Video Beaverhausen: Twenty Feet from Stardom

Darlene Love,  Tata Vega, Merry Clayton, Judith Hill, Lisa Fischer

Twenty Feet from Stardom is Oscar nominated in the Best Documentary, Features category this March, has won a series of international awards in that category, and is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray. The video versions include deleted scenes, Q&As with Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer and the film's director, Morgan Neville and other extras.

It's an amazing film about pop music's back-up girls -- and even some back-up boys. A definitive chronicle of our pop history, Twenty Feet from Stardom is flawlessly edited as it weaves its story together from the usual talking heads, stock footage plus electrifying live stage and studio performances.

A smorgasbord of songbirds, a bevy of beautiful voices, an embarrassment of riches, TFfS fascinates right to the end credits. With few drops in engagement with its audience, it is a cultural time capsule of seven decades, from the mid-20th to the 21st century. It is not just the story of rock and roll, it is the story of Western culture and the struggles against racism and sexism. Many viewers don't remember the time when back-up girls were all white and how revolutionary it was, culturally and sonically, when ~ to paraphrase Lou Reed ~ the colored girls went "doot da doot...." And it is theorized that music and the popular culture lent support to the burgeoning civil rights movement.

TFfS also explores the relationship of church and gospel music on back-up singers and on rock, generally. In the documentary, we hear the testimony of Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Cindy Mizelle, Claudia Lennear of The Ikettes, Gloria Jones, Judith Hill, the Waters Family and many more. We also hear from the stars whom these people "back up," including Bruce Springsteen (particularly articulate and thoughtful), Bette Midler, Mick Jagger, Sting, Stevie Wonder and Grammy Award-winning producer Lou Adler.





Darlene Love, certainly, provides the focus and the apotheosis for this film. She is reunited in TFfS with the other members of The Blossoms, Fanita James and Jean King, and joined by her sister, Edna Wright of Honey Cone ("Want Ads," "Stick Up"). And, of course, it is she who steps out from the background and the anonymnity of singing lead vocals under various group names, largely under her producer, Phil Spector, and finally becomes a recognized star.

Buddy Beaverhausen is hoping Twenty Feet from Stardom will snag the Academy Award come March 2nd. Not just because I'm a fan of girl-groups and divas but because this is such a breathtaking, exquisitely pieced together chronicle of background singers and, more broadly, the evolution of our society. In any event, a must-see.

Audio Beaverhausen: "20 Feet from Stardom" Soundtrack CD

"And the colored girls go 'doo-da-doot-a-doot-doot-doo....'" So goes the famous chorus on Lou Reed's classic '70s glam rock song, "Walk on the Wild Side." It's the back-up singers who beautifully and artfully take over, ultimately delivering us to the hot sax fade-out. And so begins the soundtrack cd for the documentary, 20 Feet from Stardom, now in selected theaters.

None other than a woman who most certainly paid her dues in the music industry as an uncredited girl-group singer for Phil Spector and one of the hardest working back-up girls in the industry, Ms Darlene Love, has been at the forefront of promoting this great movie about the unsung -- if I may say -- story of the voices that really can make or break a single.

Love has been on the tv talk-show circuit tirelessly to discuss 20 Feet, culminating with her moment on the couch with David Letterman. She has been all over the press, notably in a recent Rolling Stone interview and talking with The New York Times. The latest New Yorker article about Love on Letterman really serves as a great primer on her career if you need to know more. (He stole my "unsung" joke, I swear! I had it all prepared.)
(http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2013/07/01/130701ta_talk_friend

Darlene Love was recently, and long-deservedly, inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. One of the best tracks on the album is the rare version of her recording of "Fine, Fine Boy," produced by Phil Spector, who surprisingly gave his permission for two Love tracks to be used in the film and on the soundtrack.  (The other is the girl-group classic, "He's a Rebel," which Spector released under the name, The Crystals.) The album track of "Fine, Fine Boy" differs from the one used in the film (showcasing Spector's obsessive perfectionism), as is the divine Merry Clayton's "Gimme Shelter," and these rare tracks are worth the price of the cd alone.

It is, indeed, when the back-up singers step into the spotlight, fronting songs, that the album's best, rarest and most valued tracks are found. Ms Clayton's soulful "Nobody's Fault But Mine" with back-ups by Oren Waters, Judith Hill, Tata Vega and ex-Harlette Charlotte Crosley is an amazing aural experience. But even better is her powerful rendition of "Southern Man."

Lisa Fischer's "Sure on this Shining Night" with its traditional church-choir back-ups highlights this always amazing singer's ability to carry a brief but classic hymn. Tata Vega and Judith Hill's "Let's Make a Better World" is a brightly buoyant pop-gospel number while Judith Hill's solo power ballad (with simple piano accompaniment), "Desperation," impresses as well. Not a single bum track on this album, people.

Back-up girls strongly carrying the iconic Bowie tune, "Young Americans," Talking Heads' "Slippery People" and Joe Cocker's "Space Captain" are also featured. Some of the star performers may have even felt the need to snarl, like Bette Midler to her Harlettes, "Ok, back-up girls! Back up!"

The album concludes with a sterling rendition by Darlene Love covering "Lean on Me," showcasing the range and power of her voice. She is a national treasure at this time.

Must-see movie (now in selected theaters) and must-have album. Each very highly recommended. Terrific remastering work; album produced by Morgan Neville. Available @ Amazon.com.

P.s.: You might best know Tata Vega from her 1979 disco smash posted below: