"Original Album Classics" by JOHNNY WINTER (AND) (2011 Columbia/Sony Legacy 5CD Mini Box Set With Repro Card Artwork and Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Almost 300 Others Is Available In My

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Psych, Avant Garde, Underground

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"…I'm Hungry…Let's Do This Fucker!"

Johnny Winter's first entry in Sony’s hugely successful "Original Album Classics" Series is a genuine nugget (there’s a 2nd box set for later albums). A 5CD Mini Box Set concentrating on his rightly celebrated Late Sixties/Early Seventies Blues-Rock output. Two of the discs even have uncredited bonus tracks and it's mid-price into the bargain. Johnny B Damn Goode on a budget. Here are the Texas White Boy Blues...

Released 24 January 2011 in the UK (1 Feb 2011 in the USA) - "Original Album Classics" by JOHNNY WINTER on Columbia/Sony Legacy 886976561727 (Barcode is the same) is a 5CD Mini Box Set with each CD housed in a singular card sleeve which repro's in miniature the back and front artwork of the original vinyl LP. 

Although there’s no booklet (and with the card details being almost illegible) – Sony provides downloadable recording info, production credits etc via the Net from their website. Let's get to the nitty gritty...

Disc 1 - "Johnny Winter" (34:14 minutes):

1. I'm Yours And I'm Hers

2. Be Careful With A Fool

3. Dallas

4. Mean Mistreater

5. Lean Mississippi Blues [Side 2]

6. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl

7. When You Got A Good Friend

8. I'll Drown In My Own Tears

9. Back Door Friend

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 2nd studio album "Johnny Winter" - released on vinyl in the USA in May 1969 on Columbia CS 9826 and July 1969 in the UK on CBS Records S 63619

Disc 2 - "Second Winter" (46:57 minutes):

1. Memory Pain

2. I'm Not So Sure

3. The Good Love

4. Slippin' And Slidin' [Side 2]

5. Miss Ann

6. Johnny B. Goode

7. Highway 61 Revisited

8. I Love Everybody [Side 3]

9. Hustled Down In Texas

10. I Hate Everybody

11. Fast Life Rider

Tracks 1 to 11 are his 3rd studio album "Second Winter" - released as a 3-sided 2LP set in November 1969 on Columbia K2S 9947 in the USA and May 1970 in the UK on CBS S 66321 (Side 4 was left blank)

Disc 3 - "Live/Johnny Winter And" (40:12 minutes):

1. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl

2. It's my Own Fault

3. Jumpin Jack Flash

4. Rock & Roll Medley:

(a) Great Balls Of Fire (b) Long Tall Sally (c) Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On [Side 2]

5. Mean Town Blues

6. Johnny B. Goode

Tracks 1 to 6 are the live LP "Live/Johnny Winter And" by JOHNNY WINTER AND - released March 1971 in the USA on Columbia CS PC 30475 and in the UK on CBS S 64289

Disc 4 - "Still Alive And Well" (44:32 minutes):

1. Rock Me Baby

2. Can You Feel It

3. Cheap Tequila

4. All Tore Down

5. Rock & Roll

6. Silver Train [Side 2]

7. Ain't Nothing To Me

8. Still Alive And Well

9. Too Much Seconal

10. Let It Bleed

Tracks 1 to 10 are his 4th studio album "Still Alive And Well" - released April 1973 on Columbia KC 32188 in the USA and in the UK on CBS S 65484

[NOTE: Tracks 11 and 12 "Lucille" and "From A Buick Six" are uncredited bonus tracks]

Disc 5 - "Saints & Sinners" (41:48 minutes):

1. Stone County

2. Blinded By Love

3. Thirty Days

4. Stray Cat Blues

5. Bad Luck Situation

6. Rollin' 'Cross The Country [Side 2]

7. Riot In Cell Block No. 9

8. Hurtin' So Bad

9. Boney Maronie

10. Feedback On Highway 101

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Saints & Sinners" - released February 1974 in the USA on Columbia KC 32715 in the USA and in the UK on CBS S 65842

[NOTE: Track 11 "Dirty" is an uncredited bonus track]

Winter's debut LP "The Progressive Blues Experiment" was released on Imperial Records in the States in April 1969 - so the first disc on here "Johnny Winter" is actually his 2nd album and his debut for Columbia Records. Along with its impossibly cool follow-up "Second Winter" (a 3-sided 2LP set where Side 4 was blank) - they are vinyl treasures I've had on my turntables for over 45 years.

Highlights from both include the twin guitar boogie of "I'm Yours And I'm Hers" along with the stunning National Steel slide of "Dallas". And as if to stamp his credentials on the genre, the cover of the Muddy Waters staple "Mean Mistreater" features two huge Blues Legends - Willie Dixon on Bass and Walter "Shakey" Horton on Blues Harp. Speaking of mean harmonica warblers – Johnny Winter's own Harp playing on "Back Door Friend" makes him sound like some 70-year old veteran. The immediately impressive "I Love Everybody" track from "Second Winter" 2LP set turned up on those CBS sampler LPs in 1970 and 1971 while his cover of Percy Mayfield's "Memory Pain" sounded so Hard Rock - a great opening salvo and a clever reading of the changing sounds of the time.

But like Rory Gallagher with his 1972 meisterpiece "Live In Europe" (another genuine guitar hero) - it wasn't until 1971 that you heard the full power of Johnny Winter and his band on the now legendary "Live" album (credited as Johnny Winter And). There are versions of the Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" that are arguably definitive - blistering stuff. I'm afraid I threw many a guitar shape to these tracks in my living room as a teenager...oh dear. "Mean Town Blues" only showed how deeply he was DNA'd to the Blues - truly amazing stuff...

The final two albums featured here – 1973's "Still Alive And Well" and 1974's "Saints And Sinners" - saw RICK DERRINGER both join the ranks and produce. The Canned Heat/ZZ Top boogie of "Rock & Roll" (lyrics above) and the Slide Blues of "Too Much Seconal" showed that the magic was still there (even if the drugs seemed to be getting the better of him). His version of the Stones "Silver Train" from 1973's "Goat's Head Soup" sounds so much like them that it might very well have been an outtake from that 1973 session with Winter singing lead vocal instead of Mick Jagger. His funky spoken intro of "I'm hungry...Let's do this f****er..." to "Still Alive And Well" raises a laugh to this day and his raucous version of Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" is great fun too. Todd Rundgren provided Mellotron on the Rick Derringer written "Cheap Tequila" while future Disco buff Dan Hartman penned "Can You Feel It".

Despite personal health problems - the "Saints And Sinners" album still rocked. It opening with the hard-hitting "Stone Canyon" (penned by Richard Supa from the American East-Coast 'Man' band - not to be confused with the Welsh group) – all riffing guitars backed up some Lynyrd Skynyrd type girly vocals. He gives Allen Toussaint's "Blinded By Love" a Funky Rock tint and just about succeeds. Back to more familiar territory with Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" but the production is murky and the take way too frantic. Far better is the Jagger-Richards cover of "Stray Cat Blues" – great playing and a big meaty Bluesy Rock sound from the clearly enthusiastic band. Side 1 ends on his own "Bad Luck Situation" – a good guitar tune even if his vocals seem lost in some echo room. Dan Hartman and his brother Edgar Winter provide "Rollin' 'Cross The County" – a very commercial rock single for the time not unlike BTO firing on all sixes. His own "Hurtin' So Bad" is good but best of all is the surprise Dobro/Flute Blues of "Dirty" – a sort of unannounced bonus track – what a cool, trippy addition...

To sum up - nearly 6 albums worth of great Blues-Rock for roughly two quid a record is a bit of a no-brainer really. No Johnny Winter of discontent here folks...

PS: If you want more check out his late Seventies collaborations with MUDDY WATERS on Blue Sky Records which feature Winter producing and playing on all (see the 3CD "Original Album Classics" box set). There is also a LEGACY Double of "Second Winter" and a "Woodstock Experience" version of "Johnny Winter" - both have superb bonus discs of period live material (see reviews)...

This review is part of my SOUNDS GOOD Music Book Series. One of those titles is CLASSIC 1970s ROCK - an E-Book with over 250 entries and 2100 e-Pages - purchase on Amazon and search any artist or song (click the link below). Huge amounts of info taken directly from the discs (no cut and paste crap). 

______________________________________________________

PPS: below is a list of titles in the "Original Classic Albums" Series
5CD and 3CD sets up to and including January 2012

1. The Allman Brothers Band
2. Argent (see REVIEW)
3. Jeff Beck (Box 1)
4. Jeff Beck (Box 2)
5. Tony Bennett
6. George Benson
7. Big Audio Dynamite
8. Blood, Sweat & Tears
9. Blue Oyster Cult
10. Boney M
11. Pierre Boulez
12. The Brecker Brothers
13. Dave Brubeck Quartet
14. Jeff Buckley
15. The Byrds
16. Johnny Cash
17. Cheap Trick
18. Stanley Clarke
19. Harry Connick Jr.
20. Cypress Hill
21. Miles Davis (Box 1)
22. Miles Davis (Box 2)
23. Duke Ellington
24. Earth, Wind & Fire
25. Electric Light Orchestra
26. Agnetha Faltskog [Frida of Abba]
27. Dan Fogelberg
28. Aretha Franklin (see also 3CD list)
29. Rory Gallagher
30. Glenn Gould
31. Hall & Oates
32. Hot Tuna
33. The Isley Brothers (see REVIEW)
34. The Jacksons
35. Etta James
36. Jefferson Airplane
37. Jefferson Starship
38. Waylon Jennings
39. Journey
40. Judas Priest
41. Kansas
42. Carole King
43. Kris Kristofferson
44. Mario Lanza
45. Cyndi Lauper
46. The Lovin’ Spoonful
47. The Mahavishnu Orchestra
48. Henri Mancini
49. John McLaughlin
50. Al Di Meola
51. Molly Hatchet
52. Thelonious Monk (Box 1)
53. Thelonious Monk (Box 2) (see also 3CD sets)
54. Mott The Hoople
55. Mountain
56. Willie Nelson
57. Harry Nilsson
58. Ted Nugent
59. Laura Nyro
60. The Alan Parsons Project
61. Dolly Parton
62. Murray Perahia
63. Michel Petrucciani
64. Poco
65. Prefab Sprout
66. Preservation Hall Jazz band
67. Elvis Presley (Box 1)
68. Elvis Presley (Box 2)
69. Leontyne Price
70. The Psychedelic Furs
71. Lou Reed (Box 1)
72. Lou Reed (Box 2)
73. REO Speedwagon
74. Sonny Rollins
75. Artur Rubinstein
76. Run DMC
77. Santana (Box 1)
78. Santana (Box 2) (see also 3CD list)
79. Joe Satriani
80. Boz Scaggs
81. Nina Simone
82. Sly & The Family Stone
83. Lonnie Liston Smith
84. Patti Smith
85. Smokie
86. Soft Machine
87. Spirit
88. Isaac Stern
89. The Stranglers
90. Ivor Stravinsky
91. Suicidal Tendencies
92. James Taylor
93. Steve Vai
94. Various - Carols For Christmas
95. Various – The Joys Of Christmas
96. Weather Report (Box 1)
97. Weather Report (Box 2)
98. John Williams
99. The Edgar Winter Group
100. Johnny Winter (And) (see REVIEW)
101. Johnny Winter (second 5CD set)
102. Paul Young
103. Sophie Zelmani


PS: 01/02/2010 saw the introduction of THREE DISC SETS in the “Original Album Classics” Series and releases are ongoing. Here is a list as of January 2012…

1. ADAM & THE ANTS (26/09/2011)
[Dirk Wears White Sox/Kings Of The Wild Frontier/Prince Charming]
2. AMERIE (01/02/2010)
(All I Have/Touch/Because I Love It)
3. ANATHEMA (26/09/2011)
[Judgement/A Fine Day To Exit/A Natural Disaster]
4. BLONDIE (26/09/2011)
[No Exit/Livid/The Curse Of Blondie]
5. COLIN BLUNSTONE (26/07/2010)
[One Year/Ennismore/Journey]
6. DAVID BOWIE (09/01/2012)
[Outside/Earthling/Hours…]
7. JOHNNY CASH (09/01/2012)
[Hello, I’m Johnny Cash/The Johnny Cash Show/Man In Black]
8. CLANNAD (24/01/2011)
[Magical Ring/Macalla/Sirius]
9. SHAWN COLVIN (08/02/2010)
[Steady On/Fat City/Cover Girl]
10. ALICE COOPER (26/09/2011)
[Trash/Hey Stoopid/The Last Temptation]
11. MILES DAVIS (26/07/2010)
[Nefertiti/Socerer/Filles De Kilimanjaro]
12. DEEP PURPLE (26/09/2011)
[Slaves And Masters/The Battle Rages On/Purpendicular]
13. DONOVAN (22/07/2010)
[Mellow Yellow/Hurdy Gurdy Man/Barabajagal]
14. BOB DYLAN (26/07/2010)
[Empire Burlesque/Down In The Groove/Under The Red Sky]
15. BOB DYLAN (09/01/2012)
[Good As I Been To You/World Gone Wrong/MTV Unplugged]
16. EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (28/03/2011)
[Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970/Live At The Royal Albert Hall/Live In Poland]
17. AGNETHA FALTSKOG [FRIDA of ABBA] (01/02/2010)
[Agnetha Faltskog/Nar En Vacker Tanke Blirsang/Elva Kvinnor I Ett Hus]
18. (PETER GREEN’S) FLEETWOOD MAC (01/02/2010)
[Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac/Mr. Wonderful/The Pious Bird of Good Omen – The Original UK Album Track Lists – No Extras]
19. ARETHA FRANKLYN (01/02/2010)
[The Electrifying/The Tender The Moving The Swinging/Soul Sister]
20. THE JEFF HEALEY BAND (09/01/2012)
[See The Light/Hell To Pay/Feel This]
21. JAPAN (28/03/2011)
[Adolescent Sex/Obscure Alternatives/Quiet Life]
22. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (28/03/2011)
[Volunteers/Bark/Long John Silver]
23. JOURNEY (01/02/2010)
[Departure/Escape/Frontiers]
24. TAJ MAHAL (24/01/2011)
[Taj Mahal/The Natch’l Blues/Mo’ Roots]
25. CHARLES MINGUS (26/07/2010)
[Mingus Ah Um/Mingus Dynasty/Tijuana Moods]
26. WILLIE NELSON (01/02/2010)
[Yesterday’s Wine/Red Headed Stranger/Stardust]
27. THE ONLY ONES (09/01/2012)
[The Only Ones/Even Serpents Shine/Baby’s Got A Gun]
28. SHUGGIE OTIS (09/01/2012)
[Here Comes Shuggie Otis/Freedom Flight/Inspiration Information]
29. DOLLY PARTON (8/02/2010)
[Eagle When She Flies/Slow Dancing With The Moon/White Limozeen]
30. IGGY POP (28/03/2011)
[New Values/Soldier/Party]
31. ELVIS PRESLEY (26/09/2011)
[Today/From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis Tennessee/Moody Blue]
32. PRIMAL SCREAM (26/09/2011)
[Vanishing Point/Echo Dek/XTRMNTR]
33. SANTANA (08/02/2010)
[Illuminations/Oneness/The Swing of Delight]
34. SANTANA (26/09/2011)
[Havana Moon/Beyond Appearances/Spirits Dancing In The Flesh]
35. SCORPIONS (01/02/2010)
[In Trance/Virgin Killer/Taken By Force]
36. GIL SCOTT-HERON (24/01/2011)
[Real Eyes/Reflections/Moving Target]
37. SIMON and GARFUNKEL (01/02/2010)
[Sounds Of Silence/Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme/Bookends]
38. PATTI SMITH (26/07/2010)
[Gone Again/Peace And Noise/Gung Ho]
39. THE STRANGLERS (28/03/2011)
[Feline/Aural Sculpture/Dreamtime]
40. TOTO (08/02/2010)
[Toto/Hydra/Turn Back]
41. LUTHER VANDROSS (01/02/2010)
(Never Too Much/Give Me The Reason/The Power of Love)
42. VANGELIS (26/09/2011)
[Heaven And Hell/Albedo 0.39/Spiral]
43. THE WALKER BROTHERS (01/02/2010)
[No Regrets/Lines/Nite Flights]
44. MUDDY WATERS (24/01/2011)
[Hard Again/I’m Ready/King Bee]
45. BOBBY WOMACK (09/01/2012)
[Home Is Where The Heart Is/Pieces/Roads Of Life]

"Original Album Classics" by TAJ MAHAL. 2011 Sony/Columbia/Legacy 3CD Mini Box Set Remasters - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Have You Ever Been On The Outside..."

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Blues of Henry Fredericks from Harlem in New York (Taj Mahal to you and I) - and his 1968 self-titled "Taj Mahal" debut (part of this nifty package) still ranks in my books as one of the all-time-greats. Like "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac" (1968), John Mayall's "Blues From Lauren Canyon" (1968), Johnny Winter's "Second Winter" (1969) or Shuggie Otis' 1970 debut album "Here Comes Shuggie Otis" - "Taj Mahal" is the kind of good-time hair-shaking bum waddling Blues-Rock that I adore and to me still sounds as fresh as a daisy (with maybe less hair and a wee bit of middle-aged droop around the tum tum). Here are the 'E Z Rider' details…

UK released 24 January 2011 (1 Feb 2011 in the USA) on Sony/Columbia/Legacy 88697731562 (Barcode 886977315626) - this 3CD mini box set is part of Sony's hugely successful and popular "Original Album Classics" series. It contains the following 3 albums in singular 5" card repro sleeves with original American artwork on the front and rear...

Disc 1 (33:00 minutes):
1. Leaving Trunk
2. Statesboro Blues
3. Checkin' Up On My Baby
4. Everybody's Got To Change Sometime
5. E Z Rider [Side 2]
6. Dust My Broom
7. Diving Duck Blues
8. The Celebrated Walkin' Blues
Tracks 1 to 8 are his debut album "Taj Mahal" - released February 1968 in the USA on Columbia CL 2779 (Mono) and CS 9579 (Stereo) and in the UK on Direction S 8-63279 (Stereo only). The Stereo mix is used in this 2000 remaster and there are no bonus tracks.

Disc 2 (49:03 minutes):
1. Good Morning Miss Brown
2. Corinna
3. I Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Steal My Jellyroll
4. Going Up to The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue
5. Done Changed My Way Of Living
6. She Caught The Katy And Left Me A Mule To Ride [Side 2]
7. The Cuckoo
8. You Don't Miss Your Water (’Til Your Well Runs Dry)
9. A Lot Of Love
Tracks 1 to 9 are his 2nd studio album "The Natch'l Blues" - released February 1969 in the USA on Columbia CS 9698 (Stereo only) and in the UK on Direction 8-63397 (Mono) and S 8-63397 (Stereo). The Stereo mix is used.

BONUS TRACKS (all Previously Unreleased in 2000):
10. The Cuckoo (Alternate Version)
11. New Stranger Blues
12. Things Are Gonna Work Out Fine

Disc 3 (33:43 minutes):
1. Johnny Too Bad
2. Blackjack Davey
3. Big Mama
4. Cajun Waltz
5. Slave Driver [Side 2]
6. Why Did You Have To Desert Me?
7. Desperate Lover
8. Clara (St. Kitts Woman)
Tracks 1 to 8 are his 8th studio album "Mo' Roots" - released October 1974 in the USA on Columbia KC 33051 and CBS S 80346 in the UK (no bonus tracks)

Remastered for CD by the dynamic duo of BOB IRWIN and VIC ANESINI in 2000 and put out as part of the "Columbia High Fidelity "360 Sound" Series" - these are Audio Engineer names I actively seek out. Anesini alone has handled hugely prestigious catalogues like Elvis Presley, Simon and Garfunkel, Carole King, Janis Joplin, Hall & Oates, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Jayhawks, Mott The Hoople, Santana and many more. So the audio is top notch and at first glance this release seems like a steal at just under seven quid (nine bucks) - but there's 'both' really good and really bad on here. Let's get to the good first...

The debut album is the stuff of Blues-Rock legend - an absolute gem. The band consists of guitarists Ry Cooder (credited as Ryland P Cooder) and Jesse Edwin Davis with veterans James Thomas on Bass and Charles Blackwell on Drums. Taj sang all the tunes and mainly stuck to harp playing except on the brilliant 8-minutes of "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues" where he puts in some great slide-guitar work. Niggles - the original album was also issued in MONO - and as you can see from the playing time provided above - it could easily have been fit on here as a first - but alas. I would also love to one day see a LEGACY DOUBLE DELUXE of this fantastic debut - there must be some outakes in storage somewhere - and live sets with that stellar band...

The follow-up album "The Natch'l Blues" was more of the same up-tempo boogie (and his first LP to chart in the USA - it peaked at a lowly 160 in February 1969). Again it featured Jesse Edwin Davis (had his own albums on Atco by now) but also brought in Al Kooper on Piano. Produced by Bruce Robinson, the record featured great funky blues rhythms like "Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue" - sounding not unlike Shuggie Otis on his wonderful debut "Here Comes..." (see separate review for that 3CD box set). The 3 bonus tracks are shockingly good too - especially the Fleetwood Mac 1st album feel to "New Stranger Blues" (lyrics above).

But the side is let down badly by the "Mo' Roots" set - a real dog and wildly out of place here. It was also badly produced for 1974 - very dull and lifeless sounding - and I'm afraid this supposed remaster has done nothing for it. Tracks like "Slave Driver" with its cod-reggae rhythms sounds like poor man's Bob Marley and The Wailers. A better inclusion would have been the 1969 2LP set "Giant Step/De Ole Folks At Home" which continued on convincingly from the first two records. It's also a single CD that fitted the entire double on it - so it would have been ideal here and would have made this mini box an absolute must-buy.

Like the Shuggie Otis, Muddy Waters and Fleetwood Mac 3CD sets in this cool little series - this box set of great Blues Rock is stunning value for money. But Taj Mahal’s addition to the series is docked a star for that turkey 3rd disc.

To sum up - a good release then (2 out of 3 ain’t bad) - but it's a damn shame Sony didn't apply some imagination here because it could have been a truly great one...

PS: 01/02/2010 saw the introduction of THREE DISC SETS in the "Original Album Classics" Series (there are 5CD sets also) and releases are ongoing. Here is a list of the '3CD' sets to January 2012...

1. ADAM & THE ANTS (26/09/2011)
[Dirk Wears White Sox/Kings Of The Wild Frontier/Prince Charming]
2. AMERIE (01/02/2010)
(All I Have/Touch/Because I Love It)
3. ANATHEMA (26/09/2011)
[Judgement/A Fine Day To Exit/A Natural Disaster]
4. BLONDIE (26/09/2011)
[No Exit/Livid/The Curse Of Blondie]
5. COLIN BLUNSTONE (26/07/2010)
[One Year/Ennismore/Journey]
6. DAVID BOWIE (09/01/2012)
[Outside/Earthling/Hours...]
7. JOHNNY CASH (09/01/2012)
[Hello, I'm Johnny Cash/The Johnny Cash Show/Man In Black]
8. CLANNAD (24/01/2011)
[Magical Ring/Macalla/Sirius]
9. SHAWN COLVIN (08/02/2010)
[Steady On/Fat City/Cover Girl]
10. ALICE COOPER (26/09/2011)
[Trash/Hey Stoopid/The Last Temptation]
11. MILES DAVIS (26/07/2010)
[Nefertiti/Sorcerer/Filles De Kilimanjaro]
12. DEEP PURPLE (26/09/2011)
[Slaves And Masters/The Battle Rages On/Purpendicular]
13. DONOVAN (22/07/2010)
[Mellow Yellow/Hurdy Gurdy Man/Barabajagal]
14. BOB DYLAN (26/07/2010)
[Empire Burlesque/Down In The Groove/Under The Red Sky]
15. BOB DYLAN (09/01/2012)
[Good As I Been To You/World Gone Wrong/MTV Unplugged]
16. EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (28/03/2011)
[Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970/Live At The Royal Albert Hall/Live In Poland]
17. AGNETHA FALTSKOG [of ABBA] (01/02/2010)
[Agnetha Faltskog/Nar En Vacker Tanke Blirsang/Elva Kvinnor I Ett Hus]
18. (PETER GREEN'S) FLEETWOOD MAC (01/02/2010)
[Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac/Mr. Wonderful/The Pious Bird of Good Omen - The Original UK Album Track Lists - No Extras]
19. ARETHA FRANKLYN (01/02/2010)
[The Electrifying/The Tender The Moving The Swinging/Soul Sister]
20. GROOVE ARMADA (26/07/2010)
[Vertigo/Goodnight Country (Hello Nightclub)/Lovebox]
21. THE JEFF HEALEY BAND (09/01/2012)
[See The Light/Hell To Pay/Feel This]
22. JAPAN (28/03/2011)
[Adolescent Sex/Obscure Alternatives/Quiet Life]
23. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (28/03/2011)
[Volunteers/Bark/Long John Silver]
24. JOURNEY (01/02/2010)
[Departure/Escape/Frontiers]
25. TAJ MAHAL (24/01/2011)
[Taj Mahal/The Natch'l Blues/Mo' Roots]
26. CHARLES MINGUS (26/07/2010)
[Mingus Ah Um/Mingus Dynasty/Tijuana Moods]
27. WILLIE NELSON (01/02/2010)
[Yesterday's Wine/Red Headed Stranger/Stardust]
28. THE ONLY ONES (09/01/2012)
[The Only Ones/Even Serpents Shine/Baby's Got A Gun]
29. SHUGGIE OTIS (09/01/2012)
[Here Comes Shuggie Otis/Freedom Flight/Inspiration Information]
30. DOLLY PARTON (8/02/2010)
[Eagle When She Flies/Slow Dancing With The Moon/White Limozeen]
31. IGGY POP (28/03/2011)
[New Values/Soldier/Party]
32. ELVIS PRESLEY (26/09/2011)
[Today/From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis Tennessee/Moody Blue]
33. PRIMAL SCREAM (26/09/2011)
[Vanishing Point/Echo Dek/XTRMNTR]
34. SANTANA (08/02/2010)
[Illuminations/Oneness/The Swing of Delight]
35. SANTANA (26/09/2011)
[Havana Moon/Beyond Appearances/Spirits Dancing In The Flesh]
36. SCORPIONS (01/02/2010)
[In Trance/Virgin Killer/Taken By Force]
37. GIL SCOTT-HERON (24/01/2011)
[Real Eyes/Reflections/Moving Target]
38. SIMON and GARFUNKEL (01/02/2010)
[Sounds Of Silence/Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme/Bookends]
39. PATTI SMITH (26/07/2010)
[Gone Again/Peace And Noise/Gung Ho]
40. THE STRANGLERS (28/03/2011)
[Feline/Aural Sculpture/Dreamtime]
41. TOTO (08/02/2010)
[Toto/Hydra/Turn Back]
42. LUTHER VANDROSS (01/02/2010)
(Never Too Much/Give Me The Reason/The Power of Love)
43. VANGELIS (26/09/2011)
[Heaven And Hell/Albedo 0.39/Spiral]
44. THE WALKER BROTHERS (01/02/2010)
[No Regrets/Lines/Nite Flights]
45. MUDDY WATERS (24/01/2011)
[Hard Again/I'm Ready/King Bee]
46. BOBBY WOMACK (09/01/2012)
[Home Is Where The Heart Is/Pieces/Roads Of Life]

"The Name Of The Rose" on BLU RAY. A Review Of The 1986 Film Now Reissued On A 2011 BLU RAY.

"…The Step Between Ecstatic Vision And Sinful Frenzy…Is All Too Brief…"

*** THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2011 BLU RAY ***

French Director Jean-Jacques Annaud had his work cut out for him. First he had to hire BAFTA-winning writer Andrew Birkin along with three other top scriptwriters to do a 'Pamplifest' of "Il Nome Della Rose" – a 500-page medieval whodunit written in Italian by Historian and Scholar Umberto Eco. Then after four years of design prep, Annaud had an entire Benedictine Abbey built to scale on hills outside of Rome in the winter of 1985. So come the opening minutes of "The Name Of The Rose" - as William of Baskerville and his novice Adso of Melk (Sean Connery and a 16-year old Christian Slater) dismount from their nags and have their hands washed inside the huge wooden gates of that fourteenth century structure - you can 'see' that Annaud spent his 17 million dollar budget wisely…

Right from the word go you are immersed in their world. The camera pans up to vertigo-inducing battlements, down to a vast courtyard, over to vestibules and quadrangle arches festooned with ecclesiastical masonry. There is little of comfort here and the only earth dug up is not for vegetables but fresh graves. Everything else is filth and grime – mud – snow – animal faeces. Then once inside - the chilling austerity continues. Stone floors, hard wooden pews and incense swinging censers at mealtime. There are marble altars with hidden latches, crypts with mounted skulls and passageways alive with droves of really fat rats. There’s even a Scriptorium tower beside the Abbey where books are laboured on by hand for years - and a secretive library above it all that is accessible only through a wooden labyrinth…

As if this isn’t enough – then there’s the look of the inmates. It feels like Annaud sent out an all-points bulletin to hire 30 of the ugliest actors in the world. These monks, scribes and translators are like the grotesque gargoyles that loom over everything on the elevated pillars. Some of them are fat – some giggling and maniacal – others are toothless (many are all three). They all wear coarse grey cassocks and sport severe tonsure haircuts. Others have large facial warts or the scars of self-flagellation on their backs – punishment for sins of the flesh (and we’re not talking about chorus girls here). Even the medical infirmary is a place of terror - with jars of dark substances that look more like torture potions than medicines and soothing poultices. This is how the fourteenth century would have looked - and felt – and it is completely believable.

It helps too to have a fantastically well-chosen cast… Principal in this is Sean Connery as a Franciscan Monk who uses sextants, magnifying glasses and his considerable intellect to solve ‘conundrums’ in the year of our not-so-enlightened Lord 1327. Other grotesques include William Hickey as the prophecy spouting Brother Ubertino, the veteran Italian actor Feodor Chaliapin Jr. as the ‘venerable’ Jorge – a blind spiritual leader who rants about ‘laughter’ deforming faces and making men look like monkeys. And best of all is the simpleton hunchback Salvatore (a stunning turn by “Hellboy” leading man Ron Perlman) who sticks his tongue out at people and babbles in all languages and none…

The story sees William of Baskerville brought in by a wily Abbot seeking answers and discretion (a superbly cast Michael Lonsdale). William is to investigate monks dying of what appear to be 'unnatural forces'. As more bodies succumb to murders that begin to look like signs from the Bible (a vat of pig’s blood and a scented bathtub are assigned to the Blood and Water predictions of the Apocalypse) - the Holy Inquisition is eventually summoned. But God’s mercy on Earth is the dreaded Bernardo Gui (a deliciously cruel F. Murray Abraham) who is the very personification of man’s twisted inhumanity when corrupted by power. Brother William is now in a race against time – he knows from bitter past experience that Bernardo Gui will come to convenient explanations involving 'devils in their midst'. And with some tortured confessions – Gui will sacrifice three unfortunates to the burning stake (including Adso’s girl) because he knows this will calm the spiritually panicking monks.

But the film belongs to Connery. Relishing a properly meaty role and well-written script (especially when it’s so closely linked with his favourite subject of education) – he gives his William just the right amount of Sherlock Holmes genius but with that touch of condescending arrogance too. William is driven – and like Holmes - has an almost dismissive disdain for life. It’s as if solving the puzzle is everything – certainly more important than stopping the monster from killing his next victim. But more than this - William also suspects that nothing 'supernatural' is taking place – that someone in the Abbey is reluctant to unleash knowledge and ideas on the ordinary people – especially those written down in "...spiritually dangerous books..." And on it goes to a showdown in the labyrinth of the Scriptorium – and a peasant girl in the mist who haunts Adso into his old age (the only earthly love he has ever known)…

Words matter in this film – so the script rises to it. In an argument that William has with the permanently vexed Jorge about 'laughter as a weapon' – their sparring in front of the other monks is the stuff of brilliance. When Adso encounters the beguiling and beautiful 'girl' (played by a gorgeous Valentina Vargas) – he confides in his master about women and love. William’s response is both comical and wonderful. When William hears the hunchback Salvatore utter the word "Penitenziagite" – he knows he was once a heretic. It’s the war cry of the Dolcinites – an order of monks who believed in the poverty of Christ – but wanted all men to follow in the same (something the Church wasn’t too keen on). So the Dolcinites slaughtered the wealthy and for good measure all the corrupt fat priests too. William's explanation to Adso of how religion can warp the mind is both humane and intelligent (the dialogue from it titles this review).

PICTURE QUALITY – there have been poor reviews of a German issue on Blu Ray – but this July 2011 copy is a USA release on Warner Brothers which is REGION FREE and will therefore play on all machines (if you type in the barcode number 883929180080 into the SEARCH bar on Amazon – it will direct to the correct version).

The picture quality is a VAST IMPROVEMENT on everything that has gone before. It absolutely ‘isn’t perfect’ by any means - but it is beautiful in many places – something the DVD issues notoriously failed to deliver on. There are so many great moments where the clarity is shocking now – Connery looks out the window at a fresh grave being picked by a crow – food chucked out the sleuth at the back of the Abbey and allowed to roll down to the clambering peasants below (“another generous donation to the poor from the church…”). Even the night sequences when they’re scurrying around the desolate courtyard areas are superbly clear. There are times when blocking and some speckling appear (fog engulfing the Abbey) – but it’s rare. This is the BEST the print’s ever been and the stunning/sinister score by JAMES HORNER has also been given an upgrade so it rattles out through your speakers with real force. The ‘Extras’ of the 2DVD set are all here too.

"The Name Of The Rose" is the very definition of a 'cult' movie - and like "The Big Lebowski" and "Brazil" - quotes from it litter the net.
It blew me away when I first saw it and it's been in my top ten ever since. So if you're a fan, you should buy this BLU RAY version - and if you're new to it, then dig in.

And remember – when a man is found in a monastery stable with a witch, a black cat and a cockerel – it doesn’t necessarily mean he isn't a nice person…

BLU RAY Specifications:
VIDEO: 1080p High Definition 16x9 1.85:1
AUDIO: DTS-HD Master Audio, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 and Spanish 1.0
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: English, French, Italian, Castellano, Czech (Cesky), Hungarian (Magyar), Polish
SUBTITLES: English (For The Hearing Impaired), French, Italian (For The Hearing Impaired), Castellano, Dutch, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech (Cesky), Danish (Dansk), Finnish (Suomi), Hungarian (Magyar), Norwegian (Norsk), Polish, Portuguese, Swedish (Svenska)

EXTRAS:
2 x Feature Length Commentaries by Director JEAN-JACQUES ANNAUD – one in English and the other in French (with English subtitles)
"The Abbey Of Crime – Umberto Eco's The Name Of The Rose" – A Detailed Making Of In German and French with subtitles (40 minutes)
Photo Video Journey with Jean-Jacques Annaud (10 minutes)
Theatrical Trailer