Stellar box set of four documentaries and a bonus disc

Reelin’ in the Years’ five-DVD set includes excellent documentaries on Dusty Springfield, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Herman’s Hermits and the Small Faces, which are also available individually. Each film is packed with full-length performances (some live, some lip-synched for TV) and interview footage with the principles and other key personnel. Though all four documentaries are worth seeing, the chapters on the Small Faces and Herman’s Hermits are particularly fine. In both of these episodes the filmmakers were able to get hold of a deeper vein of period material, and with the Small Faces relatively unknown in the U.S. and the Hermits known only as non-threatening hit makers, the stories behind the music are particularly interesting.

The bonus disc, available only in the box set, adds nine more performances by Dusty Springfield, seven more by Herman’s Hermits, and over ninety minutes of interview footage that was cut from the final films. The music clips include alternate performances of hits that appear in the documentaries, as well as songs (such as a terrific staging of Springfield’s “Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa” and the Hermits’ obscure “Man With the Cigar”) that don’t appear in the finished films. The interview material really show how unguarded and unrehearsed such encounters were in the 1960s. Fans of specific acts are recommended to their individual film, but anyone who loves the British Invasion should see all four plus the bonus disc. For reviews of the individual documentaries, please see here, here, here and here. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]