From Bob Dylan to Irish hip-hop: Ten music films worth streaming
Oasis at Knebworth.
Netflix
This is a 90-minute documentary about the people behind the stars, the backing singers who often went uncredited. You might not recognise their names but you'll know the songs they appear on - and recognise those voices. Why didn't they become stars? Was it really as simple as there only being room for 'one Aretha'?
Featuring cameos from Sting, Bruce Springsteen, and Mick Jagger, it's the women's stories that stand out - particularly Claudia Lennear's laugh-out-loud inhale after she said they didn't set out to be a sex symbol, to which the interviewer instantly put to her: "But you posed in Playboy." (Eoghan O'Sullivan)
Mango and Mathman feature in The Truth About Irish Hip-Hop.
An 18-minute overview of the current Irish hip-hop boom, The Truth About Irish Hip-Hop does an admirable job of featuring contributions from as many of the substantial players as possible, from veterans like Ophelia McCabe and Blindboy, to genre leaders Mango and GodKnows.
Longtime genre heads might be frustrated that its roots aren't subject to a deeper dive, but all in all, this is a document of a homegrown phenomenon and the community that has nurtured it. (Mike McGrath-Bryan)
Sky Now
Worthy tribute to the pioneering Detroit label that touches on enough social history to appeal to those who aren't huge fans of the music. At the heart of the documentary are the interviews featuring label founder Berry Gordy and singer Smokey Robinson, an impish double-act with the best music-biz stories you've ever heard.
Other highlights include a brilliant breakdown of the different layers in Marvin Gaye's classic tune, 'What's Going On?'. (Des O'Driscoll)
YouTube - full series streaming here
While it's never been part of the Irish musical mainstream, metal and related subgenres have been part of our sonic counter-culture since the late 1970s at least.
Fractured, a series of shortform documentaries and companion in-studio performances, focuses on the personalities that make up some of the scene's most active and progressive bands, like Galwegian math-metallers Ilenkus and Limerick proggers Shardborne. (Mike McGrath-Bryan)
One of the biggest bands in the 1980s, Bros' comeback, reuniting to play London's O2 Arena in 2017, is captured in often cringe-inducing detail.
Matt Goss' tour of his house ("I think the letters 'H-O-M-E' are so important because they personify the word 'home'") is a highlight but his caustic relationship with brother Luke, and the impact of the death of their mother, is touching. (Eoghan O'Sullivan)
As this documentary on Quincy Jones is made by his daughter Rashida, there's a slight feel of a film-maker being too close to their subject.
But then again, with Jones there is so much to praise. Only George Martin can rival him for the title of greatest producer in the history of music, and Jones' output was far greater in terms of quantity and variety.
We hear about his work with everyone from Duke Ellington to Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, as well as some harrowing tales of a tough childhood in Chicago. (Des O'Driscoll)
The rise of Oasis was meteoric but Mat Whitecross' two-hour doc, from pre-Definitely Maybe to playing to 250,000 fans at Knebworth in 1996, doesn't rush things.
The footage of their early practices hint at brothers Liam and Noel Gallaghers' toxic fracturing but not yet their world-beating pedigree, while the collage effect of the stories keeps you from looking away.
The cliché of breaking America is examined too - it turns out that it's probably best for bands not to stay up for days on end due to crystal meth. A life lesson right there. (Eoghan O'Sullivan)
Interviewing a pioneer of electronic music in Ireland as he prepares to stage his very first opera after a lifetime of sonic experimentation, The Curious Works of Roger Doyle is as comprehensive as it is reverent.
Doyle's body of work takes in the birth and development of Irish electronic music over four decades, from post-punk progression as part of Operating Theatre, to a comprehensive solo discography, including a renowned body of work in scoring for theatre, film and installation.
The Curious Works of Roger Doyle is dotted with archival footage and interviews with collaborators, while keeping a focus on Doyle's present: the most fitting tribute of all to a creator that has always been thinking forward. (Mike McGrath-Bryan)
Not a conventional documentary, Cork film-maker Pat Collins intertwines real footage with dramatised scenes in his account of Connemara sean-nós singer Joe Heaney and his move to America.
The result is a special film that's essential viewing if you've any interest in traditional music, and well worth a watch even if you don't. (Des O'Driscoll)
Another slightly unconventional film, as Martin Scorsese and co have fun with the format by adding fictional characters and scenes, not least with Sharon Stone playing a version of herself.
Mostly shot during Dylan's tour in 1975, we see a lighter, more freewheelin' incarnation of the great singer-songwriter than at other stages in his career. (Des O'Driscoll)
