Bad Company – Live At Wembley (Eagle Blu-ray)/Deep Purple – Phoenix Rising (Eagle Blu-ray)/Doobie Brothers – Live At the Greek Theater 1982: Farewell Tour (Eagle
DVD)/Kate Bush – A Life Of Surprises
(MVD DVD Set)/Miles Davis: Live At
Montreux Highlights (Eagle DVD)/You
Got Served – Beat The World (2011/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture: B-/B-/C/C+/C/B- Sound: B- (Company: B) Extras: C/B-/C+/C+/C/D Main Programs: B-/C+/B-/B+/B/D
And now
for more music titles…
Bad Company – Live At Wembley (Eagle Blu-ray) is an August 2010
concert that is the second on Blu-ray for the band following this Hard Rock Café release:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9918/Bad+Company+%E2%80%93+Hard+R
It is on
par with the last release with original lead singer Paul Rodgers still able to
deliver the classics. The 16 songs
include Can’t Get Enough, Feel Like Makin’ Love, Bad Company and Gone, Gone, Gone and has a bonus feature of Band Interviews. Fans will like it and the rest will find it a
pretty good show. An illustrated booklet
with essay is also included in the Blu-ray case.
With yet
another title on home video, Deep Purple
– Phoenix Rising (Eagle Blu-ray) offers a half-hour 1975 show shot on film
from Japan, presented here in High Definition that is as good as any of the
concerts we have seen to date. You can
see the many Deep Purple releases
(including imports) we have covered to date at this general link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/new/viewer.cgi?search=DEEP+purple
You can
also see this Live At Montreux 2006
DVD, a newer and strong reunion concert, at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5519/Deep+Purple
David
Coverdale is singing lead at this point and it is the band in good shape with
five of their now classic songs that stand out from the many home video releases
we have covered over the years. We get
even more extras here with an illustrated booklet with essay is also included
in the case, while the Blu-ray includes an hour-long documentary Gettin’ Tighter, eight audio-only live
tracks, Come Taste The Band electronic
press kit (EPK) and Jakarta, December 1975 – Interview with Jon Lord &
Glenn Hughes.
The Doobie Brothers – Live At the
Greek Theater 1982: Farewell Tour (Eagle DVD) has an analog videotaping of what would be
the last show of the original band before they decided to end while they were
on top. For those unfamiliar with the
band, here is the link to a Doobie
Brothers CD hits set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5145/The+Very+Best+Of+The+Doobie+Brot
This is a
good show and the band is in good form going out on top, but Michael McDonald
was already enjoying his first big solo hit (I Keep Forgettin’) which makes for an odd moment as the audience is
much more quiet, seeming disappointed he left as if he broke the band up. Wonder what they thought of his later pop
duets that did not work or his abuse of recorded Motown classics?
The show
offers 16 hits, the DVD adds five bonus performances and extras include an
illustrated booklet with essay included in the DVD case and band interviews at
the time on the DVD.
The
double DVD set Kate Bush – A Life Of
Surprises (MVD) actually combines two strong single Kate Bush DVDs we
previously covered at these links:
Under Review
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3837/Kate+Bush+-+Under+Review
Hounds Of Love Under Review
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8397/Kate+Bush+%E2%80%93+Hounds+Of
This
release offers both in a space-saving package and are as good as any of the
releases on this list.
Miles Davis – Live At Montreux
Highlights (Eagle
DVD) is what it says with footage from 1973 – 1991 (ten performances in all)
showing the Jazz innovator at his best.
We have only previously covered Davis
a while ago with this simpler DVD:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2222/Miles+Davis+-+Stars+Of+Jazz+(TV/He
I liked
this even more and it reminds me that Davis
is long overdue for rediscovery and he was so innovative and possibly even
subversive (an able-bodied and extremely talented African American Male) icon
might be the reason we are not seeing enough of him. I liked this set and it shows that he is
still ahead of his time. Extras include
an illustrated booklet with an essay included in the DVD case and the DVD
itself has a Carlos Santana Interview.
Finally
we get to the remarkably poor You Got
Served – Beat The World (2011), a horrid, highly belated sequel to highly
overrated 2004 film seven years late can only set same story (in the usual sign
of desperation) in a varied competition that wants to be new and looks so old
and tired, lands up being even more boring in the process. The new dancing looks more like stunt work,
showing how thin and desperate this has all become. However, you have to consider as to whether
this was just a generic film that had the You
Got Served name added at the last minute to get more people to see it.
Either
way, it is penned by the writer of the overrated Stomp The Yard and it is so boring I could barely stay awake until
more loud, lame music kicks in. Wow is
this a dud and the mix of cliché and formula is embarrassing. Extras include BD Live interactivity, a dance
featurette and making of featurette.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on World
should be the best of the six releases here, but its motion blur and
pseudo-urban stylizing makes it look lamer than the 1080p 1.33 X 1 filmed image
on Purple, which may be soft and
show its age, yet looks really good for its age. The 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition
image on Company is not that much
further away either with motion blur and color better than World and on par with Purple. The two Bush
DVDs still look good for the format, but the 1.33 taped image on Brothers and 1.78 X 1 on Davis
are softer than I would have liked.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Company is easily the best of the releases sonically here (lesser,
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM 2.0 Stereo options are also included), as World has location recording issues and
Purple has an audio source that has
limits (a DTS-MA 2.0 Stereo option is also included) and shows its age. The two Bush
DVDs still sound good so they are no problem and have all their original music
in tact. That leaves standard DTS 5.1
mixes (joined by lesser, lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo mixes) on Brothers and Davis do their best to make the older audio sources sound good, but
compression and age are issues.
- Nicholas Sheffo
