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The last are among the best aspects of the DVDs, as the bonus material features the set's only complete tunes. Lou Reed's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" and the ElektriK Mud Kats' (with Chuck D. of Public Enemy) hip-hop-cum-traditional updating of Muddy Waters's "Mannish Boy" are among the best of them; on the other hand, a rendition of "Cry Me a River" by Lulu (?!) is a curious choice, even with Jeff Beck on hand. The absence of lengthier vintage clips, meanwhile, is the principal drawback. For that reason alone, Clint Eastwood's Piano Blues is the best of the lot; a musician himself, Eastwood simply lets the players play, which means we get extensive file footage of the likes of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Nat "King" Cole, as well as new performances by Ray Charles, Dr. John, and others. Overall, this is a set to savor, a worthwhile investment guaranteed to grow on you over the course of repeated viewings. --Sam Graham
| CATEGORY: | Video |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 28 September, 2003 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Sony |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Box set, Black & White, Color, Compilation, NTSC |
| TYPE: | Acoustic Blues, Acoustic Memphis Blues, Acoustic Texas Blues, Album Rock, Blues, Blues Collections, Blues Revival, Blues-Rock, British Blues, Chicago Blues, Classic Jazz, Contemporary Blues, Country Blues, Delta Blues, Documentary, Early American Blues, East Coast Blues, Electric Blues, Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Country Blues, Electric Texas Blues, Folk-Blues, Guitar Virtuoso, Hard Rock, Jazz Blues, Modern Acoustic Blues, Modern Electric Blues, Piedmont Blues, Pop, Prewar Blues, Prewar Country Blues, Prewar Gospel Blues, R&B, Retro-Soul, Slide Guitar Blues, Soul-Blues, Texas Blues, West Coast Blues |
| MEDIA: | VHS Tape |
| # OF MEDIA: | 7 |
| UPC: | 074645580838 |
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Customer Reviews of Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues - A Musical Journey
The coffee table book on blues....not a history Martin Scorsese says it himself in the special features section of Disc 1, there have been other historical films done on the blues, this isn't one of them, at least for the most part. <
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>This film, instead, is a colage of different ideas about the blues, where the director's preferance is the guide. It's more about a snapshot of moments than any kind of real history. While some have argued that the directors spend too much time on "insignificant" bluesfolk and not enough time on popular bluesmen of the time. That's really the director's perogative and overall the collage format works. <
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>There are a couple films that overall are just really, really slow "The Road To Memphis" (Featuring B.B. King) and Clint Eastwood piano bit seems like an odd way to end the series. But, it once again falls into the over all theme of the project, 7 men painting what the Blues is for them. <
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>I would have loved to hear more about Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, but he was mentioned briefly in the first film. What I got instead was a wider perspective than my own small view on the Blues before hand. And I'm no slouch either. There are plenty of people talking up John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson and Eric Clapton out there, this series hits other spots, some of which I didn't really know about. <
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>There are some complaints about talking over musical performances. All that is easily mended when you venture into the Special Features and Song Selection options on each disc. Uninterupted footage of the performances within each episode. Maybe it's not the most time efficient way of getting what you want, but seriously. <
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>Ken Burns I think is a bit overrated and other reviewers pleas to him to do a Blues series, will probably never happen. He did Jazz and that's really all he's going to do on music. I'd love to see one the other said films on Blues history, but Blues to me has always been more about feeling than accuracy or chronology.
Fascinating & Infuriating
Please see the other reviews which adequately sum up the contents of these films. I won't spend my time on that.
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>What I will do is describe my viewing experience, which was profound joy and glee at seeing the vintage performance footage, followed by dismay and confusion as each filmmaker interjected annoying Voice-Overs, dramatic re-creations, and other material that completely detracted from the significance of what was being shown, even as they attempted to emphasize it.
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>For example, the "Soul of a Man" video (horrid, horrid title, by the way) concludes with an unbelievable performance of the song "Crow Jane" by Skip James, which was culled from a Dutch television performance not long before his death. It is gripping and enthralling. I almost don't have words to describe it. I would buy the DVD for that performance alone.
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>Now picture that epic performance followed by some cheap CGI graphic of outer space, with the Voyager spacecraft floating by, (I'm not kidding) and Lawrence Fishburn giving a heavy handed narration that sounds like a seventh-grader's book report: "These Blues artists have a place in history, even though they died a poor man's death ... blah blah blah" -- NO KIDDING!!??!! Just let me watch the vintage footage of Son House already, and SHUT UP!
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>I was very interested also in the DVD "special features" but they turned out to be just another basket of frustration. I clicked on the "Songs from the Movie" link, hoping to have UN-CUT renditions of the songs featured in the film. Would that have been too hard?!?! Apparently so. Instead, you get treated to the 30-second snippet of the hacked-up songs *exactly* as they appear in the film. Thanks for nothing, idiots. But hey, you can read all about the director's filmography and hear his commentary all day long (who cares!).
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>Also the footage of other musicians covering the classic tunes was a waste of time. Showing something like John Mayall's "Death of J.B. Lenoir" is completely appropriate, and integral to the story (so naturally that homage gets short shrift). Yet some "alternative" artist gets scads of screen time to do a punk rendition of a classic -- it's a crime to even include that kind of crud on these discs. OK, it's a tribute. OK, "Today's artists still draw influence from these Blues Masters" -- every person with an ounce of musical knowledge knows that already. It's a MOOT POINT. I can go to the record store and get 45 Bonnie Raitt albums and watch her on VH-1. Enough, already!
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>If anything this set of films is interesting as a Blues primer and a container of precious gems that are scattered throughout so much junk filmmaking. I'd suggest you check this set out from the local library and watch them, before deciding if it's something you want to own. It will definitely give you a jones to look up more vintage films and recordings.
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>Ken Burns would have done this project sooo much more justice. I wish Scorsese would just open up his vault of vintage recordings and release this stuff un-edited and raw. It would've been better that way.
Truely Fascinating!
Five stars is just not enough. This collection is a MUST HAVE forn all blues fans and, in my opinion, should be mandatory study for every student of music.