A documentary that focuses mostly on the music and its social context, and almost not at all on Brown’s personal life, or sad later years (the title is “the rise” not “the rise and fall”), and therefore functions as a great introduction to what made Brown so great. NYTimes:
Mick Jagger, a producer of “Mr. Dynamite,” also has a lot to say about Brown, an artist he copied early in his career. Mr. Jagger, of the Rolling Stones, has the grace to admit his debt, saying he tried “to steal everything I could possibly do.” But he also uses the occasion to correct a legend about “The T.A.M.I. Show,” a performance feature film shot in 1964, when the Stones followed Brown and were upstaged by his electrifying performance. Michael Veal, a musician and author, says he heard that while Brown blew up the room, Mr. Jagger stood watching on the side of the stage, “just being devastated and traumatized.” […] Mr. Jagger says that although Brown did indeed “kill,” the concert was filmed as a movie, which was heavily cut and edited, and that the Stones’ performance was filmed hours later with a different audience.
The T.A.M.I performance is worth watching in full, as it’s probably one of the greatest musical performances ever captured on film. JB owns:
