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Last night I was skeptical about this film, but I think that *THIS* has been the best film in the series so far. I could not believe this.
Being a fan of most of the artists featured in this film, almost everything they said was a revelation. I think here in America we have grown to assume that "the British stole the blues and gave it back to America" and that was it. What "Red, White & Blues" wanted to establish was that these young musicians fell in love with the music coming from America, and simply played it because it felt good. From jazz to blues, as well as early R&B, it would come to America and they would absorb it like a sponge. It was "folk music" and they interpreted it as such, it wasn't "black music" to them although they knew who did it, where it came from, and that it should always be treated with respect.
I did not know that skiffle originally came from the blues. If you watch Beatles and Rolling Stones documentaries, both bands often made fun of "skiffle" and I always assumed that Lonnie Donegan was a musician that these guys viewed as a joke. In truth, Donegan was heavily influenced by Leadbelly. Skiffle turned into the big folk movement that ruled British music for the early 60's, which seemed as nerdy as the music created here by the likes of The Kingston Trio.
All of the musicians in the film, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, John Mayall, Tom Jones, and everyone else talked about how when the records were brought in to British shores, they would do anything they could to get these records. Some were able to catch radio broadcasts from Germany, originally targeted for the U.S. military who were stationed in England, and they would get a chance to hear all of this new music. There was no hesitation in embracing this music that here in the U.S., was considered the "devil's music" not only by whites, but by blacks as well.
There were so many good points in this film I don't know where to start. John Mayall talked about how Eric Clapton would go into Mayall's huge record collection and pretty much take in everything. Then Eric Clapton says "I bought Charles Mingus, a lot of jazz, and it was all good music to me. I didn't view it as this or that, it was all the same music." That statement has been a belief that I have always believed myself. We go to the store and see music separated in sections merely so the public knows where to go. "Target audience". But I have grown to realize that all music is somehow connected, it is we as humans who have reservations about who performs it, and who should listen to it.
The best section of this film was called "Vinyl", and anyone who is a record collector will no doubt understand this part of the film. All the musicians talked about all the records that influenced by them, and mentioned them by label, what musicians played on what, what the B-sides were, and why that particular record made them want to pick up a guitar or sing. It was like a record nerd paradise, and I understood every word of it. Through the edits in the film you would hear one person mention a guitarist in a song, then it would cut to someone else mentioning the same guy, and another make the reference, and you tend to feel that everyone had a sense of what was good music and what wasn't. They talked about how they would often participate in record listening parties to simply take in all the records that came to their shores.
Eric Burdon made one of the more revealing comments when he said something to the effect of "we loved music that came from black American culture, a form of music that white America wanted to put into the trash and treated it and them as such". Steve Winwood then went on to say that "we wanted to tell America that this music was not trash, this was the music that moved us to become the musicians we are".
They did mention The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. B.B. King said that "even though The Beatles were doing something different, you could definitely hear that they were influenced by the music of America, and definitely a hint of the blues." When The Rolling Stones came on, one guy said "they were pretty much a blues band from the start". They would come to America, and fans would be blown away by the British invasion. Fans and critics would ask who were their influences, and they would mention people like Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson. The answer they always got was "who? Who is Muddy Waters?" The British bands were shocked because they assumed that it was the same for America across the board, that the U.S. was a country where all of their favorite records and artists were celebrated. Not so.
What I wasn't aware of either was the influence of . Here she was with a church choir behind her clapping, and she's playing these mean riffs with her electric guitar (it looked like a Gibson SG but I may be wrong onthis). That sound became "the sound" of bands like The Kinks and The Yardbirds, an electric blues sound that would become the trademark for hundreds of other British bands. I've always heard of Sister Rosetta but never had interest in hearing her records. Now I do.
They also got into the British jazz scene briefly, and eventually a blues scene, which was very educational since Ken Burns didn't touch on this in his PBS special (then again, I'm sure some jazz purists would have felt that this part of jazz history was not important.) I had never heard of a song by "Bad Penny Blues" by , which is considered to be the first British jazz record ever made. This song was a major influence on the blues and skiffle in England. This song would also become the blueprint of what was to become "Lady Madonna" by The Beatles, a song that for me had a New Orleans feel to it.
I've heard of Chris Farlowe but I wasn't aware of his influence to the British blues scene until this movie. He talked about recording some songs with his band, and one of the songs was "". The song would be released without his permission, but under the name Little Joe Cook. The song itself was bluesier than the work under the Chris Farlowe name, and people wanted to see Little Joe Cook perform live, at clubs and on television. People would call the record company and they had to say "he is unreachable at this time". Critics and fans thought Little Joe Cook was black, and the record started to gain momentum. When the record company told a magazine that this was Chris Farlowe, they refused to believe it.
Farlowe himself remembers meeting a blues musician in America (he didn't say who) and the musician goes "you know, I now know two guys named Chris Farlowe". Farlowe replied "oh really", and the musician said yeah. I know you, and there's a guy in England named Chris Farlowe too, he sang "Stormy Monday". Farlowe tells him "that's me man". The musician refused to believe and he said "no, this Chris Farlowe in that song is black". "Stormy Monday" is considered to be an important record among many artists in England.
Then here comes 1966, and B.B. King mentions the influence of Cream, and how their sound revolutionized not only British rock, but made Americans want to embrace the blues even more. Through these British artists, blues musicians were able to play in front of crowds, white crowds that for them would have been impossible 10 years previous. In the late 60's, many blues musicians were getting the royal treatment for the first time in their home country, something that had been reserved for them in England only.
In a way it's almost bittersweet, because even though B.B. King doesn't directly say it, his face said more especially in the movie that spotlighted him a few nights ago. To me, I interpret it as "why didn't America embrace us before? Why did it have to go to England, be brought back by these guys, before America treated us seriously?" I am sure there was animosity, but the white kids in England loved the music, and they simply wanted to come to America and experience it for themselves. When they found out that not all of America even knew what the blues was, they felt they had to spread its message anyway. If it wasn't for the passion felt by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, John Mayall, Peter Green, Albert Lee, and everyone else, B.B. King even admitted it by saying "we probably would have still been in the situation we were in", and King went on to thank the British musicians for exposing America to its own music.
You know what shocked me more than anything Lulu? Lulu looks better now than she did in the 60's, and her voice... shit. I know of "To Sir With Love" and I remember her doing a cover of the Isley Brothers "Shout" with her spunky voice, but I was blown away with her performance.
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To sum it up, this movie was not only great for the music and the interviews, but it was educational to the point where I was overwhelmed. Most of the information shared I did not know, and my assumptions of how the British were influenced by the blues was very limited. I knew that the records were shipped to the UK on a boat, and fans and collectors would buy them right off the dock, but that was it. I wasn't aware that it was such a massive movement, almost a "record collector nerd"-type of movement where the fans became the musicians, and they all kept their knowledge of the music that was a part of their childhoods. That "record collector" mentality still exists with the Northern Soul and funk movements, and no doubt I am sure there are people there who know more about hip-hop than we do (as witnessed in early issues of "Big Daddy" and now "Grand Slam").
The American mentality towards music is for the most part wrong. We as Americans are quick to toss out something that isn't popular anymore, yet England has always been about "did they make a good record? Then they will always be good to us, so let's support everything they do, good and bad." This goes back to all the complaining about Common when he came out with his album. People jumped on his ass like he was the biggest sellout, and I am sure people read these posts and followed. Yet ELECTRIC CIRCUS is just one part of Common's musical legacy, one that will no doubt exist for a long time. People here were ready to toss Common out as wasteful, yet I'm sure in England there are heads in some circles who think the album is the dopest shit he's done.
It also goes back to some of the posts ?uest had made in The Lesson when they were on tour in Europe. He talked about how he didn't feel the pressure that he felt back home, and some replied "wait a minute, we're not worthy of your time anymore?" and I think if you're not an artist who is touring and experiencing the reaction from the crowd to your music, you'll never know how it feels. ?uest talked about how there really are no "streets", and that the "streets" never existed, and that of course turned into a thread that caused a dispute over what the "Streets" are, who consists on the "streets", and the truth behind what really sells records. I've never met the man, and ?uest if you're reading this don't take this as me riding on your coattails or anything. I speak from my perspective, but from afar it seemed like ?uest was getting a number of revelations, which he would briefly hint with in the dream he described having. Whether or not it was cryptic I don't know, but I think with the new found success of The Roots in Europe (or maybe greater success), he was going through that song Buddy Miles always did, and I mean "Them Changes". A lot of what ?uest talked about on these posts before his "departure" were touched upon in "Red White & Blues". To me, it felt like ?uest was questioning the success he and the band were having in Europe, and maybe wondering why he couldn't enjoy that same success here at home. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I viewed it. ?uest feels it. Prince felt it. Jimi Hendrix felt it. Muddy Waters felt it. B.B. King felt it.
Lately I've been feeling like an old man sharing my love of music and realizing that a younger generation is not listening to records the same way I did. Records aren't dead, turntables are still being made. There are still grooves in them vinyl. There are still record stores, thrift stores, garage and yard sales, with heaps of vinyl that are viewed as the great cultural wasteland of America. What people don't view as hip is tossed out for something bigger, better, fresher, and 98% fat free. Personally, it doesn't matter how old you are. If you love the music, and treat it as seriously as life itself, even though people put you down because of it, seek and find it. Buy those records, take it home, and consume it.
Watching "Red, White & Blues" was like watching why I love music in the first place. It's being a fan of the music, buying music like a madman, and then wanting to be a part of the dream to where it becomes your dream. Eric Clapton said in the film that playing the blues and making sure it's treated properly is a "mission" to him, and like a true bluesman will never stop his mission and travels to teach the world about the music he loves.
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Once again, this series outshines Ken Burns' JAZZ series big time.
p.e.a.c.e.
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