sound n’ vision: DVD’s
A Tribute to Les Paul From Universal Studios Hollywood (MVD)
Les Paul may
well be history’s most innovative electric guitar genius. This documentary/concert pays homage to the man who gave us the Les Paul guitar, per- haps the most loved
instrument in modern rock history. But he didn’t stop there, he also created 8-track recording, echo effects, and as Slash so aptly puts it, “(he’s the guy) responsible for half of my gear!” All of this from a man who became a pop sensation over 55 years ago recording and performing with his musical partner as Les Paul & Mary Ford. Interspersed between live performances
recorded in Hollywood are interview segments with Paul that shed a bright light on his history and how he came to create so many innovative guitar, live and studio effects, There are interview segments with many of the world’s finest musi- cians, and some “off the chain” live performances (filmed in Hi-Def) including a pairing of Slash and Edgar Winter rocking “Superstition,” and stellar showcasing of Buddy Guy with Joe Perry performing “Going Down Slow” and “Hoochie Coochie Man.” Joe Satriani (“Satch Boogie,” House Full of Bullets,” Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Neal Schon, Robben Ford (“Loving Cup”), Steve Lukather (“Little Wing”), Neal Schon and Shayna Steele (“I Wanna Know You”) - also on hand for the celebration were Jerry Douglas, Hubert Sum- lin, Kenny Arnoff, and a slew of pro-sidemen. For the finale, Steve Lukather, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Edgar Winter kick out the jams on “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo.” I had not seen
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Kenny Wayne in several years, and and he has only gotten better, if that’s even possible. It’s a funky new arrangement that left me grinning like a stuck pig. It don’t get any better. A Tribute to Les Paul is exactly what the
name implies. A fitting tribute to the “father of modern music” combined with lots of history straight from the mouth of Les Paul. Just excel- lent.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Beside Bowie The Mick Ronson Story (MVD)
When I first be-
came a huge fan of David Bowie, around 1972. I was in high school, and growing up in Spartanburg, SC, it was like being exposed first person to some sort of alien life form. In these pre-internet days, the
only we had to learn about new rock bands was the magazines like Creem, Circus, Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy and Rock scene. Television had three channels, the big three networks. Thankfully, around this same time, Friday night TV pre- miered a Dick Clark produced show on ABC called In Concert that featured live performances by many of the bands I was reading about. In Concert was on at 11:30 pm for 90 minutes. At 1:00 am, I’d change over to N BC for The Mid- night Special. Then on Saturday night it was Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. Those three shows, along with a short-lived Saturday afternoon show called Flipside, became my rock school. One of the most life altering episodes of The Midnight Special came in ’73 when the show devoted the
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