Muscle Shoals

This is great! To think that so much great music came from such an unlikely place, wow!

a great documentary with lots of music history!

There's so much history in muscle shoals music they missed a large part, mostly the newer artist because the shoals hasn't stopped they just keep pumping out hits. Alabama Shakes, Jason Isbel, John Paul White and it goes on and on.

The Muscle Shoals story is so fun, gritty, soulful and a little dark all at once. The historical view of the area and the magical recordings that happened there is as good as it gets. If you're into blues and/or the genesis of southern rock hit play now. Totally amazing, hats off.

Don't get me started because I have been going on and on about Muscle Shoals and driving my friends and family crazy with my new "regional" music obsession. I saw this documentary for the first time in April 2019 - a little late to the party. Fast forward to January 2020 and I found myself in Memphis with a rental car, tour tickets and directions to both the FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Florence and Sheffield, AL respectively. This documentary is so well done from both historical and filmmaking perspectives. I was hooked from the beginning when Land of 1,000 Dances came blasting through and enjoyed every second after. Of course I knew the line from Sweet Home Alabama about "The Swampers", but this documentary helped me understand and appreciate the who behind the what. Music from Muscle Shoals and Memphis, to me, always seemed to be loosely related. There was the diversity in the studio group members from both areas that was similar, but they are also different in that the Muscle Shoals sound seems to cover a wider range of music genres. After renting this documentary twice, I finally purchased my own copy and have curated custom playlists covering both Muscle Shoals and Memphis Soul. As I continue digging around for songs that were recorded in the Muscle Shoals area, I have found myself listing to them differently now that I know. A few examples of songs that I was previously indifferent to: Loves Me Like A Rock, Take A Letter Maria and One Bad Apple (guilty pleasure song!) The Aretha Franklin songs that were backed by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and some even recorded in NYC sound completely different and ever BETTER now. If you are a fan of 60s/70s Soul or Pop songs, Southern/Classic Rock, Country and even Gospel - you will likely dig this film and maybe even learn a thing or two. Enjoy!

This was a history lesson for me personally. I wanted to know the story behind the story.

I love watching historic accounts of notable subject matter from the past. For some reason I'm just drawn into documentaries, narratives and key figure interviews from people that were first hand witnesses to key events in the history of mankind. Muscle Shoals fits into this category wonderfully. It is an amazing account of the history of a significant recording studio that played a huge part in the development and production of American Music culture.I would have willingly given a rating of 5-Stars for this gem of a production, but I'm selfish. I wanted more and did not want it to end. The cinematography was beautiful. The stories that were told made me feel like I was there. The still photographs from the past were like looking through an old family album eliciting both joyful and sad memories from the past. One of my favorite things about Muscle Shoals was hearing first hand stories from the artists that were there. Wilson Picket and Keith Richards made me laugh out loud. The recounting of Aretha Franklin's first session at the studio and the build up to the first song she recorded there, had me totally mesmerized. The description of Etta James' persona, her strong will and the explosive talent she possessed were wonderfully described. Then of course there were the Swampers an unlikely group of caucasian country boys that grooved on more popular recordings than you could even imagine. Who knew?I would definitely recommend a viewing or the purchase of this wonderful production to anyone who enjoys history, music or just the triumph of the human spirit through daunting challenges. Muscle Shoals is more than just a history lesson, it is a story of artistically gifted people discovering who they are and what they were created to do. It is a story of striving for excellence in an imperfect world and sharing the successes and disappointments that make up the journey of our lives.I had always wanted be a session musician, like the guys in the Swampers. My own successes and disappointments led me in different directions. Muscle Shoals gave me a glimpse into a world that has always held a special place in my heart, which is music recording and performance.Watch this and be surprisingly drawn into Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Sweet Home Alabama!

If you like documentaries, you will love this. This documentary was well organized, edited, and executed. If you like music documentaries, you want to watch this. Muscle Shoals' place in music, in general, and recording music, in particular, may surprise you; and the more surprised your are, the more you are going to kick yourself for not having known about it, and the better you will feel about having run into this gem. Finally, if you are "Too Woke" to remember the last time (or ever have felt) the bond of a common humanity with a White rural Southerner, or too "Deplorably Cancelled" to think that you could ever be allowed into the "new" America, then you must watch this documentary. So many stories of redemption. If there is a story that sealed this for me was Clarence Carter's recounting Rick Hall's pitching "Patches" to him. Carter thought "Patches" told a depressing story of Black suffering that was inconsistent with Black Progress. Hall simply noted: This was the story of my (and so many other) White Father. It was a story of a common humanity -- that the sacrifices of one generation are best honored by the efforts of the next generation to accomplish what their ancestors could not.

import と知らずに購入。無事に着いてよかったです。傷もなかったですし。インポートなので当然「日本語」字幕はありませんでした。

NTSCですが、リージョンフリーではなかったようで うちのレコーダーでは再生できませんでした(涙)仕方なくPCで見てます。 輸入版をAmazonで買うときは気をつけた方がいいですよ。

A wonderful, heart-warming look at the legendary studio. Ideal for those whose favourite music is either the product of Muscle Shoals, or who admires that era. Could also be a good introduction for anyone younger, showing why so much of todays music sounds the same. This was when personality and heart imbued songs, where producers and artists cared passionately about shaping their sound, and making music that actually meant something. Highly recommended.

I saw this film twice in small cinemas and it still holds as a film. There's so much to take in, so much background to divulge and if you don't want to hop on a plane and visit Alabama then you must be mad! If you love music, and particularly the likes of Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Percy Sledge etc, then this film will entertain you. For those who don't or, like me, don't know the background and influence of this small recording mecca on music, it serves as a wonderful form of education.Slightly disappointed that the DVD extras didn't extend to a 2-DVD set given the obvious depth and amount of interviews that must have been conducted. The extras amount to just 33 mins. However, there are two interesting commentaries from both the director and the key characters of the documentary - Rick Hall and the Swampers.

This is an extremely welcome documentary about the musicians who created some of the most influential records made in the sixties and seventies. The driving force behind this phenomenon was Rick Hall who founded the Fame recording studios situated in a remote part of Alabama called Muscle Shoals. He surrounded himself with a group of local musicians whose work was to become the byword for "down home funk". The list of artists who recorded in those studios is most impressive with Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Etta James just the tip of the iceberg.The story of the studio is intertwined with that of Rick Hall whose rise from poverty is an indication of his determination to succeed against the odds. Hall suffered a number of setbacks in his life including the decision of his house band to leave him and set up their own studio not far away from his own. At this point the story encompasses the fortunes of both studios and shows how Rick Hall recovered from his disappointment and went on to create a new studio band and continue his successes.Initially, his rivals found it difficult to establish themselves but with the arrival of the Rolling Stones (hence the reference to Mick Jagger) the studio began to attract big names from both the US and the UK. From then on their success was enormous.I strongly recommend this DVD.