Filmmaker Richard Pearce's documentary The Road to Memphis, one of the seven films included in the PBS-TV series The Blues presented by Martin Scorsese, nominally follows the career of B.B. King, but in a more general sense it is an examination of the blues and R&B music of Memphis. This focus is even more pronounced on the soundtrack album, on which King rates only two tracks, which is as many as Howlin' Wolf, Rosco Gordon, and Pearce's real favorite, Bobby Rush, get. The album works as a collection of classic Memphis blues tracks, including King's "Three O'Clock Blues," Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More Years," Elmore James' "Dust My Broom," Bobby Bland's "I Pity the Fool," Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring It on Home," and Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88." The newer tracks are less impressive, but perhaps inevitable; there seems to have been direction from the top that each soundtrack must mix the old with the new, as if to demonstrate that the blues is a living music and, incidentally, create cross-marketing opportunities. Of course, such a combination is inevitable in order for the filmmakers to have something new to shoot and not just rely on archival footage. So, while David Johansen may not be most people's idea of a Memphis bluesman, he is here and, as it happens, his cavernous bass-baritone is not unsuited to "Killing Floor." But the best numbers remain the old reliables. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
