Buddy Guy Live: The Real Deal with G.E. Smith & The Saturday Night Live Band

Buddy Guy is one of the greatest Blues guitarists and storytellers of all time; his music transcends the tumultous era he grew up in and reflects his musical roots from the Old South, with homage to Muddy, Howling, Albert and Lil Milton.......this live-recorded performance from his own Blues Club (Legends in Chicago's Southside) features the Saturday Night Live Band, fronted by another good guitarist, G.E. Smith (overlook the ponytail!) and a capable ensemble of accomplished muscians: witness Leon Pendarvis on the Hammond organ; Johnnie Johnson on acoustic piano; G.E. Smith matching Buddy's searing Blues riffs chord for chord and several other members lending the Brass/percussion that makes this so rich and enjoyable! Interspersed with narration by Mr. Guy is archival footage of early and historic Blues Clubs from around the country, characteristic of his journey from youthful backup to his musical Mentors to his rise as solo performer. Many of Buddy Guy hits are here ("Sweet Black Angel", "Talk to me Baby", "I've Got News For You", "First Time I Met The Blues", "Damn Right I Got The Blues", and his first great hit, "My Time After While") Here he is, wearing his trademark overalls, playing the same old black and white polka-dotted Fender Strat with and without a guitar pick with the agility and perfection the years have not taken from him; Buddy relates the time, in 1964, when recording his FIRST song, "My time After Awhile" for Chess Records, he was stepping outside the studio and saw another musical ensemble waiting for THEIR time-the Rolling Stones! Well now, the rest just may be Rock and Roll but THE BEST is still dem damn BLUES!!!

Well as I have said many times in my reviews material on most living Blues Legends is very scarce! Buddy Guy has been in other peoples' releases for the last 10-15 years but does not have much of himself in concert format (when will they release the German "Musik Pur" concert!!). I have read the previous reviews and basically agree with them, this concert is short, its in monochrome due to the lighting (but it's a good "club" effect), and the set has no extras or bonus material. Buddy is interviewed over the top of several songs and it's, at first, a bit annoying.However, the actual set is great and has many of his most famous tunes. The actual presentation is fabulous and the band the SNL group with GE Smith (who played with many people including "Hall and Oates" in the 1980s and was musical director of the excellent "Tribute To Muddy Waters" show with Buddy as a guest) is excellent. The bonus here is Johnnie Johnson, the great blues pianist and Chuck Berry collaborator, is a guest as well and does a couple GREAT solos!! He doesn't get much credit either, as usual (and he was also in the Muddy tribute concert as well!!).The set is interesting it begins with "I've Got My Eyes On You" (A tune Buddy wrote with Willie Dixon at Chess) from his early days in the 1960s. You can see a very good Black and White film clip of this tune with young Buddy really getting into it in Rhino's Blues Masters Vol 2 DVD. Buddy also gets in to it here and even breaks a string. He switches polk-a-dot strats (this design on Guy's signature start comes from his mother's dress pattern) from Black to Red it's edited look for it! Later in the set he returns to the black axe. "Sweet Black Angel" is of course the risque Blues standard made famous by Robert Nighthawk and others in the 1940s and 50s. "Talk To Me Baby" another well known tune done by Sam Lay and others. See Sam Lay do this tune on the Martin Scorsese series "The Blues" in the "Fathers and Sons" film at the Chicago Blues Festival."My Time After A While" is one of Buddy's first hits (he even tells an interesting story about how he recorded it at Chess). It was covered by John Mayall. This number is really excellent and he really does this well. "I've Got News For You" is another good tune from his middle period. "Damn Right I've Got the Blues" is of course from his comeback LP in the early 1990s when he had been without a recording deal for some time. It's one of the reasons he started this Legends club-to have a regular job!!"The First Time I Met the Blues", which also opens up the film "Lightning In A Bottle" which had an version of this tune, was one of the great tunes from Buddy's famous Vangard recording in the 1960s. It was originally a tune by the great Blues Pianist Little Brother Montgomery. The set ends with "Let Me Love You Baby" a strong Wille Dixon tune and an ode to Chess Records where Buddy was a session guitarist. The set is good. This DVD is interesting and historical. If you are a Blues lover you won't be disappointed and the price is lower than most other Amazon DVDs!

All the great icons in the blues world are getting older, but still have the energy and the strength necessary to gather people around this genuine American music style. I had the privilege to get an autograph and shake his hand in 1996, when I visited this venue in Chicago for a Long John Hunter's concert. Buddy Guy has come to Brazil for many times, but the price for the tickets is always incredibly high. So, this title (as are many of his participations in other artists' DVD's) is sort of a consolation for me. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is due to the fact that many of his commentaries (although interesting), interrupt the performances. Maybe they should be placed between the songs, rather than in the middle of them. For blues music fans, I highly recommend this "Real Deal".

Dang it! This one started out soooo good - great audio quality, cool video art design and good camera angles, etc. and then... right over the top of the song, we get commentary by the artist himself. Couldn't we have waited until the song was over for that stuff?The worst part of it is that it happened several more times throughout the disc. I was very disappointed as the playing was excellent by both Misters Guy and Smith. Some of the camera angles on Buddy's hands were great. You could really get a sense that his one-of-a-kind sound comes from those fingers and his playing, not all from his custom artist model Strat or the amp he was playing through.It's a pleasureable view nonetheless... but it could have been so much more.

This great sounding and well photographed DVD proves that Buddy Guy is the best blues player and singer living today. His smokin' performance envelopes you into the DVD. The command and strength of Buddy Guy is absolutely phenomenal. His backing band G.E. Smith and The Saturday Night Live Band is tight and they enrich your appreciation of this top blues artist. This is the most incredible blues performance I've ever seen. So if you'd like a real treat and want to show off your entertainment system and impress your friends then this is the DVD to own.

Great DVD of Buddy Guy enjoying and explaing what he doese best ,playing gutsy blues guitar like only he can.

A wonderful example of the maestro at work giving a live demonstration as to why he has influenced so many great musicians for so long that he has become an institution in his own right.Western culture owes much to this great man whose warm and magnetic personality plus sheer zest for life is an example to us all.A marvellous purchase for lovers of music everywhere.

I have the CD also, as there is an interview interrupting some tracks on the DVDSome serious playing on this DVD though, and its great to watch

I already had the VHS version, so I knew in advance what I was buying and was aware tha the DVD version does not include any extra songs, it`s just the same poor thing that is on the VHS. Not well filmed, dark footage, and too close to the stage, but at the end of the day it`s the only Buddy Guy DVD available, so that`s it.

Ce concert n'est plus a presenter pour ceux qui connaissent buddy guy,enregistre au legend dans son club en 1996 apres le sublime album "slippin in" ,la communion avec son public est parfaite et buddy se donne a fond ,chante et joue enorme, bien seconde par le groupe de ge smith,seul bemol du produit les chansons sont parfois coupees par des interviews non sous titrees et la qualite image/son reste honorable mais aurait pu etre meilleure vu la technologie d'aujourd'hui ,voila pourquoi j'ai note 4 etoiles.pascal49