Man in the Sand

Missed even by those who you would think should have seen this one, this documentary is a "makin' of" the "Mermaid Avenue" albums, a project by Billy Bragg, that expands further more, outside the four walls of a recording studio.

Billy Bragg himself and Wilco on stage, on camera sharing thoughts about Woody Gurthie and in the studio, with the first also sharing some time with Woody's daughter, visiting places related to the "man", talking with locals,...even spending time with his 5 own years old son.

There's a little surprise tho, for those who haven't heard the songs in the "Mermaid Av." albums: The songs (and how Woody is presented here) ain't all political (if you share the thought that everything you say and do is political anyway)! Lyrics made out of love (?) for his wife(s) (or women in general), songs of personal despair and other personal issues is what troubled Gurthie in those lines, making this documentary, not only a "close-up", but a look from a different angle!

Myself, not much aware of Gurthie's music,I found this film very easy to watch, very interesting, and yes it has some good music and lyrics there in the mix! Finally, needless to say, this is a must-see for any Gurthie-Bragg-Wilco fan.....if not anyone interested in music in general.

The Billy Bragg songs are OK but the Wilco songs are embarrassing. This is a journey to be done alone not with somebody else. I may be hard against Wilco but I don't like his self-aware phony voice. There is just too many of those voices around. Billy Bragg does not have that kind of voice - his voice sounds like being proud of being working class, forgetting yourself in the process.

"The Unwelcome Guest" is the best song because of that line about the gold you have taken from somebody else. When he sings that line, his voice goes down on that last word "else", leaving a chill behind it so strong that it carries the rest of the song. I do not think that he targeted this effect and I expect that it is just one of those gifts of fortune that hits those who are sincere in their quest.

Billy Bragg is sincere most of the time. He seems to be truly searching, while Wilco, sadly, is too full of himself to get anywhere.

When I write this, I do not know if this line really comes out in the movie but it does on the album.

I just saw the whole film and in the Special Features there is another version of Unwelcome Guest, which happily is not on the album, because this version proves that it was indeed just a gift of fortune, that line and that pronunciation of the last word, because Billy himself doesn't seem to understand it since the version on the DVD does not have the same pronunciation.

That's art - always greater than the artist - because the artist is not the source of true art and instead only its lucky receiver for the effort of being sincere.

Interesting documentary about the recordingsessions of the two Woody Guthrie Celebrate-albums; Mermaid Avenue 1 & 2. We get to follow english protestsinger Billy Bragg from the first meeting with Woodys daughter Nora all the way to last recordings. It's an interesting journey Billy takes the wiever on, we get a fair share of Woody-history on the way and of course - a lot of good music (Billy solo & live with Wilco). It's by no means a great film, but a very good documentary!