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Shine A Light On DVD
Sunday, February 08, 2009
The good news is that Shine A Light is one of the most visually spectacular concert films ever. The bad news is that that is almost the only good news.By Brian Wise
THE ROLLING STONES
SHINE A LIGHT
20TH CENTURY FOX
I think it was cyclist Bernard Kohl who remarked last year after winning a stage on the Tour De France, ‘I’m too old for this shit!’ (Maybe Danny Glover said the same thing in Lethal Weapon). Anyway, you have to also wonder after watching Shine A Light whether any of the Rolling Stones ever ask the same question and whether we, as fans might do so too.
As a somewhat hopelessly die-hard fan, I did ask myself that exact question as I travelled across town to buy the special limited edition 3-disc pack for $57 (or $28 more than the single disc set). I felt that I needed to give it a second try. That is my excuse and I’m sticking to it. However, to quote Foghorn Leghorn, I was hornswaggled! (More on that later).
Shine A Light is an amalgam of two nights recorded at the Beacon Theatre in New York in November 2006. Acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese apparently utilised 18 cameras to capture the performances that are condensed into 105 minutes.
The good news is that Shine A Light is one of the most visually spectacular concert films ever. The cinematography is stunning. The bad news is that that is almost the only good news.
I first saw the film at iMax and disliked many aspects of it intensely. Let me tell you why. As I remarked last month, the set up – with director Martin Scorsese acting as if he did not know what song would be performed first – was preposterous. Why didn’t he just ask one of the lighting guys? They have to know. The drama is totally false and completely defused when we see that the concert is delayed as the band waits for Bill Clinton’s mother in-law. This is the group that terrified parents in the 1960s?
The front row of the concert seemed to be comprised almost entirely of attractive, mainly blonde, twenty and thirty-something, women. Last time I went to a Stones concert (2006) the front row seemed to be made up of rather less attractive forty and fifty something blokes - somewhat like myself.
Either many of their older fans have recently passed away and the Stones’ demographic has suddenly got younger or this was another artifice.
There was also something strange that happened to the audio every time there was a close-up of Keith Richards or Ronnie – suddenly their guitars got louder. This is weird, to say the least.
There are three special musical guests enlisted for the shows: Jack White, who is excellent for ‘Loving Cup’; Buddy Guy, who is brilliant on ‘Champagne & Reefer’; and, Christina Aguilera whose duet with Jagger on ‘Live With Me’ is not only mystifying but completely inappropriate.
I think if we all compiled a list of great female singers we would like to see duetting with Jagger, Aguilera would probably not make the Top 100. Perhaps Kylie Minogue singing ‘Sister Morphine’ or Dame Joan Sutherland singing ‘Some Girls’ might have been less apt choices.
Guy’s appearance, however, provides some truly electrifying moments and one wishes that there could have been some other similarly empathetic guests – after all, the Stones could have their choice of any one. Maybe Tina Turner (who recently came out of retirement), Etta James or Koko Taylor, Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck. The baton was dropped on creating an event that could have been truly exciting.
While the film attempts to give a musical overview of the group’s career and it largely succeeds, with a few notable exceptions. The concert kicks off with ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ which is followed by ‘Shattered’ and the appalling ‘She Was Hot.’
One suspects that Mr Jagger had a large say in the set list and that Keith and Ron were responsible for Guy’s inclusion. Apart from Guy’s appearance, the other highlights come with Richards singing ‘You Got The Silver’ and ‘Connection.’ Keith, I am sure, understands the notion that it is all about the ‘feeling’ and, while he is remarkably ruffled and battle-scarred, it is difficult not to admire the warmth of his performances.
On the other hand, Mr Jagger, while sounding a lot less croaky than his colleague, is not in great voice and seems to me to sing flat for much of the film. For his age, the then 63 year-old Jagger does look terrific and you could be forgiven for thinking that the film is actually an aerobics video. Jagger admitted in an interview that running around so much on stage affected the quality of his voice. The obvious question being, ‘Why don’t you stand still a bit more?’ I know I didn’t expect John Lee Hooker to jump around on stage when I saw him in concert!
Finally, the concert footage is interspersed with archival material that gives a glimpse into the group’s past. Unfortunately, unless you pay careful attention you might think that past did not include Brian Jones or Mick Taylor. There are amusing excerpts, especially that of a young, eloquent and oh so middle-class Jagger admitting in an interview conducted just two years into their history that he thought they might have one more year in them. Charlie Watts proves to be the most sardonic and amusing.
Of course, the other members of the band get little credit – even those who have been playing with the Stones for more than 20 years. There is a great horn section with Bobby Keyes, Chuck Leavell on keyboards and backing vocals, Darryl Jones on bass and backup singers Lisa Fischer, Bernard Fowler and Blondie Chaplin.
The deluxe edition contains the film, plus a digital copy that you can transfer to your iPod or computer. The third disc is claimed to be the ‘official soundtrack’ but is, in fact, a single disc version containing only 17 of the 24 songs on the original soundtrack release!
Then, there is the fact that the DVD has been ridiculously censored (by whom I don’t know). At the conclusion of Buddy Guy’s performance, Jagger says, ‘Buddy Guy! Buddy ‘mother..’ Guy. Yet later, in another outro, we hear him use the ‘f’ word. Is this bizarre? (Jagger also actually self-censors the lyrics to ‘Some Girls’, perhaps in deference to President Clinton and family).
Like I say, I’ve been hornswaggled. Don’t you let it happen to you.
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