Manson: Music From An Unsound Mind — Manson: Music From An Unsound Mind(DVD)

Over the years there have been a vast amount of documentaries made about Charles Manson, his cult The Family, and of course the murders the cult carried out at the end of the ’60s, which put death to the summer of love. Manson: Music From An Unsound Mind- is a recent doc that covers a facet of the case that’s only really been glossed over in past docs- the more musical side of Mr Manson life- including his own songwriting, connections with The Beach Boys & the upper echelon of music industry in the 60’s, and the impact of the work of The Beatles.

Here’s a recent region free DVD from Vision Films/ MVD Visual- and I must it’s one of the best docs I’ve seen on Manson, really digging deep into the musical side of Charles Manson- with interviews with key figures relating to this facet of his life- there’s Phil Kaufman, who knew Manson in prison in the mid ’60s, and went onto release his solo album shortly after he went to prison for the family murders. Gregg Jakorbson- who was Denis Wilson's songwriting partner, and became close to Manson in the LA music scene. Stephen Desper Beach Boy’s engineer who worked on the Manson promo tapes, and Family member Dianne Lake. As well as a host of respected Manson expects, and music journalists.
 
The documentary runs at one hour and forty-eight minutes- starting with  general background about Manson, the family, and the case- but it doesn’t go too deep. Instead, we get discussions around Manson’s troubled childhood, his early love music playing and playing piano, before moving to discuss how in later life he went back to music in prison when he learned to play guitar. The doc goes onto discussing in detail his connections with The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, and various other influential names in the LA music scene. Before going onto talking about the impact of the Beatles on both Manson as a songwriter, and his unbalanced world outlook that led to Family Murders- talking in detail about the bands White Album, and most impactful songs. The doc moves onto brush over the murders & court case- but never too much in-depth, with the focus kept wholly on the musical side of things.
 
Mixed in with the interviews we, of course, get snippets of Manson’s songs, rare footage of the family, and relevant footage/ pictures from the time. It’s a well put together & constantly fascinating doc- that mangers to dig deep into the musical side of Mr. Manson, uncovering a lot of facts and information I wasn’t aware of before.
 
The DVD is sadly very bare-bones affair, as you just get the film it’s self and its trailer- though I guess aside from a director's commentary, and a selection of Manson’s full songs I guess the doc covers all bases, as it’s so thorough.
 
Just when you think you’ve found out all you could possibly know about Charles Manson, it’s great to see a doc like Manson: Music From An Unsound Mind coming along. All told this is very much recommended to those interested in Manson, LA music scene of the late 1960s, and of course the death of the hippy movement.