‘Scotty Moore was in the delivery room when Rock & Roll was born, kicking and howling in the Tennessee night. On July 5, 1954, guitarist Scotty Moore, bass player Bill Black and a young man from Tupelo, Mississippi, by the name of Elvis Aaron Presley recorded ‘That's All Right’ at the Memphis Recording Service - and the world was never to be the same again.’ This is an absolutely sensational DVD that should really be called "A Tribute To Scotty Moore - By admirers of The King"

Starting with Elvis in the ’68 Special introducing Scotty Moore, this DVD takes a loving journey through Elvis’ best known songs performed live at the famous Abbey Road Studios by a collection of the world’s best musicians who have all come together in December 2004 to celebrate the music & importance of both Scotty Moore & The King.

The production values are nothing but first class, with beautiful camera work and an amazing sound (in 5.1 surround) equal to anything that has been recorded in the Abbey Road Studios in London.
The concert runs for 90 minutes with an astounding 28 tracks but the DVD extras run just as long.

The main support group for the concert is Bill Wyman’s (The Rolling Stones) band The Rhythm Kings who certainly know how to play and who are joined by a magnificent array of Britain’s best musicians from Eric Clapton to Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour!

Mark Knopfler (from Dire Straits, right with Scotty) starts the proceedings with a cute ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’, but for me the concert really starts with Mike Sanchez his fabulous ‘My Baby Left Me.’

This is music that rocks and every track lovingly allows that special Scotty Moore vibe to cut through. The audio mix is great & it truly is a memorable concert and a fitting tribute.

Paul Ansell (right) has his own band ‘Number Nine’ and is renowned for "Smokin, country, rockin blues" and it shows. He has an edge that makes you want to get up & dance while never over-powering the feel of Elvis or the playing of Scotty Moore. Hearing ‘A Mess Of Blues’ live & in this quality is a delicious treat. His cool-swing version of ‘Reconsider Baby’ where Scotty plays some devilish guitar licks is one of the real highlights.

Mike Sanchez described as "a frenetic front man in a soaking red suit" is another great discovery performing fabulous versions of ‘All Shook Up’ & ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy.’

Scotty Moore & Eric Clapton Moore, "Guitar Gods", sharing thier love of Elvis.

Perhaps the true surprise is the lovely interaction with "guitar god" Eric Clapton playing a sensitive acoustic guitar, with Scotty Moore on electric. The interaction between them & the simpleness of the arrangement, using Sun Studios stand-up double-bass, is a real highlight. The delicacy of ‘That’s All Right’ and the interaction of ‘Mystery Train’ in this setting demonstrates what the rock’n’roll revolution was all about. The fact the Eric Clapton lovingly emulates Elvis’ acoustic playing on ‘That’s All Right’ is such a tribute to the song that started it all – an exquisite example of ‘less is more’.

Another delight is the musical variation of the DVD as it also includes renowned British Jazz guitarist Martin Taylor contributing some delicate jazz reworkings of Elvis’ famous songs. His duet with Scotty on a cool-jazz version of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ is marvellous.

There are plenty of other highlights to discover and I was a little disappointed that some of the fabulous rockin’ tracks, like the sensational Paul Ansell ‘Ready Teddy’, wasn’t in a dance-hall setting as it begs for the audience to get up & dance.

The greatest joy is the humility of Scotty Moore himself, along with seeing him laugh & smile at all these great performances. His effortless playing and his grin makes it all look so easy, while he plays guitar licks that changed popular music forever. It is astounding to watch - I only wish I had been there!

My only real negative is that on several of the tracks – including a fabulous ‘Jailhouse Rock’ by Steve Gibbons – Scotty isn’t actually playing.

Throughout the concert the group varies from the small SUN 4-piece band, to a bigger group with swinging sax-section, to the final "Super-Group" of seven guitarists on stage all rocking out to a stunning finale of ‘Hound Dog.’
You know that Elvis would have loved to have been there for every moment.

The BONUS features are also excellent.

First there is a 30-minute interview with Scotty Moore, the longest interview I have ever heard from this quiet man! In it he reminisces over plenty of old stories but there are some very revealing moments
moments
 His self depreciating attitude on making an earlier SUN record with Doug Pointdexter & the Starlight Wranglers, “It probably sold a dozen records”

 Discussing those first SUN recording sessions where he mentions Sam Phillips recording plenty of other songs that Elvis tried out but that Sam never kept them on tape – “I’m sure sorry he didn’t!”

 When asked if he was conscious that they were leading a revolution in the history of music, Scotty just laughs saying, “Lord no! We all enjoyed what we were doing & we were hoping for it to catch on enough that we could quit our day jobs & just play music for a living.”

 Scotty once again reminds us that Chet Atkins plays rhythm guitar on the original ‘Heartbreak Hotel’.

 He also reveals that The Colonel wanted to dump him, Bill Black & DJ Fontana and to replace them with Hank Snow’s backing group. (EIN Note – How strange would that have been?)

 There also is an interesting discussion about his final 1968 meeting with Elvis in a backroom of his house. This is where Elvis asked both Scotty & DJ Fontana if they would like to do a European Tour with him as his backing band. Scotty says, “We said OK... But that never happened and instead Elvis started with his Vegas shows.”

There is another 20-minute interview with Jerry Schilling, but the real bonus is seeing the Pre-Concert rehearsals.
Here you get to see Scotty Moore meeting with the band pre-show. So many of these famous musicians are delightfully humbled by Scotty’s presence. A nice treat is also seeing them practice while listening to Elvis’ original recordings playing in the background & Scotty discussing his approach at the time.
While the rehearsals may not be everyone’s cup-of-tea they do show another human, even insecure, side to all these ‘Rock Legends’ who have gathered together for this magnificent event.

Verdict - This is an absolutely sensational DVD that should really be called "A Tribute To Scotty Moore - By admirers of The King". The extremely high production values and brilliant audio quality makes it an essential purchase for anyone interested in Elvis - or any one of these fabulous musicians who took part. This is a very rare find in a world of rush-released music DVDs. Definitely one of the best music DVDs to be produced last year so don’t waste your money on searching for yet more sub-standard bootleg Elvis DVDs, buy something of real quality instead!

Concert tracklist.
1. Blue Moon Of Kentucky (Mark Knopfler)
2. My Baby Left Me (Mike Sanchez)
3. That’s All Right (Eric Clapton)
4. Heartbreak Hotel (Steve Gibbons)
5. Trying To Get You (Albert Lee)
6. Baby Let’s Play House (Mark Knopfler)
7. Shake, Rattle And Roll (Paul Ansell)
8. Mess Of Blues (Paul Ansell)
9. One Night (Paul Ansell)
10. Don’t Be Cruel (Steve Gibbons)
11. Money Honey (Eric Clapton)
12. All Shook Up (Mike Sanchez)
13. Lawdy Miss Cloudy (Mike Sanchez)
14. Blue Moon (Martin Taylor)
15. I Forgot To Remember (Paul Ansell)
16. Reconsider Baby (Paul Ansell)
17. Ready Teddy (Paul Ansell)
18. Heartbreak Hotel (Martin Taylor)
19. Don’t (David Gilmour)
20. Jailhouse Rock (Steve Gibbons)
21. Good Rocking Tonight (Paul Ansell)
22. I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine (Steve Gibbons)
23. Baby I Don’t Care (Albert Lee)
24. Blue Suede Shoes (Albert Lee)
25. Tennessee Waltz (Martin Taylor)
26. Mystery Train (Eric Clapton)
27. Hound Dog (Albert Lee)

Review by Piers Beagley, copyright EIN - January 2006.

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