This
five disc set pulls together
classic performances from
(mostly) the cream of the pop
and rock world with live
performances seen on the
legendary sketch comedy show
interspersed with music themed
sketches.
SO
IS IT ANY GOOD?
Beginning
on 11 October 1975 Saturday Night Live quickly established itself as the
show to watch with it’s performers including the likes of John Belushi,
Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Dan Ackroyd et al, all of whom would go on to
major fame in Hollywood. A staple right from the first episode of SNL
would be a high profile musical guest (the first show featured Janis Ian
and Billy Preston) this awesome 5 disc collection kicks off with Billy
Joel’s Only The Good Die Young and then goes on to feature Ray
Charles, Carly Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, Joe Cocker (and John Belushi
impersonating him to perfection), a controversial performance by Elvis
Costello which sees him stop mid song to start another, the very first
appearance of The Blues Brothers, Patti Smith, Mick Jagger and The Band.
And that’s just on disc one.
The
discs go in chronological order and go up to the likes of the Backstreet
Boys and Ricky Martin but in between we get Paul McCartney doing Hey
Jude, Eric Clapton and Wonderful Tonight, REM and Losing My Religion and
a whole stack more. Equally as entertaining are the inbetween song
skits. The early stuff is probably the best with John Belushi’s
Beethoven morphing into Ray Charles being the highlight.
Make
no bones about it this collection is simply a must have, a treasure in
fact.
ANY
SPECIAL FEATURES?
Extras
include the chance to view the songs in any order or a just see the
sketches function and that’s about it but who needs extras when the
main material is this good.
