The Best Of Soul Train (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)Soooooouuuuuullllll Train! I'm as white as they come, but I loved this show in its heyday. I was 12 when it premiered in 1970. It was a window into a culture as smooth and brash in its musicality and vernacular as it was in its dyn-o-mite dancing and day-glo fashion. Don Cornelius was the serene ruler of this kingdom, speaking in a voice both sonorous and mellifluous, wearing royal silk shirts and maroon velveteen suits, not a hair out of place in his afro crown. I tuned in both to groove to the great songs and to make myself just a bit hipper, and my own record collection, bellbottoms, wide lapels, and platform shoes were evidence of my devotion to the music and the people who produced it.
There is no way this 3-DVD set, with its wide array of stars and 50 great songs spread over five hours, could deserve less than the highest rating, even if the mastering were second rate. But the audio and video reproduction are excellent; Time-Life knows its stuff. And there are more than three hours of extras consisting primarily of lengthy retrospective interviews with such figures as the imperturbable Don Cornelius and the voluble Smokey Robinson.
This wonderful compilation is a priceless sampler of the 1970s and a who's who of classic soul, from the Queen to the Godfather. Among others, you'll find represented Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, The Isley Brothers, The O'Jays, The Commodores, Sly Stone, Barry White, Bill Withers, Gladys Knight, Lou Rawls, Teddy Pendergrass, Curtis Mayfield, and Jaaaaaaaaaames Brown! "The Best of Soul Train" needs a star in its rating for every star on the DVDs!
Two cautions: The Spinners, The Chi-Lites, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and The Stylistics do not appear on this set, despite what the product description claims, and some of the performers lip-sync. A complete list of the contents:
DVD 1
The Isley Brothers - "That Lady" / "Live It Up" / "Summer Breeze"
Barry White - "Can't Get Enough of Your Love Babe" / "What Am I Gonna Do with You" / "You're the First, the Last, My Everything"
Love Unlimited Orchestra - "Love's Theme"
Marvin Gaye - "Come Get to This" / "Distant Lover" / "Let's Get It On"
Sly & The Family Stone - "I Want to Take You Higher" / "Dance to the Music"
Gladys Knight & The Pips - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
The O'Jays - "Backstabbers"
Aretha Franklin - "Rock Steady"
Interviews with Don Cornelius, Smokey Robinson, and Brian McKnight
DVD 2
Bill Withers - "Use Me" / "Lean on Me"
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - "If You Don't Know Me by Now"
Commodores - "Still" / "Three Times a Lady" / "Sail On"
Curtis Mayfield - "Pusherman" / "Superfly"
War - "Cisco Kid"
The Main Ingredient - "Everybody Plays the Fool"
James Brown - "Get on the Good Foot" / "Try Me" / "Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine" / "Super Bad"
Interviews with Don Cornelius, Cuba Gooding, Sr., and Eric Casem
DVD 3
Stevie Wonder - "My Cherie Amour / Sir Duke / I Wish / These Three Words" (medley)
Aretha Franklin - "I Was Made for You"
Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson - "Ooo Baby Baby"
Teddy Pendergrass - "The Whole Town's Laughing at Me" / "I Don't Love You Anymore"
Lou Rawls - "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" / "From Now On"
L.T.D. - "Love Ballad"
The Jackson Five - "I Want You Back" / "Corner of the Sky" / "Lookin' Through the Windows"
Jermaine Jackson - "Daddy's Home"
Interviews with Smokey Robinson, Jody Watley, and Clarence Avant

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Glenn O'Brien's TV Party (premier episode) (1978) Review

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(More customer reviews)The production value of early underground free tv was low but it perfectly frames the bohemian and progressive attitudes on display.
Glenn has a dry wit and provides off the cuff commentary that is on target. It amazes me how many pop figures all knew each other and very interesting to see them entertaining themselves. If you are interested in the history of the american art underground then you will enjoy this.

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Lost Episodes of Victor Borge Volume II (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)This episode was shot at Carnegie Hall, live, possibly as early as 1959. It was created by recording the surviving black-and-white kinescope film onto VHS.
It begins with glorious shots of the full house, audience standing, as a chorus sings an awe-inspiring hymn of praise -- to Borge. And of course, at its height, the hymn collapses into a dissonant musical joke.
Strangely enough, during the entire episode, we never see the orchestra or the chorus. My guess is they would have required more pay, residuals, or that the paperwork would have been too much for a TV Special.
What we do see is GRAND!
A young Mike Wallace interviews Borge, who is performing as Franz Liszt, in a format like the one used by Murrow on Person to Person. That is, Wallace is seated before a TV monitor on which is shown the home of the guest. Wallace talks to Liszt respectfully and proves an able straight-man for Borge, who is barely recognizable in his period wig.
Liszt (Borge) accepts Wallace's offer to play, and performs with his usual virtuosity, with the fluent addition of children's favorites such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
Then Borge brings out one of his "students" to play a duet. They sit side by side at the piano and each plays the other's half of the keyboard. And they keep playing, even when one or the other ends up on the floor!
The camera work for the time is breathtaking. There are views of Borge and a colleague on the Carnegie Hall stage sitting at two opposing GRAND pianos, taken from the CEILING of the hall.
The humor shines through the medium. If you buy a VHS, though, try to be sure it was recorded at regular, not extended speed. The regular speed shows up a bit crisper.

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