Customer Reviews

Casey Kasem's Rock n' Roll Goldmine - The Sixties

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just recently recieved this 60's DVD and being a big fan of that era this looked like it might be a great addition to my collection. Let me break it down song for song, it's easier this way and hopefuly this will help with your decision.

1.White Rabbit-Jefferson Airplane: They were one of the first bands I saw live way back when and it was great to see the original band. The video was fair, pychedelic, of course.
The audio was good but it was lip-synched. 5.1 surround? take that with a grain of salt. (actually 2.1 is better since the center channel has too much going on, this applies to all)

2.People are Strange-The Doors: This is one of the better selections, it was live and the video was clean. If the entire collection was like this I would give it 5 stars.

3.My Generation-The Who: This was also one of the better ones. Since it was from "The Smothers Brothers Show" it was filmed and recorded better than most. Sounds live with some overdubs.

4.Itchycoo Park-Small Faces: Black and White British tv show with good video and audio. Lip-synched. It was just good to see the group and it's such a fun classic tune.

5.Magic Carpet Ride-Steppenwolf: This was a big disappoinmnet, lousy (and stupid) video, the sound was awful. Too bad.

6.Summertime Blues-Blue Cheer: Another lousy video, blurry and black and white (by the looks of the back drop it should have been color)the audio was good; lip-synch.

7.Sunshine of Your Love-Cream: This was live and the film was okay although the shots were closeups more often than they should have been.It jumps in the middle of the song which was a drag. Audio good.

8.On the Road Again-Canned Heat: It a rarity to see this group, the video was fair, black and white and audio good; lip-synched.

9.Purple Haze-Jimi Hendrix: This was live and most likey 1967. Its always great to see the man perform although the color video was poor and the audio was just fair.

10.Try-Janis Joplin: The live audio performance was really good on this one but the color video seems out of focus, too bad because this would have been one of the best ones on the disc.

I'm sure they did the best they could with what they had to work with since poor quality film was used along with bad concepts, bad microphones, etc. If you look at it with an open mind and are from that era it's a kick to see these artists.

Yep, the songs are great ones, the artists are great ones, and I'm just a bit less critical than the previous writer. Sure the production values could've been better on a few of these, but really, do you need to see Steppenwolf or Blue Cheer in a pristine transfer to appreciate their rocknroll greatness? Uhhh....I don't think so. Play this one loud and often, and enjoy it more every time! Recommended!!

Ah, the uplifting times when everything was changing and anything seemed possible. For pure nostalgia it would be hard to beat the Who's performance here, all of them young, thin and angry. Sure some of the audio / video is mediocre, but perhaps it's best to view it as archival; who knows what the experience of a Blue Cheer concert was anyway in terms of clarity. And while there is indeed better footage of Hendrix or Janis, as another reviewer said, there certainly isn't much else available of Blue Cheer, Canned Heat, Small Faces.

Not sure what Leslie Karen Reviewer means about Airplane with a female vocalist being a surprise to her; far as I know Grace usually led, or co-led with Marty Balin, and before that was Signe whatshername. But the full atmosphere of these performances won't penetrate if you try to view them through the lens of 5.1 cd sound. Back then we were lucky to have a record player, which was usually mono. And we had to wait till Christmas to get the little red fire engine.

but don't pay fifteen. It is nice to see a psychedelic, hard rock classic oldies extravaganza like this, but these videos are questionable at best. There is far better footage of Hendrix, Joplin, the Who, Airplane (with a female lead vocalist--that's a good thing, because she sounds good), and the Doors to be found elsewhere. I was letdown with the Beatles interview, as I thought they were going to explain what they thought about the new direction this music was taking. Oh well.