Customer Reviews

Story of Gospel Music [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this DVD myself. The other posters and the opening review have given a good idea of what it's all about. The Mahalia Jackson and Shirely Ceasar performances (both recorded in England, the former in 1984 and the latter in 1964) are almost worth the price of admission as both are quite powerful.

The narrators, by the way, are identified during the proceedings. They include Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, one of Dr. King;s associates, and Dr. Horace Boyer, a scholar of gospel music who I've had the pleasure of meeting and having heard speak at a local college once.

However, you want to smash the DVD when the editors STUPIDLY cut up an extremely rare clip of the Edwin Hawkins Singers singing one of the greatest gospel records of all time, "Oh Happy Day" (this is the DVD age-no reason why an entire perfromance cannot appear as an extra). The beloved Clara Ward and her singers are shown as they are warming up to perform a rousing rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In" and the clip is cut just as Miss Ward and co. are raring to cook! A number of other tunes are presented in their intirety. Who was the IDIOT that edited this thing?

That aside, it's wonderful. You will surely play it more than once.

Considering it's 90 minute length, a lot of interesting information is shared. However, none of the experts interviewed are identified- not by onscreen text, not verbally, and not even in the credits. It's frustrating to not know who these experts are and from whence they speak!

Overall, a good balance of information and inspiration. Some of the "talking heads" are overused, others underused. The same goes for the performers. Some is familiar footage (especially Mahalia); some less so (Rosetta Tharpe). The film gives the viewer just enough of the Pentecostal, "Sanctified" tradition of gospel music-making to bring credibility and color to the words of the consulted authorities. Too much emphasis on emotive, collective singing would have worn thin just as quickly as too much intellectualizing. Perhaps there's excessive recitation of familiar history by formally attired expert-types, familiar ground about oppression and its positive outcomes (in story and song), though the film does manage to single out some of the key igniters and keepers of the flame.

The biggest disappointment is the failure to identify speakers and, in some instances, even performers and arresting performances! (What were the filmmakers thinking?) Most will have no trouble recognizing Mahalia, James Cleveland, Sister Rosetta, Shirley Caesar, but it can become frustrating having to backtrack (in vain) to identify certain individuals. The story could have used better titling and more provocative questions (Gospel's relation to pop music? To the evolution of jazz? Its drift away from clear elocution and close harmonies? Its increasing reliance on synthesizers, hard funk, glitz and glitter, and the often surreal confluence of the sacred and secular, the ultra modern and primitive, the spiritual and sexual).

Nevertheless, it's an overview and a start, with some occasionally surprising, delightful moments of spontaneity and originality. The "authorities"--theologians, historians, sociologists, ministers of music, etc.-- are in themselves performers (more so, in this film, than the musicians), clearly enjoying the opportunity to expound on a favorite subject (and relishing their role in the film). They're at times almost as much fun to hear as the music (esp. the guy at the piano, filmed with numerous Gothic candles as backlighting)--almost. Overall, the project could have used a stronger, larger role for the Holy Ghost. Maybe the director feared that, unlike the other performers and participants, S/He would insist on a credit.

But upon reflection, the undeniable "physicality" of Gospel music can in itself become wearing after awhile. When one has accumulated a generous sum of years, conceded to frailties once assumed to be the business only of "others," and moreover discovered the profound consolations of artful elegy (whether in Shakespeare or Wordsworth, Verdi or Ellington), the cheerleading associated with Gospel music (and holy rollers of any stripe) can begin to sound increasingly hollow. The presence of "the spirit" is no less welcome, but in the ineffable, mystic sense of "receiving" rather than "getting" it. No amount of emotionalism or calisthenics can match the action over which we as humans have no control: God's reaching down in manifestation of a divine and truly miraculous Grace.

A very great documentation of black gospelmusic with a very rare Mahalia Jackson concert from 1964 in London which was never available on video before.Also the Shirley Ceasar concert part is wonderful, highly recommended!!!

I had expected more music and less conversation. If you are seeking a good "listening" album pass this one by.

This documentary from BBC was excellent and thorough in terms of research, especially the history of music during the slave days, but the parade of talking heads (who seem to finish each other's line of dialogue ...was this pre-scripted?) got old and dry. I don't even remember that they noted who the experts were.

Some of the experts were musicians and church folks, but none spoke with the fire contained in the music. The music selections were way too short, and just when I'd start to be inspired, they moved along to another segment. The most moving parts contained some clips from "Say Amen Somebody," the tribute to Thomas Dorsey, but even here they snipped them short. If you want to crawl under the skin of this music and those who pioneered it, get "Say Amen Somebody." If you love this music, view SAS, then this documentary, then run back to view "Say Amen Somebody."

I found this DVD very entertaining as well as educational. It gave me in depth knowledge about music that I have been enjoying all of my life but had no idea of its origin. Simply wonderful.