The film is really well structured and gives a good flavour of how their music has changed and developed over the years they've been together. For Rush fans it had some really early footage of them performing. For the general rock fan they had a veritable who's who of rock musicians praising them, analysing their appeal and playing air drums. I particularly enjoyed Jack Black's "rocket sauce" section and I identified with Sebastian Bach when he described how he went to the library to borrow a book by Ayn Rand (see Rush in Concert for my own version).

There were so many great sections and quotable quotes I could write much more and may come back to some in future posts. For now, however, I will content myself with noting how great it was to see three people who clearly love what they do and, who after nearly 40 years together, still have a passion and an excitement for making music. It's worth seeing the film for that reason alone.

One final point. I went to see the film with a friend from work. The cinema was more or less full with only a few seats empty when it started. There was one empty seat beside me and about five minutes into the film someone came in late and sat beside me. It turned out to be the chap I went to the last Rush gig with. Neither of us knew the other was coming and he just happened to sit beside me! As the saying goes, it's a small world but I wouldn't like to paint it!