The Songmakers Collection
by John Griffin, Morgan Neville
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DVD details
Actor: Bobby Darin, Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Jerry Leiber, Phil RamoneDirector: John Griffin, Morgan Neville
Brand: A&E
Writer: John Griffin
Producer: Morgan Neville
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Songmakers Collection
DVD Review: BOBBY DARIN A&E documentary
Summary: 5 Stars
This A&E documentary of Bobby Darin , narrated by actor Bruno Kirby, is a wonderful companion piece to the PBS documentary "Beyond the Song". This DVD has added performances, rare video footage, and interviews with Darin's family members and colleagues. Included is footage from Bobby's retreat to Big Sur, CA and his film making efforts.
Burt Bacharach's sparkling 4 decade career is highlighted with performances and a present day interview with the composer legend.
Lieber & Stoller's countless contributions to pop music are priceless. This DVD goes into fabulous detail to show their songwriting brilliance.
This is an awesome DVD collection.
DVD Review: What would we do without them
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very interesting series related to the how and the who of the Brill Building in relation to the composing of popular songs from the era. I enjoyed the whole series.DVD Review: Fabulously entertaining look at the music of the 50's & 60's
Summary: 5 Stars
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.DVD Review: Good intro Bio for Bobby Darin - for fans or fans to be
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
DVD Review: A Worthy Addition to Your Music Collection
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Description of The Songmakers Collection
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.The story of a musical revolution, told by the writers, producers, and performers who made it happen. Includes: performance footage of stars like Dionne Warwick, The Righteous Brothers, Dusty Springfield, The Coasters, and many more; almost 100 interviews, including Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Dick Clark, Neil Sedaka, Stevie Wonder, Nancy Sinatra, and Dionne Warwick. >From the producers of A&E's award-winning Biography series. 300 minutes.
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
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