Ed Sullivan's Rock 'n' Roll Classics: Lennon & McCartney Songbook ... (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	42:25
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Rajon Vision	Starring	John Lennon Paul McCartney Ringo Starr George Harrison Ed Sullivan Peter Asher Bobby Rydell Billy J. Kramer Petula Clark Smokey Robinson Jerry Lee Lewis Jackie Wilson
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Lennon Paul McCartney Marvin Gaye

    This disc consists of two retrospective television shows that were produced in 2001. These are effectively a compilation of musical highlights from the Ed Sullivan Show, accompanied by recently conducted interviews with some of the stars. The first episode offers some interesting reinterpretations of a few Lennon-McCartney tunes, while the second focuses on a dance rhythm. These are playable individually or as a whole.

    Episode 1 opens with a brief biography of Lennon and McCartney, followed by The Beatles' performance of Ticket To Ride from 1965. Eric Burdon is interviewed briefly, followed by an explanation of the relationship between Peter Asher and Paul McCartney. The remainder of the performances are good, however I found Petula Clark's rendition of Fool On The Hill lacklustre to say the least.

    The second episode has some great performances, beginning with The Beatles' doing Twist And Shout in 1964, as found in their First US Visit film by the Maysles Bros. Former boxer Jackie Wilson has a voice that was ahead of its time, and he really stands out in this compilation. Freddie And The Dreamers are hilarious with their tune Do The Freddie, armed with a stage presence that reminds me of Devo in a strange way. Sly And The Family Stone close the disc with one of their signature funky grooves.

    This is an altogether broad range of musical styles that is likely to please viewers who crave a bit of nostalgia. If you're familiar with these artists, or are a fan of this era of pop music, it could well be worth a look.

Video

    This video transfer is derived from an NTSC analogue video source. The performances captured here range throughout the mid-to-late 1960s, so the quality varies and some clips are actually presented in colour.

    Obviously since the content is from a television broadcast, the transfer is presented in an aspect of 1.29:1 full frame.

    The level of detail is acceptable given the age of the material and the image is generally quite clear and free from any major problems. The colour palette is vivid at times, but doesn't appear to suffer from any unsightly bleeding or oversaturation.

    I didn't notice any MPEG compression problems, however there are a few analogue tape errors that pop up now and then. A rather distracting instance of moiré can be seen at 27:25, as well as quite a few examples of shadowy vignetting around the corners of the screen.

    There are no subtitles provided.

    This disc is single layered (DVD5 format).

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    There are two soundtracks available. The default soundtrack is Dolby Digital 2.0, while a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack may be selected from the main menu. I listened to the default audio and sampled the Dolby Digital 5.1 option periodically.

    The audio quality varies even more than the video, but is certainly serviceable. Vocals are distinct and generally easy to discern. Audio sync is not entirely exact, but this is not likely to bother most viewers.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 option spreads music around the listener and is fairly enveloping, however to me the 5.1 soundtrack is much less sharp in comparison to the default stereo audio. I would settle with the default option.

    I noted a few minor dropouts and some brief distortion at times, but these are the result of technological limitations at the time, not the transfer to DVD.

    The subwoofer is not utilised to any great degree.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
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Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

    The video and audio transfers are only limited by the source material.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
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Plot
Overall