Last Poets, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, AL Green, Santana, Earth Wind & Fire, Sly & The Family, Aretha Franklin, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Spinners, Parliment Funkadelic, Bootsy and many more all in their prime from 1968 to about the mid 70's.... Enjoy! All items are available on DVD and VHS
THE MUSIC Timeless and still moving. I dig the songs more now than when they first hit the airwaves back in the 80's and 90's. There's a good balance of hits representing the first four albums: three each from "Diamond Life" and "Promise," and four each from "Stronger Than Pride" and "Love Deluxe." There's also a bonus hit, "By Your Side," from the most recent album "Lovers Rock." As Sade fans can well understand, it's hard to tire of this alluring music.
THE VIDEOS This compilation makes a great addition to anyone's musical DVD library. The first ten tracks are vintage 80's productions, with the most common settings being bars, nightclubs and casinos, occasionally frequented by a cast of underworld characters or other mystery men (whatever). As far as I can tell, the videos are ordered chronologically, and both the production value and creativity improve as you keep watching. Most are in color, but the four b/w videos are especially noteworthy for their artistry: "Never as Good as the First Time," "Nothing Can Come Between Us," "Cherish the Day," and "Feel No Pain." Directors Sophie Muller and Brian Ward chalk up the most video credits with five and four, respectively.
On November 10th 2002, the ultimate reggae experience took place. Blazing The Fire a John Shop Records production, set musical fire to the Palladium (NY).
This spellbinding extravaganza featured performances by some of reggae's most outstanding luminaries.
Among them: Sizzla, Anthony B, Yami Bolo, Determine, Dawn Penn & Ras Shiloh.
Now we bring the Blazing The Fire experience direct to you living room with rare and never before seen footage, backstage and offstage happenings and breaking performances.
John Shop Records proudly presents this revolutionary DVD that will change the way you view reggae forever.
Wattstax the concert and Wattstax the film were unprecedented events for the Los Angeles African-American community and a source of great pride. In the weeks surrounding the filming of the concert, the predominately African-American film crews took to the streets, recording candid interviews with local African-Americans and capturing a unique, unvarnished view of the Watts community.
The crew also filmed then little known comic Richard Pryor's biting insights on the black experience which frame the entire Wattstax movie. The mise-en-scene of Wattstax is all undiluted summer of '72 funk, jive and soul as expressed in and around the streets of Watts. Interspersed throughout Wattstax - The Special Edition are the dynamic fashion, knowing humor, indomitable courage, uncanny insight, and undeniable style of Black Los Angeles.
From conception to realization, Stax Records was the driving force behind staging the Wattstax concert in conjucntion with The Watts Summer Festival. They had the foresight and vision to commission a documentary of not just the concert, amazing as it was, but of African-American life in and around Watts as well.
