THE FIRST SONG I HEARD, WHERE two separate musical artists dueted together, was “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” by Diana Ross and the Supremes and The Temptations. It was on a vinyl record that was in our house. Already being a lover of music at an early age, I was curious about how the two musical groups came together to record it. Except for formed groups like the Rolling Stones or Sonny and Cher, I had never heard of such a thing. I was familiar with Billboard’s list of top records, so I already had the mindset that each artist was trying to beat the others to get to number one with their song. At least my childish mind thought it was this way. Having two completely different acts agreeing to share a song seemed peculiar to me. I had many questions about it such as “were they being forced to do it?” or “were they or members of the group dating each other?”. Back then it did not occur to me that having two popular groups join for a song would yield a monetary windfall for them and the music studios. I was even more surprised when I looked up to see the two groups performing together on some kind of television variety show; they all looked thrilled to be performing together. I wondered if it was just an act, and they really did not like each other because they were each competitive. AS I GREW UP OTHER DUETS began to appear on the radio and in music videos. Dionne Warwick and The Spinners sang “Then Came You” followed by Elton John and Kiki Dee singing “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” I loved hearing the mix of two distinctive voices and enjoyed the songs they chose to sing. Then something completely different took place in the year 1984, I believe. A group made of various British and Irish musicians came together to create a record that would have the proceeds going to charity to fight famine in Ethiopia. To have a recording made to help a cause was a novel idea to me back then. In the states, actor and activist Harry Belafonte saw a BBC report about the famine. He thought about putting on a charity concert; however, the people he spoke to thought a record like the one they had heard out of England would have bigger implications. It was a monumental undertaking that had so many moving factions that it truly was a miracle that it all came together one night. THERE WAS ONLY ONE NIGHT THAT would work to have musical artists come into a recording studio to make a record for charity. The clock was ticking, and the personalities were boundless. Would the artists agree to the demands and be willing to commit to this unique project? Directed by Bao Nguyen (Be Water, Live From New York!), this musical documentary was a wonderful mix of archival footage and recent interviews of the technicians who worked on the production and musical artists such as Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Sheila E and Kenny Loggins. To see “behind the scenes” footage was wonderful and added a new dimension to the amount of work that was put in to this recording. Kudos to the director for keeping the story on pace, allowing enough time for each scene to blossom before moving on to the next one. I got a real kick out of hearing the crews’ little tidbits of things taking place back then and what they had to do to pull off such a monumental event. If one is not a lover of music, this film may not have as such an impact as it had on me. I loved every note about it.
4 stars
