MEDIA
Preview
By GABRIEl J. HERnAnDEz
Videos
Joe Bonamassa Live From The
Royal Albert Hall
You hear it all the time; people are “livin’
the dream.” Unfortunately, many never get
a chance to fulfill their life-long dreams.
Just don’t count blues guitar wizard Joe
Bonamassa among them. When he walked
out onto the hallowed stage of London’s The
Royal Albert Hall on May 9, 2009, Bonamassa
satisfied a burning ambition he’d had ever
since watching the legendary Cream melt the
same stage as a youngster. It took him 20
years to do it, but he finally did it, and he did
it in grand fashion. Lucky for us, he decided
to film it all and share it. Joe Bonamassa
Live From The Royal Albert Hall captures
Bonamassa’s most shining moment in all of
its glory, showcasing the prodigious talents
of this modern-day guitar magus for all the
world to behold. This blistering two-disc set
opens with Bonamassa himself setting the
scene, defining the night’s true eminence to
viewers about to partake of his London soiree. Then, armed with his signature Gibson
Les Paul Goldtop, Bonamassa joins his stellar
ensemble—including dual drummers Bogie
Bowles and Anton Fig—onstage to the gorgeous opening of his instrumental, “Django.”
From there, it’s all jaw-dropping lick after
lick of Bonamassa’s best stuff, including
the beautifully eerie title track of his latest
release, The Ballad of John Henry. He satis-fies his diehards with concert jam staples like
“Sloe Gin,” “Mountain Time,” “Woke Up
Dreaming,” and “Blues Deluxe.” And there’s
a heavenly selection of eye candy too, including a Bigsby-equipped 1999 Les Paul historic
aged by Tom Murphy, a 2009 Ernie Ball Music
Man John Petrucci model baritone, and a
beautiful 1982 korina Flying V. Of course,
32 PREMIER GUITAR DECEMBER 2009
there’s also the special guest appearance
of the one-and-only Eric Clapton, who joins
Bonamassa onstage for a scorching rendition
of “Further On Up The Road.” Technically,
it was Clapton’s 147th appearance on the
Royal Albert stage, and he seemed relatively
at ease as he almost symbolically hands over
the ethereal blues crown to its worthy new
owner, and then demonstrates just how he
earned it in the first place. The two proceed
to trade licks back and forth as if they’d been
playing together for years. And if you can
find only one flaw with this DVD, it’s that
Clapton only hung around for one tune. But
that’s it, because the rest of it is a true testament to Bonamassa’s bluesy artistry. Let’s
hope he comes close to matching his hero’s
run at the divine Hall.—GH
List $19.99
jbonamassa.com
The Complete Monterey Pop
Festival: The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
One of the coolest things about a DVD collection like Criterion’s The Complete Monterey
Pop Festival [Blu-ray edition] is that the generation that actually lived it can pop this into
their Blu-ray players and just about feel the
warm, wet California mud slithering between
their toes. It’s that damn good … really! Even
if you don’t get into this kind of music, you
can certainly appreciate where it all came
from. And, if you can do that, you’re going
to find this collection is a treasure trove of
extraordinary long-lost footage, hellacious
performances and fascinating documentary
that should keep you glued to your big, wide-screen plasma TV for the full length of both
discs. I went into this with a bit of trepidation. If you’ve seen one late-1960s concert
film, you’ve probably seen enough. But I was
wrong. Director D.A. Pennebaker’s take on
this historic gathering of flower children in
the northern California countryside is as epic
as the festival itself. Call the summer of 1967
the “Summer of Love,” or whatever else it’s
been tagged over the years—yet make no
mistake, the Monterey Pop Festival was the
year’s signature pop culture event, and the
beginning of quasi-American revolution that
didn’t end until two years later in upstate New
York. Pennebaker was originally hired by ABC
to film the festival for television, but backed
out once it previewed the footage. Instead,
Pennebaker teamed with The Mamas and
the Papas founder John Phillips and legendary recording guru Lou Adler to produce the
original 79-minute documentary released in
1968. Disc one showcases the original movie
in its newly restored and remastered format.
Supervised by Pennebaker himself, the footage was taken from the original 16mm rolls,
transferred into high-def, color-corrected and
made grain-free. The audio was given engineer Eddie Kramer’s legendary treatment,
resulting in an extraordinary visual and sonic
experience that can be enjoyed in several
formats, including the phenomenal DTS 5. 1
surround sound option. Of course, all of the
musical performances are there: Simon and
Garfunkel, Janis Joplin, The Animals, The
Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Paul
Butterfield Blues Band, Otis Redding, Ravi
Shankar, Buffalo Springfield, The Who and,
of course, Jimi Hendrix. Disc two features
Hendrix’s incredible, sexually-charged performance in its entirety, including his introduction
by Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, who
then slides back into the crowd to take in
Jimi’s superhuman spectacle. There’s also Otis
Redding’s complete breakout performance,
and approximately 123 minutes of outtake
performances that didn’t make the original
film. Add the superlative commentaries from
both Pennebaker and Adler, plus trailers,
interviews, video excerpts, photo essay, photo
catalog, and 64-page booklet, and there’s
no doubt about it—this collection goes way
beyond simple nostalgia. Before it’s over,
you’ll be wiping the mud from your feet and
looking for a flower to put in your hair.—GH
List $69.95
criterion.com
www.premierguitar.com
