IF YOU love late-60s rhythm and blues, rent "Stax/Volt Revue: Live in Norway 1967."
It's a badly made film -- really badly made -- of a concert by Stax/Volt stars of the time, headlined by Otis Redding. The black-and-white cinematography is awful and the sound recording worse.
But, oh, the music! And the sight of these guys -- in 1964-style Beatle suits -- working a small stage. And the Norwegian kids: very white, very stoned, very not quite sure of the rules for cool head-bobbing.
Booker T. and the M.G.'s is worth the price of admission. This wonderful four-piece house band heats up the audience, then -- with the help of the Mar-Keys -- backs every singer.
(Years later, BTMG's guitarist (Steve Cropper) and bass (Donald Dunn) would anchor the Blues Brothers' band.)
Stay around after the concert and watch the interviews. They are poorly done as well, but the story shines through -- the wonder of bunch of Memphis-based kids being so well received in Europe, accounts of on-stage competition, laughter about playing without much rehearsal.
They were all so very much younger then, and so were we.
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