Muscle Shoals | Blu-ray Review

Director Greg Camalier seems to think there is something in the water, the source being the supposed ‘singing’ Tennessee River which runs through the musical enigma that is Muscle Shoals, Alabama. His first feature meditates on the rippling water, the green overgrowth and the surrounding cotton fields as a sort of visual counterpart to the legendary list of hit songs that, to the world at large during the ‘60s, seemed to spring from some kind of southern ether as if the stuff of native folklore. Though occasionally hokey and perpetually shaky in structure, Muscle Shoals soundly, but episodically documents the platinum recording history of the rinky-dink rural town, it’s tragic, hard-headed forefather Rick Hall, and the contentious relationships between his own Fame Studios, big time producer Jerry Wexler and the eventual start up Muscle Shoals Sound Studio just across town.

As is only appropriate for a musically focused film such as this, the music takes front and center, unearthing track after classic locally grown track, from the very first hit to be tracked in Fame Studios, Arthur Alexander’s ‘You Better Move On’ to Percy Sledge’s touchstone ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’, the history of each song is dredged up through Hall’s own photographic memory and the house musicians’, now known as The Swampers, who played on all of those early recordings. The soulful, but surprisingly white players recount go into detail about their freewheeling color blind collaborations despite community tensions at the time over their public friendship with colored folk. It was a different time, as we all know too well, and Camalier makes a bit overly clear, pulling King’s overused ‘I Have A Dream’ clips and all, but the Muscle Shoals sound is a redeemer of sorts, calming most narrative qualms with a wash of tracks that sound bigger and better than they ever have before without losing any of that famous grit of the original phonograph recordings. Etta James, Aretha Franklin, nor The Rolling Stones or Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Muscle Shoals recordings have ever sounded this good.

What brings the film down into the Alabama bogs is Camalier’s penchant for mysticism and the digging into Hall’s painful personal history. Like an unrehearsed band trying to find a groove, the film is often forced to grapple with more notes than it knows what to do with. When it begins to find its rhythm in the riveting interplay between major label record producers and small town recording studios, it suddenly breaks to ruminate on the tragedy of Hall’s first wife’s death or the sadly ironic circumstances of his father’s passing. While these segmented tangents help paint a more intimate portrait of the film’s lynchpin visionary, they ultimately foul up the flow of this otherwise well produced musical gem. Though it lacks the glitzy polish of 20 Feet From Stardom, Muscle Shoals bears the heart and soul of southern rock’s origins with all the key players on board spilling all the catty drama any self respecting rock ‘n’ roll fan needs to know.

Disc Review:

Magnolia’s Blu-ray of Muscle Shoals gives a loving presentation of the film. The film is a mix of modern interviews (some of which are awkwardly backlit), archival photos and on site locales, all of which looks fairly pristine, showing no digital noise or other visual distractions. Where disc truly shines in the aural depth. Bathed in a wealth of the Muscle Shoals sound, the DTS-HD master track pumps out the rich, buoyant recordings through the mains and out around the surrounds with an enveloping naturalism that might out do even the clarity of the original audio releases. Impressive to say the least.

Additional Scenes & Interviews
A mix of edited scenes that add myth to the touching history of Aretha Franklin and Spooner Oldham, while a couple bits feel like highlight reels or worse, remembering rants. The highlight within is a new, all too brief conversation with Rick Hall and the Swampers as they reflect on what they’ve accomplished together. 29 min

Commentary with Director Gregg Camalier
Unfortunately, Gregg spends most of the film’s runtime talking about how he loves each shot and how the people he speaks to are cool people, rather than how they contributed to the film or how they came to be there. The most inspiration he seems to find is in the archival film bits they found in researching.

Commentary with Rick Hall, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood and Spooner Oldham
Making up for Camalier’s sadly sleepy track, Rick and the Swampers’ not only praise the filmmakers’ loving tribute to their careers, but they relive and converse about everyone and everything that comes across the screen with a lively enthusiasm that Gregg sorely seems to lack.

Theatrical Trailer
Rick Hall, aiming to kick some ass and take some names with his band of masterful Swampers gets an A-list intro and a whiplash mixtape of top of the barrel tracks produced within. 2 min

Final Thoughts:

There is no doubt a variety of editorially rhythmic issues breakdown the musical flow of Muscle Shoals, but endure the touch and go structure and you’ll find a wealth of rock ‘n’ roll history within. Rick Hall and the Swampers are glorious storytellers who all hold more stories of recording legend than most, few of which have made it to the big screen before. While the film is no longer in theaters, the Blu-ray certainly produces a comparable experience if you’ve got a decent audio setup at home.

Film:    ★★½/☆☆☆☆☆
Disc: ★★★½/☆☆☆☆☆