Soul Power [Blu-ray]

An earlier film, "When We Were Kings", covered this momentous event, as a Documentary centering on Muhammad Ali, and the behind the scenes build up to "The Rumble in The Jungle". The concert in Zaire was secondary to the boxing.Here, the main figure is James Brown - in concert - the man who wrote and delivered the hit record of 1971 - and the title of this movie.Its been said that JB was the only act to excite the crowd, and the filmed performances of "The Payback" and "Say It Loud - I'm Black And I'm Proud" are among the best in his VHS/DVD/movie career. "Soul Power" is the best version I've ever heard, with Fred Wesley (Trombonist)-led band, in the super heavy funk mode -a new Brown sound, emphasizing the *music* a little more.Not to forget strong performances by Bill Withers, B. B. King, and the great Miriam Makeba, who gets some well-deserved frame time. Although he is not shown on stage, Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer, Lloyd Price, as Concert Promoter, offers some fascionating commentary on the proceedings.Ali himself is just support to the above - strangely, his segments do not display a man of depth and humanity, but an angry, politically motivated radical. In 1974, there was plenty for his home country to explain to the world, but this world-figure comes off a bit one-dimensional.Camera work is sometimes erratic and out of focus. Another issue is in the over-use of behind the scenes business complications. Seems the Producers wanted to give the new movie/DVD project a "Woodstock" aura.["Extra" feature with James Brown performing "Try Me"].

The tale of this film is the film, which makes it doubly fascinating. It tells the whole story of the concert, which, considering it mainly uses the stars and players to tell it, is a chance to see these artists before they come on stage, and their interactions with each other Their respect for each other is rich, and heartfelt. It doesn't take long to start feeling something while watching this film, and then to have that feeling just get stronger as the story progresses to finally amazing concert footage. Once you see the solo Bill Withers song, you may agree with me that is simply the best vocal of anyone you have ever seen. It just seems to get stronger and better, and then Mr. Brown's incredibly tight show at the end just power punches you right out of your seat. Just marvelously human and wonderful entertainment. The extras have a kind of hidden layer to find the extra concert material as opposed to just extra scenes...so be sure to bump around those extras layers to find them...there's more james brown...Man, what a great film. I'm lucky, I watched this on my front projection system with a 72 inch screen and a great surround sound system with all Paradigm speakers...I tell you, the cost was justified.

In 1974, JB was at the top of the stack. Following some disappointing sales '72, '73 he came back with a long string of Number One hits, many found in the SOUL POWER movie (seen on Amazon), such as "The Payback" and "My Thang".The "deleted" song, offered here, was still huge in '74, but it dated back to late '58, when Brown a man in search...in need...of another hit. More precisely, his second hit, and one which could establish his longtime partnership with King Records. Here it is, "Try Me", in a fresh new, arrangement which we assume had a big contribution by 'bone man/band leader/arranger, Fred Wesley. Part of the update was an Astrological interlude, by the man later called, "Universal James".The song is delivered with alot of feeling and actually more Soul than found on several live albums of the period.

I would give this 3.5 stars, but have chosen to round up for historical importance. The non-musical performance parts of the movie are often somewhat boring, although the footage from mid-'70s era Zaire is priceless (including the band, apparently named Symba, performing on a street corner). Best of all is watching Franco follow the Spinners and wipe the floor with them, and I love the Spinners. The Rochereau number is even better.

Excellent concert and singing sung most of their hits loved this dvd.

if you enjoy the makings and machinations of producing an event like this, Soul Power is a great film.. not much music, but what there is will thrill.. a young Sister Sledge is a highlight for me, Kathy Sledge looks like a Black Lolita, pigtails and cute as Hell, with a smoldering sexuality waiting to be unleashed.

I had my heart set on what I thought was a full fledged concert...It was okay....Yes, I enjoyed it but too much documentary for me. It was like a QUICK glimpse of the top named performers doing their thing.I had my heart set on a James Brown 'show' since he was on the front of the cover....I know....it's called 'marketing'....Stream it first to see if its worth buying for your collection. If I had streamed it, I would have been satisfied without buying it for my collection.The quality of sound & visuals are superb...I was all geared up to see MORE of each artist in concert.Um...I feel like the old 'bait & switch' was used here.

It tookme back to when this occurred.

a pure delight to watch , especially with this pandemic going on..... a great way to spend an afternoon!!

Lots of grain on the picture that should have been gotten rid of

詳しいレビューは既に書かれていますので、本DVDに収録されている本編以外のコンテンツを挙げます。・監督のJeffery Levy-HinteとプロデューサーのStewart Levineのサブ音声・未公開シーン- Concert Logistics- Ali departs in car- James and rehearsals- Boxing organizers- Zairians 1974- James Brown- Sister Sledge- Abeti- Pembe Dance Troupe未公開シーンには本編に入っていない楽曲も入っています。これらも本編に収録すれば良いのに、と思うぐらいすごいパフォーマンスでした。

去年劇場で見た感動をふたたび！と意気込んで買って、届いている日にかなり楽しみにして帰ったのですが、まさかのリージョン１・・・いや、書いてはあるんですが、すっかり見落としてました。外付け買わねば。それか国内版か。はぁ。。。けど、星は５つ。

An important record of what took place. It's all about African culture. Nice to see on and off stage shots of my own favourites - Ali, JB, Ray Barretto, Nicky Marrero.Nice to see informal shots of Sister Sledge rehersing.Some interesting footage of the logistical problems in setting up the show.