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(More customer reviews)Beat Beat Beat - not to be confused with the German TV show Beat Club (which was a staged music show) - was the late 1960s version of American Bandstand broadcast in Frankfurt Germany. Teens sat in the stands or danced which current pop stars performed on stage. Most of the bands played live while the solo vocalists lip-synched their hits to a recording. The artists who appeared were often British pop stars with a few American artists who became bigger in the UK than in the US. The show ran for 26 episodes from 1966 through 1969 and all were recorded and archived in the German TV archives.
To my knowledge, this is the first time performances from these shows are being issued on home video - at least in the US. While some performers are big names worldwide, others had success only on the east side of the Atlantic Ocean.
This DVD is one of three "Best of" volumes released in the US from Music Video Distributors. It is the longest one -at 42 minutes - with 13 songs shown in crisp black and white images. Right from the start you know this isn't "American Bandstand" or even Britain's "Ready Steady Go". As the little know - over here - Barry Ryan stands among a large audience of teens and lip-synchs his recording of "Eloise", the teens sit there stone-faced with their arms crossed. Are they bored? Isn't Rock and Roll supposed to be happy music? Who knows? But it's sort of eerie. Next up is a rare opportunity to see and hear Brian Auger and Trinity with Julie Driscoll on vocals. Great camera work and a live improvised performance. BUT the sound is distorted and the lyrics hard to decipher.
Highlights on this disc include two fine numbers by The Easybeats and Herman's Hermits - announced in English as "Herman and His Hermits" - with lead Peter Noone beginning to look mature. Cat Stevens is here with a song called "Granny" (again lip-synching), a piece of pop fluff.
I'm really glad these performances are available - especially the live band tracks -and if you are a fan of any of these groups you'll want to see this DVD. But I deleted a star because of the poor sound quality on too many of the tracks and another for the quality of the some of the artists - most notably the aforementioned Ryan and two by Casey Jones & The Govenors - a purely pop Beatles knock off.
Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"
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BEST OF BEAT BEAT BEAT:VOLUME 1 - DVD Movie
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