The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?
by Peter Meyer
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DVD details
Actor: Danny Glover, Eric Clapton, John Hammond, Robert Cray, Robert Lockwood Jr.Director: Peter Meyer
Brand: Johnson
Producer: Yolonda Williams
Cinematographer: Philip C. Pfeiffer
Producer: Philip C. Pfeiffer
Producer: Peter Meyer
Writer: Peter Meyer
Writer: Jean Compton
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 77 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Shout Factory
DVD Reviews of The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?
DVD Review: Hell Hounds On His Heels
Summary: 4 Stars
I have recently spent some little effort making comparisons between old time country blues singers. My winners have been Skip James and Son House. Apparently, if the story behind the Robert Johnson story presented here is right I am in a minority compared to the like of Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. So be it. After viewing this very informative bio, complete with the inevitable "talking heads' that populate these kinds of film efforts I still have that same opinion, except I would hold Johnson's version of his "Sweet Home, Chicago" in higher regard after listening to it here. Previously many other covers seemed better, a lot better. Roosevelt Sykes' version, for one.
The producers of this film have spend some time and thought on presentation. The choice of Danny Glover as expressive and thoughtful narrator was a welcome sign. Having Johnson road companion and fellow blues artist, Johnny Shines, give insights into Johnson's work habits, traveling ways, womanizing, whiskey drinking and personality make this a very strong film. Add in footage of Son House (an early Johnson influence) and various other Delta artists "doing the devils' work who met or were met by Johnson along the way on that dangerous Highway 61 and one gets the feeling that this is more a labor of love than anything else. For a man who lived fast, died young and left a relatively small body of work this is a very good take on Robert Johnson. I might add that if Johnson is your number one blues man this film gives you plenty of ammunition for your position.
Note: As is almost universally true with such documentary endeavors we only get snippets of the music. I would have liked to hear a full "Preacher's Blues", "Sweet Home, Chicago", Terraplane Blues" and "Hell Hounds On My Heels" but for that you will have to look elsewhere
DVD Review: Best Robert Johnson documentary yet
Summary: 5 Stars
This documentary was produced in 1997, and very little new and meaningful information on Robert Johnson has surfaced since then, except for further details over his death. So, the important facts about his life are contained here. But this is more than a documentary --- the dramatizations are fabulous. It is a very relaxing film, and beautifully showcases Johnson's original recordings. Keb Mo does a fine job in recreating Johnson's recording sessions. It is visually beautiful, and takes you to the heart of the Delta. Johnny Shines, Johnson's former traveling buddy, is wonderful, and credible. I grow weary of listening to Honeyboy Edwards because the authenticity of his claims are highly questionable. Just reading the back of Johnson's death certificate raises serious questions about Edwards' recollections. No matter. This is a very entertaining and transcending work. DVD Review: The life and music of Robert Johnson
Summary: 5 Stars
Great overall presentation about the man and his music.DVD Review: Best Robert Johnson DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I think I have seen all the Robert Johnson documentaries available. I like this one the most. The interviews are good, most info that is around in other places too. Integrating the artful sequences of Keb Mo as Robert Johnson is what distinguishes this disc most to me. Turn the sound up on my system, watch it on the big plasma... it's about as close as most of us will ever get to the authentic roots of what is now called blues.DVD Review: A Steady Rollin' Man
Summary: 2 Stars
Robert Johnson was one of the most enigmatic bluesmen of the 20th century and his life is still a mystery today.Fans only have two grainy pictures of Johnson and various accounts of the mans' life by those who knew him and those who purport to have known him.Having died at the age of 27 by poisoning only adds to the legacy.Johnson, like many of his contemporaries in that early century era, liked women and whiskey and that became his undoing...a jealous husband poisoned his drink and sent Johnson off into the history books forever.In this documentary, other bluesmen will tell you what Johnson was all about, right up to those final hours but some of their testimony is questionable, as was Johnsons' entire life.But the music is there and it lives up to the Johnson image. Many songs are haunting (Hellhound on My Trail, Come On In My Kitchen) and many are sad (Drunkenhearted Man,From Four Til Late)but they all carry Johnsons'unique stamp on the blues. One listen and you'll hear it.Danny Glover's narration is compassionate and blues musician Keb Mos' silhouetted figure makes you feel that you are watching actual footage of Johnson himself. Good stuff...
Description of The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?
This ambitious mixture of dramatic reconstruction with traditional documentary affords excellent insight into legendary bluesman Robert Johnson's life, the enduring power of his music, and the myth which surrounds him. Can't You Hear The Wind Howl transcends its genre of "docudrama," providing the well-researched information we'd expect from a conventional documentary with the dramatic impact we could hope for from a Hollywood film.Contemporary bluesman Keb' Mo' (Kevin Moore) plays Johnson, and Danny Glover narrates, but the real star is Robert Johnson's music. The film's strength is its power of suggestion; we never see the Johnson character up close, never hear him talk. As if in a dream, he flits in and out of scenes, whether courting his girlfriend or stirring a juke joint to mayhem. But you'd be hard put picking him out of a police lineup. We never see him such that we can know him, which is an accurate representation of the elusive musician, according to the interview footage with Johnson's proteges and peers--among them Johnny Shines, Robert Lockwood Jr., and Honeyboy Edwards. Keb' Mo', who has included Robert Johnson songs on each of his three CDs, says that portraying Johnson had a lasting effect. "It's an internal thing," says Mo'. "In playing him, you pull in some of the spirit. The spirit of a juke joint, the spirit of the south at that time." This film falls nicely between an homage and an explanation. --Sam Sutherland
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