Review of Jerry Lee Lewis: The Story Of Rock And Roll

Introduction

Any story of Rock and Roll would include the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis. With his "God-given" piano skills, trademark voice and charisma-fuelled performances, it is hard to overestimate his impact on popular music. But if you’re looking for Jerry Lee Lewis’s “true story of Rock and Roll” then you may be disappointed with this DVD. There is little on his tumultuous life or famed lifestyle. However, the disc happily contains some fantastic music, including archive footage of ‘the Killer’ from the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert, and also two other performances made as part of his comeback tour. Lewis`s songs includes ‘Great Balls of Fire’, ‘Breathless’, ‘Mystery Train’ and ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On’, and popular Elvis tracks `Jailhouse Rock` and `Hound Dog`, amogst others.

Video

The DVD was compiled from clips from many different eras, so whilst they obviously range in picture quality, on the whole it is very good. The bulk of the clips come from the Toronto festival, and the print is relatively clear from damage such as specks or marks. The black-and-white footage is equally as pleasing, with a decently detailed image and clean print.

Audio

More important than picture quality on music DVDs is the sound quality. This DVD features a remixed 5.1 soundtrack, which is of good to great quality. Lewis’s vocals and fervent piano playing sound crisp throughout and especially good during Toronto. Since the track has been remixed, there is little use of surround effects, but the clapping and cheering from the crowd adds a nice atmosphere to the show.

Features

The biography is very poor – only three half-screens of writing – and skims over pretty much all of the interesting stuff in Lewis’s life. However, this is partially made up for with three excellent archive news reports on Lewis – particularly interesting is the one from BBC’s news coverage of his scandalous marriage to his 13yr old 2nd cousin, which ruined his career for the best part of the 60’s.

Conclusion

A little misleadingly advertised as a documentary on Jerry Lee Lewis, this is in fact, both disappointingly and satisfyingly, pretty much a collection of his songs. Although this could have been a great documentary with some narration and more criticism, the music cannot be faulted. Although I’ve obviously heard his more famous songs and heard about his amazing energy on stage, the performances here are nothing short of electric. An exceptionally good release for all Rock and Roll fans.