[2 articles]
Blu-ray Review: Gimme Shelter (Criterion Collection)
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/blu-ray-review-gimme-shelter-criterion-collection
An alarming documentary
BY: Brad Brevet
December 1st 2009
I have yet to see Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones concert doc Shine
a Light despite owning the Blu-ray. I simply have no real interest in
seeing it. So, when I received Criterion's Blu-ray edition of their
2000 release Gimme Shelter there wasn't any rush to give it a watch,
but regardless of musical tastes this is more of a documentary than
it is a musical concert event.
This is a moment captured in time as the Rolling Stones (along with
the likes of Santana, Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills and Nash)
set out to put on a free concert in San Francisco when the decision
to incorporate the Hells Angels as part of concert security over
approximately 300,000 people at San Francisco's Altamont Speedway
results in mass hysteria. Four births and four deaths are contributed
to the evening, and one of the attacks is caught on camera as a
knife-weilding Hells Angel takes out a man before he could fire his
gun. Featuring some of the best and most influential Stones songs,
Gimme Shelter is a wild and equally somber film experience.
Gimme Shelter is edited together around these fateful events using
footage from the concert, the search for a venue, the band's
preparation and the subsequent aftermath. Among the songs included
are the too be expected "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "(I Can't Get No)
Satisfaction," "Honky Tonk Woman," "Sympathy for the Devil" and, of
course, "Gimme Shelter." I won't comment on the performances as I am
hardly a music critic, but one song I will say hits all the right
notes is the studio recording of "Wild Horses" playing over footage
of a restful Stones. Much of the music speaks to the tone of what is
happening on screen as the story plays out, and "Wild Horses" is an
absolutely brilliant moment serving as the musical highlight of the
piece, that is other than included footage of Ike and Tina Turner
opening for the Stones at Madison Square Garden as Tina's sexually
charged "I've Been Lovin' You Too Long" even makes Mick Jagger stand
up and take notice.
The finale features the mayhem from the event and a stunned Jagger
saying, "Oh, it's so horrible." These words are certainly appropriate
as the concert took place on December 6, 1969 and Gimme Shelter was
released in 1970 and is viewed as the end of the era that was the
'60s. After recently watching the Criterion Blu-ray release of D. A.
Pennebaker's Monterey Pop, Gimme Shelter is a far cry from the
peaceful events depicted there or even those of Woodstock, which took
place less than four months earlier. This is a much darker look at a
movement as "peace and love" seemed to have met its match. Robert
Christgau writing for Newsday in 1972 wrote, "Writers focus on
Altamont not because it brought on the end of an era but because it
provided such a complex metaphor for the way an era ended."
Criterion's Blu-ray looks a lot like the previously mentioned Blu-ray
release of Monterey Pop, which is hardly a surprise seeing how both
were shot on 16mm and as such there is only so good it can be made to
look. Like I wrote in my review of that collection, "I haven't seen
the original DVD release, but I suspect this would be an improvement
although I can't imagine it is a major one."
In terms of supplementary material the only new addition not found on
the DVD release are exclusive Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround
sound mixes, and DTS-HD Master Audio surround and stereo mixes. In
these terms the audio is excellent, but it will be up to your ear to
determine if the advanced 5.1 is too much of a separation for your
sensitive ears.
In terms of the features I remain a bit down the middle. The audio
commentary includes directors Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin and
collaborator Stanley Goldstein and were all three recorded separately
and then edited together. Commentaries such as this are instantly
required to work much harder to gain my praise and while this one
improves as it goes on, adding insight from the production's source,
it never fully wins me over. More impressive are the audio excerpts
from KSAN Radio's Altamont wrap-up, which you hear in bits and pieces
in the film as we watch the band members' reactions. Here the
four-hour day-after show is cut down to 90 minutes and includes
introductions by then DJ Stefan Ponek, which adds a bit of welcome
context to each excerpt. With a running time of 90 minutes it makes
for perfect background listening as key moments presented in the film
are expanded upon and immediately capture your ear.
There are also four rough outtakes from the film, two photo galleries
presented in black-and-white and color and three trailers. The final
bonus is a 37-page booklet that includes all the essays originally
offered on the DVD release except for one, the piece written by
ex-Oakland Hells Angels chapter head Sonny Barger, but that can be
read online right here. http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/102
Speaking of which, all can be read online, here's the list with links:
"Rock and Roll Zapruder" by Amy Taubin,
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/103
"The True Adventures of Altamont" by Stanley Booth,
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/104
"Snapshots from the Road" by Georgia Bergman,
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/105
"The Decade That Spawned Altamont" by Michael Lydon
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/106
"The 'Demonic Charisma' of Gimme Shelter" by Godfrey Cheshire.
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/107
Of course, reading these selections online is hardly as fun as
holding the booklet, which is part of what makes Criterion's titles
so appealing.
Overall, this isn't a film I would purchase simply because I am not a
Stones fan and won't likely watch it more than the once. However,
that isn't to say this isn't an absolute must for many others out
there. This doc has been acclaimed as the greatest rock film ever
made and unfortunately my limited film resume in that area doesn't
allow me to back that statement up, but I will say it is quite
impressive and at a mere 91 minutes there is absolutely no reason not
to give it a watch. I would assume Rolling Stones fans already own
the DVD release, but if not this is one to rush out and buy.
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Blu-Ray Review: Much More Than a Tour Chronicled in 'Gimme Shelter'
http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/9418/blu-ray-review-much-more-than-a-tour-chronicled-in-gimme-shelter
by By BRIAN TALLERICO
December 3, 2009
CHICAGO If the 1969 U.S. tour of The Rolling Stones had gone
smoothly, David Maysles, Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin's "Gimme
Shelter" would still be one of the best music documentaries
ever made. Of course, as everyone who knows anything about music or
pop culture history knows, the tour did not go smoothly, ending in
the infamous concert at Altamont Speedway
that's often pointed to as the end of the era of love.
The Criterion Collection, continuing a pattern of releasing their
music documentaries on Blu-Ray before other selections, brings this
riveting document of the end of an era through a band in its prime to
the world of HD.
"Gimme Shelter" opens with a photo shoot and one of the best live
performances of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" ever put on film (and probably
ever recorded). Clearly, this is a band at the top of the rock 'n'
roll game. Every element of the band, especially the vibrant force of
energy known as Mick Jagger, was working together. But what was
happening on stage was not being mirrored in the crowd that tragic
day at Altamont when a security team ran by Hell's Angels clashed
with three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation and the
show ended in death.
Knowing where "Gimme Shelter" must eventually go lends the entire
piece a remarkable sense of sadness. It's as if what was going on in
the world - San Francisco in 1969 couldn't have been any closer to
the center of the protest movement and had been the scene of several
fights between the new generation and those who didn't quite
understand the hippie movement - was more powerful than what was
going on up on the stage. Even the greatest rock and roll band of all
time couldn't stop what almost feels like an inevitability - that the
summer of love would end in tragedy. A band as powerfully emotional
as The Rolling Stones were merely the fuel for a fire waiting to be
lit. When Mick sings "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," he speaks to
and empowers the protest movement, the love generation, and, yes, the
Hell's Angels.
With performances that include "Wild Horses," "Brown Sugar," "Honky
Tonk Women," "Street Fighting Man," "Sympathy For the Devil," "Under
My Thumb," and, of course, "Gimme Shelter," the movie that bears the
same name is an amazing concert film on one side, a commentary on the
end of the '60s on the other side, and a great documentary in the middle.
The Criterion Blu-Ray for "Gimme Shelter" is presented in 1.33:1 full
frame and includes the new high-definition digital transfer of the
uncensored thirtieth anniversary version, with exclusive DTS-HD
Master Audio surround and stereo mixes. Special features include
audio commentary featuring the directors and collaborator Stanley
Goldstein, performances by The Rolling Stones at Madison Square
Garden in 1969 including "Oh Carol" and "Prodigal Son" plus backstage
outtakes and footage of the band mixing "Little Queenie," audio
excerpts from KSAN Radio's Altamont wrap-up recorded December 7,
1969, with introductions by then DJ Stefan Ponek, Altamont stills
gallery, featuring the work of renowned photographers Bill Owens and
Beth Sunflower, original and rerelease theatrical trailers, and a
booklet featuring essays by film critic Amy Taubin, music writer
Stanley Booth, Mick Jagger's former assistant Georgie Bergman, music
writer Michael Lydon, and film critic Godfrey Cheshire.
.
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