Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This DVD seems to have a very clear mission -- to showcase both the exceptional talent and the endearing qualities of Patty Griffin. I think it succeeds well in this mission. It nicely blends many of the songs performed by Ms. Griffin during a special February 2007 concert at a converted synagogue in New York City with short excerpts of an interview of Ms. Griffin conducted before the concert. Each interview excerpt is timed so that its content fits nicely in the sequence of the songs performed. During the best of those excerpts, Ms. Griffin notes that she goes through a brief mourning period after she records a song adding that her songs "do have a life of their own. I mean they're mine for a little while and I know what they are to me, when I have them, initially, and then they go out into the world and it's completely . . . it's a personal experience for every listener so, um, they don't belong to me anymore, you know . . .". That sentence fades immediately into the blue-lighted stage for the first note of "When It Don't Come Easy", a powerful song, as many of hers are, that certainly has a special meaning to her, but is clearly open to many potential personal meanings for the listener.
A special moment occurs when Ms. Griffin, alone on the stage, starts strumming the opening for "No Bad News", while her band hastily rushes onto the stage to become a lively rhythm section grouped to one side of her as she sings and plays along. Another is the interplay between the electric guitar of the talented Doug Lancio and Ms. Griffin's vocals during the gospel sounds of "Love Throw a Line". And then there's an awesome cover of Sam Cook's "Get Yourself Another Fool", something you're not going to get from any of her albums.
The movie is short, perhaps too short, and, expectedly, is heavy on songs from her latest album "Children Running Through", but, unexpectedly and perhaps disappointingly, includes nothing from two of her brilliant albums (they are all brilliant), "Flaming Red" and "1000 Kisses". Fortunately, it does include two songs from her debut album, "Living with Ghosts", one of which opens the movie and provides a nice touch in the background at the beginning of the movie and for the credits at the end of the movie. There a few editing mishaps, although you have to be paying more attention than is necessary to see them. Also, the editing is on the aggressive side with a lot of camera switching, something I like, but which others might find annoying. The sound, lighting, and general atmosphere, however, are consistently superior.
If there are any shortcomings in the movie, they are more than overcome at the end with Ms. Griffin's performance of "Top of the World". That was enough for me to move from 4-stars (which I might otherwise have given it due to the editing on other songs) to 5-stars. For this song, the camera work (particularly at the very beginning of the song), the editing, and, certainly, the performance are "top of the world". If you've seen Ms. Griffin in concert or if you've been a long time fan of hers, I suppose you may find this DVD to be a bit disappointing, simply because it is too short. For everyone else, and I do mean everyone, I think it is well worth seeing. When you see it, you'll almost certainly understand not only why she has such highly-devoted fans, but also why those fans refer to her simply as "Patty".
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