Robert Meier

I wanted to see this when it was in theatres but it never screened here. So more than year later the dvd shows up at the library. The main reason I wanted to see this is Stevie Wonder, I was a huge fan in the 1970s and have been disappointed in his work since 1982. The film only had 2 songs of Stevie's. Part of one song is a drum solo. I really wanted to see the whole set. As far as I could tell, no complete sets were in the film. The longest set was perhaps Nina Simone's who is oddly more popular now than she was during her lifetime. Some of the acts included were dated and should have been left out. Who really needs to see another mediocre 5th dimension clip or a david ruffin singing "my girl"? On the other hand I would have liked the Abbey Lincoln/Max Roach segments to have been longer, also Stevie's. I would love to see Max Roach give a solo. All the gospel sets were great but too short. Sly Stone's set was perhaps the most professional, they truly looked self assured and natural on stage. I love BB but the short "everybody wonders why I sing..." failed to capture the feeling of the wonderful recording, and has a faster tempo that just doesn't work and none of the fantastic soloing on the record. It's easy to see why the Sonny Sharrock segment was so short, his playing is avant garde and most people couldn't get into it. Still I thought he deserved more time. I though the picture quality looked like time had taken it's toll on the old footage. But if this footage deserved to be seen, it should be full performances with emphasis on music performance. I realize Questlove's desire to put the festival in context of the period during which it happened, and I know a lot of younger viewers would have been ignorant of what it was like in 1969. However the main reason why this footage should be screened is the music. Too much of the film was covering the struggle that was going on and that is another film. The wonderful Amazing Grace footage that we finally got to see almost 50 years later was worth the wait I don't feel that Summer of soul really warranted a release at least the way Questlove cut it... Without all the distractions there were enough good performances but they weren't here. .

To anyone who loves Aretha and her 1972 gospel album, this is of course a must see. And we've waited a long time to see it. So if you know and love this album you have heard the performances and know this is Aretha at her best. This is an opportunity to finally match the sound with the image after all these years. Why they hired Sidney Pollack to film these performances is a mystery to me. He had had no experience filming music performances and it is his lack of experience that caused the project to be shelved all these years (there was a problem syncing the music with the image.. that a director who had shot music performance wouldn't have made-someone like the Maisles Bros or DA Pennebaker). Many of the songs have some additional moments added that aren't on the record. There are a couple false starts to Climb a Mt (Trying to get home) that absolutely radiate. The "Precious Memories" footage informs the listener of the incredible interplay and rapport between Aretha and CL Franklin. I was disappointed that the beginning of "Oh Mary don't you weep" did not show Aretha singing at first but instead ran footage of her entering the church. Perhaps that footage was not in good shape and so they edited the footage so that the musical performance wouldn't be interrupted. While I find the sound in many cineplexes too loud, this is one movie that I would have appreciated more volume. When I play the record at home I always play it at max volume. I've read that Aretha-upon finally seeing the film after they figured out how to sync the sound with the image-didn't want the film shown and in fact sued to keep it out of release. I think this is perhaps because one scene shows Aretha sweating a lot. To me another reason might be finally seeing the images of what went down in a church in LA in 1972 could only demystify what we have imagined in our heads all these years. If this movie brings a handful of people to finally hear this great record of Aretha for the first time, it was worth ignoring Aretha's desire not to have it shown. At the end of the movie you can hear Pollack say to one of his assistants something to the effect that the footage would probably be used on a tv broadcast. Obviously Sidney wasn't much of a gospel music lover. He had just witnessed one of the great gospel performances ever and was wondering how his footage might be used. As Justin Chang put it so beautifully "Aretha sweats but never strains."