The Songmakers Collection

Starring:Carole King, Phil Ramone, Mike Stoller, Bobby Darin, Dionne Warwick, Neil Sedaka, Jerry Leiber, Burt Bacharach
Director: John Griffin (XIII), Morgan Neville (II)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Several of rock and pop music's best and most important early songwriters, along with some stellar performers, are profiled on The Songmakers Collection, a two-DVD set culled from five separate episodes of the A&E Network's Biography series. The centerpiece is "Hitmakers: The Teens Who Stole Pop Music," a 90-minute documentary about the many writers who worked side-by-side in New York's legendary Brill Building in the '50s and '60s. It's a fascinating story, featuring duos like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, nearly all of them Jewish kids from Brooklyn who were at ease writing classic tunes for black and white artists alike. The tale is told in standard documentary style, via interviews past and present, photos, extensive film footage, and, of course, lots of music.

The remaining programs, all about 40 minutes in length, concentrate on individual artists or partners (inevitably, some of the same footage appears several times). Singer Dionne Warwick, best known for her interpretations of Burt Bacharach-Hal David material (and maybe for the Psychic Friends Network), is profiled in Volume One. The three features in Volume Two focus on the life and loves of Bacharach, the classically trained composer of so many pop standards; on Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, dubbed "the fathers of rock & roll songwriting" for their work with everyone from Big Mama Thornton and the Coasters to Elvis Presley and Peggy Lee; and on Bobby Darin, the ultra-versatile, swingin' talent who lived with the prescience of an early death due to heart problems (he died at 37). Great stuff, all in all--although a few more complete performances would have been nice. - -Sam Graham
Description
In an office building a few blocks from Times Square, a group of talented teens rewrote the soundtrack to the American experience. Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, and Bobby Darin are among the legends who passed through its doors. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," "Up on the Roof," and "Hound Dog" are just a few of the hits that came pouring out. This unprecedented look at "The Hit Factory" includes in-depth portraits of some of the biggest names in music, along with a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the heady days when the Brill Building was the center of the pop universe. A treasure trove of unforgettable songs, rare photos, and interviews with everyone from Carole King to Phil Ramone makes The Songmakers Collection the definitive story of a musical revolution.

Amazon.com

Several of rock and pop music's best and most important early songwriters, along with some stellar performers, are profiled on The Songmakers Collection, a two-DVD set culled from five separate episodes of the A&E Network's Biography series. The centerpiece is "Hitmakers: The Teens Who Stole Pop Music," a 90-minute documentary about the many writers who worked side-by-side in New York's legendary Brill Building in the '50s and '60s. It's a fascinating story, featuring duos like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, nearly all of them Jewish kids from Brooklyn who were at ease writing classic tunes for black and white artists alike. The tale is told in standard documentary style, via interviews past and present, photos, extensive film footage, and, of course, lots of music.

Description

In an office building a few blocks from Times Square, a group of talented teens rewrote the soundtrack to the American experience. Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, and Bobby Darin are among the legends who passed through its doors. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," "Up on the Roof," and "Hound Dog" are just a few of the hits that came pouring out. This unprecedented look at "The Hit Factory" includes in-depth portraits of some of the biggest names in music, along with a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the heady days when the Brill Building was the center of the pop universe. A treasure trove of unforgettable songs, rare photos, and interviews with everyone from Carole King to Phil Ramone makes The Songmakers Collection the definitive story of a musical revolution.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulously entertaining look at the music of the 50's & 60's.......2006-06-07

If you're a fan of 50's & 60's music, you must own this DVD! Features segments on songwriters Lieber & Stoller, Carole King & Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, Burt Bacharach & Hal David plus Bobby Darin. Also features clips of many artists performing, including Darin, Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, the Coasters et al. Also includes interviews with Shadow Morton, Jerry Wexler, Ahmet Ertegun, Ben E. King, the late Doc Pomus, and Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las, to name just a few. Five hours of a great look back at how the music of the late 50's and early 60's was made, this book is a perfect compliment to Ken Emerson's book "Always Magic In The Air". Get them both. It'll be the best $30 (at current prices) you ever spent.

Good intro Bio for Bobby Darin - for fans or fans to be.......2006-01-06

One of the two great Bobby Darin bios (the other being PBS's Beyond the Song). This one is totally different, and features more comments from friends and family than Beyond the Song which focuses more on interviews with fellow celebrities.

I especially like the rare footage and photos of BD from his high school days, some as a drummer in a catskills band.

And the high point is an interview with Atlantic engineer extraordinaire Tom Dowd, who give first hand testimony to the fact that BD worked hard for his success for years before he became an "overnight" sensation.

A Worthy Addition to Your Music Collection.......2004-11-18

My two favorite sections of the two DVD's include "The Hitmakers" which include sections on girl groups such as The Shirelles and The Ronettes, Tommy James and the Shondells, The Monkees, The Archies, Phil Spector, and others that will be familiar to you. My other favorite section is that of "Leiber and Stoller" and the songs that they wrote for such groups as The Drifters and The Coasters. The sections on Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka, Burt Bacharach are also worthy additions. The section on the Brill Building songwriters entitled "The Hitmakers: The Teens Who Stole Pop Music" alone is worth the price of this set. I plan on using parts of these DVD's in my after-school music class with middle school students. I have also purchased extra copies to give for friends.

Very good stuff!.......2003-07-02

I bought this at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland this weekend. (It's the source, per this DVD, of Don Kirschner's greatest regret, that being that he hasn't been enshrined there. He should be, and would be if he was more popular amongst his peers, but I digress...)

The longest piece on this two-disc set has incisive comments by the greats of the Brill Building songwriters (Goffin and King, Greenwich and Barry, Weill and Mann, etc.), as well as rare comments from Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las and many others. It's in must-see territory.

The rest of the pieces on the discs are Biography-style (this being from A&E's Biography unit, after all) shows on Dionne Warwick, Bobby Darin, Burt Bacharach and Lieber & Stoller. All of them are well done, though not as incisive as the centerpiece.

A&E skimps on extras, and they do so here again. A shame, as with decent extras I'd give this one 5 stars.

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