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This item is about a week old... but I don't think it got posted?
FEATURE-Blues giants come to life in DVD package
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In October 1962, a rented truck carrying some precious cargo trundled north from London to Manchester, where the leading blues musicians of the day were set to perform for a rabid audience of young fans.
When the truck reached its destination, out staggered a bedraggled group of penniless kids. Among them: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones of a fledgling blues combo known as the Rollin' Stones, and future guitar god Jimmy Page.
They had made the pilgrimage to catch the sole English stop of the American Folk Blues Festival, an annual revue that toured Europe throughout the 1960s.
That year's lineup included John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, folk-blues duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, pianist Memphis Slim and guitarist T-Bone Walker. After the riveting show, harmonica player Shakey Jake was accosted by a skinny kid who picked up his harp and started blowing. It was Jagger, already ambitious at 19.
The story is detailed in the extensive liner notes to a new two-volume DVD series, "The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966," which boasts rarely seen performances by the aforementioned bluesmen as well as the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Lonnie Johnson, Otis Rush, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Big Joe Turner and Sonny Boy Williamson.
The pristine black-and-white clips were rescued from the vaults of Sudwestfunk, a German television station that broadcast an annual in-studio concert featuring each year's lineup in return for a fee that helped underwrite the tour.
"TEARS IN MY EYES"
The shows were generally screened once, then shelved. Bootleg versions of the 1964 and 1965 TV shows have circulated among obsessives, but the footage from the other years was thought to be extinct. That is until about three years ago, when U.S. music video licensing firm Reelin' in the Years Productions snapped up the rights to the Sudwestfunk clips.
"The first time I put them in (the tape machine), I literally had tears in my eyes," said David Peck, president of Reelin' in the Years. "I could not believe what I was seeing. Being an archivist for 20 years I've seen so much footage ... and I immediately realized the significance of it. It's not just because of the artists themselves but the quality of it."
Old blues footage is generally hard to come by, and much of it is poor quality. In the case of the American Folk Blues Festival, the efficient Germans used cutting-edge recording equipment and neglected to erase or throw out the tapes -- a common practice elsewhere.
Fans can now put themselves in Jagger's shoes as they watch Walker and Memphis Slim backing Dixon on his 1962 version of "Nervous," or marvel at the "supergroup" trio of Dixon, Williamson and Matt "Guitar" Murphy playing with Waters on a version of "Got My Mojo Working" from the following year.
San Diego-based Reelin' in the Years (http://www.reelinintheyears.com) has exclusive licensing contracts with 25 television stations around the world, primarily in Europe and Australia. It has recently brokered deals to provide footage for such DVDs as "The Complete Jam" and Jimi Hendrix's "Experience."
Indeed, Reelin' in the Years partnered with the Hendrix estate and its distributor, Universal Music Group, on the blues DVDs. They also issued a companion CD featuring 16 tracks from the set. A third DVD, tentatively set to feature J.B. Lenoir, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Little Walter and Big Joe Turner, is scheduled for release early next year.
QUALITY COUNTS
The presentation of the DVDs is at least as important as the footage. Appalled by what he considers "embarrassing" packaging for recent "Saturday Night Live" and "Ed Sullivan" DVDs, Peck said he harassed Universal to ensure the booklets were packed with information. Former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman wrote the foreword and Rob Bowman the main essay, all complemented by rare photos from the tour.
Also adding to the cost was obtaining clearances from the various estates of the featured performers.
"All the estates are getting royalties and advances," said Peck. "It's not much. Obviously no one is going to get rich off this thing. But the point is that everybody will get something."
He hopes the DVDs, which carry a list price of $19.98 each, will sell about 50,000 copies, a respectable sum for the genre, but not quite in the same league as a "Lord of the Rings" or "Spider-Man" DVD.
Other blues projects in the hopper at Reelin' in the Years include a Freddie King DVD for October release and an Albert King DVD for early next year. Also on the schedule is a reissue of "Soul to Soul," a 1971 concert in Africa featuring such stars as Santana, Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner, the Staple Singers and Roberta Flack.
Reuters/VNU
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