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Dick Cavett entered the late-night fray in 1969 and he quickly became well known
for his dry wit and willingness to discuss and debate controversial topics, such
as the ongoing war in Vietnam, women’s liberation and civil rights. The show’s
candor and casual atmosphere also made it the favorite (and sometimes only)
late-night stop for many of the era’s biggest musicians. “The Dick Cavett Show:
Rock Icons” is a three DVD set that attempts to document this era with 24
musical performances over nine full episodes of the talk show.
The first disc contains what has been dubbed “The Woodstock Show,” which was
broadcast the day after the legendary concert. The featured act, Jefferson
Airplane (vocals provided by a rather sexy Grace Slick), performs “We Can Be
Together,” which is especially notable as it may be the only network broadcast
of the word “motherfuckers” – somehow the censors missed the objectionable
lyric. They also perform “Volunteers” and after several other performances by
Joni Mitchell and Stephen Stills, a young (and quite svelte) David Crosby joins
Jefferson Airplane for the show’s finale, “Somebody To Love.” Throughout the
episode, Cavett asks the artists about the concert and the music business in
general, which makes for an interesting if haphazard interview. The
scatterbrained conversation is reminiscent of one that might occur at a house
party after someone broke out a bong (or so I'm told.) The second episode on the
disc features a great performance of “Thank You (Faletteinme Be Mice Elf Again)”
by Sly and The Family Stone. Cavett’s interview of Sly Stone is somewhat comical
due to Stone’s odd and unintelligible responses to Cavett’s queries, which were
likely caused by his reported cocaine addiction at the time. Rounding out the
first disc is a show featuring David Bowie, who sat down for a strange interview
in between performances of “1984” and “Young Americans.” Post-Ziggy Stardust,
Bowie performs as himself (instead of some alter ego) for the first time in
quite a while, and during the interview it seems like he’s still trying to get
comfortable in his own skin.
Janis Joplin was the only musical performer to appear on the three episodes on
the second disc, performing a total of six tunes, including “Try (Just A Little
Bit Harder)” and “Get It While You Can.” She sat down and spoke with Cavett on
all three episodes, and even stuck around (puffing on a cigarette – which is now
quite odd to see on a talk show) while Cavett interviewed his other guests.
There was a funny exchange between Joplin and Raquel Welch, who looked
absolutely stunning in a low cut top and a miniskirt. Welch was there to promote
her movie “Myra Breckinridge,” in which she plays a man who goes to Europe to
get a sex change. Joplin was at the premiere and interjected – in a
self-effacing way – that she thought the movie was “too choppy” and changed too
much for her liking. Welch took the criticism in stride and quipped, “Well, it
is about change.”
The third disc begins with an episode featuring Stevie Wonder, who performed
“Signed Sealed, Delivered” and “Never Dreamed You’d Leave Me In Summer.” Even
though it is a stretch to consider Wonder a “rock icon,” his first performance
is one of the most engaging of the entire collection. In the second episode,
George Harrison plucks guitar on the Gary Wright performance of “Two Faced Man”
before sitting down with Cavett for a long and candid interview. It’s easy to
tell that, at this particular point in his life, Harrison has a distaste for
questions about his history with the Beatles, but Cavett does a good job of
asking a variety of inquiries so that Harrison doesn’t get too bored. At one
point, Cavett suggests that Harrison, being the quiet Beatle, may have been the
one to have the most success with the ladies. Harrison retorts, "I think Paul
got most of the girls," and imitates McCartney's patented head bob and cheesy
smile which were part of the group's early performances on “The Ed Sullivan
Show.” Later in the program, Ravi Shankar talks with Harrison and Cavett about
Indian music after an impressive performance on his sitar, an instrument that
exploded in popularity after Harrison used it on several Beatles’ tunes. The
last episode on the disc features Paul Simon, who performs “American Tune,”
“Loves Me Like A Rock” and a beautiful gospel-touched rendition of “Bridge Over
Troubled Water” with The Jessy Dixon Singers. Probably the most interesting
moment of the Simon appearance occurs when Cavett asks about the method of
songwriting and Simon pulls out his guitar to play an unfinished song as an
example. The tune turns out to be “Still Crazy After All These Years” and it is
fascinating to hear Simon discuss the song in such an incomplete state.
The bonus material is rather sparse but enjoyable. It consists of an interview
of Cavett himself along with an interview that the host did with Mick Jagger
before a Rolling Stones show in 1972. Jagger’s energy and candor throughout the
interview is surprising and he emits a very foretelling answer when Cavett asks
if he can see himself still performing when he’s sixty. Jagger’s answer?
“Easily.”
The three-DVD set provides an interesting look at the state of music in the late
‘60s and early ‘70s. Being born in 1973, I only know a lot of my musical heroes
as grizzled vets, so it is refreshing to see many of them interviewed and
performing in their prime. The remastered audio sounds adequate, but given the
limitations of the era, the sound isn't going to blow anyone away. The set could
have been compressed to one or two discs had only the music related segments
been included. While most of the non-music interviews are rather tedious, it’s
hard to argue for their complete exclusion, especially when you’re talking about
leaving footage of the lovely Raquel Welch on the cutting room floor.
~John Paulsen
jpaulsen@bullz-eye.com
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