Search - So You Wanna Be A Rock N Roll Star on DVD

Great for Sixties music fans!

Bryan Barrow | Santa Cruz, CA USA | 11/27/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I enjoyed this DVD, with one reservation- some of the songs are crossfaded with 60's stock footage (Viet Nam, protests, etc) and some lame narration. Despite that, it contains many rare clips, mostly from the German show "Beat Club" or "Musikladen". Most of the songs are lip synched, so the audio is taken from the original recordings and is excellent. Even the songs that are live sound great(the Hollies track rocks!). Here's the track list:
1. The Who- Pictures of Lily
2. Crazy World of Arthur Brown- Fire
3. Cream- Strange Brew
4.Richie Havens- Here Comes the Sun
5. Joe Cocker- With A Little Help from my Friends
6. Manfred Mann- Mighty Quinn
7. Beach Boys- Do It Again
8. Small Faces- Lazy Sunday
9. Hollies- Jennifer Eccles
10. Canned heat - Let's work together (live audio)
11. Thunderclap Newman- Something in the air
12. Brian Auger Trinity- This Wheel's on Fire
13. Kinks- Waterloo Sunset
14. Spencer Davis Group- Keep On Running
15. Traffic- Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
16. Status Quo- Are you tired of my love?
17. Everly Bros. - Stories We Could Tell
18. Moody Blues- I Really Haven't Got the time
19. Hollies- I can't let go (live, awesome!)
20. Manfred Mann- Fox On the Run
21. Who- I'm Free
22. Byrds- So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll star (live)
23. Procul Harum- Salty Dog
24. Ike & Tina- Proud mary (live)"

Unexpected highlights

running_man | Chesterfield Twp., MI | 11/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It wasn't easy for rock 'n' roll stars to get visual exposure prior to the heyday of the MTV music video. For the most part, television appearances were limited to traditional variety shows such as Ed Sullivan, Hullabaloo, Shindig, and talk shows such as Dick Cavett and Mike Douglas. Of course there were the occasional feature length films like Monterey Pop and Woodstock, and eventually late-night weekend programming such as Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and ABC-TV's 'In Concert' series began opening the door to extended performances. Most of the material for this UK import DVD was drawn from the more rock star friendly confines of The Beat Club and Musikladen European programs. Even though those shows boister a reputation for allowing performers to reenact their stage performances, most of what is included on this DVD are lip-synched, highly choreographed, and special effects laden productions. That, of course, is unfortunate, but at least we get to see historic footage of many acts, often performing some of their less appreciated recordings.

Among the truly live sequences, the most entertaining chapters include Richie Havens doing an inspired 'Here Comes the Sun', Canned Heat rocking out on 'Let's Get Together' (and featuring the amazingly stoic Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson laying rich slide guitar runs between Bob 'The Bear' Hite's rugged verses), a too-young-to-shave Steve Winwood delivering 'Keep On Running' with the Spencer Davis clan, the Hollies on 'I Can't Let Go' (it's a real trip to see and hear Graham Nash in his formative years), The Byrds with Roger McGuinn and Clarence White romping through the title track, and the big finish... both Ike and Tina Turner igniting the stage with a bombshell performance of CCR's 'Proud Mary' (this one featuring Ike's heavy bass vocals). Viewing these tracks alone surely justifies the purchase of the video for any fan of 1960's rock.

Among the more inspired lip-synchs are Arthur Brown's 'Fire' (with the lead singer in full flaming regalia), the very cool-looking Beach Boys on 'Do It Again', and Joe Cocker just as suitably spastic on 'With a Little Help From My Friends'. Of course some of the acts seem either opposed to or completely incompetent in lip-synch mode. Among them are Cream on 'Strange Brew' (which is lip-synched by Clapton, although Jack Bruce actually sang the lead vocal), and Steve Marriot not even near the microphone on 'Lazy Sunday'. A number of tracks may have limited interest for viewers in the States, as their primary audience was in the UK, where this DVD was compiled. Among those segments are Julie Driscoll torturing 'This Wheel's On Fire' (although it is interesting to witness Brian Auger providing back-up on piano for her), and Manfred Mann's second offering on the disc, 'Fox On the Run', which has a much stronger cultural appeal for the British. The first of the twenty-three offerings features The Who on 'Pictures of Lily' (nice to see Keith Moon pretending to be playing the drums), but their second selection, 'I'm Free' features only silouette images of the band pretending to be playing the track.

Among the more forgettable 3-minute clips are The Hollies doing 'Jennifer Eccles' (for some reason I don't think songs about girls should include their last names), Thunderclap Newman's 'Something In the Air' (the song is decent, but the band lacks personality), the UK favorites The Status Quo droning 'Are You Growing Tired of My Love' (a title in need of punctuation), and speaking of droning, check out The Moody Blues on 'I Really Haven't Got the Time' (and neither do I!). A bit older Steve Winwood performs with Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood (where was Dave Mason this time?) on the curious 'Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush' (a song whose appeal escapes me), and the pretty much washed-up Everly Brothers on 'Stories We Could Tell' (...but we wish you wouldn't). And Ray Davies, one of the most underrated rock figures, performing 'Waterloo Sunset' which is far from the most distinguished song by The Kinks. Obviously there are a number of lesser tracks here that will force you to keep your remote handy.

Despite some of the filler, I really can't say that I didn't enjoy giving each track the once-over. It was great to see some of these icons of rock music in their early years, well before they had any idea how honored they would become in the lexicon of rock 'n' roll. I even enjoyed the between song video and audio clips from the era, some of which are especially rare and poignant, such as Robert Kennedy announcing the news to a crowd that Martin Luther King had been assassinated. The clips go a long way in putting each song into its historical context. We're lucky to have these moments preserved for our edification on DVD, but aren't there many, many similar gems lying in vaults somewhere, just waiting to be exhumed for posterity? Someone needs to get at the task of editing that vast black and white goldmine before I die!"

Stand-out performances by young Classic Rockers mixed with a

Austin Barry | Boston MA | 11/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of my favorite collections of historic music videos. Many of these are in black and white. Some are straight footage of performances, and some include the somewhat limited "special effects" of the era. It's great to see what a lot of (what are now) classic rock bands looked like when they were very young, with short hair and suits and ties.

Stand out performances (for me) are the the Moody Blues "Just don't have the time" (this looks like it was done live, and the band seems to be thoroughly enjoying themselves putting on a very energetic performance) and the spectacular version of Proud Mary by Ike and Tina Turner, but all performances are at least enjoyable. Unlike later Top of the Pops, the bands look like they are actually performing the songs (no juggling drummers or hands-free guitar playing). Although many of the songs have been (over) played on classic rock stations, some of the songs were new to me.

The sound quality is surprisingly good.

Now for the weak part of the DVD. The videos are interspersed with news clips from the era. Some of these are just too long, and seem to have been picked with the irrelevance of a keyword search (example: Concorde's first flight => "something in the air"). The short introductions (from the original shows) work much better."