Review of A Poem Is a Naked Person (1974) by Phillip O — 19 Aug 2015
If it's a Leon Russell film you want, you might be disappointed. If it's a Les Blank film you want, there's one here fighting to get out. But Blank's one of my all-time faves, and, boy oh boy, are there moments: George Jones knocking out a masterful off-the-cuff "Take Me"; scorpions, snakes eating chicks, demolitions; Charlie McCoy, who played amazing shit on, um, HIGHWAY 61, BLONDE ON BLONDE, & JOHN WESLEY HARDING; the Olympia Brass Band (?); a Socratic inquisition on the nature of paranoia; glass-eating; and Eric Anderson nailing Russell's hustle.
Like any Blank film, fascinating, but I've never bought Russell solo (um, who was the other session pianist gone weird vocalist?).
This review of A Poem Is a Naked Person (1974) was written by Phillip O on 19 Aug 2015.
A Poem Is a Naked Person has generally received positive reviews.
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