Rating: Summary: The 60's are back Review: A very impressive collection and the price can't be beat for over four hours of fun. Some highlights include the Sir Douglas Quintet, the Mindbenders and the Hollies all of whom turn in first rate performances. The only low point are the hosts which even then were mostly has-beens or people who were desperate to cross over to a younger market. Thankfully the tracking set up let you advance easily past their sophomoric patter and to some great, hard to find gems.I can't wait for volumes 5-8 to appear on DVD. This is an excellent investment and a great addition to your music DVD library.
Rating: Summary: Television will never again be this fun Review: Despite the lack of color for all but 2 or 3 of the episodes(due to the fact that the original color tapes were destroyed by NBC) this volume of past Hullabaloo episodes is fab. These shows all aired a year or two before I was even born and they far exceed, in terms of sheer musical and entertainment quality, anything that todays musical acts or MTV, VH1 or any such music network could ever hope to produce. Among my favorite bits are both appearances by Paul Revere and the Raiders during the "A Go Go" segment at the end of the show(an absolute blast), the Go Go dancers, an appearance by the Byrds doing their excellent version of "The Times They Are A Changing", the Go Go dancers, the Cyrcle doing their best known number 1 "Red Rubber Ball", the Go Go dancers, Michael Landon as guest host in one episode acting as though he is the coolest cat ever to host a show(its hard to imagine Little Joe acting this way. What would Pa and Hoss have to say?), and did I mention the fabulous Go Go dancers? Just buy it. I dont care how old or young you may or may not be. After enough viewings, YOU WILL be up on the floor doing the Swim, the Jerk, the Shake, the Shimmy, the Shag, or whatever other dances they did back then. If they ever invent a time machine that allowes only 1 trip into the past with no possibility for return, I'm going back to 1965. See you all there!
Rating: Summary: A great record of music in the mid '60s Review: I absolutely HAD to buy this DVD -- I was only 8 or 9 when Hullabaloo first aired and I only managed to see it once or twice (this was in the days when a family only had one TV set and my parents controlled the shows we watched in prime time -- for some reason, they didn't care about watching Herman's Hermits and Paul Revere and the Raiders). I remember worshiping the Hullaballo dancers -- I still do watching the DVD. They were just the definition of cool wearing the original go-go boots. What most surprised me when watching the shows was that pop and rock music had not quite separated in 1965-1966. Who could imagine Sammy Davis Jr. and the Moody Blues on the same disk? Especially noteworthy are the introductions by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who used the show to promote more of his acts (none of which ever came close to reaching the Beatles' popularity).... I had no problem with the mix of color and back and white show -- hey, most of us had black and white in those days, anyway... A great blast from the past!
Rating: Summary: hullabaloo on dvd!!! Review: I couln't stop watching the 4+ hours of this marathon from the oldies. Memorable Sammy Davis Jr. with the Supremes was AWESOME along with Herman's Hermits.. Small problem with back N forth between black and white and color but I plan to watch it over and over.. I Highly recommend it!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Grand Memories!!!! Review: I couln't stop watching the 4+ hours of this marathon from the oldies. Memorable Sammy Davis Jr. with the Supremes was AWESOME along with Herman's Hermits.. Small problem with back N forth between black and white and color but I plan to watch it over and over.. I Highly recommend it!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Aaah...the 60's Review: I initially bought Vol 3 on VHS, because I'd never seen the Supremes perform "Nothing But Heartaches," being that during Motown's greatest era, I was living in Germany, and didn't have much opportunity to catch any of their appearances shown stateside. Watching the entire clips brings back great memories. I miss the days of singers who occasionally danced...
Rating: Summary: To Each His (or Her) Own Review: I love seeing entire episodes of old variety shows. Greatest hits? No thank you! In a way, the Byrds are more dated and cheesy than Sammy Davis and the Supremes! I hate those little rectangular sunglasses! I like the Top Hits segments--see The Mamas and the Papas sing "Nowhere Man"! It's better just to leave the shows alone rather than to slice and dice them. I love the fresh-faced spontaneity and exuberance of the performers, including the cheesy ones, whichever those might be. Almost everyone seems to be having the time of their life, although some are a bit nervous. The white vinyl boots and go-go dancers are fun. Austin Powers never had it this good. I was afraid I would find this three-and-a-half hour disk boring, but it's lots of fun--to me. It makes MTV seem so pretentious and VH-1 seem so cautious. If you like Vikki Carr or Sonny and Cher or Dusty Springfield or whatever, that's your right as an American. Carry on citizens! P.S. Michael Landon can't sing, for instance, but he's having more fun in one episode of "Hullabaloo" than he had in the entire "Little House" series!
Rating: Summary: A Great Slice of the old Cheese Pie ... Review: I was born right around the time Hullabaloo was being broadcast, never heard of it, and purchased the DVD after seeing the infomercial highlighting videos from the DVD. It was a purchase gamble in some ways, but I figured the musicians highlighted couldn't go wrong, and each week's host seemed to be a sizeable talent still recognizable to me 35 years later. The gamble paid off. The short lived 'Hullabaloo' television show is incredible retro-pop art designy concept program allowing America a glimpse at favored pop music artists in a polished production environment long before MTV or music videos came into existance. It combined personalities, dancers, music and musicians using a very amusing and light hearted manner. The hosts were usually people pushing their own popular TV programs or film or records (Sammy Davis Jr., the star of 'Man from U.n.c.l.e.', Michael Landon, Jerry Lewis, etc.). The dancers are a hilarious assortment of what the producers deemed were 'Amercican' demographic people would want to see with the token asian and black thrown in to help represent, the women were stunning and used as 'props' in many of the sets, and of course the amazing noodle-boy dancer who seems to steal the camera eye with his disgustingly emaciated body writhing about in mid-sixties garb. Finally, and taking center stage, were the musicians who came from the various facets of 60's pop music culture, swathed in expensive 60's Hollywood style, lip synching to the music, doing small skits, being overall 'cool cats'. 'Hullabaloo' is a fantastic time capsule, wether the viewer lived through this era, or for people who want to discover it, and even people that just like some kooky old stuff to have around as mindless eye candy. The old Vaudeville format TV shows highly contrast and shame the modern MTV channels who take themselves so seriously, allowing musicians with empty heads and mouths to drone on unrehearsed for hours instead of packaging them in such fun and inventive ways cooked up in the 60s. Kooky, cheesy and fun- this is a great DVD purchase for those interested in this genre of music and TV.
Rating: Summary: A real trip down memory lane (with white vinyl boots!) Review: I'm probably dead center in the target age range for this disc. I was 14 when these shows aired, and it was definitely Must See TV for me then. When I cracked this open today and popped it in the machine, the opening theme music and cheesy dance routines took me back 35 years in an instant. I'm not sure I would recommend this to anyone who didn't live through it as I did, however. My present S.O. is too young, by about 10 years, and has no recollection of this show, and frankly doesn't see why I got so excited about it. It's hard to explain, I guess, why anyone would be thrilled to see grainy B&W mostly lip-synched performances of extremely light-weight pop music. Well, so be it, but thrilled I am. Some of it is _extremely_ light-weight, too: I could do without about half the acts (Vikki Carr? Gary Lewis? Jerry Lewis?!?) but there's plenty to like, as well. My only real complaint is that the producers decided to include entire weekly programs(6 half-hours, one hour-long) which means you get the chaff along with the wheat. That's nice for one or two shows, but it gets old, particularly the Top Pop medley segements and the "Odd Pairings for Bad Covers" filler (e.g. Sammy Davis + Supremes doing "Toot Toot Tootsie"). The "bonus tracks" include the best music, and I think I'd rather see more of that stuff, in a "Best Of..." format. With any luck, the next volume (and I hope there's more) will drop the kitsch and emphasize the music more.
Rating: Summary: hullabaloo on dvd!!! Review: if your in to nostaglia and music this is it!!! dont even hesitate, buy it!!danny.
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