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Making of Mermaid Ave DVD


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I just found this dvd at the video store, and I dont ever remember anyone talking about it on here. Anyone else seen it?

 

Oh, and it was... not good, mostly consisted of Billy Bragg being very british and boring. Although there are some great scenes of Jeff recording, Another Man's Done Wrong, California Stars and some others.

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Man in the Sand?

 

It might depend on your overall opinion of Billy Bragg, I like him, even though he can be a bit hard to take sometimes. It must be exhausting to be him, I would think, not to mention how exhausting it would probably be to be around him (not that Nora Guthrie seems to mind spending time with him :brow ).

 

I think the biggest problem with Man in the Sand, as a documentary, is that it doesn't really address what the specific problems were between BB and Wilco. You get this sort of rushed-through discussion of different mixes of the songs, general disagreements, etc., but nothing gets fully hashed out, as far as I can see.

 

But yeah, definitely worth it for the footage of the recording sessions.

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the whole time Billy Bragg kept reminding me of Bob Saget. yeah, and as far as documentaries go, it seemed very contrived. The whole beginning seemed useless to the rest of the documentary, and I dont even understand why they have the interview with Billy's mom, since the documentary is primarily focused on the making of the album, and of course Woody Guthrie. Also lots of cheesy transitions, and camera angles.

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Great doc, and I'm more than a little surprised to see the underwhelming response to it on this of all forums. I can take or leave Bragg, but Wilco is Wilco and Woody is an indispensible figure in American music/poetry/history. I thought it was very well put together and featured a lot of great performance footage.

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i like it a lot.. i dont know anything about quality filmaking and don't really care. i just enjoy all the tidbits of stories and music. at my window sad and lonely is maybe my favorite part after the "goofy dance" jeff does, which is comical.

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Billy Bragg walking around Woody Guthries birth place with his skinny white legs in shorts and white socks pulled way up high, is one of the best documentary moments ever. It's British culture meeting American culture head on - truly an Englishman abroad.

 

The only thing that spoils it for me is Nora Guthrie. Her personality grates with me a bit, but apart from that it's a very good documentary.

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Great doc, and I'm more than a little surprised to see the underwhelming response to it on this of all forums. I can take or leave Bragg, but Wilco is Wilco and Woody is an indispensible figure in American music/poetry/history. I thought it was very well put together and featured a lot of great performance footage.

I think the underwhelming response is probably due to the fact that it's definitely Billy's show. There's plenty of Wilco footage to hold most fans' attention, but for people who aren't willing to put up with Billy Bragg (or Nora Guthrie), I can see where it wouldn't be everyone's thing.

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I got this on Tenderloin's suggestion and enjoyed it. The interesting bits invloved the tension

 

between Jeff and BB and how each chose to interpret Woody's songs( which of course I love). There seemed to be a more than subtle bias towards BB in how the film was edited. I wish they would have exposed the tension between BB and JT more - I got the feeling they left out some juicy scenes of BB freaking out over the songs Wilco chose for the album.Bottom line= I give the movie three stars the album four.five stars. This made me appreciate Wilco's songs and their process and individuality even more .

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  • 3 months later...
Billy Bragg walking around Woody Guthries birth place with his skinny white legs in shorts and white socks pulled way up high, is one of the best documentary moments ever. It's British culture meeting American culture head on - truly an Englishman abroad.

 

One of my favorite parts of the film. I love Okemah.

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I just recently discovered this doc myself, and really like it. It's worth the price of admission just for When the Roses Bloom Again. It always kills me how Jeff delivers this incredibly heart-wrenching song and is so nonchalant about it afterwards! I am incorporating clips of it in my lessons on the Dust Bowl Era and Steinbeck, etc.

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I just recently discovered this doc myself, and really like it. It's worth the price of admission just for When the Roses Bloom Again. It always kills me how Jeff delivers this incredibly heart-wrenching song and is so nonchalant about it afterwards! I am incorporating clips of it in my lessons on the Dust Bowl Era and Steinbeck, etc.

 

Nice touch!!! I wish more teachers would incorporate music into their lessons. The songs of Woody Guthrie and many others are as important to our history as our literature.

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