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View Full Version : Blind Faith DVD



Iago
October 5th, 2006, 11:58 PM
Tracklist:

1. Well All Right
2. Sea of Joy
3. Sleeping in the Ground
4. Under My Thumb
5. Can`t Find My Way Home
6. Do What You Like
7. Presence of the Lord
8. Means to An End
9. Had to Cry Today

Extras:

Spencer Davis : I`m a Man (promo video)
Traffic: Hole in my Shoe (promo video)
Cream: I`m So Glad (promo video, from the Cream Farewell Concert)

Photo Gallery (Well All Right Plays on background)
Selected Discography of each member of the band 'till 1969
Blind Faith Genealogy (useless)

Stereo Sound. (no options)
Running Time: 73 minutes (concert about 45 minutes)

also includes a poster just like the cover of the DVD and on the back there`s the band`s genealogy surronded by some pictures.

The DVD starts with Sea Of Joy playing on the background... press play and..

The english narrator take us through a brief documentary about the late sixties british political and musical scene and the carrer of every member of the band. A short interview with Winwood (I`ve seen part of it in another DVD before) and also with Clapton and Baker (taken from the Farewell Concert), slideshows, and more bits of clips from each Blind Faith`er previous band. Almost nothing new here to me, but may be interesting if your not familiar with the band yet.

The intro logo... "Blind Faith Hyde Park june 7th 1969".. fades into the band on the stage, playing a stripped version (compared to that on the CD) of Buddy Hollie`s Well All Right. Still pictures of the band are mixed with shots of the crazy crowd, the beautiful Hyde Park, and the actual performance.. a bit annoying in my opinion, but maybe the tape was damaged and that was the only way to put the song on the DVD... who knows.

Sea Of Joy begins, and Clapton, ( who stays literally hidden behind Ginger`s drum during the whole concert) shines, playing soothing and delicate licks on his Custom Telecaster with a 50`s strat neck. Even Winwood can`t ruin the song (that he wrote himself) when he tries to reach some notes and goes really far from hitting them. Overall, really close to the CD, except for no violin solo by Rick Grech here.

Steve Winwood introduces Sleeping in the Ground, and the attention here is on Clapton. Many closes of his hands and soloing (even when you can`t really see him behind Ginger`s cymbals). Anyway is cool seeing him with the Tele. For those more curious about this, he plays with the pu selector in the middle position all the time.

Eric introduces the cover of Stones`s Under My Thumb. Kinda weird knowing that the Stones were playing on the Hyde Park too (there`s even a quick shot of Jagger later on). Steve`s vocal and organ matched perfectly with this song, and plays a cool solo before Eric plays his. Not too much improvisation here. Can`t Find My Way Home lacks something. It wasnt a completely finished song by the moment probably (the concert was played before the recording of the album) and Steve repeats the same lines on the 2 verses. Not too much improvisation here by Clapton at all, except for his bluesy solo. Nobody seems that secure on this one.

Ginger`s Do What You Like is a long jam on the album, but here it really lack some guts, I never really liked the studio version that much, so the fact it is a short song on the DVD doesnt bother me that much. No solos except a short one by him. By the way, I think theres some editing on this song before he starts the solo, like if they had to shorten the song. You can also notice some editing when he plays the solo, and his cigarette disappears from his mouth then appears again. Nothing special here...

Presence of the Lord is another soothing track, also sounding really close to the studio version like Can`t Find My Way Home, but a bit mellower. if Theres a letdown on this one is Eric, that stays in his safe zone the whole time. No Wah Wah on the solo either. Ginger and Winwood are great here.

Means to an End is a nice upbeat song by Winwood. This song wasnt featured on the origianl album, but I heard it on bootlegs (all the bootlegs versions I heard are better than this one, but anyways...) Calpton shows some nice soloing here, close to what he would do with the Derek and Dominos, but nothing extraordinary. The rythmn section is great here.

The last song (and my favorite Blind Faith song) is Had to Cry Today. One more that`s really close to the one that would come up on the album, except for no long psychodelic solos by Eric this time...again. It`s not that the guy looks bored or uninterested... he just looks insecure musically of what he`s doing, except some moments, that was the impression I had, like he was still trying to figure out what that new kind of music was all about. Winwood sings and plays great here, as well as Grech and Baker.

Well.. I got the DVD 3 days ago, and I`m watching it for the 3rd time right now.. so my opinions about it here are really fresh. I would sincerely give it a 3 out of 5. I would also suggest it for huge Clapton - Baker- Winwood - Grech fans. Small set, no fiery solos, great tunes, most of it not completely crafted, first show of a band to a 100.000 people crowd... I guess the performance represents pretty well the state of spirit of every one of them, specially Clapton.

Iago