Customer Reviews

Tom Principato and Danny Gatton: Blazing Telecasters

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

 

 

My dvd works perfectly. I'm writing from Europe (Italy), I don't know if the malfunctioning the other guy complains has something to do with the american version. My dvd works. It is a cheap production anyway that's for sure. The dvd does not even have a menu, you can't skip tracks, it is almost amatorial!! Titles are simple yellow writings. So this is the reason why I gave this dvd "only" four stars. These stars are only for the music, the performance and for the pleasure of seeing Danny in action again! The camera job ain't bad in the end. Sometimes you wish the cameraman has been more focused on Danny's hands but he didn't a bad job at all. The camera work is not histeric, it flows correctly. The music is a sort of american full extravaganza. The first is a blues, not a delta blues, a fast blues based on bebop progression. Danny plays a solo partly with the Heineken beer bottle ...great great slide solo, fantastic intonation and control, interesting blues melodies! Nice solos from all the guys. The second tune is a sort of fast bossa nova from Principato's pen with a nice melody. Then you have an anatoll, Seven comes Eleven from Benny Goodman. Again great solos. Luckly Previti the bass player plays the double bass here, very nice db sound. In the other tracks he played a Steinberger bass with a bad sound, obtrusive, too loud and vulgar. Talking about the sounds department Mike Sucher Keys sounds are dated of course, but they're not bad. Guitar sounds are great, courtesy of Danny's 53 Tele and Fender Twin reverb of course, but Principato with his Frankensteinezed tele has nice sounds too. He plays well, he's not at Danny's heights but he delivers. The track list continues with a couple of melodic tracks then you have a couple of alternate takes of the first two tunes, the blues and the bossa. In the end I can say it is really entertaining. I have seen it a lot of times and it is always fresh thanks to the fact that tunes are familiar (blues, anatoll) or really melodic and well played. Be aware that this is a television show recorded entirely inside a recording studio. You don't have an audience listening, you don't have nice scenaries, or the atmosphere of a live concert. This dvd it's only about music. You don't even have a menu!!! But the music is great. Great fun!! I love it!

According to the book "Unfinished Business" Danny Gatton joined Tom Principato on stage directly just hours after attending his fathers funeral. He stunned everyone by making an appearance but i suppose just decided the best way to honour his dad would be to play his best. In order to get the full background to this film here look for the book "Unfinished Business-The Life & Times of Danny Gatton". ( well worth the money)

It's so rare to see someone like Gatton in action that even if the film lasted 10 mins i would still give it 5 stars.

"Talking Woman Blues" is a brilliantly performed song on here done in Albert Collins fashion. The slow BB King blues tribute tune called "Blue Mood" is a delight. I do hope someone will release the second part of this concert.

Such a tragic loss regarding Danny's demise.

Danny Gatton lives on in our minds and sometimes on record--here he is, not out of his element, but maybe just visiting Tom's, and it's a rousing get-together of these masters--the fretwork is, of course, amazing, and the fun between the players communicates well. Sound quality is quite good, and, what can I say--there's nobody around, save perhaps Jerry Donahue, who can touch Danny (sorry Tom, but you know how I feel) for inventiveness and flawless execution....just a great piece of music, hate it when it ends!

These guys are really good! Too bad guys filming didn't use more forethought and planning as to how to shoot the gig. I bought the DVD to watch & listen to the guitar players. Unfortunately, too many angles were shot from behind the performers backs and over their shoulders. or at the performers faces causing viewers to miss many "hot" licks with their fingers. Pan to the organ, bass, and drums when appropriate, BUT, the focal point of the DVD should have been Danny & Tom--from the front. Camera work was the only thing that really bothered me--

Rated DVD 3-star because of that.

Some great playing displayed here, from both Danny and Tom.

Truly great, now if there was some more of Danny by himself!

I've always thought that the overall quality of the dvd was a litle weak but the playing is great. I recently read an article in Guitar Player magazine in which Tom Principato says that the only existing recording of that particular performance was his own vhs copy. That copy was used to produce the dvd. Explains why the quality isn't so great but...Danny's playing is hot!!! And Tom's no slouch either! If you're an axe slinger you'll overlook the production weaknesses and you'll be blown away by the music!

I enjoyed this. But it could have been better. First of all, the camera work was terrible. The producer must not be a musician. Often the camera would focus on things I was not interested in. I do not need to see a close up of Danny's nose when he is playing. I also do not need to only see Danny's picking hand. And I do not need to see Tom when Danny is playing a solo.

Speaking of Tom. The guy is very good, but I got the feeling this was his show with Danny as a "special guest". I often got the feeling Danny was just about to take off when it was time for Tom to play again. Danny didn't even play a solo on one song.

It could have been better.

The only reason I'm giving this 3 stars instead of 5 is because the company who mastered this to DVD apparently did a lousy job. The audio trails the video by about a full second which kind of gets annoying after a while. I went out and got a second copy and it had the exact same problem so I'm assuming they're all like this. (I didn't feel like going out and buying them all as there's seems to be only a couple of copies in my area) Dan, Tom and the rest of the band plays great. They have a geat selection of material covering many different styles of music for which Danny was known for. I couldn't find any imformation on the manufacturer on the cover, so if anybody out there knows how to get in contact with them, I'd like to know because I'd love to get a clean copy of this.