This new documentary tells the partial story of Bob Dylan and The Band between the early 1960's up to the final concert together, as filmed in 1976 for The Last Waltz The Last Waltz (Special Edition) . Some portions are about Dylan on his own, while others focus on The Band without Dylan. The important thing to say is that there is no complete performance to be seen here, only some 10 seconds clips with comments on voice-over, from time to time. For example, you will not see here the performance from circa 1968 appearing on this DVD's front cover. The oldest documents show the original Hawks as a backing group with Ronnie Hawkins playing "Who Do You Love?", but again, only for a few seconds. Discussions are often instructive, especially those with The Band original producer John Simon and brief comments by keyboard genius Garth Hudson. Among survivors, we see as well drummer Mickey Jones, who took the place of Levon Helm during the 1966 European tour of Bob Dylan and The Band; he reflects on those years and acknowledges the fact that Dylan generously paid him for a full year after his 1966 motorcycle accident because of the cancelled U.S. tour that would have taken place later in August 1966, even though he was not forced to. Later, Charlie McCoy (a studio musician from Nashville who played on three Dylan albums) reflects as well about the recording sessions made WITHOUT The Band, for instance during the 1968 John Wesley Harding sessions and the 1969 Nashville Skyline sessions. But keep in mind most of the film (almost 2 hours) is a succession of talking heads discussing Dylan and The Band shows, recordings, and reunions. So don't expect to see moments from the great, unfilmed (?) 1974 tour of Dylan with The Band; there is none of that "Golden Age" era to be seen here. Elsewhere, you can watch a glimpse of about 30 seconds from the 1969 Isle of Wight concert (as partly heard on the Self Portrait album Self Portrait ) with 3 of The Beatles sitting in the crowd, and that's it. You can also see the 1966 Dylan speaking about his European tour and the "electric" controversy (possibly with excerpts taken from the rare 1966 documentary titled Eat the Document). Overall frustrating for those who want to watch live performances of Dylan or for those who need to listen to complete songs in rare versions, but nevertheless interesting for the fan who wants to understand how this timeless music evolved and changed between 1965 and 1976. No extras, no subtitles, no booklet. It would have been great to have all the performances reunited in complete versions as supplements.

Simply put: this CD is the best introduction to jazz. It brings in great artists playing jazz standards or well-known classics, mostly recorded during the 1960s. In fact, the least interesting song in this collection is, oddly, the opening track sung by Nina Simone. Of course, some of the best trumpet players are missing (like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, or Chet Baker) and there is no fantastic organ by Jimmy Smith (who for a while recorded for the Verve label); but hey!, this is only one CD (not a box set) and take a look at the unbeatable price (for a used copy, on the U.S. Amazon.com, not the Canadian site). You just cannot go wrong with these Verve recordings from a golden era. I cannot imagine a more comprehensive jazz compilation on one single CD.

Je ne comprends pas pourquoi les commentateurs précédents sont si sévères à l'endroit de cet excellent film, qui me paraît un chef d'oeuvre, certainement le meilleur long métrage d'Alain Resnais. En outre, la présence discrète mais efficace de Henri Laborit ajoute à l'ampleur et à la richesse du propos. Sans oublier les grands acteurs comme Gérard Depardieu et Nicole Garcia. Ce film a été longtemps introuvable sur notre continent et c'est un réel bonheur de pouvoir enfin le trouver à si bon compte. Certainement un grand moment du cinéma français.

Do you like camera changes at every 3 seconds? That is what you are going to have with this DVD. Great performances, many hits, excellent musicians and Tom in top form. But these endless camera moves are pointless and make me feel dizzy, especially with a large screen. Impossible to follow a musician or Tom himself because the point of view is always changing. It must be fun for the editor to change angles at all the times, but that person must be the only one to enjoy it ! Too bad this editing style has now become fashionable. I cannot stand it more than 3 minutes, and here you get it for two hours.

Great performance by an immense artist, with skilled musicians (better than the original CCR members). BUT this DVD show from 1998 is marred by too much camera moves and over-editing: each shot lasts no more than 6 seconds. The cameras on cranes are moving all the time and it does not take much time to get dizzy. One cannot follow the chords on the guitar or concentrate on anything. The only positive point is that you can follow the lyrics on subtitles during all songs. So 5 stars for Mr. Fogerty and 0 for the technical crew. Potential buyers should look at other shows, especially on the UK Amazon.

There is no doubt Peggy Lee was a great artist; we find here many rare performances which are cut short, with the narrators talking over them. You do not always get the full performance of the songs. About every solo is "filled" with a voice-over that says "she was the best", "I loved her"... Other solos are filled with home movies or interviews with K.D. Lang. Too much editing. Do you really need to know this? Let's focus on music and the singer, come on !

Ce livre n'est pas tant une biographie de Dusty, mais plutôt une étude de toutes ses chansons, présentées alphabétiquement, avec l'explication des circonstances de l'enregistrement de chacune. C'est une discographie critique, écrite par un expert dans le domaine, longtemps à la tête du "fan club" britannique de Dusty. Ce sera un guide pour celui qui voudrait explorer ses oeuvres ou choisir ses disques parmi les nombreuses compilations, les raretés, les rééditions en DVD. Il contient quelques photographies. Petula Clark signe une brève préface (probablement dictée).

Laurel Aitken (1927 - 2005) est un grand artiste du ska et du reggae, mais aussi un précurseur méconnu du genre, avant Jimmy Cliff et The Maytals. On trouve ici ses premières pièces, plus authentiques, enregistrées en Jamaïque. C'était avant son émigration vers l'Angleterre en 1960. Ces pièces introuvables étaient seulement disponibles en 78 tours ou sur un CD rare, uniquement en importation et en occasion.
Tous ses autres disques disponibles en CD datent d'après cette période et sont assez différents: la plupart de ses grands succès furent enregistrés en Angleterre bien après, durant les années 1960 et 1970.
Sur "Boogie in My Bones", les mélodies de Laurel Aitken ne sont pas vraiment du ska ni du reggae, mais elles annoncent l'éclosion de ces genres: une sorte de chaînon manquant musical. Les arrangements sont légers, gais, dansants; parfois rudimentaires, presque primitifs. Sur d'autres pièces, on sent l'influence de la musique afro-cubaine (d'où Aitken était originaire) et du R&B, avec la présence du saxophone.
La première pièce de ce CD a probablement été copiée par Harry Belafonte sur son fameux disque "Calypso" Calypso . Le livret est bien illustré et instructif. Ce CD sera intéressant pour tout amateur d'histoire de la musique jamaïquaine. C'est un disque intemporel, qui ne vieillira pas. 28 titres en tout: imbattable!

"Copacabana" est certainement le plus drôle des nombreux films de Carmen Miranda. Malheureusement introuvable en Europe, il en existe une version en anglais seulement et sans sous-titres sur DVD en Zone 1, que l'on trouve à bas prix sur "Amazon.ca". Ici, Carmen Miranda joue deux rôles: une chanteuse latino aigrie, et une "French chanteuse" aguichante et sensuelle venant des colonies (on évoque le Maroc). Dans son second rôle, elle porte le voile comme déguisement. Elle chante dans un faux français hilarant, et le film (à petit budget) ressemble parfois à une parodie de Hollywood, voire de Bollywood, avant la lettre. Et Groucho Marx (aux gags très moyens) se fait voler la vedette par la vedette ! On rit beaucoup et fort en voyant ce film dont le début est toutefois un peu lent.

Ce CD me rappelle parfois la musique du film "Le mari de la coiffeuse", avec Jean Rochefort. Cet excellent CD est introuvable; mais plusieurs des pièces se retrouvent aussi sur une autre compil sur la même étiquette (importée de France) : "Escale au Moyen-Orient" ou "A Journey To Middle East" A Journey To Middle East . Il est plus facile de trouver les disques de cette étiquette sur des sites de France comme Amazon.fr ou autres.