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36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Johnny Is Still With Us Remember Albert and Stevie are not!, September 27, 2004
This review is from: Johnny Winter - Live in Times Square (DVD)
Well, I have read the previous reviews and they have a lot to say. I bought this DVD for my extensive Blues collection and as 40 year fan and guitarist I was more shocked at the state of Johnny's health than his guitar playing. As I said in my Peter Green review we expect too much from these old players- what would Hendrix who would be in his 60s now have played like if he were alive.
Like Peter Green, Johnny still plays with a nuance than few guitar players could do. It is a mistake for some younger people who think they know Blues that they could pick up a guitar play the basic scale and sound as good as Mr Winter still does (choice phrasing, use of partial chordal licks, double stopped licks (like SRV), hardly any effects, only a little chorus!). The great Buddy Guy came to Australia once and said, "a lot of players sound good at home in their garage, but it's getting up on stage and performing that counts!! Great words! This guy has years of experience in real blues playing and he is the father, after Jimi Hendrix, of Rock-Blues guitar. And he has jammed with everybody!!
We rely (since the days of Led Zeppelin) too much on technique and speed- a good recent example of how this is not needed in Blues is 55 year old Mick Taylor's excellent playing in John Mayall's 70th Birthday Concert. He blows away Buddy Wittington who sounds like a Country Picker doing Blues. He is ok, but he really has no feeling-watch SRV play "Texas Flood" on the new double DVD from Montreax and Albert King play "I'll PLay the Blues For You" on the new release of Wattstax (Bonus Feature)!!!
Enough of this! This DVD is Ok for Blues lovers. The club is nice. His small band (he should have had horns I think to fill out the sound) is great. The Bassist Scott Spray uses a 20 year old Yamaha Bass-cool no fancy Fenders. The harp player James Montgomery is great (I also play harp!). He sounds like James Cotton. Wayne June the drum is solid and steady. Johnny sits the entire performance (Muddy and John Lee are remembered, although the late great Albert King, then 69 years old, moved the stoll out of the way when it was offered to him in the "Godfather of the Blues" DVD). Well I feel for Johnny, he has a good selection of tunes including Bo Diddley's "Mona", Muddy Water's "Mojo Working" and Junior Well's "Messin' With The Kid". My top selection is "Blackjack" a great slow Blues.
Get the DVD "Pieces and Bits" lots of archieve material, lots of great stuff, especially his duet with Dr. John on the Willie Dixon tune "Love, Life and Money", the real JW! But this DVD is a good bookend for Johnny's long career. I still remember as an 18 year old getting his first LP. The slide playing was phenomenal and it's still good on this set, probably the best thing musically on it. Don't judge an artist by their diminishing technique, but rather by their heart and contribution to the Blues genre.
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dedicated Johnny Winter fans only..., September 17, 2004
This review is from: Johnny Winter - Live in Times Square (DVD)
This was one of the hardest music DVDs I've ever watched. Johnny, now a shell of what he once was during his hey day with the "AND" group with Rick Derringer battling guitars. I always put Johnny in the same elite league as Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee, Jimmy Page and Duane Allman as the finest of all guitar players. The growling rock & blues voice is long gone as are the lightning fast guitar licks. The band is definately smokin' and the harp help cover Johnny's lack of hot licks. He still wows the audience with his slide bottleneck guitar.
Please don't misunderstand me, I am very glad to own this DVD now, as our generation's rock heroes will all be gone someday. This will be great for the archives.
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I am editing this because I saw Johnny in late August 2007. Just Johnny, an electric bass player and a drummer. Johnny sang every song, still showing all of his great guitar riffs and had the crowd on their feet throughout his session. As an encore, he broke out his 1963 Thunderbird and the vintage Johnny Winter slide work was excellent. Too bad that there wasn't a DVD recorded that night...it was by far MUCH BETTER than this one that I reviewed.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't buy this!!, January 3, 2006
This review is from: Johnny Winter - Live in Times Square (DVD)
Let me start by saying that I am a HUGE Johnny Winter fan. And have spent many hours trying to learn his licks. This dvd made me want to cry. Gone is the growl, and great screaming voice.. Gone are the ligting quick licks. Gone is the incredible timing with licks between chord changes....(poor Johnny!---it was a total shock to see him just hang on to one note....he NEVER EVER did that!)
In short, gone is Johnny Winter! The Johnny for those of us who loved him, sad to report, is gone. Shame on all those who are capatilizing on his name. Shame on his back up band who no doubt would NEVER play with someone who walked in off the street with Johnny's current state of ability.
Johnny was (and still is) my all time guitar hero. Saw him only twice. His timing is unsurpassed. His speed was incredible. His prashing masteful. BB King said he was the best white blues guitarist ever. I'd like to think the best period!
Please do not buy this. Do not support whoever is trying to make money from this. I understand that Johnny probably wants to play. It's all he has ever done. Please Johnny, hang it up! Let us remember you as you really were...the hottest guitarist ever! No one ever rocked more than you!
The sad thing is, there is nothing really officially good on Johnny Winter. This is truly a modern day musical tradgey. If you want to see Johnny at his best, I heartily recommend finding some bootlegs.....
I really wish I could have had something good to say about this dvd. James Montgomery is a very good blues artist. Great harp player. The band does a great job of carrying poor 'ol Johnny.
I really wish I had not bought this or seen my guitar hero in such a state! :(
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