House That Ahmet Built DVD??
holmes
3,532 Posts
Can someone who's seen this tell me what you think, I wanted to buy it to hear about the beginings of Atlantic & their 50s-60s awesomeness. But when I went to buy it the cover said "Narrated by Bette Midler" & "Interviews with a bunch of lame-o's eg.Kid Rock. So I got scared & put it back on the shelf!! Is it cool or not??
Comments
Yea, I agree. I didn't mind the Midler part - I like seeing folks when they are first are starting out and are so rough - and the section with Kid Rock is not as bad as you might think, you might cringe but ultimately it's more about Ertegun's love for music and his open-mindedness.
Big
I already knew Dowd's name from so many records but watching this documentary was a revelation.
??3.99 incl. free shipping (in Europe) is cheap as hell.
http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/3441203/Tom-Dowd-And-The-Language-Of-Music/Product.html#
It is worth buying (or renting from Netflix'ing and giving it the ImgBurn treatment). Midler was an Atlantic artist and did her fair share of good music during her stay there, although the Kid Rock interview is corny. Ertegun talks about what made him want to work with Kid Rock, and fortunately it's the only low point on the DVD. At that point, Ertegun had proved himself many times over, so having Kid Rock a part of the Atlantic roster is not as impressive as, oh, Debbie Gibson, Winger, or L'Trimm.
I agree, at times it does come off as a mainstream perception of how they want people to remember Atlantic and Ertegun. Perhaps in the future, someone will dig deep and get into the good stuff, but they better hurry.
I enjoyed watching it. For me it was sad that Ahmet chose to abandon soul music in favor of rock. Personally I can't stand Phil Collins, or Genisis or all that 80s stuff. Meanwhile Ahmet is talking about this is the way music should sound.
I guess that just shows that he was more open minded and had a better ear than me.
I remember I had some other little nerdy nitpicky complaints.
The main thing about the doc is it is about Ahmet. I found out that what I really liked about Atlantic was Jerry Wexler.
I want to see the Tom Dowd.
I also don't remember hearing any references to Joel Dorn. None.
The Tom Dowd one is great, worth checking out. They do of course touch on the Eric Clapton/Duane Allman temple, literally, but the interview with Ray Charles is worth watching too, and of course all of the Stax-era discussion.