Perhaps at times a bit self-indulgent, Dave Grohl's movie, Sound City, should be of interest, as well as entertainment, to those who grew up with music in the seventies/eighties. The viewer witnesses the heart-felt awe Grohl has experienced as a world-wide appreciated musician which points back to what happened when Nirvana's producer Butch Vig decided to use Sound City to record Nirvana's first major label release.
The viewer gets to meet the three integral men, the original owner, the financial group bail-out guy whose wisdom (he kept the original owner) and vision (he ordered at the time the most expensive mixing console perhaps extant), and the house producer who enabled the tremendous successes to follow. Like in most of life there was a woman behind the great men, in this case two who "kept the train on the track" and it's nice to see their contributions deemed of tremendous importance.
After the studio's first modest success when Neil Young decided to use it for a complete re-recording of vocals on his Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere release things kind of stalled. Enter the Neve mixing console. Knowing that Sound City's room and collection of microphones needed the perfect foil the owners took a chance and spent what in today's dollars would be more than a "half-a-mil" and commissioned Rupert Neve to build a worthy mixing board. The first album recorded on it was "Buckingham Nicks" by the then unknown Lindsey Buckingham and Stevi Nicks. An amazing album, it did absolutely nothing...Except in central Alabama (the duo's last concert was fittingly in Alabama). The song "Frozen Love" was the most requested song for Birmingham Alabama's burgeoning progressive FM station WJLN. It spread to The University of Alabama's student station and created a firestorm of popularity that the artists couldn't quite comprehend and Polydor failed to be able to satisfy. I mention this because I was one of those Birmingham listeners fortunate enough to get a copy. The failure of Buckingham Nicks set up one of the most serendipitous unions, that of the definitive Fleetwood Mac, cementing Sound City's success. This isn't to downplay another strange brick in the house though, that would be Rick Springfield. If there are three artists whose recording at Sound City paved many years of success it would include Rick at the start and, when it seemed the dream was over, Nirvana in the early nineties. Three more diverse platinum artists would be harder to imagine. The phrase "What A Long Strange Trip It's Been" comes to mind and strangely The Grateful Dead recorded Terrapin Station there too. The bands gave Sound City clout, but the star was the Studio A room and the Neve board. No matter what technology came and went there simply wasn't a better live drum sound on planet earth and the board just made everything sound so much better the studio had legs long past it's prime. This in spite of it's ever widening lack of comfort and amenities as Sound City remained a hair north of a dump. Finally, the rise of a gazillion home studios and refinement of digital recording (still stinks more than it should) made a 2011 closing eminent. While sad as the end of an era this movie rightfully celebrates the fact Sound City had only a few less than nine lives leaving a joyous recorded legacy.
All is not lost, when a door closes another often opens and Dave Grohl turned the knob on this one. Dave, not a filmmaker by his own admission, believes Sound City paved his destiny and the Neve was the biggest reason...Dave is now a filmmaker in addition to his other talents. Grohl bought the board and installed it in his Sound City inspired studio. All in all, this movie is for music fans and musicians, but it has a heart at it's core, as a result "Sound City" is a plain good human-interest story too. If something said here sparks with you, by all means make the effort to see "Sound City". There's some magic in music bringing people together and the film is a very genuine love letter to it.
The viewer gets to meet the three integral men, the original owner, the financial group bail-out guy whose wisdom (he kept the original owner) and vision (he ordered at the time the most expensive mixing console perhaps extant), and the house producer who enabled the tremendous successes to follow. Like in most of life there was a woman behind the great men, in this case two who "kept the train on the track" and it's nice to see their contributions deemed of tremendous importance.
After the studio's first modest success when Neil Young decided to use it for a complete re-recording of vocals on his Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere release things kind of stalled. Enter the Neve mixing console. Knowing that Sound City's room and collection of microphones needed the perfect foil the owners took a chance and spent what in today's dollars would be more than a "half-a-mil" and commissioned Rupert Neve to build a worthy mixing board. The first album recorded on it was "Buckingham Nicks" by the then unknown Lindsey Buckingham and Stevi Nicks. An amazing album, it did absolutely nothing...Except in central Alabama (the duo's last concert was fittingly in Alabama). The song "Frozen Love" was the most requested song for Birmingham Alabama's burgeoning progressive FM station WJLN. It spread to The University of Alabama's student station and created a firestorm of popularity that the artists couldn't quite comprehend and Polydor failed to be able to satisfy. I mention this because I was one of those Birmingham listeners fortunate enough to get a copy. The failure of Buckingham Nicks set up one of the most serendipitous unions, that of the definitive Fleetwood Mac, cementing Sound City's success. This isn't to downplay another strange brick in the house though, that would be Rick Springfield. If there are three artists whose recording at Sound City paved many years of success it would include Rick at the start and, when it seemed the dream was over, Nirvana in the early nineties. Three more diverse platinum artists would be harder to imagine. The phrase "What A Long Strange Trip It's Been" comes to mind and strangely The Grateful Dead recorded Terrapin Station there too. The bands gave Sound City clout, but the star was the Studio A room and the Neve board. No matter what technology came and went there simply wasn't a better live drum sound on planet earth and the board just made everything sound so much better the studio had legs long past it's prime. This in spite of it's ever widening lack of comfort and amenities as Sound City remained a hair north of a dump. Finally, the rise of a gazillion home studios and refinement of digital recording (still stinks more than it should) made a 2011 closing eminent. While sad as the end of an era this movie rightfully celebrates the fact Sound City had only a few less than nine lives leaving a joyous recorded legacy.
All is not lost, when a door closes another often opens and Dave Grohl turned the knob on this one. Dave, not a filmmaker by his own admission, believes Sound City paved his destiny and the Neve was the biggest reason...Dave is now a filmmaker in addition to his other talents. Grohl bought the board and installed it in his Sound City inspired studio. All in all, this movie is for music fans and musicians, but it has a heart at it's core, as a result "Sound City" is a plain good human-interest story too. If something said here sparks with you, by all means make the effort to see "Sound City". There's some magic in music bringing people together and the film is a very genuine love letter to it.