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THE ROCKWIZ DUETS VOLUME 2
Monday, December 24, 2007
Our best music quiz show offers some more greats duets!
THE ROCK WIZ DUETS VOLUME 2
LIBERATION
It is interesting that there are two highly rated music quiz shows on network television these days after years of drought and the occasional bungled effort by some commercial networks. The fact that both shows are so successful in their own right is evidence that they are both offering something distinctive for separate audiences. However, inevitably real music fans will have a preference for one over the other.
For all intents and purposes Rock Wiz is the more solid of the two shows – devised by music lovers, populated by music fans and graced with an array of interesting musicians. The focus is very much on the music as entertainment as opposed to the entertainment using music as a vehicle for comedy. The fact that Rock Wiz recently won an AFI is testament enough to the solidity behind its concept. (Which is not to denigrate Spicks & Specks – any show that promotes music is a good thing).
A large part of the appeal of Rock Wiz are the duets that have become an integral feature of the show. And the secret behind their success is a willingness to push the musical envelope. While Rock Wiz might have a far smaller budget at SBS than its opposition on the ABC it seems obvious that the latter network would be far more conservative in its choices – of both artists and songs. (Let’s hope Rock Wiz is never ‘stolen’ by a commercial network!)
There are more than a few occasions during this jam-packed DVD when some of the musical couplings just do not look like they would work – on paper at least. Take Rebecca Barnard and Kutcha Edwards doing ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top’ at the Moomba show.
It doesn’t seem to make sense until you see and hear it. Kutcha is a quiet Koori singer, the sort of chap you might never imagine doing an AC/DC song. But as soon as you hear a didgeridoo open the refrain and the band kick in he becomes transformed as Barnard draws him into the song.
What underpins all of the performances is a rock solid backing band (The Rock Wiz Orchestra) and a sense of fun and adventure. While we are often accustomed to seeing rather large studio bands on some television variety programs Rock Wiz opts for a smaller ensemble of James Black (Hammond organ, guitar), Mark Ferrie on bass and Peter Luscombe on drums. The band members have just the right combination of experience and talent to enable them to play almost anything with great facility. So when they launch into a classic song you can tell they have lived through the era and probably know the songs (even the cheesy ones) intimately. On ‘Undecided’ with Jim Keays, for instance, they hit the right tempo and exactly the right feel.
Other highlights include Sarah Lee Guthrie and Chris Wilson on Gram Parsons’ ‘Ooh Las Vegas,’ Russell Morris and Melinda Schneider on ‘Hush’ (a hit for Morris’s group Somebody’s Image back in the ‘60s), Adrian Belew and Martha Wainwright on ‘Heroes,’ Ron Peno and Jen Cloher on ‘If I Were A Carpenter,’ Chris Ballew and Chelsea Wheatley on Iggy Pop’s ‘Candy,’ Sean Kelly and Anne McCue on ‘Under The Milky Way,’ Shane Howard and Mary Black on ‘Flesh & Blood’ and Archie Roach and Sara Storer on ’From Little Things (Big Things Grow).’
The DVD contains not only 18 duets from the normal show as well as three songs from the end of season All Star show. (The version of ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ by Tex Perkins, Dave Larkin and Tim Rogers is great). There are also three selections recorded at a live show at The Forum Theatre and three from a Moomba festival show, held down near the banks of the Yarra.
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