Side #1 -- 1. Who's Tommy Dowd? [5:59] 2. State-of-the-Art, 1947 [4:01] 3. A Master of Mixing [4:44] 4. Putting Atlantic on the Map [4:07] 5. Funky Soulful Records [6:04] 6. Atomic Research [7:21] 7. Recording in Stereo [3:33] 8. Les Paul & the 8-Track [3:32] 9. Ray Charles [4:46] 10. The 60th Street Studio [3:05] 11. Stax Records [7:17] 12. Aretha Franklin [3:50] 13. Eric Clapton [4:20] 14. The Allman Brothers Band [5:16] 15. Lynyrd Skynyrd [6:03] 16. Mixing Layla [6:03] 17. Digital Recording [6:29] 18. Credits [2:24]
Independent filmmaker Mark Moormann directs the feature-length documentary Tom Dowd and the Language of Music. Shot on color and black-and-white16 mm film stock, the biography is a personal portrait of legendary recording engineer and producer Tom Dowd. The man himself is featured in a series of interviews from 1996 (the year he won a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) until 2002 (the year of his death). Filmed at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL, he is shown both at work behind the soundboards as well as reflecting on his memorable career. Other interview subjects include artists Ray Charles and Eric Clapton; record producers Phil Ramone and Arif Mardin; and surviving members of the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Tom Dowd and the Language of Music premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Editorial Reviews: As an engineer and producer on numerous classic records (many of them for Atlantic Records), Tom Dowd was an important and overlooked figure in the popular music of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. He was also one who, unlike some other producers of similar artistic stature, remained pretty faceless to the public, though he was well respected within the industry. This documentary does a good job of paying his accomplishments their due, though it doesn't make too much of an argument for Dowd being a compellingly interesting personality in his own right. The main attraction is the musical history that's recounted, and anyone with more than a passing interest in the likes of Ray Charles, Cream, Eric Clapton, Stax Records, Aretha Franklin, and the Allman Brothers will enjoy this on the grounds of the interesting musical history relayed (and numerous entertaining stories told along the way) alone. It certainly helps that there are interviews not only with Dowd, but also with the likes of Charles, Clapton, the Allmans, Atlantic Records executive Ahmet Ertegun, and producer/songwriter Mike Stoller. The records he worked on (and the stars he worked with), frankly, seem more interesting than Dowd himself, though he's a personable and entertaining enough interview in the sequences in which he's featured. The structure of the documentary is a little herky-jerky, switching back and forth chronologically at times, though the insertion of exciting archive clips of the artists ensures that no one gets restless for too long. In addition, there's little attention given to Dowd's post-'70s work, the unsaid assumption being that it was of little consequence compared to his previous activities. Yet it's a nice addendum to the archives of musical history, particularly as Dowd was no longer around to tell his stories by the time the film was released. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Movie Guide