Let It Rock: Volume 1 [DVD] [2002]

Description

A fascinating though often unintentionally hilarious miscellany of guitar-based music from the late 1960s to the early 80s, Let It Rock consists of performances--most live, some mimed--lifted apparently randomly from the archives of German TV. The common factor throughout seems to be a predilection for excessive facial hair (Joan Jett and Heart excepted). Otherwise the selection is entirely haphazard: the ordering is certainly not chronological, as neither the programme nor the minimal booklet notes mention broadcast dates of any kind. This is a shame, because there are some genuinely rare performances here: Yes playing "Yours Is No Disgrace" live in the studio (spoiled by silly psychedelic effects) and the Doobie Brothers' "China Grove", for example, as well as little-known tracks from Spooky Tooth ("That Was Only Yesterday"), The Grease Band ("Wild Side of Life"), Stone the Crows ("Danger Zone") and Man ("Daughter of the Fireplace"). Elsewhere, more silly camera effects detract from Free's "All Right Now" and Deep Purple's vintage "Highway Star" (the latter mimed, not live), among others. There is much that raises a chuckle, too: mad flautists in Family's "The Weaver's Answer" and (naturally) Jethro Tull's "The Witches Promise" (great song, silly video), the off-Broadway camp of Meatloaf's "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth" and the extraordinarily shambolic Ginger Baker's Air Force. On the DVD: Let It Rock may lack any kind of documentation or context for the music, but at least the sound is excellently remixed Dolby 5.1 or DTS. --Mark Walker