{"id":70,"date":"2015-04-16T09:56:52","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T09:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shindig-mag.com\/?p=70"},"modified":"2015-04-21T09:19:28","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T09:19:28","slug":"big-star-nothing-can-hurt-me-dvdbluray-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=70","title":{"rendered":"Big Star – Nothing Can Hurt Me DVD\/Bluray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Definitive feature-length documentary on the out-of-time Memphis powerpop legends who influenced a thousand bands and define the term “cult”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"91YUtSNNR7L._SL1500_\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BIG STAR<\/strong>: NOTHING CAN HURT ME<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Universal DVD\/Bluray<\/p>\n

And there we were, worrying about the minutiae. With such a paucity of \u201971-\u201974 Big Star footage, it seemed that the film-makers might have the Dickinson of a job to immerse us in the upsetting, if belatedly redemptive story of Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Andy Hummel (RIP, all three) and surviving original member, Jody Stephens. However, the comparative dearth of tangible substantiation is apt for a memoir with absence and obscurity at its heart. Not only is this a soulful, affecting tribute to an invisibly pivotal band, but it\u2019s also a wider disquisition on the psychogeography of Memphis and the consequent birthmark upon its musicians. More than this, it\u2019s about the stuff that consumes us all: aspiration, confliction, perceived failure, hard-won achievement, transience.<\/p>\n

Not that you\u2019ll feel shortchanged for Big Star content. The band\u2019s photo archive is seamlessly interwoven with eerily recent-sounding studio chat and uncommonly perceptive interviews (including Stephens, Hummel, former Ardent label staffers, justifiably besotted rock critics, the poignantly sweet-natured family of Chris Bell and, via archive clips, producer Jim Dickinson and fellow iconoclast, Alex Chilton).<\/p>\n

And then, of course, there\u2019s that pluperfect music, so much of it expressing a visceral yearning that tips headlong into the metaphysical. The heart bursts when \u2018The Ballad Of El Goodo\u2019, \u2018Thirteen\u2019, \u2018Daisy Glaze\u2019 and \u2018September Gurls\u2019 crop up on the soundtrack: and that\u2019s before you even get to the cadaverous and disquieting Third\/Sister Lovers<\/em>, or Chris Bell\u2019s beyond-bereft \u2018I Am The Cosmos\u2019, dragging its heavy soul. As Lenny Kaye sagely observes: \u201cSometimes lack of success forces you deeper within yourself\u201d.<\/p>\n

Marco Rossi<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Nothing Can Hurt Me<\/em> trailer<\/p>\n