VARIOUS ARTISTS
Let It Rock: At the Crossroads...DVD
Eagle Vision 2005
www.ronniehawkins.com

What’s the 4-1-1?
60th birthday celebration for rock legend Ronnie Hawkins taped back in 1995; now on DVD for the first time in 5.1 sound. It was described as the “the rock event of its decade”. The concert features performances by Ronnie Hawkins, The Band, Lawrence Gowan, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Jeff Healey.

Genre
Rock n’ roll / rockabilly / oldies

The Good
The DVD kicks off with “Let it Rock”, a performance by the All-Star Band (Lewis, Hawkins, Perkins, The Band, Healey, and Gowan). These rock veterans show the young’uns how it’s done. Jerry Lee Lewis plays the piano with such ease, as does Healy with his trademark seated guitar playing. Despite his sixty years, Hawkins is in great voice with his deep vocals tones. This is how you start a show my friends. The All-Star Band follows up with the blues number “Down in the Alley”. It’s loaded with twangy slide guitar, soulful piano playing, warm brass, and emotional vocals courtesy of Hawkins. For the group’s third and final performance together they choose the high-energy “Bo Diddley”.

The Band injects dual drums, crazy key smashing, and vocal melodies into “Remedy”. They follow that with ‘The Weight” and “Rock and Roll Shoes”. Lawrence Gowan contributes with three songs. He breaks out some sweet 12 string guitar tones on “Time for Love” that compliments his vocals well. He gets behind the keys for a rousing version of “Good Golly Miss Molly”, and stays behind them for a soulful version of “Long Tall Sally”. Ronnie Hawkins takes to stage five times throughout the DVD, and each performance is flawless. Carl Perkins uses plenty of 50s style double stops during his solo work on “Matchbox”, and also get the crowd on their feet with “Blue Suede Shoes”.

Jerry Lee Lewis isn’t exactly the Wildman he was in his younger days (he’s 70 at this time), but he can still hit all the notes and his signature yodels on “Whole Lotta Shakin’” and “Great Balls of Fire”. Jeff Healey backs him up with some phenomenal guitar work. The DVD bonuses include a music video by Ronnie Hawkins featuring The Band for “Days Go By”. The video itself features backstage clips from the big show. Also included is the documentary “At the Crossroads of Rock and Roll”, which not only chronicles the concert, but also gives you a little history of how and when the rockabilly craze got started. It’s quite in-depth as it goes into the artists lives and explores the controversy that they possibly stole the style of music from the black culture of that time.

The Bad
Not a damn thing!

The Verdict
This DVD lives up to it’s billing as “the rock event of the decade”. You can’t deny the musicianship and talent of all the artists involved. This isn’t necessarily music or artists that I’ve listened to in the past, but after watching this DVD I’m going back to explore more of their past work.

Did You Know?
Ronnie Hawkins served in the Nation Guard as a teenager.

Rating: out of 5

--George Dionne