Rock 'n Roll Legends: The Platters & The Coasters

As much as one might revere the music of these two vintage vocal groups—and there's much to love about classics like "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (the Platters) and especially "Yakety Yak," "Poison Ivy," and "Charlie Brown" (the Coasters)—this dual performance is strictly a caveat emptor proposition, largely because the singers you see here are Platters and Coasters in name only. What with death, retirement, and lawsuits galore, the groups have repeatedly changed personnel since their '50s origins (the Platters alone have reconfigured so many times that it takes eight full pages of DVD text to document the different lineups). So what we end up with here is an adequate substitute for the nostalgia-minded but a far cry from the real deal, served up with tinny sound, slightly blurry video, and all the excitement of an off-Strip lounge show in Las Vegas. That's especially true of the four Platters (the original lineup had five), who turn in schmaltzy versions of "The Great Pretender," "Only You," and other hits, including a mere 40 seconds of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"—an editing blunder that typifies the overall cheesiness of the package, which neglects to identify any of the singers (to their credit, the group does show some life on a humorous "Sixteen Tons" and an R&B-oriented "He's Mine"). The Coasters' set is better, if only because the material written for the group by producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller is timeless rock 'n' roll. To be fair, the folks who crowded into the Rock ‘N Roll Palace in Orlando, FL to dance the night away seem to be having a good time, but—apparently—you had to be there. Optional, at best. Aud: P. (S. Graham)