''ROCK CITY'' is a wild and woolly scrapbook of London's pop scene in its heyday, which the movie defines as the era between 1964 and 1973. It's a collection of clips, randomly assembled, featuring just about everybody who was anybody in those days. Bopping down memory lane, the viewer encounters Rod Stewart, Pete Townshend, Cream, the Rolling Stones in loud outfits and war paint, and Otis Redding, who offers a version of ''Satisfaction'' that puts even the Stones to shame.
The movie was made in 1973. It's certainly dated, but that's just the point. With no attempt to cast light or impose order on his material, the director, Peter Clifton, simply assembled views of some of his favorite performers doing favorite things. For Ike and Tina Turner, that means a lewdness that leaves so little to the imagination that it's halfway funny.
For Jimi Hendrix, it's performing those special, smutty guitar pyrotechnics that made him such a legend. For Joe Cocker, it's surrounding himself with so many backup singers that it's hard to pick Mrs. Turner or Rita Coolidge out of the crowd. The footage of Mr. Cocker comes out of another film, ''Mad Dogs and Englishmen.'' But most of Mr. Clifton's material appears to be too offbeat or secondary to have turned up elsewhere.
Also on the bill are the Animals, Blind Faith, Pink Floyd and the Faces. In the Faces, Mr. Stewart's performance is photographed from such an inconvenient angle that his face is frequently obscured by cymbals, and the camera appears to be gazing up at the underside of his chin.
Ah, well, those were the days before perfectionism set in, among either the musicians or those who photographed them. A viewer might wonder about some of Mr. Clifton's judgments -where are the Kinks, for example? -but not about the evocativeness of his souvenir.
Some people collect baseball cards, I've spent 30 years collecting rare live concert footage, television performances and music videos. When we became full-time RV'ers my wife put her foot down and told me I had to do something with my collection. The result is this website, initially a place where I could enjoy my collection without having to physically access the media, and now a place that everybody can enjoy.
I do not advocate downloading these videos, although I can't stop you. I also encourage everybody to take a look at the artists represented here and go out and purchase the footage for themselves since most of it is available in DVD format.
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You do not need to put a real email address just something in email format of -@-.com I have no desire to collect email addresses but haven't found a way to switch it off yet.
