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(CONTIN UE D FRO M PAGE 75) territory. Still. the best songs here are uplift- As for audio quality, the discs have all the looks "just like Elvis," and you're not gonna ing and kinetic, and Anderson shows that, at advantages of digital sound. though Phil Ra- believe this, but the durn thing looks just like a t ititi's I ían he sill% and also inspired. mone's LP productions are just as good. cloud! Ron IlYnn Jim Bessman Anyhow, if you ever wondered how a priest is like an Elvis impersonator, this one BILLY JOEL: is for you. I know, because whenever I sit ai The Video Album, Volume I. JAZZ the typewriter. Elvis's brain enters my own, Vor,„us dJs Jr , pica, Lb Fox Video Mu, c and his thoughts pour out of me and onto W 6199 90 eiEl VARIOUS ARTISTS: the paper in my typewriter. Like everything BILLY JOEL: Piano Legends. else that appears with my byline, this review The Video Album, Volume 2. bertH Crohn, dr. and prod. Video Artists inter- was really written by him. John Morthland Vonous dirs, and prods. CBS/Fox Video Music national 29038 (Beta), 69038 (VHS). 3569-80. OD 111-11S VIDEOCASSETTE FOLLOWS THE SAME THE JUDDS: THESE VIDEODISCS EACH CONTAIN TEN BILLY format as Trumpet Kings [see review last Heart Land. Joel clips, apparently in no particular order. month]: A noted practitioner of the instru- o Brent Maher, prod RCA 5916-1. no This is good from a marketing standpoint, ment under scrutiny—in this case, Chick JOHN ANDERSOIN since admirers ofJoel's great videos of tracks Corea—narrates its jazz history, with stills Cometrifled. from I 983's An Innocent Man, which are and two- or three-minute-long snippets of John Anderson and Jim Ed Norman, prods. evenly split between the two volumes, will be performance. The limitations imposed on O Warner Bros. 25373-1. 0 forced to buy both. But it would have been this project are somewhat severe. Jazz has COUNTRY MUSIC'S STEADY RESURGENCE OVER better stylistically and aesthetically to pro- never been well documented on film, and the past few years has been credited in large gram the clips in chronological order, since thus many of these clips seem to be of old part to a group of performers labeled "new the differences between old and new are TN' appearances (sources are not given). traditionalists"—a contradictory term, to be often jarring. Though 80 years and 24 artists are covered sure, but one with some degree of accuracy. On Volume 1. for instance, an undistin- (all in 63 minutes!), 20 of the 24 pianists are These artists have both a knowledge of the guished studio performance of "All for represented by post- 1955 performances. idiom's roots and the ability to rework and Leyna" from Glass Houses (1980) finds Joel in Most of these are in black and white, and enliven them with a focus that's unalterably the white tie, black shirt, and equally square both picture and sound vary in quality contemporary but that retains the folksy, un- hairstyle typical of this time in his career; it (usually, the picture is so-so, the sound a lit- cluttered sound and values of the white soul also has him mugging uncomfortably into tle better). Still, the video fulfills its inten- music we know as country. the camera. But it's followed by An Innocent tions admirably: to instruct the neophyte The Judds epitomize the wholesome end Man's "Tell Her About It." the glorious Ed and supply the devotee with rare footage. of this neotraditionalism. And they are a cer- Sullivan Show rock 'n' roll tribute that imme- Ranging from Jelly Roll Morton to Cecil tifiable cultural phenomenon, two genuinely diately established Joel as a top video artist. Taylor. this general history touches all the exciting singers who have become mass me- Unfortunately, the sequencing allows no relevant bases. And though Corea is a some- dia idols without surrendering the charm transition from the nerdy, self-conscious what lackluster host—"what a rich legacy." and sense of purpose that made them so performer of the earlier clip to the superhip he intones dispassionately toward the end— striking in the first place. Heart Land opens song-and-dance king of the later. the narration, written by Burrill Crohn, with a cover of "Don't Be Cruel" that man- However, some of the pre-Nylon Curtain makes the important point that innovations ages to be as fresh as possible without dis- clips actually were filmed much later than evolve out of existing ideas, and it also offers torting the Elvis Presley standard. Wynonna their songs' original release dates—yet while distinct capsule descriptions of the various Judd is a captivating lead voice; her versatile they generally look better than the true '70s stylists. But for the seasoned fan, the biggest and formidable delivery, along with Naomi performance clips included, they lack his- kicks here will be visual: the look on Count Judd's flickering second voice. Don Potter's torical authenticity. Of the mostly excellent Basic's face as he watches Thelonious Monk omnipresent guitar, and occasional delights Nylon Curtain-and-after clips, two on l'olume 2 playing "Blue Monk," a shot of Monk's feet like Emmylou Harris's wispy background stand out: the widely seen "Allentown." with scraping the floor during his solo as though vocals on "The Sweetest Gift," stamp Heart its poignant portrayal of the dying steel town he were trying to dance sitting down. Horace Land as another impressive addition to a and its postwar generation, and the seldom Silver waxing frantic on "Senor Blues," Bud fast-growing legacy. seen "Baby Grand," which features a re- Powell lost in reverie amid the changes of John Anderson represents the other end, markable duet between Joel and idol Ray "I'll Remember April." Beautiful stuff. If the uproarious, butt-kicking fraternity, al- Charles. (i,ilv there were more! Richard C flails though he has never pandered to the stereo- type of beer-drinking redneck. Rather, his best songs are hell-raisin'/good-ole-boy DIMENSIONAL PURITY VANDERSTEEN AUDIO numbers suited for his twisting exclamations and guffaws. On Countnfied, tunes such as Vandersteen Audio was founded in 1977 Tony Joe White's "Do You Have a Garter with the commitment to offer always the finest in music reproduction for the dollar. Belt," Merle Haggard's "The Fightin' Side Toward this goal there will always be a of Me," and Tom Lazaros's title track are high degree of pride, love, and personal steeped in frolic, rustic contentment, and satisfaction involved in each piece before it country pride and are sung with enthusiasm leaves our facilities. Your Vandersteen dealer and even occasional raggedness. Yet the LP shares in this commitment, and has been also includes a decent version of Rev. Thom- carefully selected for his ability to deal with as A. Dorsey's "Peace in the Valley" and an the complex task of assembling a musically exuberant treatment of Willie Dixon's "You satisfying system. Although sometimes Can't Judge a Book by the Cover." The lat- hard to find, he is well worth seeking out. ter, though, is inconsistent; Anderson un- Write or call for a brochure and the derstands the kinship between black music name of your nearest dealer. and country but has yet to do a soul or r&b VANDERSTEEN AUDIO cover that effectively explores the shared I In WEST FOURTH STREET IIANFORD. CALIFORNIA 93210 USA AU G U S T 198 7 79 (209) 582-11324 .