Soul to Soul 1971 Concert Blu-ray and CD Review: Wilson Pickett, Santana, Tina Turner, and Staples Singers Shine in Ghana

A historic 13-hour concert staged in West Africa in February 1971 before a crowd of 100,000 has been newly restored and reissued by Liberation Hall across multiple formats. Captured on film as the documentary Soul to Soul, the event celebrated 14 years of independence in Ghana and brought together some of the era’s most powerful performers.

The performances feature no less than Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, The Staples Singers, Santana, Les McCann & Eddie Harris as well as The Voices of East Harlem.  Available on CD and vinyl, and soon on Blu-ray discs, these performances are stellar!

The original Soul To Soul soundtrack album reached No. 10 on the Billboard charts in 1971, but featured a somewhat different track list from this new release. Roberta Flack declined the use of her performances for the DVD and Blu-ray editions, and in some ways that absence works in the set’s favor. This updated lineup offers a more cohesive snapshot of the other acts on the bill and arguably delivers a stronger sense of the concert’s raw energy overall.

For example, the previously unreleased smoking performances from young Santana stand out, showing this fully formed artist still fresh from his 1969 Woodstock ascension, here with special guest Latin percussionist Willie Bobo and Ghanaian drummer Obo Addy.

The other artists are equally great including Wilson Pickett, reportedly the only American artist who was well known in Ghana at that time. Underscoring that detail, there is a priceless moment at the start of the film where a surprised Ike Turner appears taken aback by the Beatles-level welcome which Pickett receives at the airport as the artists disembark the plane. 

Pickett’s concert performance is spectacular, capturing the classic ’60s soul artist very much at the top of his game. Ike & Tina Turner’s set sizzles as well and I also very much enjoyed The Staples Singers — featuring Mavis Staples — as well as the joyful Voices Of East Harlem. There are also poignant documentary moments within the film including four separate audio commentary tracks featuring many of the performing artists and original film producer. 

Overall the video quality of this 2K restoration, created from original film elements, is excellent. It looks about as good as can be expected from a 1971 concert film which, by the way, was directed by Academy Award winner Denis Sanders and produced by Tom Mosk & Richard Bock. The audio was captured by the legendary Wally Heider Recording. The standard Dolby stereo audio sounds quite solid but don’t go into this expecting a fancy Atmos remix experience. It is what it is, in that sense. 

Where to buy:

Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc.  You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.

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