The Great American Songbook

Starring:Judy Garland, Michael Feinstein, RisÃ« Stevens, Herbert Stothart, Bronislau Kaper, Busby Berkeley, Frank Whitbeck
Director: Andrew J. Kuehn
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The Great American Songbook is an ambitious documentary that chronicles 100 years of American popular song through film clips and photographs. It stretches from minstrel shows to Elvis, but features most prominently the "Golden Age" songwriters of the 1930s through the 1950s--Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Richard Rodgers with both Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein, and others. That means you can enjoy some of the most exquisite music of the 20th century including Paul Robeson singing "Old Man River," Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing "Cheek to Cheek," and Judy Garland's "The Man That Got Away," plus performances of historical importance such as Al Jolson's "Swanee."

Customer Reviews:

Now I Understand.......2006-06-29

For many years, I had been only a casual fan of Rod's work, due to a surfiet of "Maggie May" played continuously on the juke box in my college restaurant by some unknown idiot. After a while, people would get up and kick the plug out of the wall, to tumultuous applause from the rest of us. After that beginning, I was loathe to explore more of Rod's work. However, I did eventually pick up "Storyteller", since it contained all the Stewart material I liked. I was mildly puzzled by the title, but never enough to pursue it. It was only when I received this DVD as a gift that "Storyteller" made sense. In drama school, we spent some time learning the art of storytelling, which can be even more difficult than acting. The answer was evident then. One has to SEE Rod to understand that he has mastered the art of storytelling in his songs. This DVD has taken a lot of flack; it doesn't deserve it. Rod's performance of "Downtown Train" is killer; a fantastic example of his storytelling skills, but they are also evident in his songs from "The Great American Songbook". Combined with the "One Night Only" DVD (another must-have), you've got Rod Stewart as he should be enjoyed --- live and loving what he's doing!

Not As Good As "One Night Only" But A Solid Show Overall.......2005-04-03

In Rod's first concert dvd since 1998's "Storytellers", "It Had To Be You: The Great American Songbook" is a concert originally recorded in 2001 to promote his first "Great American Songbook" album, "It Had To Be You". Mixing several tracks from that album with the usual Stewart classics, it is not as great as the recent "One Night Only! Rod Stewart Live At The Royal Albert Hall", it is still an overall solid five star perfomance.

The concert starts off with two energetic renditions of two of Rod the Mod's biggest hits, "Forever Young" and "Some Guys Have All The Luck", the latter tacking on "Every Breath You Take" at the end. Then comes 12 straight tracks from the "Great American Songbook" album. Now, I don't know why so many people dislike these songs, or at least Rod's versions. Stewart's raspy voice is perfect for these standards, just as Sinatra's and Crsoby's were on the original version. The live version breathes new life into these already great songs.

After this half of the concert is over, Rod bounds back onstage to perform seven more Stewart classics. This is the only part of the show that is somewhat disappointing. While "Maggie May" and the rarely heard these days "Young Turks" are fine, the rest of the performances a re a mixed bag. "Rhythm Of My Heart" and "Downtwon Train" are never as good as the studio versions when performed live, as they lack the richness and excitement of the originals, and these workmanlike performances are no exception. And while "Hot Legs" is done really well here, the version on "One Night Only! Rod Stewart live At The Royal Albert Hall" blows this one out of the water. However, Rod rescues the concert from an average four star rating with pitch perfect renditions of "Havin' A Party", "I'll Be Seeing You" and "It Takes Two".

Overall, again not as good as the Royal Albert Hall concert dvd, but definitely worth owning. It's not an overall excellent concert, but the majority of it is Rod at his best.

Poor lipsync.......2005-02-02

How can it be with to days technology. While the music is great to me, I hate to see a delay between the lips of a singer and the words of the song. On this DVD it happens several times.

No Rod Soul.......2005-01-04

The rock hits on this DVD are not sung with the usual Rod gusto, instead he is still recovering from the throat surgery from a couple years previous. And the audience is a hand picked bunch of stiffs who add nothing. Rod sings the standards with respect but they don't sound much different from the CD. All in all, not a good performance, and definitely NOT like a real Rod concert. Skip this and go for the Storytellers AND the "Royal Albert Hall" DVDs--both are superior.

One of the Best Concert DVDs !!!.......2003-10-12

I'm so glad I got this dvd inspite of having the cd already. The dvd has 9 bonus tracks compared to the cd. The tracklist includes the ff: songs

1. Forever Young
2. Some Guys Have All The Luck
3. They Can't Take That Away From Me
4. The Way You Look Tonight
5. These Foolish Things
6. Moonglow
7. Every Time We Say Goodbye
8. The Very Thought Of You
9. That Old Feeling
10. You Go To My Head
11. For All We Know
12. The Nearness Of You
13. That's All
14. We'll Be Together Again
15. Rhythm Of My Heart
16. Downtown Train
17. Maggie May
18. Young Turks
19. Hot Legs
20. Havin' A Party
21. I'll Be Seeing You

Bonus Track: It Takes Two

It's so different when you see an artist perform in front of you & ROD STEWART was truly a treat to watch in this DVD. For a man who's over 50 he sure didn't act like one and that's a compliment coz you will see how much fun he was having in this concert!

Amazon.com

The Great American Songbook is an ambitious documentary that chronicles 100 years of American popular song through film clips and photographs. It stretches from minstrel shows to Elvis, but features most prominently the "Golden Age" songwriters of the 1930s through the 1950s--Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Richard Rodgers with both Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein, and others. That means you can enjoy some of the most exquisite music of the 20th century including Paul Robeson singing "Old Man River," Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing "Cheek to Cheek," and Judy Garland's "The Man That Got Away," plus performances of historical importance such as Al Jolson's "Swanee."

Customer Reviews:

First Class.......2006-04-08

Perfect!!!!!!! Right from the first moment to the last this was fantastically researched and the narrative was wonderful. Ohhhhh and those old never seen before pieces of footage from the era that made music what it is today. I always said that the 20's 30's and 40's had more true genius musical minds than any other time in the history of the world. All of those immigrants landing in NYC with all of that yet to be discovered talent...Like Israel Baleen (Irving Berlin) and George and Ira Gershwin and Harold Arlan...WOW what a DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Great Musical History.......2005-08-04

I suppose anyone can get picky and find fault with this or any other similar musical DVD. I enjoyed it immensely, and the choice of Michael Feinstein to do the narrating was excellent. I would have liked to have more of the lyrics sung to some of the songs, but in the interest of time this wasn't possible even though the program is nearly three hours long. On the other hand many of the songs I enjoyed hearing did have more of the lyrics than I expected. The great songwriters are all here. It's not necessary for me to mention all the names, but George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rogers, Larry Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, and several others are all here. If you enjoy American music I can't imagine you not enjoying this historical program.

Mostly All Judy Garland, Very Little Doris Day..........2005-04-30

I don't know why is happens, but whenever these documentaries are made, you get TONS of Judy Garland and hardly any Doris Day. Miss Day, almost single-handedly, saved the movie musical in the 1950s. She also saved Warner Brothers from becoming non-existant. When she became a star with her first film, "Romance on the High Seas," she rose to become the #1 musical star in films.

Perhaps the people who produce these films are from the "I must hate Doris Day" era. There was a time when the mere mention of Day's name drew ire from many uninformed people, some were even critics. What they don't want to admit is that Doris Day is one of the most popular and talented singer/actresses in the history of motion pictures. That's a crime, in my opinion. Forget the fact that she remains, to this day, the top female boxoffice star of all time.

Certainly, she deserves more screen time in these documentaries, since there is so much material from which to choose. She made 17 films in 7 years while at Warner Brothers alone, most of them musicals.

Most of the people who get the star treatment in these documentaries were never as big as Day, and like Garland, didn't have the crossover appeal to the Top 40 charts, as Doris did.

Until Doris gets her due, I won't buy these documentaries.

Too Much Michael.......2004-07-05

This otherwise superb survey of American popular music is marred by far too much narration and singing from Michael Feinstein. The cabaret entertainer's talent does not stand comparison with the giants highlighted here, yet as the documentary proceeds Feinstein talks and croons more and more, his bounced notes anachronistic and his smile pleasant but seemingly frozen by botox. What a shame, because the filmed material is priceless.

Music Nostalgia.......2004-06-28

My wife and I found this tremendously entertaining, informative and absorbing.

We sang along with most of the songs and found some of the moments definitely moving. The host was not intrusive and the use of movie clips to illustrate the narrative was ingenious.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Galileo

Eric Friedlander - Skin : DVD

Opera [Limited Edition] [2 Discs] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Dementia 13

Ratten - Sie werden dich kriegen!