I like best things. Not “better” things – this film is better than this film – but best things. I will often say: this or this is one of the best things. Of course you have to draw the line somewhere, because otherwise everything would be the best and worst thing at the same time, and that would be boring, and besides, what else would we say about “Showgirls” then? Exactly.
But I’m very confident in calling this one of the best things, one of the great things. It’s a recording of a concert of the Stax Revue, filmed in Norway in 1967. Booker T. & the MGs, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, Sam & Dave and Otis. Fuckin’ Otis looking almost unreal. They’re playing all their hits.
I hear a couple of numbers got lost in the archives, so maybe Otis also did a slow number. He’s great at those, maybe even greater than doing fast R&B. Maybe. Carla Thomas (daughter of Rufus) was supposed to sing, too, but had to fly to London. So that’s a shame. It could have been even greater.
It’s also one of the rare concert films where looking at the audience is mesmerizing, too. I have all but memorized them. There is Psycho Jagger, there is Larisa Guzeeva, there is that dude in the cool windbreaker. There is Duck Dunn cracking up, and Sam & Dave doing the windmill. It’s not perfection: it’s true greatness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsu1gtGuvao