Troubadours

Morgan Neville:
Troubadours (USA, 2011)
92 min. - English

As the politically tense and restless 1960s drew to an end, a new music style arose to the public awareness: a more stripped style with a singer singing their own songs, accompanied only by a piano or a guitar. The artists of the new troubadour movement sang songs concerning the naked depths of the soul with an intensity and sensitivity never heard before. These musicians rose to fame from Doug Weston’s The Troubadour club, which was the Mecca of the L.A. music scene until hard drugs spoiled the creative atmosphere.

Morgan Neville, an accomplished and Grammy-nominated director of music films, brings to the big screen a wildly enormous range of the best songwriters and prominent figures of the time. Weston’s club was not the biggest one, but it was the place where many tremendously influential and historically significant musicians such as Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, Elton John and Kris Kristofferson liked to perform and hang out, with the likes of comedians Steve Martin and Cheech & Chong and even record moguls such as David Geffen. Inside those walls they all got inspired from each other as their mutual competition flourished.

As a documentary, Troubadours is a landmark of music history, which was also acknowledged with an Emmy nomination in the spring of 2011. At the same time, however, it is also a touching story of Carole King and James Taylor, who reminisced the good old times while preparing for The Troubadour’s 50th anniversary concert. The film deals with their careers and mutual friendship, without forgetting Carole’s balancing between work and family and James’ battle against drug addiction. The most impressive aspect of the film, however, is the music. It still sounds, even after all these years, as fresh as it did 40 years ago.

» thetroubadoursmovie.com

Check out also:

» Mikel Cee Karlsson, Fredrik Egerstrand: The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of José Gonzáles
» Don McGlynn, Joe Lauro: Rejoice and Shout
» Brendan Canty, Christoph Green: Ashes of American Flags: Wilco Live
» Mikel Cee Karlsson, Fredrik Egerstrand: The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of José Gonzáles
» Don McGlynn, Joe Lauro: Rejoice and Shout
» Brendan Canty, Christoph Green: Ashes of American Flags: Wilco Live

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Su 20.11.2011 12:00 at Kerubi