Imperial Crowns - Preachin’ The Blues Live!
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C Concert: B-
We hear about and know about The Blues and “crossroads”
where Bluesmen supposedly meet Satan and the like, but in the few dozen Blues
DVDs we have covered to date, no one has come anywhere close to exploring and
seemingly living this part of the Blues as Imperial Crown. Preachin’ The Blues Live! Was taped
March 23rd 2004 and features the following songs:
1) Preachin’
The Blues
2) Lil’
Death
3) Praise
His Name
4) Big Boy
5) (Simply)
Just A Dream
6) The
River
7) Altar Of
Love
8) Golden
Girl
9) Kingsize
Jones
10) Blues A Go Go
11) You Don’t Miss Your Water
12) Ramblin Woman Blues
I did not know how to take lead singer Jimmie Wood,
talking God and sex in the same sentence, becoming somewhat passionate about
what he is singing and how he says he is living. I believed him to some extent, but as a performance, it became a
shtick very quickly, sincere or not.
Even the titles veer towards the single-entendre zone, intended or
not. This gets too simple on that
level, but the musicianship is very blues-oriented, very authentic and makes up
for some repetitions and shortcomings.
This runs two hours, so only serious Blues fans who have no aversions to
too much sex or religion need apply.
The 1.33 x 1 image was shot in the PAL format and is nice
for a recent taping, if still lacking the detail one would hope for. The sound is here in Dolby Digital 5.1 and
slightly-fuller-at-points 16Bit/48 kHz PCM 2.0 Stereo, though the Dolby in this
case has some good depth. Too bad this
was not in DTS. Extras are few, but
include an interview with Wood and some backstage footage.
- Nicholas Sheffo
