Tom Dowd & the Language of Music
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Movie Reviews of Tom Dowd & the Language of Music
Movie Review: Musician + A-bomb researcher + Engineer = Producer
Summary: 5 Stars
This DVD's main feature is the stunning one-and-a-half-hour movie. The beginning is a out-of-sync history of Dowd's life before entering the music business (30's and early 40's) alternating with his entry into the music business (late 40's and early 50's) and specifically Atlantic's recordings, the backbeat being the recording technology (and recording engineer) of the time. This part is punctuated, oddly enough, with a psychidelic montage of A-bomb stock footage with Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses" dubbed on top. This montage makes more sense as you learn more about Tom Dowd and the music and more that he made in his life.
After this we get to meet some of the R&B musicians that Tom Dowd recorded and worked with, mostly alternating between interviews of Dowd and interviews of the musicians, and occasional footage of the artists on the stage or occasionally (and very rewardingly) in the studio with Dowd. In particular there is some stunningly exemplary footage of Dowd in the studio with Aretha Franklin.
Dowd has an almost overly friendly presence in the interviews, which at first seemed (to me) put on for the camera but I later figured out that this is the guy in real life.
Interviews recount the technical and artistic relationship between Atlantic and Stax records, with again Dowd serving as the centerpiece of all activity.
The last part has extensive interviews with Eric Clapton and members of the Allman Brothers culminating in Tom Dowd at the mixing board with the master tape of "Layla". For any fan of music this will be a thrilling moment, and it's only made better by Dowd's rediscovery of the original tracks. Moorman was interviewed on NPR about this and he was running-over with the glory of working with Dowd on this particular segment.
Beyond the regular movie, there is bonus material of additional interviews with all the artists and the movers-and-shakers at Atlantic, especially Jerry Wexler. These interviews are not to be missed, if you have any interest at all in the folks who made all this music happen you have to read this. Dowd back at Columbia University is a real treat.
And, after watching this, I went to the record collection on my shelf. Sure enough... Tom Dowd. His name is on them all, but I never knew him until now.
Movie Review: What a life!
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't know how Tom Dowd's identity and influence escaped me for so many years. His influences as engineer, producer and omnipresent encourager of creative greatness were all over the music and albums that were like oxygen to me during the 60's and 70's. And I read every word about every person and player on every album cover like they were scripture. It really speaks to Mr. Dowd's dedication to putting the music first that his undeniable influence is so hard to find an acknowledgment for.
I remember first hearing about him on NPR a few years ago and wondered how he had slipped by my attention as his milieu was Atlantic Records during that label's most incredible heyday and he knew and worked with every amazing musician and band that was affiliated with Atlantic Records.
But I didn't know about this documentary until it popped up on Netflix as an auto-recommend and I jumped on it. I watched it last night and it's an amazing story of a super intelligent guy who understood music and musicians at a molecular level and who had to have been among the nicest and most well loved personalities ever in the music business.
There are a slew of larger than life personalities associated with the Atlantic label; the Ertegun brothers, Jerry Wexler and, of course all the great musicians. But Tom Dowd's place in that group is as secure as any. His story is as unique and implausible as a personal story gets but here it is. If you are into great stories, great Jazz/Rock/R&B etc. and interesting interviews with the some of the giants of the 60"/70's music scene. Watch and enjoy this DVD.
And, of course, there's plenty of great music throughout. And make sure to go through the "extras". Many more insights there and lots of commentary and reminiscing by Tom's peers and creative associates.
I would recommend watching the DVD "Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story" along with "Tom Dowd & the Language of Music". Both DVD's stand on their own without a doubt. But their stories are very intertwined and it really fills out the story's of both Stax and Atlantic to watch both.
Rest in Peace Mr. Dowd. You helped to create a beautiful noise while you were here.
Movie Review: Every person in the musicindustry respects this man's genius
Summary: 5 Stars
Too bad the idiot jerk who has no brain cells is the first reviewer of an ICON of the magnitude of drop dead gifted Tom Dowd. Dowd was so much more than a SIMPLE genius of a "recording engineer."
HE FOUND THE SONGS, FOUND THE WRITERS, FOUND THE VOCAL SOUNDS OF THE GREATEST ARTISTS IN RECORDING HISTORY...AND COAXED THE PERFORMANCES OUT OF THEM.
I had the fortunate pleasure of working with him and I was in awe from the second I shook hands with the man. Nothing I can say comes close to describing the talent and genius he put into even one of the thousands of recordings he made. Each one was so much more electric and present than they would have been without him. Just listen to what Eric Clapton said about this extraordinarily talented man. Clapton looked to Dowd for praise and confidence to go forward with his career and wouldn't do a session of his own without him. Tom Dowd taught George Martin and the Beatles how to record on 8 track for God's sake. Before they met him they were plodding along on a 4 track...TOM DOWD had already been recording with eight track for seven years. Everyone else was using two track.
Dowd was such a sensitive human being. He could make the craziest musician or artist or inferior record producer, feel peace and confidence in the studio. Those who worked with him truly were in the "masters hands".There is no one who surpasses what that man had in his EARS,HEART, FINGERS and magical intuition when it came to music. He drove me to do things I never would have been able to do musically, and I know that's what he did with everyone he came into contact with. Even in his eighties as we see him on this dvd his eyes are still on fire with true passion for music and all the people he ever worked with. This dvd broke my heart because this man is gone.
Movie Review: music maker's magic
Summary: 5 Stars
Pick up most any hit record beginning in the late 1940s, especially any recording done with Atlantic Records, and you will likely see that one Tom Dowd was the producer or recording engineer. In this loving tribute to Dowd, who died October 27, 2002 before the film was finished, those inside the guild honor the memory of one whom they universally acknowledge was a legendary genius and wonderful human being. In his younger years Dowd was a physics student at Columbia, and even worked on the atom bomb project (he was present at the Bikini Atoll tests), but his mother was an opera singer and perhaps he was destined for music. Dowd was a master technical innovator, musical aesthete, coach, father figure, and psychologist. He himself narrates most of the film, but we are also treated to original concert footage (Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, etc.) and retrospective interviews with a number of the stars whose sounds he perfected, including Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, and Greg Allman. The five minutes or so when Dowd sits at a console and walks us through the thirty-year-old master copy of "Layla," starting with only the guitars and then adding the various parts until they pulse with that incredibly evocative sound that defined an era, interspersed with poignant reflections by Clapton, are worth the entire film. One disappoint in this otherwise fascinating glimpse of the history of music recording since the late 1940s is that we learn nothing at all personal about Dowd, and nothing at all about any weaknesses, failures, misjudgments, and the like, that would have made this entirely likable person even more richly human.Movie Review: Tom Dowd, the music engineering genius
Summary: 5 Stars
I could call myself an amateur music historian. I prefer to think of myself as a music history nut. No study of modern music history would be complete without viewing this video. It tells how Tom Dowd, the lead audio engineer at Atlantic Records, helped create his sound. Interviews with Dowd help music history students and rock music history lovers understand what a profound influence audio engineers have had on the sounds we all enjoy.
Tom explains, mostly in layman's terms, how he created the sounds that went onto the records and how the artists were "discovered" by Atlantic, Stax, and other record producers. Many stars in the business are interviewed, from Ray Charles, to the Allman Brothers, showing how Dowd helped them create the sound they were looking for without him being too overbearing on sensitive artists' creativity. In doing so, Dowd was as much a A&R man and a publicist as he was an audio engineer. He was nothing short of a genius and this video tells his story as well as the story of music creation during early rock'n'roll better than any of the books I've read.
More than this, the video tells how Dowd, Atlantic, and Stax were foremost in breaking down the walls of segregation in the south through music and helped bring soul music to the masses. I highly recommend this video to anyone who loves rock music and would like to know more about it's history.