Cheap Gillian Welch - The Revelator Collection (DVD) (Gillian Welch) Price

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Customer Reviews of Gillian Welch - The Revelator Collection

Tender black and white footage of Welch and Rawlings!
The Gillian Welch Revelator Collection DVD is 59 minutes of black and white footage of the great folk music duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Though Welch always gets solo billing on the duo's recordings, this disc does reveal that this is a duo act, as anyone who's seen them knows. There are three edited "videos" shot in a studio in Nashville, "Elvis Presley Blues," "My First Lover" featuring Welch on banjo, and the title track. Then there are nine songs filmed live at performances in Carrboro, NC and Knoxville, TN in 2001. The songs are a very tender "April the 14th," the Welch-penned "Wichita" which was a bluegrass hit for Tim O'Brien, a rousing "Red Clay Halo," a beautiful rendering of Bob Dylan's "Billy" from the Pat Garrett soundtrack, Neil Young's "Pocahontas," a second "Revelator," David Rawlings' lead vocal on the Bill Monroe "I'm On My Way Back to the Old Home," Townes Van Zandt's "White Freghtliner Blues," and a "bonus track" of the fine "I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll." The moments before "Pocahontas" show Welch and Rawlings humbly discussing the box that is always behind them when they play, and a harmonica that is found inside. This casual discussion best conveys the cozy, improvised feeling that one gets a Welch-Rawlings concert. The Welch-Rawlings CDs are fine, especially Revelator, but the live concert portion of this DVD presents this exemplary folk duo in their truest form. I highly recommend this DVD as the best possible introduction for those who aren't yet familiar with Welch and Rawlings, and as a wonderful souvenir for the faithful waiting for the next chance to see them live in concert.

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Very nice package
This DVD is a video summary of the duo's 2001 tour, emphasizing cover versions of songs not on their albums (songs by Neil Young, Bob Dylan, among others). The DVD has 3 sections. The first is 3 studio songs from their Time album. The second comprises concert appearances from two locations in the South. The 3rd is a "bonus" presentation of "I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll" in concert. Strangely, the disc stops playing continuously before this last song, so you have to go back to the menu to play it. Why a "bonus"? I doubt there is an alternate version of this DVD without this track.
Regardless, the songs are beautiful, and the videos are spiced up now and then with quirky photography, in keeping with the couple's playful spirit. The black-and-white photography is just fine for this sparse, old-time music. In short, this is a lovely package presentation of this couple's music as it appears today. It does not sound much different from the official studio recordings, but very nice to look at and listen to nonetheless, with several cover versions not found on the CDs. (David Rawlings takes the lead on one tune, and you wonder why he does not more often get the spotlight.)

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Gillian Welch / David Rawlings Revelator DVD
This DVD truly reflects the feel you get when seeing Gillian & David live. They are exceptionally talented musicians and it shows in the DVD. Kudos to the director / producer.