I was just thinking the other day about how incredible it would have been to see Aretha Franklin live. Lady Soul herself. Nowadays it seems to be easier than ever to be consumed by the mass amount of music that is being released every minute of every day of every week. Sadly, with the current of the modern times ruling the airwaves, the artists from decades past can get lost in the sauce, which is truly tragic considering that they laid out the ingredients and blueprints for a lot of the most popular contemporary sounds that come into contact with out ears. Aretha. When I was in middle school I started out with a purchase of a greatest hits catalogue that would have done her justice if 30 songs picked from a transcendent career could possibly encompass the power, and beauty and soul of someone absolutely supernatural. I got my act together later on and found “Lady Soul” and “I Never Loved a Man the Way That I Loved You”, singular albums that did a much better job of showcasing her at that particular moment in time. And I was enamored because how in the hell could you not be by someone with a voice like that.
Yesterday my mother and I went to the Angelika theater in the Village to take in a evening showing of “Amazing Grace,” a musical documentary of Aretha’s two night performance in a Los Angeles church alongside Reverend James Cleveland, the Southern California Choir and conductor Alexander Hamilton. I didn’t know much about the film until about a week ago when I was sifting through movies that were playing in the theaters. Then I saw the trailer and I knew; I had to see it. The weather in New York couldn’t have been more Seattle. Misty, cloudy, gray, and rainy, to the point where going to see a movie felt like the only option, so that’s exactly what we did.
The movie began and we both knew right away that it was going to be special. So simple, so straight to the point. Aerial views of LA. Introductory captions. An outside view of the church with a sign saying that there would be a recorded performance within. I don’t want to narrate more than I have to.
Let me just get to the point. Aretha simply cannot be put into words. Any of the following might come close to doing her a bit of justice, but ultimately it just won’t. She’s majestic. A goddess. A mystic. She is all of the best things you could ever imagine and what was recorded in those 90 minutes is something other worldly. Her presence is palpable and it would be fitting in some ways to say that she takes all the air out of us and traps it right in that emotional, personal, deeply embedded part in the back of our throat and uses it in all its glory and passion so that she may use it out of hers. The way she walks down the aisle. The way she holds herself. Carries herself. Produces sounds that couldn’t possibly come out of any normal human being. The emotion. The spirit. Anyone could tell that when she sang she was being transported and in so doing was transporting us all to some other place. The fascinating part of this documentary is how it holds nothing back. Aretha is exerting so much energy and heart that naturally she sweats and she cries and she is overcome with everything that is going on. I’m sure there are other people, other women or other artists, that would have expressed a desire to keep this hidden, but she reveals herself in her totality. The audience response is wonderful. The choir’s response is epic. Her rapport and chemistry with the reverend is glorious. She just does it all and she leaves it all out there. The way the documentary is shot is exquisite and several images are still etched in my mind. Obviously every frame she’s in can never be erased, but some of the long angle shots of the choir and the unison of their mouths, the expressions in their faces—it just makes you so appreciative and happy that a moment like this was captured.
I hope everyone has the opportunity to see this film. If at any point your life you’ve said to yourself, “Damn, I wish I could have seen Aretha do her thing live”, well, here’s your opportunity and a front row seat, at that.
“Amazing Grace.” Aretha. Beauty in all its wonder.