It Might Get Loud

The Edge, Jimmy Page & Jack White

The last thing you ever have to do is sell me on Jimmy Page. I'm not the hugest U2 fan, but I certainly recognize their uniqueness and guitarist The Edge’s singular contribution to the Dublin band's sound. And my only exposure to the White Stripes has been from a few videos and the fact that Jack White produced a killer CD for Loretta Lynn. But put these three guitar players together, as they are in the new movie It Might Get Loud (now on DVD and Blu-ray), and you have one of the best films about music I have seen in a very long time.

Director Davis Guggenheim brings White, Page and The Edge together in a cavernous studio for a talk and some jamming. We are also led through specific haunts of their recording pasts and youth, for what makes a spellbinding 97 minutes. Along the way, we watch White stomp, play and ruminate about working as an upholsterer, Page actually goes back to the Headley Grange house (a spine chilling moment for me) to recount recording “When the Levee Breaks,” and The Edge walks back to the school and classroom where U2 first came together. There is archival footage of all three (especially some great stuff of Page on TV as a teen). There is also great interaction when the same three attempt to play each other's tunes. The moment The Edge and White stare aimlessly at Page as he teaches them "Whole Lotta Love" is priceless.

Each musician’s recollection on the music and their lives is at the heart of the film. Seeing Page listen and explain Link Wray's “Rumble” is pure fun. The same goes for when Jack White builds a guitar and The Edge stands before the ocean, playing through a single amp to the wind and sand. These guys — as celebrated as they are — come across pretty humbly, just dudes doing what they love. White might be more about protecting his enigmatic image than really feeling it, and Jimmy Page can be a bit stiff (though I have never seen him so open during an interview before). But at the end of the film, when they sit down to play “The Weight,” you can't help but love the time this trio share together on screen. Grab a copy of It Might Get Loud. Your rock and roll education depends on it.

~ Ralph Greco

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