Customer Reviews

Going Home

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Robbie Robertson is a phenomenon...he just keeps getting better and better...musically growing and breaking new ground. It's one of the things that makes this documentary so fascinating, to see the development from the early days to the present, ending as it does with a marvelous live performance of "Ghost Dance".

The musical clips are treasures. The moments with Willie Dixon, Bob Dylan (looking like a teenager), a few selections from "The Last Waltz", etc. He's also an expressive and eloquent interview subject...to hear him talk about his youth with Ronnie Hawkins, Dylan writing his songs on a typewriter, and so much more.

A great story teller, with subtle wit and sharp observations, he looks like a Native American Gary Cooper, long, lean and comfortable...with relaxed body language and a voice that's so easy on the ears, making this an incredibly entertaining and enjoyable 70 minutes, spent watching and hearing pure genius.

What a joy! Incredible history and roots. Robbie is not only the consummate story teller from the Band and his solo albums, he's also a pleasure to listen to speak about the history of the Band, their involvement with Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsesse and Eric Clapton and more. There is some incredible archival footage of Dylan playing with the Band from the Basement Tapes era, a great dialog segment between Robbie and Scorsesse about the making of the Last Waltz and a not so trivial Rock N Roll trivia revelation from Eric Clapton that he broke up Cream after hearing the Band and then asked Robbie if he could join. WOW. If you're a Band, Dylan fan or just love good documentaries do not miss this!

The "Going Home" DVD combines a number of scenes from a variety of sources. The most valuable to Band fans will be the footage from "Eat the Document", which remains unreleased. There are some errors in fact in the presentation. The most egregious of these is the inclusion and citing of "Up on Cripple Creek" as part of the Basement Tapes as well as citing 1968 as the year of the Basement Tapes. This is really just a bit of griping from a life-long fan of The Band. As a spokesman for the genre and art form, Robbie ranks up there with Pete Townshend as the finest ever.

Even though I am a fan of Robbie Robertson and looked forward to seeing an autobiographical project, I found this film too self-serving. Robertson only credits his former Band-mates at the 1994 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Rick Danko, standing behind him, smiles and silently accepts Robertson's late and scant thanks. At no point during this film's ongoing narrative interview does Robertson pay full credit to Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson or Richard Manuel - all fine multi-instrumentalists and (in the case of 3 of them) terrific singers. I find this insulting, after all there were five members of The Band and they perported never to have a 'leader'

Robertson was born in Toronto, to a Mohawk mother and a Jewish father. The film focusses entirely on his Native American side, and early on he speaks of childhood summers on the Six Nations Reservation. The rest of his early life seems to have been erased. The cultural blend that would have made this visual autobiography fascinating is missing. What a shame.

Most of the songwriters Robbie recalls meeting at the Brill Building on his first trip to New York were Jewish. When the opening visual sequence of 'The Last Waltz' is played, we are not treated to the theme tune, which has a notable Kletzmer feeling to it.

As interesting as Robertson's musical career has been, this film is striking more for what is omitted, than for what is covered. The Band's back catalogue is one of the most eclectic in modern music: This film would have you believe that two songs, 'The Weight' and 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down', were all the group recorded between the 'Basement Tapes' and 'The Last Waltz'.

This film is expensive and hard to track down. I'm still not sure if the expenditure was worth it. Robertson's self-regard robs Band-fans of the colourful tapestry of musical history they should have been treated to after so long. Unfortunately we cannot rely on 'The Last Waltz' for a complete overviwew of The Band either. Robertson and Scorcese made sure of that, as we are reminded in several conversational interludes in this film.

The DVD is not bad it's just that it's got Robbie in it... in all his faux finery. I agree with the guy who said it's too self serving but the then the title is Robbie Robertson and it's supposed to be self serving but he just annoys me more and more as the years go by. For someone who rides the Native American band wagon - he's not one to 'share the land' as native Americans are want to do. This past April he said something to the effect that he's proud of being a hollywood sellout - well at least that's an honest statement. I don't like self importance in anyone and I like it less in him.

Awsome ! what can i say ? Heis still sounding good - he was on LETTERMAN a few weeks ago ! GREAT
His singing was great ... I love "The Band" - when they did the Movie "The Last Waltz (1978)
aka "The Band in Concert - The Last Waltz" - Finland
>
> Here is a link Robbie Robertson - He Don't Live Here No More - David Letterman 2011....From his new album, " How To Become Clairvoyant " With The Dawes Band Backing Up Robbie!
>
> [...] - Hope that you enjoy it ....
>
> Robbie Robertson - He Don't Live Here No More - David Letterman 2011
>
"The Band" Played back up for a lot of other Group's .....being ,Eric Clapton,Neil Young,Emmylou Harris,Rick Danko,Levon Helm,Bob Dylan,Joni Mitchell,and many other group's ....
>
Thanksgiving, 1976, San Francisco's Winterland: the Band performs its last concert after 16 years on the road. Some numbers they do alone, some songs include guest artists from Ronnie Hawkins (their first boss, when they were the Hawks) to Bob Dylan (their last, when as his backup and as a solo group, they came into their own). Scorsese's camera explores the interactions onstage in the making of music. Offstage, he interviews the Band's five members, focusing on the nature of life on the road. The friendships, the harmonies, the hijinks, and the wear and tear add up to a last waltz.

I love Robbie Robertson and his documentary is great, he takes you back to his beginnings and journeys through his career.

This DVD shows the history of one of the greatest rock performers of all time.Robertson is telling about his roots,The Band,Bob Dylan and many more.There are also recent live shows shown.If you want something to know about the history of music you'll have to see this one!

Very well made piece with Robbie reminiscing over his entire career with complete candor and amusing anecdotes. The conversational style as opposed to a more formal documentary approach is refreshing and absolutely perfect for Robertson's own brand of storytelling and music. Some great footage of The Band and a fun conversation between Robbie and friend Martin Scorsese where they talk about Woodstock, THE LAST WALTZ, scoring films and the period after both men had been divorced that Robbie moved into Marty's place in Manhattan. There's even footage of the induction ceremony to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and behind-the-scenes on the set of Sean Penn's THE CROSSING GUARD (1995). This is a true must for all fans of Robbie, The Band and Scorsese and makes a wonderful companion piece to THE LAST WALTZ (1978). Hard to find this disc anymore, but well worth the effort.

This release was informative and also included a few live clips of Robbie as a solo artist.It delves further into the makings of the Hawks with early photos of the boys as they were acquired from other bands.Unfortunately there was no older interview footage of Richard Manuel to really complete the general feeling of the Band portion of the documentary.I felt that a portion of "The Band" dvd could have been combined into "Going Home" to make a good release even better.This is a good follow up to the hopefull impending release of "The Last Waltz" on dvd.