James Brown Archives - Sean Kelly On Movies

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters directs a new documentary about the legendary studio, where he and Nirvana recorded the album “Nevermind.” Sound City was literally a dumb of a studio located in the suburbs of Los Angeles. However, it was the place where classic albums were recorded by the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Neil Young, and many more. The documentary goes through the history of the studio from its 1970s heyday, to a slum in the 1980s, to rising again in the 1990s, to finally having to shut down. The Sound City studio prided itself by the fact that it remained an analog recording studio, even as most of the music industry was moving towards recording digitally. The studio eventually couldn’t compete with the digital revolution and was forced to shut down. That’s where Dave Grohl comes in, since he purchased Sound City’s famed Neve 8028 recording console for his own private studio. As such, the final section of the film is all about Grohl recording an album featuring artists that previously recorded at Sound City, which will serve as the documentary’s official soundtrack. Probably the most notable collaboration on the album is, surviving Nirvana members, Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear recording with Grohl’s idol Paul McCartney on the song “Cut Me Some Slack.” While this final half hour of the film can be seen as a commercial for the album, I didn’t mind it since the songs sounded so good. Overall, I would have to say that if you are a fan of rock music from the last 40 years, I would highly recommend checking out Sound City (and possibly buying the soundtrack when it’s released on March 12). 9 | REALLY LIKED IT