Favorite Documentaries

I love watching music documentaries. Here are a few that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing over the past few years:
1) Jazz, about the history of jazz music in the United States;
2) Buena Vista Social Club, about the making of an album of the same name with legendary Cuban musicians;
3) Ain’t In It For My Health, about the career of the late great Levon Helm — the drummer for influential American group The Band;
4) Shine a Light, about The Rolling Stones’ performances at NYC’s Beacon Theatre in 2006;
5) 20 Feet From Stardom, a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of some notable backup singers in the US;
6) Classic Albums — Steely Dan: Aja, a look back at the making of US jazz-rock band Steely Dan’s most successful album;
7) Dave Chapelle’s Block Party, about how the US comedian organized a concert film in Brooklyn; and
8) American Masters — Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul, an examination of Ms. Franklin’s awesome recording career.
I just watched an interesting biopic of Chet Baker on Netflix. Ethan Hawke.
 
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Rock Family Trees
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
Vietnam: A Television History

I love watching even more vintage documentaries on youtube such as
The Big Picture (The US Army TV series)
Whicker's World (YTV series)
anything about Japanese ama divers
 
I guess Levison Wood Walking the Niles , Himalayas, America. They are more travel documentaries.
Made me wish I was more the outdoor type.
 
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I love watching music documentaries. Here are a few that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing over the past few years:
1) Jazz, about the history of jazz music in the United States;
2) Buena Vista Social Club, about the making of an album of the same name with legendary Cuban musicians;
3) Ain’t In It For My Health, about the career of the late great Levon Helm — the drummer for influential American group The Band;
4) Shine a Light, about The Rolling Stones’ performances at NYC’s Beacon Theatre in 2006;
5) 20 Feet From Stardom, a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of some notable backup singers in the US;
6) Classic Albums — Steely Dan: Aja, a look back at the making of US jazz-rock band Steely Dan’s most successful album;
7) Dave Chapelle’s Block Party, about how the US comedian organized a concert film in Brooklyn; and
8) American Masters — Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul, an examination of Ms. Franklin’s awesome recording career.


Totally forgot an all-time great music documentary, The Last Waltz (1978). Directed by Martin Scorsese, it’s an account of the final concert of The Band in 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
While it has received flak from most of the members of The Band who claimed to not have received money from the project’s post-theatrical release, the film is remembered for its outstanding featured performances.
One of my favourite segments is this number with The Band and The Staples Singers that was filmed in a studio after the concert. The song is “The Weight”.

 
Totally forgot an all-time great music documentary, The Last Waltz (1978). Directed by Martin Scorsese, it’s an account of the final concert of The Band in 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
While it has received flak from most of the members of The Band who claimed to not have received money from the project’s post-theatrical release, the film is remembered for its outstanding featured performances.
One of my favourite segments is this number with The Band and The Staples Singers that was filmed in a studio after the concert. The song is “The Weight”.


In my opinion it is really more of a concert film than a documentary, but I agree it is great. Neil Diamond was lame. Van the Man was awesome. Dylan proposed marriage to Mavis Staples several times. She loved him, but she was forced by Martin Luther King to decline. MLK said it wouldn't have been cool for a Sister of the Movement to marry a white man.
 
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In my opinion it is really more of a concert film than a documentary, but I agree it is great. Neil Diamond was lame. Van the Man was awesome. Dylan proposed marriage to Mavis Staples several times. She loved him, but she was forced by Martin Luther King to decline. MLK said it wouldn't have been cool for a Sister of the Movement to marry a white man.

Man, Van Morrison, the Belfast Cowboy, is such an amazing performer.
The best thing in the 2000 film Proof of Life was when Morrison’s “I’ll Be Your Lover, Too” was played for the end credits.

 
Sound City was really nice for me... Although it's more about a recording studio... It's amazing to see how many great albums came out of the place... The stories told fascinating IMO...
 
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Here’s another one.
Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall, released in 1997, is really more of a concert video interspersed with interviews of the Hollywood legend, his collaborators in music and the jazz artists involved in the production of the two-disc live album with the same title.
This became a memorable video for me because of a Singaporean girl, who resembled Zhang Ziyi, I met outside work.
One evening, she invited me to her place to watch the video. We ended up seeing just a few bits because we had more important things to do on her sofa, her living room carpet, her dining table, her bed and her bathtub.
The relationship had a great start, but it’s ugly conclusion several months later was pretty devastating to me.
So I’ve listened to the recording a number of times. But I could not watch the video all the way, even when the whole thing was posted on YouTube. I just couldn’t.


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Surprised nobody has mentioned the Ken Burns Civil War series. I heard that it is the gold standard by which all other documentaries are judged. I am also surprised that nobody has mentioned the The Cove and how it is a piece of biased, inauthentic, inaccurate shit. I haven’t really spent a lot of time with either of these documentaries. The Cove was bound to be controversial. Amimal Rights people are mostly bores and idiots in my experience. And I am a pig who’s rights are infringed about every 15 minutes so that’s saying something.
 
Here’s another one.
Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall, released in 1997, is really more of a concert video interspersed with interviews of the Hollywood legend, his collaborators in music and the jazz artists involved in the production of the two-disc live album with the same title.
This became a memorable video for me because of a Zhang Ziyi-looking girl from Singapore I met outside work. She invited me to her place to watch it. We ended up seeing just a few bits because we had more important things to do on her sofa, her living room carpet, her dining table, her bed and her bathtub.
The relationship had a great at the start, but it’s ugly conclusion several months later was devastating to me.
So I’ve listened to the recording a number of times. But I’ve never managed to watch the video all the way through, even when the whole thing was posted on YouTube. I just couldn’t.


View attachment 8377
Tell us about the ugly conclusion.
 
I lived in Singapore for 5 years. 95% of the Singaporeans I met were shallow strivers interested only in money and getting ahead. Especially the Chinese Singaporeans.
 
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I lived in Singapore for 5 years. 95% of the Singaporeans I met were shallow strivers interested only in money and getting ahead. Especially the Chinese Singaporeans.

You got lucky then to meet so nice people. My stats are way worse.
 
The Lost World of Communism (Part 1: East Germany)

When it was aired by the BBC some years ago, I was a bit surprised to see a fair amount of nudity in the narrative. You can watch it on YouTube.
Thank you. I love documentaries about East Germany.
 
Here’s another one.
Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall, released in 1997, is really more of a concert video interspersed with interviews of the Hollywood legend, his collaborators in music and the jazz artists involved in the production of the two-disc live album with the same title.
This became a memorable video for me because of a Singaporean girl, who resembled Zhang Ziyi, I met outside work.
One evening, she invited me to her place to watch the video. We ended up seeing just a few bits because we had more important things to do on her sofa, her living room carpet, her dining table, her bed and her bathtub.
The relationship had a great start, but it’s ugly conclusion several months later was pretty devastating to me.
So I’ve listened to the recording a number of times. But I could not watch the video all the way, even when the whole thing was posted on YouTube. I just couldn’t.


View attachment 8377
Slightly off topic, but related. The Danish National Symphony performing the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
 
Just watched a good one about DMT (the drug). Very interested by that stuff but too scared. Unless I know I will have just a few weeks to live, then I want to try all the drugs, in a huge comfy bed, populated by sexy helpers :D
 
A collection of interviews with Vietnam vets put together by Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. This one is my favorite so far, but there are many other good ones.
 
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I found this excellent making-of documentary online about one of my favourite albums, “Back in Black” by the great Australian rock band AC/DC.
I’ve recently put this album back on my weekend listening rotation after getting over another relationship that went sour.
Brian Johnson, who took over as lead vocalist for the group in 1980, sang and screamed his socks off, which was reminiscent of how Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant performed in the 70s.
Magnificent guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young provided the slick riffs and earth-pounding solos that have made this album a keeper for many fans around the world.
Enjoy.
 
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