What's Going On—Taste Live at the Isle of Wight

Oscar-winning director Murray Lerner (From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China) helmed this concert documentary featuring Irish trio Taste at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, where they faced stiff competition from big name acts including the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. The band consisted of Rory Gallagher (guitar and vocals), Richard “Charlie” McCracken (bass), and former Them member John Wilson (drums). While they succeeded in impressing the 600,000-strong audience, the band broke up afterwards because of a managerial situation that pitted musician against musician. Which is unfortunate, because their eight-song set here reveals a blues-rock band with strength to spare. Taste may have shared influences with Cream, but there is less psychedelia to their minimalist sound, as exemplified by the 10-minute “Sugar Mama,” which opts for the raw ache of the blues over lyrical complexity. At times, the band comes across like a precursor to Detroit duo the White Stripes, due in part to Gallagher's expressive yawp and high-pitched playing. The documentary portion covers Gallagher's years in Irish show bands, and includes comments from Lerner, Bob Geldof, the Edge, and Brian May. Presented in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and LPCM stereo on Blu-ray, extras include bonus performances. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)