All You Need Is Love

You can’t help but have noticed that nowadays our TV schedules are overflowing with half-assed, poorly researched, popular music retrospectives boasting a never-ending list of hideously uninformed talking heads and more or less nobody who was actually there at the time. Of course it’s much harder now as the days when you could easily secure interviews with, oh let’s just say John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimi Hendrix, Stephen Sondheim, Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby, The Beach Boys, Tina Turner, Sam Phillips, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Rogers, Benny Goodman, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Phil Spector, Bill Wyman, Frank Zappa or Eric Clapton are long gone, but that’s just exactly what Tony Palmer did for the BBC series All You Need Is Love - originally broadcast between 1976 and 1981. This fascinating series beginning, quite literally, at the beginning and dealing with ragtime, blues, jazz, vaudeville, folk and country and western before rock 'n' roll even gets a look in, was never repeated nor released, until now, and each of the five discs really is a total joy from beginning to end. Put simply this is the definitive story told by those that should know, because they created it.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

Pink Floyd
The Pink Floyd And Syd Barrett Story
(Voiceprint)

Not a new story certainly, but still a fascinating one, John Edginton’s documentary charting the rise and fall of Syd Barrett tracks down pretty much anyone who knew or worked with the man (including all the Floyd crew), to tell the story of a genuinely innovative individual who dramatically unravelled, losing his way in tandem with his band finding theirs. There’s little doubt Pink Floyd would not have existed without him, but after whatever bad trip tipped him over the edge it’s equally certain that they needed to leave him behind to continue working because when he got involved he did his utmost to scupper any headway they had made. The film is full of great footage - including home movies - and disarmingly honest interviews, the interviewees seemingly doing their level best to honestly relate, what is after all, a dreadfully sad story, and is now expanded to two discs. Nicely packaged in a card box with an envelope of reproduction flyers, extra acoustic performances by Robyn Hitchcock and Graham Coxson and the full, unedited, interviews with all the members of Floyd (amounting to more than three hours of extra footage), this remains pretty much the definitive take on this story.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

Bernie Worrell
Stranger: Bernie Worrell On Earth
(Wienerworld)

Never heard of Bernie Worrell? Don’t worry, you’re not alone, but just check the list of people more than happy to wax lyrical about the man, George Clinton, David Byrne, Mos Def, Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Prince Paul and Doug Wimbush are just some of the talking heads on offer (in more ways than one as Byrne is also joined by Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz), and all of these people are clearly both in awe of, and exceptionally fond of, Bernie Worrell. Still none the wiser? well you may well have heard his playing on both Parliament/ Funkadelic and Talking Heads albums but this is just a small part of his incredible musical life as Worrell was also a musical prodigy, learning to play the piano by age three and writing a concerto at age eight. Worrell himself speaks very little but the film is absolutely littered with his playing which speaks volumes, it also highlights the fact that this prodigiously talented and influential keyboard player is pretty much broke and finds it damn near impossible to get his music released or indeed to even play it live. One assumes Worrell will earn something from this DVD so do yourself and the man a favour and buy one today.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

Quincy Jones
50 Years In Music - Live At Montreux 1996 (Eagle)

Celebrating Jones' 50th year in the industry this show was staged, suitably enough, at Switzerland’s annual Jazz Festival with stars such as David Sanborn, Phil Collins, Chaka Khan and Mick Hucknall joining the man on stage alongside uber session band Greg Phillinganes, A. Ray Fuller, Nathan East, Steve Ferrone and Luis Conte (also featured is the Northern Illinois University Jazz Band). Q (to those close to him) is a conductor, record producer, musical arranger, trumpeter and probably one of the few people on the planet who can claim to have worked with both Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, he is also the most nominated Grammy artist in history and notches up several more levels of cool by introducing himself in French and English whilst cherry picking highlights from an astonishing career (from early big band hit ‘Kingfish’, via soundtrack classic’s like ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ and beyond). Sadly he doesn't pick up his horn during the concert as he was advised not to play after suffering a brain aneurysm twenty odd years previously, but this is a small complaint more than compensated for by the masterclass bonus lecture delivered to an avid audience included as a DVD extra.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

Soft Machine
Alive In Paris
(Voiceprint)

Recorded in Paris on the 2nd March 1970 this film, directed by Claude Ventura and presented by Patrice Blanc-Francard, was initially recorded for Pop 2 and, in keeping with the avant-garde nature of the band in question, is filmed in a rather unusual way, either from the side or the back of the stage, don’t let this put you off however as the sound is fine (if occasionally a little thin) and the visuals, whilst odd, are also perfectly good. Featuring, what some consider to be, the finest Soft Machine line-up – the band behind Third - with Robert Wyatt, High Hopper, Mike Ratledge, Elton Dean and Lyn Dobson and an audience so up for it attempts are made to dance like chickens on hot-plates to even the most arrhythmic and atonal passages. For some reason the track-listing on the sleeve bears no relation to the actual running order but everything listed appears (including SM faves ‘Out-Bloody-Rageous’, ‘Facelift’ and ‘Esthers Nosejob’), and given that there’s precious little decent footage of this line-up in existence – Wyatt would leave/be fired (delete as applicable) very soon after this and form Matching Mole - this really is manna from heaven for fans.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

Sweet
Glitz, Blitz & Hitz: The Very Best Of... (Wienerworld)

Featuring some fantastically off-the-wall footage (watch out for the beer-keller audience, complete with bemused waitresses, or the limbo/beach video), this documentary, with contributions from guitarist Andy Scott, songwriter Nicky Chinn and producer Phil Wainman, charts the bands career from early bubblegum fluff like ‘Co-Co’, ‘Poppa Joe’ and ‘Little Willy’ through their altogether tougher glam-rockers, sticking their toes in the water with ‘Wig Wam Bam’ and then jumping right in with ‘Blockbuster’, the mighty ‘Ballroom Blitz’, ‘Teenage Rampage’ and beyond (‘Fox On The Run’, ‘Action’, ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’). Sweet were never the most natural of glam-rockers (described by one pundit as looking like brickies in make-up) – although Andy Scott insists he was one of the first to use stack-heels and also, perhaps less realistically, that David Bowie copied his nail-varnish – the period was also not notable for the longevity of its acts (Bowie accepted), consequently after sacking the increasingly alcoholic singer Brian Connolly they simply became a decent, if underachieving, rock band (Connolly and Mick Tucker have sadly since died).

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

Toto
Falling In Between - Live
(Eagle Vision)

Think of Toto and what comes to mind? AOR? Over-polished productions? Styx, Journey and Foreigner? All reasonable pre-conceptions but in fact Toto live are a much harder edged beast thanks mainly to longest standing member Steve Lukather’s high speed axe chops. The 2007 version of Toto is clearly Lukather’s baby (although vocalist Bobby Kimball was in the original line-up he was sacked in 1984 and only returned to the fold some fifteen years later) - of the original line-up drummer Jeff Porcaro died in 1992, his keyboard playing brother Steve left to concentrate on film score work and keyboard player number two David Paich gave up touring in 2005. Original bass player Mike Pocaro, who is still in the band, was apparently injured when this was recorded, but he's ably replaced by super-session player Leland Sklar and Jeff Pocaro and David Paich’s places are filled by two other session superstars, drummer Simon Phillips and keyboard wizard Greg Phillinganes. Needless to say with this amount of technical skill in tow everything sounds absolutley pristine, much to the delight of the massive French crowd, and yes they do ‘Rosanna’, ‘Africa’ and ‘Hold The Line’.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

John Martyn
The Man Upstairs
(Voiceprint)

If ever proof was needed that the most beautiful sounds can come from the most surprising of vessels this DVD supplies ample evidence as the prodigiously talented John Martyn performs a magnificent set of music which is then interspersed with the unappealing boorish bluster of a lifelong drunkard (and he’s not even particularly sloshed here). Fortunately it’s not necessary to like Martyn to love his music and this show, recorded in 1978, pretty much catches the man at the top of his game having just recorded the timeless One World album with Lee Scratch Perry (just imagine the conversations at those sessions? Boggles the mind). ‘Certain Surprise’, ‘Solid Air’, ‘May You Never’ and ‘Couldn’t Love You More’ are all given truly stupendous airings as are a string of lesser known but no less worthwhile tracks (although the cover of ‘Singing In The Rain’ is pretty pointless). Martyn fans may be wary of yet more old material - the man has released a huge number of old live sets, many of which are less than essential - but trust us this one is a belter and belongs on any right thinking JM fans DVD shelf.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

Steve Hillage
Germany 77
(Voiceprint)

Recently featured in these very pages (more) Steve Hillage has overseen a pretty extensive reissue campaign of his solo work and this impressive live performance recorded for Germany’s Rockpalast TV show in 1977 is the latest offering. If truth be told Hillage was never the greatest of singers (sounding not unlike a reedy Syd Barrett) and not the most natural of front-men either, he was however a fine, hugely underrated, guitarist who used the instrument in an entirely different way to most of his peers, creating trance like raga’s alongside his trademark hypnotic glissandos (something he uses to spectacular effect nowadays in System 7 with his partner Miquette Giraudy, featured here on vocals and keyboards). Featuring a gnats chuff tight outfit put together by Hillage to play tracks from the Fish Rising, L and Motivation Radio albums, the virtuosity on show never tips over into the sort of improvised indulgence the more experimental bands of this era were all too prone to getting mired down in and exhibits flashes of sinewy funk altogether absent from most prog. The DVD also features three unseen performances and a recently recorded interview with Hillage and Giraudy.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************

Ziggy Marley
Love Is My Religion: Live
(Tuff Gong/Cooking Vinyl)

Sean and Julian Lennon, Jakob Dylan, Peaches Geldof (oh alright that last one’s a bit silly), but there are any number of children out there doing their best to step from the huge shadows cast by their parents but when you not only sound like but also look like your father you’re frankly on a hiding to nothing. Probably the most successful of the huge Marley clan Ziggy can be found here in support of his album of the same name delivering an almost two hour long set which even features a few of his old man’s tunes (‘Jammin’’, ‘Is This Love’, ‘Concrete Jungle’ and ‘Rastaman Vibration’). Taped live at Los Angeles’ Avalon Theatre in December 2006 during an extensive worldwide tour - Marley visited one hundred and sixty one cities across the globe and became the first reggae artist to perform in mainland China – Love Is My Religion proves that whilst Marley Jnr. may not be as charismatic as his dad (who is?), he is a talented songwriter and very watchable performer in his own right. DVD extras include behind the scenes footage and both the ‘Love Is My Religion’ and ‘Into The Groove’ video’s.

Buy this DVD

******************************************************************