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Elvis Presley: 'The Ed Sullivan Shows: The Classic
Performances'
Elvis Presley's appearances on Ed Sullivan's influential TV
variety show have been tightly woven into his media legend for so long that it's
mildly shocking to realize how little-seen these pivotal performances have been.
For fans more accustomed to the Presley myth (and, especially, his big-screen
incarnation, anticipated in these three 1956 Sullivan slots), these
black-and-white kinescope clips will seem modest. Stitched together from
fragments of varying image quality, the net effect is closer to watching a home
movie -- or the Zapruder film -- than a complete broadcast.
But
television and Presley came together at a propitious time for both: TV was still
figuring out how to reach the broadest possible audience, including a new,
unpredictable and burgeoning teen market; Presley and his handlers (led by wily
manager "Colonel" Tom Parker) had their eyes on a crossover prize, betting his
success as a recording artist against a movie career. The clips confirm that,
yes, Presley was shot mostly from the waist up on the earliest segments,
ostensibly to shield tender young eyes from that famous pelvis, and Presley
himself was mostly a modest, if flirtatious, young Southern gentleman. The
early, winning combination of Presley's trio with the straitlaced backing vocals
of the Jordanaires is in full, modest view, and the song list trades on the
short list of his most recent hits with RCA Victor, including multiple and
rather cursory nods to signature hits such as "Don't Be Cruel," "Hound Dog" and
particularly "Love Me Tender," the theme song from his movie debut, emphatically
plugged on every appearance. As would be the case eight years later with the
Beatles, Elvis' Sullivan performances are more about celebrating his newfound
stardom than about the music itself.
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| Old Crow Medicine Show: 'Live at the Orange Peel and Tennessee Theatre' |
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Like the featured band itself, this concert documentary focuses
on well-crafted, familiar roots music captured clearly with expertise but a
welcome minimum of frills. OCMS work toward the traditional end of the American
spectrum, an acoustic quintet that melds bluegrass instrumental prowess with
old-timey material that gives more room to vocals. The band's post-modern
sensibility comes out in bursts of punkish energy and allows for both
smart covers (such as the primordial R&B of "Down Home Girl") and sly
originals. Camera work and editing are likewise straightforward and skewed
toward the intimacy of the audience's own perspective -- a welcome and
appropriate (and, of course, budget-conscious) approach to a band that would
look ludicrous framed with crane shots and wide angles. This one's for their
fans, and if you're one, you'll be left smiling.
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| Keith Urban: 'Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy World Tour Live' |
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From his long, frosted bangs (look, Ma, no hat!) to his
razor-sharp guitar-slinging smarts, Aussie émigré Keith Urban is an unapologetic
country crossover king: Fluent in the genre's musical language, Urban can deploy
country accents but ultimately works from a more worldly pop base that flexes
pop and rock elements fleshed out through often intricate arrangements. This
generous full concert set from his 2008 tour dramatizes that mainstream impulse
through its arena scale: Rear-screen projections, dramatic lighting, smoke
effects and other tactics time-honored for rock spectacles are wheeled into
place for an adoring crowd. Ultimately, though, it's Urban's well-crafted
repertoire, rock-solid vocals and vivid, crowd-pleasing instrumental chops that
give the nearly three-hour program staying power.
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| Raphael Saadiq: 'Live from the Artists Den' |
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Blue-eyed Brits may have provided more obvious poster children
for the current neo-soul revival, but the sturdy power of classic '60s R&B
models has been the engine behind Raphael Saadiq's lithe, intelligent soul
update since his late-'80s breakout as the leader of Tony! Toni! Toné! In his
current solo configuration, the veteran Oakland singer, songwriter and
multi-instrumentalist has pared his blueprint to an even more traditional attack
honed to a dazzling edge in this concert special shot for "Live from the Artists
Den" at Boston's bespoke Harvard Club. As a writer, Saadiq is equally adept at
crafting kinetic dance grooves and silken ballads; as a singer, his lissome
tenor balances straightforward lyricism against just enough soulful decoration
to enliven the mix without lapsing into the overcaffeinated melisma that more
often distracts than distinguishes modern R&B.
Those strengths alone
make Saadiq's music worthwhile, but here the viewer gets the added pleasure of
watching his live band's turn-on-a-dime ease with taut rhythm arrangements and
strategic horn accents. The band's choreography echoes the glory days of Motown
and Stax in its mix of team steps paired with vocal call-and-response, but the
performances never feel like museum pieces. As shot in crisp digital video
against the warm wood tones of the paneled venue, the program fleshes out the
broadcast version as aired on public television stations (and featured on MSN
Music in performance and interview highlights) with bonus songs and additional
interview footage.
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| Woodstock 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition |
More than just a concert film, "Woodstock" is a record of a
cultural event: "Three days of peace and music," as the subtitle reads, a
chronicle of both the music and the community that formed around it and lived
together in peace for three days on Max Yasgur's farm. It's the music that
everyone remembers, and the film is a time capsule of pop music and youth
culture of the era. But the filmmakers spend almost as much time observing the
audience as they do the musicians, and it charts the evolution of the event over
the course of the weekend: three days in three hours. That's the dynamic that
helped the film win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the
reason it remains such a vital artifact 40 years later. The original
film was shot in 16 mm by a small platoon of young cameramen and blown up to 70
mm, and the editors (led by Thelma Schoonmaker and a young film school grad by
the name of Martin Scorsese) crammed eight hours of footage in a three-hour film
with split-screen presentations. The new edition features a longer director's
cut painstakingly restored from original materials, plus "Untold Stories," 18
bonus performances from Joan Baez, Santana, the Who, Jefferson Airplane and five acts ( Paul Butterfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter and Mountain) that played at Woodstock but never
appeared in any film version. Also features "Woodstock: From Festival to
Feature," a 76-minute collection of featurettes that chronicles the festival and
the film through interviews. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a jukebox
function to program the "Untold Stories" and BD-Live functions (for BD-Live
enabled players). |
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Cheerleader MoviesWith Megan Fox in
'Jennifer's Body,' we look at our favorite cheerleader films | |
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