Marketing begins: "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues"
Jef Jaisun
the airwaves. It's a massive blitz of blues CDs, far exceeding the
soundtracks of the seven film episodes. Anybody have track lists for the
soundtrack CDs yet?
Ted Drozdowski wrote a rave review for the Amazon web site. Here's his
summation: "This is by far the best and most comprehensive introduction to
recorded blues ever assembled, drawing styles, record labels, and eras
together with the efficiency of a spider's web." A dissenter responded:
"No, Ted, that would be Rhino's "Blues Masters" series. Start there if
you're just beginning to explore The Blues."
Time to find out if all the effort and hype has been worth it.
Jef
P.S. Usual disclaimer re Amazon.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Amazon.com Delivers Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues
Save big on releases that accompany the ambitious PBS blues series
"Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues, A Musical Journey." This
seven-part television documentary series--each episode directed by a
world-famous film director--is an incredibly comprehensive
collection of blues music. Check out all the available items from
the series, including a five-CD box set collecting music from all
the films, a 21-track best-of compilation CD that serves as an
overview of the project, 12 individual artist CDs featuring popular
and influential music from major blues artists, soundtracks for each
film, a DVD boxed set of the seven films (with additional content),
and a companion book. Whew! Scroll below to discover, explore, and
save on these releases that provide a definitive overview of this
great American musical genre. Or, go directly to the "Martin
Scorsese Presents: The Blues" Store.
SAVE ON THE BLUES CD BOX SET
****************************
"Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey [SOUNDTRACK]"
Various Artists
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0VA1/ref=mk_del_501901
The five-disc CD box set "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues, A
Musical Journey" captures musical highlights from the ambitious PBS
series and serves as a historical overview of the great American
genre.
SAVE ON THE BLUES DVD BOXED SET
*******************************
"Martin Scorcese presents The Blues - A Musical Journey"
Martin Scorsese
MPAA rating: NR (Not Rated)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000CBHOI/ref=mk_del_501901
The seven-disc DVD compilation "Martin Scorsese Presents: The
Blues, A Musical Journey" features each 90-minute documentary film
in the ambitious PBS series, including impressionistic and
iconoclastic works by such directors as Clint Eastwood, Wim Wenders,
Mike Figgis, and series executive producer Scorsese.
SAVE ON THE BLUES COMPANION BOOK
********************************
"Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey"
Peter Guralnick
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060525444/ref=mk_del_501901
The companion hardcover book to the Martin Scorsese Presents: The
Blues, A Musical Journey television series includes essays,
interviews, and archival material from the likes of Peter Guralnick,
Studs Terkel, Elmore Leonard, and Nick Cave.
SAVE ON THE BLUES INDIVIDUAL ARTIST CDS
***************************************
"Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: B.B. King"
B.B. King
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0VA5/ref=mk_del_501901
As part of the Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues series, 12
individual artist collections feature the most popular and
influential recordings from artists like B.B. King, Muddy Waters,
Eric Clapton, Robert Johnson, Son House, and Bessie Smith.
See all the individual artist CD collections
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/501674/ref=mk_del_501901
SAVE ON THE BLUES SOUNDTRACKS
*****************************
Under the guidance of executive producer Martin Scorsese, The Blues
is a seven-part television series of personal and impressionistic
films that capture the essence of blues music and its evolution to a
universal language. The seven films were directed by Scorsese,
Charles Burnett, Clint Eastwood, Mike Figgis, Marc Levin, Richard
Pearce, and Wim Wenders, all of whom share a passion for the music.
The films' soundtracks feature music from a wide range of artists
like John Lee Hooker, Lucinda Williams, the Rolling Stones, and
Howlin' Wolf. Here are the soundtracks to the films:
* "Feel Like Going Home" soundtrack to the film by Martin Scorsese
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0AZ9/ref=mk_del_501901
* "Warming by the Devil's Fire" soundtrack to the film by Charles
Burnett
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A1VEM/ref=mk_del_501901
* "The Road to Memphis" soundtrack to the film by Richard Pearce
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0V9Y/ref=mk_del_501901
* "The Soul of a Man" soundtrack to the film by Wim Wenders
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A1VEN/ref=mk_del_501901
* "Piano Blues" soundtrack to the film by Clint Eastwood
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0AZ8/ref=mk_del_501901
* "Godfathers and Sons" soundtrack to the film by Marc Levin
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0V9Z/ref=mk_del_501901
* "Red, White, and Blues" soundtrack to the film by Mike Figgis
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0VA0/ref=mk_del_501901
See all the film soundtrack CDs
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/502085/ref=mk_del_501901
SAVE ON MARTIN SCORSESE PRESENTS: THE BLUES
*******************************************
"Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Muddy Waters"
Muddy Waters
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0VA7/ref=mk_del_501901
"Martin Scorsese: Best of the Blues [SOUNDTRACK]"
Various Artists
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AOV6M/ref=mk_del_501901
"Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Feel Like Going Home
[SOUNDTRACK]"
Various Artists
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0AZ9/ref=mk_del_501901
"Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues"
Stevie Ray Vaughan
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A0AZ6/ref=mk_del_501901
Explore the Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues Store
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/3677501/ref=mk_del_501901
SAVE ON RELATED BLUES CDS
*************************
T-Bone Walker's "The Complete Imperial Recordings, 1950-1954"
serves up two CDs of groundbreaking recordings from one of the most
influential guitarists in the history of the blues. Check out more
blues recordings:
* Related blues recordings
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/501673/ref=mk_del_501901
* Related blues box sets
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/501672/ref=mk_del_501901
*****
C 2003 Amazon.com. All rights reserved. Amazon.com is a registered
trademark of Amazon.com, Inc.
Archives & web interface: http://lists.netspace.org/archives/blues-l.html
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Art Schuna
gracious enough to send copies to our Station for airplay). I have not
seen those
produced Hip-O/Universal or whatever they call themselves these days. Of
the Columbia
soundtracks (those produced by Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Clint Eastwood
and
a 4th person who escapes my memory right now) I've heard, they mostly cover
ground
that will be familiar to most long time blues fans/collectors. They seem
to find about
3-4 tracks that will be previously unissued though I think Clint's Piano
blues CD is all
previously released if I am remembering this correctly.
A complete track list for the 5 CD box reviewed by Amazon can be found at
www.cdconnection.com
which also has sound clips for songs you may not be familiar with. They
also produced
a "box set lite" - one CD with all of the usual subjects for those who
don't want the whole
kielbasa.
The Columbia issues of the 12 individual artist CDs that I have seen have
no new material as far
as I can tell but are nice career overviews of the artists in question for
those who do not already
own it and would probably be a good place to start if you don't have
anything by that artist and
need more than a track or two that may be found on the compilations.
Of the 4 soundtracks I've heard, Martin Scorsese's Feel Like Going Home is
the most interesting to
me. As I understand it they travel to the Delta as well as Africa to seek
out the roots of this music.
The soundtrack has interesting examples of blues as well as African tunes
with a definite blues
influence (hard to say who influenced who on these particular recordings -
I think I read somewhere
Al Farka Toure for example claims John Lee Hooker as an influence).
I understand the DVD set will include 3 hours of additional material not
broadcast. I think I'll wait to see
the TV show before considering these.
Of the unseen, unheard material the show purporting to show the future of
the blues may prove to be
the most controversial. The "made for TV" rap/blues group featuring Chuck
D was seen by me at
the Chicago Blues Festival. These guys did not belong on the stage. Don't
get me wrong, there may
be a place for rap/hip-hop in the blues but why not use a guy like Chris
Thomas King (who interestingly
portrays Blind Willie Johnson for a silent movie in one of the shows but is
not himself on the soundtrack)
rather than use a fake group featuring a guy who is probably considered
"old school" by most of the
youngsters backed by the jazz musicians who sat in on Muddy's Electric Mud
LP? It boggles my
mind.
BTW - if these shows whet your appetite for blues video, seek out the 2
American Folk Blues DVDs
recently released. These were done in the 1960s for German TV originally
and although I have only
seen about half of the first disc, the bonus feature performance by Earl
Hooker is worth the price alone.
Art
>Here's what Amazon.com is sending out, on the eve of the PBS series hitting
>the airwaves. It's a massive blitz of blues CDs, far exceeding the
>soundtracks of the seven film episodes. Anybody have track lists for the
>soundtrack CDs yet?
Archives & web interface: http://lists.netspace.org/archives/blues-l.html
Ron Weinstock
wrote:
>I have only seen about half of these (those produced by Columbia who were
>gracious enough to send copies to our Station for airplay). \
>A complete track list for the 5 CD box reviewed by Amazon can be found at
>www.cdconnection.com
>which also has sound clips for songs you may not be familiar with. They
>also produced
>a "box set lite" - one CD with all of the usual subjects for those who
>don't want the whole
>kielbasa.
>
>The Columbia issues of the 12 individual artist CDs that I have seen have
>no new material as far
>as I can tell but are nice career overviews of the artists in question for
>those who do not already
>own it and would probably be a good place to start if you don't have
>anything by that artist and
>need more than a track or two that may be found on the compilations.
>
>>Archives & web interface: http://lists.netspace.org/archives/blues-l.html
>NetSpace LISTSERV(R) software donated by L-Soft, Inc.
http://www.lsoft.com
I have submitted a somewhat negative review of the 5cd set based on a quick
overview of the track listing and who is included and not included. That
twit from Boston who called this the best survey of blues evenb though it
appears to ignore EastCoast blues and other major artists to include
Clapton with Mayall or Jeff Beck's Ain't Superstitious or Susan Tedeschi is
bogus and a very bleached seletion of blues. Also issuance of single discs
to Clapton and Hendrix smacks solely of marketability, as opposed to their
contributions as Blues artists. I think a fair amount of blame probably
goes to Bob Santelli who once put together a list of essential list of CDs
for Digital Audio magazine that included Joplin, Mayall, SRV and Joplin but
not ZZ Hill Bobby Bland or others. By the way, if you are going to include
Clapton or Hendrix, why not Ornette Coleman and Mingus, who actually did
more than become accomplished stylists.
Do we need another Clapton or Hendrix compilation. Imagine a cd devoted to
a Joe Louis walker or Lucky peterson, someone who deserves exposure.
Looking at the five disc survey, the best of single cd as well as the
selection of artists for single cds, this series of recordings is not
nearly on the level of those that accompanied the Ken Burns series, even
with justified critciisms of the limitation of scope in that series.
Ron
Joe Kessler
of the tracks shows an excellent selection of classics and a few quality
newbies - around 20 songs on a CD that I've seen advertised for $9.99. On
the other hand, one of the later tracks is a Los Lobos number. JMHO, they
don't belong on a CD with Son House, RJ, Wolf, Skip James, Muddy, BB and
John Lee.
Joe
Ron Wienstock>>I have submitted a somewhat negative review of the 5cd set