Search - Charlie Rich: In Concert on DVD

Satisfying

Vorthog | Ontario, Canada | 01/13/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was a little bit worried ordering this DVD because nobody had reviewed it yet and I've had some bad experiences lately with some shoddy quality DVDs (see my review of one of Anne Murray's DVDs). But I'm happy to report that overall this all-regions DVD made in Germany turned out to be pretty decent.

It is not remastered, so you do get a bit of grain like on tape, but the picture is quite clear and the colours are bright and vibrant. The case says it has surround sound, but since I don't have a surround set-up I can't comment on this point.

Y'know, it's funny how you might not appreciate something at first, but as time goes on you find yourself missing it. That's the way it has been for me with Charlie Rich's music.

Back in the 70s, Charlie had 2 of the biggest hits of the decade with "The Most Beautiful Girl" and "Behind Closed Doors". You could literally hear these songs playing EVERYWHERE you went, for the entire decade and years afterwards. This led me to get kind of sick of Charlie's music and to even view it as kind of tacky.

But then couple of years back, just out of the blue I suddenly found that his songs kept popping into my head, and I realized how long it had been since I had heard them or heard anything at all about Charlie Rich. When I looked him up, I was saddened to learn that Charlie had died back in 1995.

I have fond memories of riding in the car as a child with country music like Charlie Rich playing on my dad's 8-track tape deck. Well, my dad is gone now, and just last week my mom gave away the box of 8-track tapes she had found in the basement -- including one by Charlie Rich -- to a local charity collection drive. It seems that day by day, that time in my life is growing more and more distant...

And suddenly I find that I have a new appreciation for the music of Charlie Rich.

I was afraid that this DVD might not be so great since there is absolutely no information given in the product description. I've found that often that's a warning sign that the concert being peddled is from late in an artist's career when they are kind of in decline.

But not so here! This DVD is of a 1975 show filmed by the BBC, and shows Charlie at the absolute prime of his career. This was EXACTLY the Charlie Rich I remembered and had been longing to see again!

Songs:
1. The Most Beautiful Girl
2. Nice 'N' Easy
3. Every Time You Touch Me
4. Lonely Weekends
5. A Very Special Love Song
6. There Won't Be Anymore
7. I Love My Friend
8. She Called Me Baby
9. Big Boss Man
10. Mohair Man
11. Behind Closed Doors

Charlie alternates between singing standing up, and taking turns behind the piano as I remember him. One of the songs has a rockabilly kind of sound, and I was surprised to hear in Charlie's intro to it that he had also been at Sun Records in its heyday along with Elvis and Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. I never knew he had been around that long! To me he was the epitome of a 70s artist (CMA Entertainer of the Year for 1974).

And on "Big Boss Man" he shows a bluesy side I never knew he had in him.

But the best part of the concert for me was the final number. He really does a great job on this classic song!

After it was over, I felt like the DVD was kind of short. But when I went back and saw that it was a full set with 11 songs, I realized it must have only seemed short because I was enjoying it so much!

Unfortunately there are no extras included. I really wish they could have maybe thrown in some footage of Charlie riding around in his big white Cadillac Eldorado convertible. Remember that? It always seemed to set the standard of 70s luxury for me.

So in summary, even though it's not remastered and even though it's a bare-bones DVD with no extras, if you're a fan of The Silver Fox, I think you WILL enjoy this DVD.





"