Review of Twenty Feet from Stardom

This documentary has some very perceptive things to say about how the music business treated some of its most talented stars - back up singers for some very big bands and artists. It was fantastic seeing on-screen the voices behind incredible hits such as Young American, Sweet Home Alabama and Gimme Shelter. It's not all sunshine: some really negative aspects of showbiz are explored such as a singer hearing on the radio her song being credited to another singer; women treated as merely sex objects wearing skimpy clothes in the 1970s; and one singer having to work as a cleaner when her solo career didn't take off. There was a sense of sadness that most of these women, with rare exceptions, never got much credit for their work. Conversely, I feel at times this film is almost too reverent of the women, maybe to make up for this. I think the interviews, as well as the film itself, go on too long, and it would have been more helpful, and positive, to see the singers' performances on more songs we're familiar with rather than the singers' pet projects. Still, it's a topic with a lot of material available, so the director did well to focus on these classy ladies (and one man).