The Boomtown Rats Live At Hammersmith Odeon 1978 (Eagle DVD) + Heaven
& Hell Live! (Eagle Blu-ray) + Live
At Knebworth – Deluxe Edition (1990/Eagle DVD Set) + A Musicares Tribute To Neil Young (2010/Shout! Factory DVD) + Ride, Rise, Roar – David Byrne Live
(Eagle Blu-ray) + Sheryl Crow – Miles
From Memphis: Live At The Pantages Theater (Eagle Blu-ray) + The Story Of Roxy Music - More Than This
(Eagle DVD)
Picture:
C+/B-/C/C+/B-/B-/C+ Sound: B-/B/B-/B-/B/B+/C+ Extras: C+/C-/C+/C/D/C/C+ Main Programs/Concerts:
B-
And now
for a mix of newer and older music (usually concert) releases on Blu-ray and
DVD, all of which are surprisingly solid and watchable…
The Boomtown Rats Live At
Hammersmith Odeon 1978 is the first time we have actually ever covered Bob Geldof’s famous
alternative band that has often been overshadowed by his charity work and
success as a huge figure on the British Music scene. Except for a few hit Music Videos, the band
is barely known in the U.S.,
but this concert is pretty impressive and shows the band in top form and why
they were such a big deal. They are
really good here and Geldof can really perform, singing, dancing and having fun
with 12 tracks including The Rat, Blind Date, (I Never Loved) Eva Braun, Me & Howard Hughes, She’s So Modern, Joey’s On The Street Again and Looking
After No. 1. This was a great band
that deserves to have their catalog revived and this is a great DVD to show
off. The 1.33 X 1 analog PAL video has
been letterboxed to 1.78 X 1, the stereo sound has been upgraded to a DTS 5.1
mix (Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Stereo mixes are also here, but not as
good) and extras include three audio-only bonus tracks from the concert, and
two solo Geldof Music Videos from his Sex,
Age & Girls album.
Heaven & Hell Live! brings together Ronnie James Dio,
Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice in another show in which the late
Mr. Dio shows he was alive and well to the end in this 2007 performance giving
it his all once again. We get 15 tracks
from an HD taping presented here in a 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition
image that looks good for its age considering the kind of motion blur we get in
such productions, while the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is much
better than you might expect with a good, solid soundfield. Five featurettes and a small illustrated
booklet are the only extras.
The 1990 Live At Knebworth – Deluxe Edition
concert was a then-biog event that holds up oddly today, but was taped and
includes performances by Tears For Fears in great shape, Cliff Richards &
The Shadows embarrassing many younger bands, Eric Clapton, Elton John and Paul
McCartney in different sets that are good if not my favorite songs, Dire
Straits handling things well enough, Status Quo doing a little better than
their name and Phil Collins here solo and with Genesis as they were about to
break up and as he jumped the shark as a performer. The band had performed at the same locale
back in better days for the circa 1978, which you can read more about at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6563/Remembering+Knebworth+1978+(MVD
Shockingly,
this new footage has all kinds of motion blur, staircasing, aliasing, some
video noise, and other detail issues throughout that shows this needs
retransferred. The DTS 5.1 mix is better
than the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Stereo mixes included, but the better
you can hear this, the more you can hear issues with the recording. CD copies, a reproduction concert ticket, a
black and gray paper folds with info about the concert and reproduction of the
elaborately illustrated original program are the extras.
A Musicares Tribute To Neil Young (2010) is the third release from the
charity tribute series we have managed to cover, following Brian Wilson and
James Taylor tributes we covered in the same text at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5150/MusiCares+Presents+A+Person+Of+Th
I liked
this show, but it does not always have the chemistry and power of those
previous tributes for some odd reason, but it is still a solid concert with
interesting turns by Norah Jones (Tell Me
Why), Josh Groban (Harvest Moon),
Ben Harper (Ohio), Wilco (Broken Arrow), James Taylor (Heart Of Gold), Jason Mraz & Shawn
Colvin (Lotta Love, the great hit he
penned for Nicolette Larson), Elton John, Leon Russell, Neko Case and Sheryl
Crow sing Helpless and Crosby, Stills
& Nash sing Human Highway.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a little softer than expected, but I
would expect it to look at least a little better on the Blu-ray issued as the
same time as this DVD, but we did not have that edition to compare to as of
this posting. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
is lossy and might also be better on Blu-ray, but is nicely recorded just the
same. The only extra is an informative
paper pullout and two bonus tracks: Ozomatli (Mr. Soul) and Everest (Revolution
Blues). For more Neil Young, try
this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3835/Neil+Young+-+Heart+Of+Gold+(DTS
In
speaking of Sheryl Crow, Miles From Memphis: Live At the Pantages
Theater turns out to be more impressive than I expected. Fan or not, you will be surprised how good a
concert she gives from the great Los
Angeles movie palace.
She sings all of her hits with great energy and as well as their hit
recorded versions, has other non-hit material to offer and get son such a role
that she pulls off a great cover performance of I Want You Back, the Jackson 5 classic.
If that
was not enough, the 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image looks pretty
good for an HD production of this time despite the motion blur and some
softness here and there, while the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is
shockingly terrific with an outstanding soundfield, fidelity, smoothness in
recording and consistency I wish more concert Blu-rays had. The Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM 2.0 Stereo mixes
are not bad, but no match for the DTS-MA.
Too bad we did not see her join Fleetwood Mac after all. Extras include a behind the scenes featurette
and illustrates booklet about the concert.
In a
first for the site, we just covered Ride,
Rise, Roar – David Byrne Live on DVD, but it was a PAL analog video import
and released just ahead of Eagle Vision’s new Blu-ray edition. Here is what I had to say about it as a part
of another recent multi-release music review:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10911/Brian+Eno+%E2%80%93+The+Man+
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image may have some of the motion blur of the
PAL DVD from Umbrella in Australia, but it is much less here and the color is
much nicer, with better range and a more solid presentation (when the image
does not witch to fake black & white) that surprises me that the PAL DVD
was as blurry as it was. Even better is
the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix which is far better than the
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo only track on the PAL DVD that is included on this
Blu-ray, along with a PCM 2.0 Stereo mix that is not bad and a little warmer
and richer than the Dolby mix. Only see
this one on Blu-ray. There are no extras
on this edition either.
In
speaking of Brian Eno, that review includes the remarkable Man Who Fell To Earth documentary and now we have more of Eno and
Roxy Music with The Story Of Roxy Music
- More Than This, a much shorter, broader documentary on the band (strictly
so) that only lasts about 53 minutes, but sports interviews with Nile Rodgers
and some more ideas and input about their history. It is a welcome addition and the anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a little soft, but that is to be expected
considering the older analog PAL and NTSC video edited in. Three bonus tracks form a 2006 reunion
concert are in DTS, but the main program is Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Additional interview segments are the other
extra.
- Nicholas Sheffo
