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Elly Roberts reviews
inakustik
- Cert:
- Pressing: 2006
- Running time: 75 minutes
- Region(s): 0, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Stereo
- Languages: English, German
- Subtitles: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £15.99
- Rating: 6/10
- Extras:Interview with the Producer, Artist Biography, Sound Tuning
Hot on the heels of James Brown for the title of ‘Funk Master’ was none other than Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson.
Coming from a totally different musicalbackground, the Blues, Watson never achieved the global or commercialsuccess of Brown. That said, he brought another dimension to the Funk genreand Disco with dashes of brilliant fusion through his guitar work. By thetime of his death of a heart attack onstage at Japanese Blues Club in 1996,Watson had re-emerged as a driving force, particularly in Europe.
Filmed on July 2 1990 four years before Grammy-nominated Bow Wow, thecharismatic showman pulled out all the stops at a TV special for Ohne Filterin Baden Baden Germany. Supported by his uber-hot band, the ‘Gangster OfLove’ thrilled his fans with his slick charm offensive, though early on, oneheckler tried to stop him in his tracks, which Watson quickly corrected thesituation without any fuss.
Displaying all the professional tricks in thebook, his cool dude persona and matching glamorous outfit of red flaredsuit, white Stetson and shoes, the huge gold-rimed shades finished off theimage to perfection. Strutting the entire stage, he barely stood still, andone occasion dared to do a guitar solo in the audience, to their amazementand delight, throwing himself in the true spirit of the gig. His uniquemusic, mostly jazz-funk orientated, made sure the crowd danced all night.
In the early stages there’s little evidence of his groundbreaking guitar workinfluenced by T-Bone Walker, but even when it emerged it was considered andeconomically effective in the B.B.King mould, highlighted on Nothing Left ToBe Desired and Three Hours Past Midnight. His singing was that of a classicSoul singer, making him a well-rounded musician and performer. Included inthe show is one of only two UK hits (No.44, April 1977), A Real Mother ForYa, also reprised for the encore. None of his albums made an impression inthe UK charts.
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Strike On Computers
2. Superman Lover
3. I Wonna Ta Ta You Baby
4. Nothing Left To Be Desired
5. Ain’t That A Bitch
6. A Real Mother For Ya
7. Three Hours Past Midnight
8. Gangster Of Love
9. A Real Mother For Ya (Encore)
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.