Search - Freddie King: The!!!!Beat 1966 on DVD

Beats the rest!!!! Best Freddie King DVD

Peter E. Hefford | Sydney, Australia | 01/20/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Freddie King probably, unjustifiably so, has the lowest profile of the blues guitar greats known as the 3 Kings (Albert, BB & Freddie). A young Freddie King was a very influential guitarist in the early 60's. Eric Clapton for instance has said he bought his famous "Bluesbreaker" Les Paul guitar after seeing Freddie on a record cover with a Les Paul. And EC later did versions of Freddie's Hideaway, Have You Ever Loved A Woman and I'm Tore Down.

Whilst I think Amazon reviewer Robert Plemmons nails it with his review dated 3 February 2007, I'll nevertheless have a bash at a review too.

These performances on The!!!!Beat TV show in 1966 catch a youngish Freddie King not far removed from his early 60's hey day. The DVD is in colour, which surprised me, being sourced from a 60's TV music show, but then, colour TV happened in the States years before elsewhere.

Freddie is in a suit with processed hair (or pompadour as Robert Plemmons probably more accurately describes it) and is of course chubby & sweating. Freddie really wails on his red Gibson 345 guitar - and remember this is still 1966 - doing fairly tight & tidy versions of many of his early hits, some of which were instrumental.

Full track listing from 1966 is below, and you'll see that Funny Bone, San-Ho-Zay and Hideaway are performed on The!!!!Beat twice:

Funny Bone
Have You Ever Loved A Woman
San-Ho-Zay
I'm Tore Down
Hideaway
I Love The Woman
Papa's Got A Brand New Bag
See See Baby
Sitting On The Boatdock
Shuffle
She Put The Whammy On Me
San-Ho-Zay
Funny Bone
Hideaway

There is also a later show from Sweden in 1973 tacked on, which is similar to the Freddie King Live in Europe DVD performances from Montreux & elsewhere. These later European performances are longer looser jams and Freddie appears to be a bit tired or disinterested and seems to be going through the motions before a reticent Scandinavian crowd.

Track listing from Sweden, 1973:

Have You Ever Loved A Woman
Blues Band Shuffle
Big Leg Woman

But in 1966 on The!!!!Beat, Freddie is young, energetic & enthusiastic. He's also backed by some attractive young go-go dancers. The!!!!Beat's irrepressible Texan MC appears to have genuine affection for Freddie & his playing. The MC announces that (a young) Clarence Gatemouth Brown is the leader of The!!!!Beat backing band !

I have the other Freddie DVD's, Live at the Sugarbowl in 1972, Live in Dallas in 1973, and Live in Europe, and Freddie fans and blues guitar fans must also buy those titles; but The!!!!Beat is the best of the lot and if you could have only one Freddie DVD, this is the one which catches him most accurately.
"

Killer video of Freddie in his prime!

Robert Plemmons | Woodway, TX USA | 02/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Excellent collection of performances by a young Freddie King guesting on a local Dallas knock-off of Shindig (but aimed at a black audience). And get this. The leader of the house band is Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown! The show's host is a jive talking white DJ and they have high school girls in go-go boots as dancers. The sets look like they were borrowed from Laugh-In (think "flower power") and the whole thing is just a hoot, but right in the middle of all this weirdness is Freddie his own-self. Complete with pompadour, shiny suit, and sweat (LOTS of sweat), Freddie pumps out some of the rockingest, most soulful blues you will hear anywhere. There are NO bad cuts and you can clearly see Freddie's hands during most of his time on camera. The only disappointment on this DVD is the 1970s performance footage of Freddie playing in Europe tacked (gratuitously) onto the end of the video. Sporting a 'fro and looking bored, Freddie turns in a meandering, perfunctory set. After seeing him absolutely smoking hot in his earlier performances on "The Beat" the later work looks tired by comparison. That said, this DVD is absolutely worth the money. I've watched this video many times and always enjoy it."

Great Blues TV

6 String Guy | 03/20/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"DVD Freddie King - The!!!! Beat 1966

Very entertaining collection of Freddie King appearances on the TV show The!!!! Beat from 1966. I cannot add much to what the others have said but will say that the DJ host was Hoss Allen who clearly loved the music and even joins the dancing for the fade out on Hideaway track 14. The band is also enjoying the music here and it shows. Some mention has been made of Gatemouth Brown as the house band leader for the show. Quite correct but he doesn't add much to the Freddie King performances and only solos once on the very short track 10 Shuffle. We are very fortunate to have these appearances available again and the entire series featuring many other great artists has been released now for everyone's enjoyment. Great stuff.

As for the 1973 Sweden tracks tacked on to the end, I enjoyed them more than some of the other posters but the vibe from the audience isn't particularly strong. Freddie was trying though and the performances are still worthwhile, particularly track 16 Blues Band Shuffle. Of note here is the fashion sense of the times which has Freddie sporting some monstrous sideburns and what may be the largest shirt collar ever made. These look like little wings and extend practically to the edge of his huge shoulders. It all seemed to work for Freddie though and we can only rejoice in the opportunity to see the great bluesman again and the 1966 shows are terrific fun. Recommended."

The Beat

Mr. Stephen L. Wilson | Nailsworth, SA Australia | 04/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rumour has it that the bass player is Billy Cox, who went on the play with Hendrix in The Band of Gypsies."