Never before has anyone ever thought of chronicling a genre of music, and especially a genre as vast as ‘Rock N Roll’. The History of Rock and Roll is surely a mammoth collection of the great rock extravaganza ever. Clocking close to 10 hours in 10 episodes spread out over five discs, executive producers include Quincy Jones and Bob Meyrowitz and David Salzman have done painstaking work to capture the magic from the beginning Rock and Roll in the pre-rock days in the 50s to the late 90s, covering the times of artists from all genres of music from the small names in music to the gods to music are on hand to lead us through the story.

Fans can experience their favorite rock 'n' roll moments (some in color and black and white) all over again through hundreds of exclusive interviews, classic footage, and unforgettable in-concert performances from rock 'n' roll's biggest stars.

If you are a fan of rock 'n' roll from any era, you need to watch this series and surely it would rekindle that moment in time when the songs or the bands were in their prime. There are many songs; some edited versions, some full-length versions, albeit with commentary provided over the top. The DVD couldn’t possibly fit all the songs as this is more of a documentary, rather than a music video selection. But, after all, it is a documentary and not a CD set. Thus the live performance clips are relatively short, so don't expect to see a complete song anywhere on the 10 hours. So a rundown to what to expect and you have unforgettable footage of rock and roll heroes the Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Led Zeppelin, etc. as well as lesser known groups The Hollies, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc. Outstanding interviews from artists and figures such as Hank Ballard, Carl Perkins, Ozzie Osborn, Dick Clark, Bono, Eddie Van Halen, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Little Richard, Mick Jaggar, Tom Petty, Lindsey Buckingham, and countless others. Footage of various historical events helps put the music in perspective (civil rights, Vietnam, sexual revolution, etc.). Don’t miss the part on the advent of music television aka MTV.

In a nutshell this ten-part series from Time Life Video & Television chronicles the history of rock 'n' roll music from its origins and in short the noteworthy sections include in Part I, "Rock 'N' Roll Explodes," the roots of rock are explored, featuring Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard and more. Part II, "Good Rockin' Tonight," is a look at how rock 'n' roll affected America's color barrier. This section showcases the greats of Rock and Roll like Muddy Waters singing ‘Got my Mojo working’ guitar hero Chuck Berry perform ‘Maybelline’ and Little Richard in his delicious ‘Tutti Frutti’. And then there’s Elvis. Not before other greats make there presence too like Jerry Lee Lewis and Chubby Checker.

In Part III, "Britain Invades, America Fights Back" as the Beatles take America by storm, Motown makes gains of its own. It starts off with the Liverpool legacy, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Byrds, The Mamas and the Papas and many others. In Part IV, "The Sounds of Soul," Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and more are examined while in Part VI "Plugging In,", the burgeoning electric music scene is examined with the profile of Bob Dylan that has some cool clips of relatively obscure legends. Part V takes a swig on the 60s, from Jefferson Airplane to Jimi Hendrix and Woodstock, not forgetting Crosby, Stills and Nash. Part VII heads off to "Guitar Heroes" with rarely seen live bits with Jimi Hendrix, the origins of Les Paul guitars, Van Halen and Santana. and many others scattered throughout the set. Part VIII which chronicles the '70s, is surprisingly compelling and has a host of surprises from Steely Dan, The Allman Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd with their iconic ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and Alice Cooper’ while Part IX on "Punk," is arguably the most entertaining of the lot with the Sex Pistols antics and Elvis Costello and Nirvana. Lastly the series concludes with "Up from the Underground," which chronicles the rise of street music to mainstream success. Michael Jackson, Madonna, N.W.A., Run-DMC and others.

There are also many anecdotes, highlights, great performances and quotations that are just too many to include here.

Technically the creators have tried their best to enhance the quality of the sound and have mastered most of the material into Dolby 5.1, though not every track has been touched up. The sound quality varies depending on the state of the source material, but it's obvious that the music has been cleaned up as much as possible. The interview section is among the most clearest as its recorded much later compared to the music videos and footage. The video quality is less impressive than the audio, but it's still evident that work has been put into the restoration of this footage. Overall, the transfer is as good as can be expected for a production originally shot for home video release. Some of the old footage looks pretty worn, but not more than expected.

With such an exhaustive rockumentary, it would be sad to have a few downers that would have to be mentioned. Just for the sake of a mention it must be said that some material may not be suitable for younger audiences as a few sections would need to have a language censor. This can be seen in Pete Townsend's liberal use of the F-word, to female nudity in Woodstock Also the classification is a little rampant as the compiler has cleverly clubbed three genres Soul, Motown and funk all grouped together, while Jazz Rock is barely mentioned.

10 titanic hours of the greatest rock extravaganza ever and a must-own for any rock 'n' roll fan.

-- Reviewed by Verus Ferreira