The Best of the Blues Brothers

At 11:30 p.m. on April 22, 1978, Saturday Night Live's Paul Shaffer introduced "Joliet Jake and his silent brother Elwood---the Blues Brothers," a.k.a. John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, whose performance of "Hey Bartender" would be the first salvo of an act that would spin off records, movies, and the House of Blues chain. In this 1997 biography, highlighted by performance footage, host Tom Davis interviews both Elwood Blues and Dan Ackroyd (sometimes simultaneously, thanks to special effects) about the group's beginning, recording of the 1978 breakout LP Briefcase Full of Blues, star turns in the eponymous 1980 feature film The Blues Brothers ("we're on a mission from God"), and Jake/John's untimely death. Interspersed throughout are SNL and concert performances of the great tunes: "Soul Man," "Messin' With the Kid," "I Don't Know," "Rubber Biscuit" and nine others. Unfortunately, the interweaving of songs with the rather labored tongue-in-cheek interview framing device makes for a lot of stale jokes between songs. Optional. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)