Review of Soul Power (2009) by Mike M — 25 Jul 2009

Levy-Hinte keeps us waiting for the A-grade material - the opening half-hour features a lot of tweedy English producer Keith Bradshaw arguing the toss over cables and bunting with rotund American stage engineers - yet from the moment Brown steps off the plane in Kinshasa, surrounded by what one is obliged to refer to as a bevy of stewardesses, you're right there in the thick of it.

.. Inevitably, there are a couple of acts for which you'd happily remain in the beer tent - for me, it was the tribal dancers and the Latin harmony act - but, 35 years on, this probably is the best advert Mobutu's Zaire never had at the time.

The cameras, free to roam on stage and off, keep picking up moments that are as much to do with tremendous music - Bill Withers' electrifying rendition of "Hope She'll Be Happier", just one man, his guitar, and a lot of long and lonely nights - as with the surrounding carnival: Ali, here relegated to brief but elegant supporting cameos, trading comedy punches with the Detroit Spinners, or sat on a sofa in the middle of nowhere, riffing on the differences between African and American flies.