I was able to view this documentary today streaming on Prime. My own take may seem harsh to some but I believe what this shows is her narcissism. We see that from a very young age, in an interview she stated that she wanted to sing the rest of her life, but more important, to become a world-famous performer. As an adult she admits that being on stage, receiving applause from the audience, is like a drug addiction to her. She can hardly live without the approval and adulation of others, mostly strangers. That seems very narcissistic to me.
I find myself wondering what it is like to have only one goal, one obsession your whole life, forming your whole identity by how well you do that one thing, then start having difficulty doing it.
To me the most important part of this documentary starts at 1 hour 15 minutes into it. We are shown how it is now for her, to go into a recording studio to do one fairly straightforward song. Take after take, either her voice doesn't respond or when it does undesired vocal breaks enter randomly. Then the aftermath of that plus the rest of the presentation.
I have always had a mixed reaction to her singing. On the one hand, in her prime she had one of the best singing voices ever and it was always clear she loved what she was doing. But a comment she makes, that the song itself isn't so important, it is the way the singer sings it, and that explains why I strongly dislike so many of her songs. Too much vocal "gymnastics." Just because you can do fancy runs doesn't necessarily mean you should. Or at least not to the great extent that she does them in many songs. There is a fine line that separates welcome embellishment from unwanted extremes and she crosses it frequently.
I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary, I admit I had a tear in my eye when she was struggling so greatly and the doctors had to act fast to save her. Overall it is a sad tale, how the rare condition of stiff person syndrome (SPS) has wrecked her career. They seem to have hope it can be contained enough so that she can perform live again but it doesn't look very promising. Thanks to CDs and DVDs we never have to forget who she was and how she sounded.
I find myself wondering what it is like to have only one goal, one obsession your whole life, forming your whole identity by how well you do that one thing, then start having difficulty doing it.
To me the most important part of this documentary starts at 1 hour 15 minutes into it. We are shown how it is now for her, to go into a recording studio to do one fairly straightforward song. Take after take, either her voice doesn't respond or when it does undesired vocal breaks enter randomly. Then the aftermath of that plus the rest of the presentation.
I have always had a mixed reaction to her singing. On the one hand, in her prime she had one of the best singing voices ever and it was always clear she loved what she was doing. But a comment she makes, that the song itself isn't so important, it is the way the singer sings it, and that explains why I strongly dislike so many of her songs. Too much vocal "gymnastics." Just because you can do fancy runs doesn't necessarily mean you should. Or at least not to the great extent that she does them in many songs. There is a fine line that separates welcome embellishment from unwanted extremes and she crosses it frequently.
I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary, I admit I had a tear in my eye when she was struggling so greatly and the doctors had to act fast to save her. Overall it is a sad tale, how the rare condition of stiff person syndrome (SPS) has wrecked her career. They seem to have hope it can be contained enough so that she can perform live again but it doesn't look very promising. Thanks to CDs and DVDs we never have to forget who she was and how she sounded.
