[SOUND CITY
screens Friday May 10th at 7:00 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art.]
Review by Bob
Ignizio
Really
there are two separate movies contained in SOUND CITY,
the new documentary directed by musician Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters,
Nirvana). The first part of the film details how the Sound City
Studio began in 1969 and eventually rose to prominence after
Fleetwood Mac's breakthrough 1975 self titled album was recorded
there. Plenty of other big names utilized the space, many drawn by the prospect of utilizing the studio's
Neve mixing board. Even Grohl kind of goes blank when Rupert Neve,
the engineer responsible for the board, tries to explain how it
works. Suffice it to say, though, that it gave the music recorded at
Sound City Studios a distinctive sound.
During this first
half of the film, Grohl interviews the surviving studio owners and
employees as well as numerous musicians who recorded there. That
means plenty of good stories from the likes of Stevie Nicks, Rick
Springfield, Vinnie Appice (Dio), Tom Petty, Neil Young, Barry
Manilow, Lee Ving (Fear), Stephen Pearcy (Ratt), and many more.
Eventually digital recording techniques threatened to make the
defiantly analog Sound City obsolete, but when Grohl's band Nirvana
recorded their 'Nevermind' album there, it spurred a whole new round
of bands to seek the space out.
The second half of
the film revolves around Grohl's purchase of the Neve mixing board.
This allowed Grohl to assemble a veritable who's who of rock n roll
royalty to jam with him and record the results using the same board
and techniques that spawned so many classic albums at Sound City.
Lots of good stuff results, but Rick Springfield and Stevie Nicks in
particular benefit from collaborating with Grohl and the rest of the
Foo Fighters, each producing songs that are easily the best thing
they've done in years. Yeah, it's a bit self aggrandizing and
lightweight, but it's also pretty damn entertaining. If more vanity
projects were this good, they might not have such a bad name. 3 out
of 4 stars.
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