Lightning in a Bottle

On 07 February 2003, fifty artists are gathered in a concert in the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, for one of the greatest tribute to the blues. Produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Antoine Fuqua, this concert and documentary entwines wonderful songs with interviews and footages, for example, of John Lee Hooker that died in 2001.

I have just seen this wonderful tribute on DVD and I dare to say that it is a must-see and mandatory in any collection of blues lover. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "A História do Blues" ("The History of the Blues")

penseur wrote about Buddy Guy's rendition of Jimi Hendrix's Red House. Red House is an old blues standard that a million people cover, so Guy wasn't covering Hendrix he was just playing Red House.

I don't mean to nitpick but it's frustrating when I see things like "Clapton's I Shot the Sheriff" or "Aerosmith's Train Kept A Rollin". Covering blues tracks is a fundamental, and great, part of rock and roll, but the songs should be remembered for what they are, not some mega-bands rendition of them. Led Zeppelin's first album was almost entirely blues covers and it was awesome. Those guys constantly give credit to the great American blues legends. Without them there is no Led Zeppelin.

Most of the big names in American blues music, certainly the black exponents, get glimpsed in this tribute show - and if they didn't attend, mainly because they are deceased, there is archive footage of them. Although a concert, the film manages to become a documentary as well and reasonably chronological. Obviously you can't expect this condensed film to be comprehensive about a subject this big with so many artists, but it makes a good try. The artists and their performances I guess are a matter of personal taste, but I enjoyed most of them. The borders between blues, soul and rock are rather blurred sometimes, but there are lots of people who resist categorization. Standouts for me were Buddy Guy's rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Red House" (Hendrix was actually a big fan of Buddy Guy) and BB King's fret work right at the end. For blues lovers it's a must see; for those who don't know much about it, this film is a good introduction. Try to see it in a cinema with a good sound system.

Overall, this recent concert was good and offered a wonderful group of diverse artists. I had never heard of about a half dozen of these performers and really liked a lot of the "new" faces (to me). They ranged from a few old-time gentlemen to a couple of young women. Macy Gray blew me away with her rendition of "Hound Dog."

I also had no idea Natalie Cole could belt out the blues as she did. Wow, that was a pleasant surprise, as were the two Aerosmith performers, Steve Tyler and Joe Perry. I thought they were just rock/heavy metal-type guys. Wrong. Kim Wilson on harmonica was great, and Buddy Guy playing guitar is always awesome.

How about the band? There were some heavy hitters in there and they left no doubt what a great time they were having helping out most of these performers.

The only negative to this DVD, as a few others have pointed out, is the ridiculous rendition by Chuck D of a John Lee Hooker classic. Plus, he made things worse by turning the song into some really lame anti-war diatribe. This is where the expression, "Shut Up And Sing" takes hold. There is always some moron who has to get political, where it's not the forum for that sort of thing. The real question is, "Why was this included in the DVD while so much other good music was not included?"

Anyway, B.B. King finishes up the disc on a positive note and then Bonnie Raitt and Robert Cray join him as the ending credits roll.

This is more of a concert than a documentary but the songs are short, too short for my tastes since I enjoyed them so much but, hey, there were a lot of "acts" to squeeze into this 103- minute DVD, so I understand. I'd rather have paid more and had a two-disc DVD and heard the entire night's offering. That would be awesome.

Speaking of that, don't forget the extra bonus tracks on the "features" part of the DVD. There is some excellent music in this, some of it, I found, better than many of the performances on the main concert. The two Aerosmith dudes, Greg Allman and guitarist Warren Haynes, Buddy Guy doing another number and a "21st Century Blues" rendition of "Revelation," featuring Chris Thomas King. These extra songs are not to be missed.

Any fan of blues, I would suspect, would want this in his or her collection.

With all due respect to the blues legends that performed, and were celebrated in this documentary, it was awesome. I loved the camera angles, the lighting, the sound, as well.

During the viewing of this film, I was searching, listening, for the answer to the question its title sets up - what is "Lightning in a Bottle?" I just don't know - they never told me...is it whiskey? I've yet to figure it out. If someone reading this caught the answer, please name it, for my attention failed.

However, there were things that were shown to me, that I feel could have with common nicety, been edited out. I didn't need to see Odetta, lady blues icon turned bitterness, stomp in and scream that Ruth Brown must not compete with a band. It was enough for me to notice her dramatic instability when she budged off stage following her own performance. Likewise, I didn't need to see Macy Gray asking someone what song she would be singing, and how she should sing it. First of all, who doesn't know "Hound Dog?" Second of all, it didn't do her justice to display her ignorance in this rudimentary phase of practice.

My last gripe - what a sad, sad tribute Chuck D displayed for John Lee Hooker. There was no homage in that, no reverence, or even dignity. He should be ultimately ashamed for taking a disc from the spine of blues and smashing it into such a blasphemous, desperate failure. Mr. Hooker must have rolled in his grave.

Back to the positive notes...Buddy Guy, as usual, was awesome. I even forgive him for coming back out to play while some band butchered Voodoo Chile. It was that performance made for one great camera shot in which I was looking up from the floor at his hand scratching away on his guitar. Clarence Gatemouth Brown was wonderful. I enjoyed him talking, and doing his thing on the stage. BB King gave a great and fitting finish.