Best Music Movies of 1970

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Young gangster Chas Devlin seeks refuge from the mob in a basement belonging to a reclusive, fading rock star Turner.

This 1970 concert documentary captures Elvis Presley midway through a fateful transition, seeking to reclaim his musical primacy after a decade of self-imposed exile from concert stages. Sidelined by his big-screen career, eclipsed by rock's mid-'60s transformations, the King had begun his return two years earlier with the relatively lean attack of his fabled network television appearance, '68 Comeback Special. Now the Memphis legend was poised to reposition his performing profile by pursuing the top rungs of headliner status in Las Vegas, a career choice that seems even more ephemeral in hindsight than it already did at the time. Elvis: That's the Way It Is follows the show's genesis from rehearsal to stage, with the performance footage that provides its inevitable climax shot over six nights. The rehearsal footage, expanded for this special edition, offers further proof that Presley's band was simply superb...

Documentary film about The Beatles rehearsing and recording songs for the album Let It Be in January 1969. The film features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public. Released just after the album, it was the final original Beatles release. This film has not been commercially available since the 1980s.

Raquel! was an April 26, 1970 CBS television special starring Raquel Welch, Tom Jones, Bob Hope and John Wayne executive produced, directed and choreographed by David Winters produced by Winters' company Winters-Rosen for CBS-TV, originally co-sponsored by Coca-Cola and Motorola. On the day of the premiere, the show received a 51% share on the National ARB Ratings and an impressive Overnight New York Nielsen Rating of 58% share.

Jimmy (Jack Wild) ventures to Living Island with his magical, talking flute, Freddy. Once there, he befriends many of the island's inhabitants, but the evil Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes) is determined to steal Freddy the flute away from the boy to impress the visiting Witches' Council and win the Witch of the Year Award.

Under hypnosis while trying to quit smoking, Daisy Gamble revisits past lives and different personalities.

Stephen Sondheim's musical "Company" opened on Broadway in the Spring of 1970, and tradition dictates that the cast recording is done on the first Sunday after opening night. D.A. Pennebaker, the now-legendary documentarian, filmed the production of the original cast recording, the back and forth between Sondheim and the performers, and the dynamic of trying to record live performance. The film climaxes with Elaine Stritch's performance of "The Ladies Who Lunch". The show won 6 Tony Awards including "Best Musical" and ran for two years on Broadway. A plan to make a series of "Original Cast Album" films never materialized.

World War I. Lili Smith is a beloved British music hall singer, often providing inspiration for the British and French troops and general populace singing rallying patriotic songs. She is also half German and is an undercover German spy, using her feminine wiles to gather information from the high ranking and generally older military officers and diplomats she seduces.

A cinematic look at The Doors on the road during their summer '68 tour. Concert performances are intercut with fly-on-the-wall footage of the group in their natural habitat.

Russell's composer biopics were usually labours of love. This was the opposite: he regarded Strauss's music as "bombastic, sham and hollow", and despised the composer for claiming to be apolitical while cosying up to the Nazi regime. The film depicts Strauss in a variety of grotesquely caricatured situations: attacked by nuns after adopting Nietzsche's philosophy, he fights duels with jealous husbands, literally batters his critics into submission with his music and glorifies the women in his life and fantasies. (BFI Screenonline)

A short film about a mysterious ceremony, based on an essay by William S. Burroughs.

Lee Hazlewood's album “Cowboy in Sweden” presented as a series of dreams. The movie alternates between absurdist skits and songs, given totally incongruous visual settings.

Like the play from which it derived, the film tells of the early struggles of composer Edvard Grieg and his attempts to develop an authentic Norwegian national music. It stars Toralv Maurstad as Grieg and features an international cast including Florence Henderson, Christina Schollin, Robert Morley, Harry Secombe, Oskar Homolka, Edward G. Robinson and Frank Porretta (as Rikard Nordraak). Filmed in Super Panavision 70 by Davis Boulton and presented in single-camera Cinerama in some countries, it was an attempt to capitalise on the success of The Sound of Music.

This documentary on rock 'n' roll groupies, including the infamous Plaster Casters, features performances (musical) by such bands as Ten Years After, Terry Reid, Spooky Tooth, and Cat Mother.

A group of students pay their way through school by forming a pop band called Toomorrow. Sonic vibrations from a special instrument called a ‘tonaliser’ cause an extraterrestrial to abduct the group, and have them entertain the Alphoid population.

Suicidal poet Archy tries to end his life by jumping off a bridge, but awakens to find he has assumed the life of a cockroach and has become a part of a community of creatures living in a newspaper office. He also discovers that he can still write poetry, using a typewriter, and begins to enjoy his new life. Archy develops deep feelings for the lovely but self-destructive cat Mehitabel, but will have to fight to win her from bad-boy tomcat Bill.

Retelling of the classic fairy tale, but from a decidedly 1960s point of view, complete with "groovy" dialogue.

1. Intro 2. First Movement: Moderato - Allegro 3. Second Movement: Andante 4. Third Movement: Vivace - Presto Recorded on September 24th, 1969 at London's Royal Albert Hall, Jon Lord's Concerto for Group and Orchestra really was a meeting of two different worlds.

Creedence Clearwater Revival Royal Albert Hall London, England April 14 1970 50 Minutes NTSC Mono 1 Born On The Bayou 2 Green River 3 Tombstone Shadow 4 Travelin' Band 5 Fortunate Son 6 Commotion 7 Midnight Special 8 Bad Moon Rising 9 Proud Mary 10 The Night Time is the Right Time 11 Good Golly Miss Molly 12 Keep On Chooglin' John Fogerty: Guitar and Vocals Tom Fogerty: Guitar Stu Cook: Bass Doug Clifford: Drums

A CBS television special, renowned for its legendary "Yma, Ava....Yma, Uta... Yma, Oona" sequence. Annie: the Women in the Life of a Man (1970), won Anne Bancroft her only Emmy for her portrayal of 14 different woman in 14 musical and comedy sketches. Bancroft's husband Mel Brooks contributed to the script and also appears onscreen.

To play Beethoven's music is to give oneself over completely to the child-spirit which lived in that grim, awkward, violent man. Without that utter submission it is impossible to play the Adagio of the Ninth. Or, Heaven knows, the first movement. And the Finale? Most of all! It is simply unplayable unless we go all the way with him, as he cries out "Brüder!" - Leonard Bernstein

The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), the contest was held at the RAI Congrescentrum on Saturday 21 March 1970, and was hosted by Dutch television presenter Willy Dobbe.

The film follows the story of Orpheus and Euridice.

Filmed on the rooftops of lower Manhattan, this performance film features the original Last Poets performing 28 numbers adapted from their legendary Concept-East Poetry appearance at New York's Paperback Theater in 1969. Described as “a conspiracy of ritual, street theater, soul music and cinema."

This film is straight-ahead footage of Santana, the Grateful Dead, and the Jefferson Airplane playing at The Family Dog in 1970. Each band does two songs, followed by a jam at the end featuring musicians from all of the bands.

A proto-music video: three minutes of experimental animation set to the tune of Romeo Nelson's 'Head Rag Hop'.

Interviews and performances with Nashville celebrities and hopefuls from the late 1960's era of the Nashville music scene. Featured performers include Porter Waggoner, Tex Ritter, Dolly Parton, Roy Acuff, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, Jeannie C. Riley, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, and more.

Midsummer Rock is a television program based on the Cincinnati Pop Festival. The 90-minute TV version featured Alice Cooper, Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad, The Stooges, and Traffic.

A boy leaves home to take singing lessons with a teacher whom he befriends and a beautiful and ambitious young woman appears

Don Williams The Great invites patrons over to a free Iron Butterfly concert at Pirate World in this potpourri of groovy musical talents.

Taking place in the cold and hard winter of 1970 in the slums of Cleveland Ohio instead of the tranquil and pleasant 1967 Summer of Love in the Haight Asbury district of San Francisco. "Ghetto Freaks" is a film that tries to show it's viewers the life and philosophy of a hippie commune and how it, lead by their Guru Sonny, goes through life on the mean streets of a large northern industrial city. (IMDb)

Released shortly after his wedding on the Tonight Show, "A Special Tiny Tim" showcases many great performances by Herbie. From Rock and Roll to Music Hall, Tiny covers a wide and eclectic range of material for his one and only television special.

In this documentary portrait prepared for the anniversary of Ludwig Van Beethoven's 200th birthday, Leonard Bernstein illustrates his analysis with excerpts from his performances of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major and the Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony.

Santana Band live at Tanglewood, Lenox MA, USA on 18 August 1970.

Highlights of a concert filmed at Yankee Stadium in New York City on June 21, 1969.

Recorded live at La Taverne de L’Olympia, Paris in 1970, The Lost Performance captures two incredible shows featuring the legendary Moody Blues. Justin Hayward John Lodge, Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge perform some of their greatest hits at the height of their success. Includes Nights In White Satin, Ride My Seesaw, Tuesday Afternoon, Question, Lovely To See You My Friend, Never Comes the Day, Tortoise and the Hare, Are You Sitting Comfortably, Gypsy, Candle of Life, Legend of a Mind, Lazy Day, Don't You Feel Small.

In Vienna's Musikverein, Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic celebrates Ludwig Van Beethoven's 200th birthday with a joyful performance of his Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major. Maestro Bernstein conducts the orchestra from the keyboard in this historic concert.

A bird chases and teases a worm to Cole Porter's "Let's Misbehave" as sung by Irving Aaronson.

‘An Hour with Pink Floyd: KQED’ sees the band filmed performing live in April 1970 by San Francisco cable TV station KQED. The film includes performances of Atom Heart Mother, Cymbaline, Grantchester Meadows, Green is the Colour and Careful with that Axe Eugene.

Led Zeppelin performed a show January 9, 1970 at the hall, and the show was released in its entirety in the 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD boxed set. -- 01 We're Gonna Groove 02 I Can't Quit You Baby 03 Dazed and Confused 04 White Summer 05 What Is and What Should Never Be 06 How Many More Times 07 Moby Dick 08 Whole Lotta Love 09 Communication Breakdown 10 C'mon Everybody 11 Something Else 12 Bring It On Home

1 “In The Country” 2 “Free Form Piano” 3 “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” 4 “25 Or 6 To 4” 5 “Poem For The People” 6 “I Don’t Want your Money” 7 “Mother” 8 “It Better End Soon” 9 “Beginnings” 10 “Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon / So Much To Say” 11 “Colour My World / Make Me Smile” 12 “I’m A Man”

Artist Peter Max pulls the strings as the pop group The Fifth Dimension travels through a technicolor land inhabited by wacky people.

In this film from the late 1960's Ron Scott collaborated with avant-garde musician Byrne Newhart in Fort Worth, Texas to produce a melange of light and sound channeling the psychedelic zeitgeist of the era.

Soon after Sandy Denny parted ways with the band, Fairport Convention performs at La Taverne de l’Olympia for French television's Pop2 program in 1970. Tracks include: "Walk a While," "Dirty Linen," "Sloth" and others.

(Sabah), the famous singer, agrees that her daughter (Howaida) will travel to Cairo in one of the nightclubs. Howaida meets (Sherif) and loves him, the sheriff tells his father Hassan that he wants to marry Howaida, the father denounces his son's behavior, as he had previously stood against his brother (Ali )’s marriage to Howaida's mother and still lives memories of his love for her, Sharif finds no way but To tell his uncle of his tragedy, he encourages him to continue to love and preserve him and win the heart of the one he loves.

One of the human trio is Dick Fontaine, the director, a thin, long-haired youth who has put together this highly personal exercise on something or other that runs, mercifully, for 58 minutes and comes from an English group of movie folk called the Tattooists. The second visitor to the animal abattoir is a pretty girl. The third is a porky, middle-aged man addicted to the expression, "Ya know?" The two men carry on a running argument about whether they should make a picture about pigs. "Are we making a movie, ya know?" says Fatso. "Where is it, ya know?" Then a bit later: "I'm making a movie about pigs, ya know?"

Alice Cooper and band’s first performance, organized by his friend Frank Zappa, at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in 1969.

This shows Howlin' Wolf prowling on stage at the first Washington D.C. Blues Festival in November 1970, supported by his top-notch band. Hear him moan his earth-shaking blues and watch his unforgettable stage antics and you'll see why Sam Phillips - who also discovered Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry lee Lewis - called Howlin' Wolf his greatest discovery.