Amazing Grace [DVD]

This has to be the greatest live performances I've ever seen by a vocalist. Aretha's voice was still so young and supple, and she was in full command of it. She just soars! The choir, and especially the impassioned direction by Alexander Hamilton, is superb. Some of the arrangements are a bit dated, but they still serve as a strong touchstone of a specific time and place in black history and pop culture. The film is a patchwork: it was cobbled together from the unedited footage by original director Sidney Pollack. There are odd gaps and strange perspectives. But, even in its choppiness, it still has charm and power. There's nothing I've seen that reveals the supreme effort Aretha made to get her songs across. You can see how hard she is working and how much it takes out of her, with her gripping the podium and breathing in deeply after delivering one astonishing performance after another. You can also witness the effect she has on the audience and her fellow musicians. It's delightful to watch the audience respond and to see how Aretha elevates the choir to meet her level of intensity. It's a small miracle that this document even exists and it should be treasured. A deeply moving experience from start to finish.

Aretha is and always will be our greatest female soul singer, alongside Bessie Smith and Sarah Vaughan our greatestfemale singer, period. She is and always will be, at base, a gospel singer schooled in the demands of the most critically attentive audience on earth. A gospel audience will sit in stony silence even for singers as great as Mahalia, Sam Cooke or Aretha if the singer isn't "being real". If the singer hits just that note or catches the spirit the church will fall out in ecstasy, happy as can be. Aretha knew this all too well. In this film you see her thinking hard before almost every turn of phrase, concentrating , calling it up. It's a wonder to watch and we're lucky to have this film, whatever it's minor deficiencies, mostly having to do with the greenhorns who filmed it. It's also a joy to see James Cleveland and Aretha interacting while we take in his beautiful piano playing, playing that influenced Aretha mightily. And yes, Alexander Hamilton directs the choir wonderfully. This manner of church, of art, is gone forever... we are lucky to have this. Think of all the great performances of genius artists of the past we'll never ever get to see. It is a last echo of the Golden Age of Gospel and Aretha is more than up to the challenge.

It took 37 years, but Aretha Franklin's miraculous performance at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972, was finally released to the public in 2019. Mind you, it was originally scheduled for release in late 1972, but more about that in a moment.Aretha Franklin, was hands down, the finest Gospel singer of hers or any generation. She rose to superstardom not as a Gospel singer, but as a pop singer, selling millions of records, and being awarded just about every award there was to be won. In this extraordinary documentary, she returns to her first love--Gospel music. Her performance was staged in a Black Baptist church--not in her native Detroit Michigan church, where she developed her incredible singing talent--but in Southern California. It was a gala occasion, attracting a host of celebrities from both coasts, including two devotees of her art: Mick Jagger, and Charlie Watts (who were in L.A. putting the finishing touches on their next album, "Exile on Main Street).Aretha Franklin was the main event, singing songs that meant the world to her, songs she had learned as a youth while attending New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. Recorded live over two nights, her set was comprised primarily of Gospel standards: "Amazing Grace", "What a friend we have in Jesus," "Climbing Higher Mountains", "Mary Don't You Weep", "Old Landmark", "How I Got Over", etc. To these she sang a couple of contemporary tunes: "Climb Every Mountain", by the Broadway songwriting team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and "You've Got a Friend", by Carol King.Accompany her was the Southern California Community Choir, under the direction of her father, C.L. Franklin. A four-piece church combo provided the musical accompaniment: Kenny Luper on organ, Cornrell Dupree on guitar, Chuck Rainey on bass guitar, and Poncho Moralaes on percussion. The film's footage was shot under the direction of famed movie maker, Sydney Pollack.The film was scheduled for nationwide release later that year. However, the release was delayed due to difficulty in synchronizing the audio with the visual print, and was relegated to a Warner Brothers vault unit 2007, when producer Alan Elliot purchased the raw footage and attempted to synchronize it, which he managed to do.The edited footage, 87 minutes in length, was planned for release in 2011. However, Ms Franklin sued Elliot for appropriating her likeness without her permission. Elliott made another attempt in 2015, but Ms Franklin sued him again. After Aretha's death in 2018, her family stepped in and made arrangements for the film's worldwide release, in 2019.Aretha Franklin is all-business singing her beloved Gospel music, does not speak with the audience, and seldom smiles. That said her love for these songs is deeply felt, which makes this DVD a revelation.

I grew up listening to this double-album recording. I never thought a video of the event existed. It’s like being transported back to the original event! It’s raw in it’s quality, but that’s how church recordings were in the 70’s. This is the Aretha our parents introduced us to - in her radiant beauty and natural voice. Notwithstanding my love for the gospel greats - Edward and Walter Hawkins, Richard Smallwood, New Jersey Mass Choir, LA Mass Choir, Albertina Walker, Lady Tramaine Hawkins, Shirley Caesar, Andrea Crouch, Yolanda Adams, James Cleveland, Mahalia Jackson, The Five Blind Men, The Winans, Whitney Phipps, Kirk Franklin, and so many others .... this is the greatest album of all time. If you love gospel, this recording is hard to stop watching.