Muscle Shoals - film review

Greg Camalier's documentary about a recording studio in rural Alabama  is stuffed with big names, (Bono, Mick Jagger), but they're not necessarily the voices you remember
25 October 2013

Back in the 60s, a recording studio in rural Alabama became part of R&B folk-lore. Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, The Rolling Stones: they all found something unique in the ad hoc atmosphere at Muscle Shoals. Greg Camalier's documentary is stuffed with big names, (Bono, Mick Jagger), but they're not necessarily the voices you remember.

The studio's founder, Rick Hall, (a “total maniac” apparently), bubbles over with gruesome stories. Sledge's testimony, too, is full of surprises. Meanwhile, the modest session musicians explain how classics like “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” got shunted into silky shape. The anecdotes work without the music, but if you like the music... Dang, it's a stairway to heaven.

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