Ed Sullivan ShowBy Sam Graham
With a total of 144 songs (including repeats) and well over 500 minutes
of playing time, this
massive boxed set, whose nine discs each contain between 12 and 19
performances, truly is, as host Ed Sullivan famously said, "a really
big show." With some 20 songs between them, the two most important
rock acts of the 20th century, Elvis Presley and the Beatles, both of whom
received huge career boosts from the Sullivan show (garnering a reported
80 percent audience share and 70 million viewers, respectively), are well
represented; so are other genres, like Motown and '60s rock. And
wonderful, galvanizing performances by, among others, the Jackson Five
(especially "the little fella in front," as Sullivan calls
Michael), the Animals, James Brown, Janis Joplin, Jackie Wilson, the
Rolling Stones, and even the Association ("Along Comes Mary")
are enough to counter the curious inclusion of the Brooklyn Bridge, Jay
and the Techniques, and other obscure minor talents.
Still, the boxed set (whose DVD bonus features include "trivia
tracks" and limited discographies) has serious flaws. Audio and video
(color and black and white) are good, but far too many songs are repeated
(the Jefferson Airplane's "Crown of Creation" appears twice on
the same disc!), while others are obviously truncated; and there's no
excuse for programming two songs each by the likes of Dino, Desi and
Billy, and Freddie and the Dreamers. In the end, the good music saves the
day, but the set's drawbacks keep Ed Sullivan's Rock 'n' Roll Classics
from being an essential purchase.
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