The Songmakers Collection [VHS]

The Songmakers Collection [VHS]
by Morgan Neville (II), John Griffin (XIII)

The Songmakers Collection [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Bobby Darin, Carole King, Jerry Leiber, Neil Sedaka, Phil Ramone
Director: John Griffin (XIII), Morgan Neville (II)
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 300 minutes
Release Date: 2001-09-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: A&E Home Video
Studio: A&E Home Video

VHS Movie Reviews of The Songmakers Collection [VHS]

Movie Review: Great Music History
Summary: 5 Stars

If you would like to know about American music during the early 60s, this is the set to buy. The Brill Building Sound and the early song writers plus video clips of groups I haven't seen in forever. The beginning of the Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" and Carol King and the rest of the Brill Building group are all here. This is one great DVD set and I highly recommend it.

Movie Review: BOBBY DARIN A&E documentary
Summary: 5 Stars

This A&E documentary of Bobby Darin , narrated by actor Bruno Kirby, is a wonderful companion piece to the PBS documentary "Beyond the Song". This DVD has added performances, rare video footage, and interviews with Darin's family members and colleagues. Included is footage from Bobby's retreat to Big Sur, CA and his film making efforts.

Burt Bacharach's sparkling 4 decade career is highlighted with performances and a present day interview with the composer legend.

Lieber & Stoller's countless contributions to pop music are priceless. This DVD goes into fabulous detail to show their songwriting brilliance.
This is an awesome DVD collection.

Movie Review: What would we do without them
Summary: 5 Stars

This is a very interesting series related to the how and the who of the Brill Building in relation to the composing of popular songs from the era. I enjoyed the whole series.

Movie Review: Fabulously entertaining look at the music of the 50's & 60's
Summary: 5 Stars

If you're a fan of 50's & 60's music, you must own this DVD! Features segments on songwriters Lieber & Stoller, Carole King & Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, Burt Bacharach & Hal David plus Bobby Darin. Also features clips of many artists performing, including Darin, Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, the Coasters et al. Also includes interviews with Shadow Morton, Jerry Wexler, Ahmet Ertegun, Ben E. King, the late Doc Pomus, and Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las, to name just a few. Five hours of a great look back at how the music of the late 50's and early 60's was made, this book is a perfect compliment to Ken Emerson's book "Always Magic In The Air". Get them both. It'll be the best $30 (at current prices) you ever spent.

Movie Review: Good intro Bio for Bobby Darin - for fans or fans to be
Summary: 5 Stars

One of the two great Bobby Darin bios (the other being PBS's Beyond the Song). This one is totally different, and features more comments from friends and family than Beyond the Song which focuses more on interviews with fellow celebrities.

I especially like the rare footage and photos of BD from his high school days, some as a drummer in a catskills band.

And the high point is an interview with Atlantic engineer extraordinaire Tom Dowd, who give first hand testimony to the fact that BD worked hard for his success for years before he became an "overnight" sensation.

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Summary of The Songmakers Collection [VHS]

In an office building a few blocks from Times Square, a group of talented teens rewrote the soundtrack to the American experience. The string of chart- topping melodies they penned earned the Brill Building the nickname "The Hit Factory." Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick and Bobby Darin are among the legends who passed through its doors. "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling," "Up on a Roof," and "Hound Dog" are just a few of the hits that came pouring out. This unprecedented look at "Teen Pan Alley" includes in-depth portraits of some of the biggest names in the business, along with a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the heady days when the Brill Building was the center of the pop universe. A treasure trove of unforgettable songs, rare photos and interviews with everyone from Carole King to Phil Ramone makes this the definitive story of a musical revolution.

Several of rock and pop music's best and most important early songwriters, along with some stellar performers, are profiled on The Songmakers Collection, a two-DVD set culled from five separate episodes of the A&E Network's Biography series. The centerpiece is "Hitmakers: The Teens Who Stole Pop Music," a 90-minute documentary about the many writers who worked side-by-side in New York's legendary Brill Building in the '50s and '60s. It's a fascinating story, featuring duos like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, nearly all of them Jewish kids from Brooklyn who were at ease writing classic tunes for black and white artists alike. The tale is told in standard documentary style, via interviews past and present, photos, extensive film footage, and, of course, lots of music.

The remaining programs, all about 40 minutes in length, concentrate on individual artists or partners (inevitably, some of the same footage appears several times). Singer Dionne Warwick, best known for her interpretations of Burt Bacharach-Hal David material (and maybe for the Psychic Friends Network), is profiled in Volume One. The three features in Volume Two focus on the life and loves of Bacharach, the classically trained composer of so many pop standards; on Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, dubbed "the fathers of rock & roll songwriting" for their work with everyone from Big Mama Thornton and the Coasters to Elvis Presley and Peggy Lee; and on Bobby Darin, the ultra-versatile, swingin' talent who lived with the prescience of an early death due to heart problems (he died at 37). Great stuff, all in all--although a few more complete performances would have been nice. - -Sam Graham

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