Back
To Black
(2024/Winehouse/Universal Blu-ray)/The
Man I Love
(1947/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Paul
McCartney & Wings: One Hand Clapping
(1974/MPL/Capitol/Universal CD Set)/Purple
Rain 4K
(1984/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B-/B/X/X Sound: B/B-/B/B
Extras: C/C/C/B- Main Programs: C+/B/B-/C+
Now
for the latest set of music-related releases...
Sam
Taylor-Johnson's Back
To Black
(2024) stars Marisa Abela as the gone-too-soon soul/blues singer Amy
Winehouse in a biopic that has a good atmosphere and some nice
moments, but cannot seem to concentrate quite enough on her story or
music to really work in a rich, impactful way. Now she's very
convincing in the role, but we do not get enough of her actual music
and hits, though we get too many of other people's hits as if this
were a bad 1980s 'music video' film and not the biopic it needed to
be.
I
did like the backstory of Winehouse dealing with record companies,
her family, sexism and her own problems, but we needed more of this.
The supporting cast is really good, mostly featuring new actors I had
hardly seen before and this plays more like an all-British film
production to its advantage. That is all the more reason I was
disappointed when all was said and done. Abela pulls it all off, but
the screenplay needed at least one rewrite as the missed
opportunities piled up.
Eddie
Marsan leads the rest of the cast and Taylor-Johnson's previous work
in music and film (like Nowhere
Boy)
proved to be a plus for her helming this all here, but this could
have spent its two hours far better. Still, for what does work, it
is worth a look for those interested.
Extras
include Digital Movie Code, while the disc adds a feature length
audio commentary track by Director Taylor, plus:
Transforming
Into an Icon
and
Music
as the Heartbeat
BACK
TO BLACK is a story that uses Amy's albums and musical performances
to drive the narrative. Hear from cast and crew, including some of
Amy's former bandmates, on the importance of music authenticity in
the film.
Raoul
Walsh's
The
Man I Love
(1947) has the gusty director combining a Noir tale of crime and the
dirty underworld with a backstage musical, then make it work very
well. Virginia (Martha Vickers) is having trouble at a night club
she works at, but that's all about to change when her sister Petey
(Ida Lupino) shows up to visit, finds out what is going on, goes to
the club dressed to kill and plays coy, not saying who she is. Then
she convinces her sister's boss (Robert Alda) to hire her
to be a nightclub singer and the madness begins.
With
some great jazz music and singing (Peg la Centra dubbed Lupino very
well) and a script as strong as its cast and director, Warner Bros.
is maybe the only studio who could have pulled this one off and in
this way. Partly because they are one of the only ones who would
have attempted it. Adding to this are great supporting actor turns
by Bruce Bennett, Andrea King, Alan Hale, Craig Stevens, Warren
Douglas, John Ridgely, Don McGuire and Dolores Moran among many
others make this some kind of unrecognized classic. Definitely catch
this one!
Extras
include the Original Theatrical Trailer and two classic animated
cartoons: Roughly
Squeaking
and Slick
Hare.
Paul
McCartney & Wings: One Hand Clapping
(1974) is
a live recording without an audience as the the former Beatles' other
hugely successful band plays an entire concert, but in private as a
full-length demo and practice that they happened to record. The two
CD set offers the following:
Disc
1
1. One Hand Clapping 2:15
2. Jet 3:59
3. Soily 3:55
4.
C Moon/Little Woman Love 3:19
5. Maybe I'm Amazed 4:52
6. My
Love 4:15
7. Bluebird 3:27
8. Let's Love 1:09
9. All of
You 2:04
10. I'll Give You a Ring 2:03
11. Band on the Run
5:20
12. Live and Let Die (James Bond title song) 3:26
13.
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five 5:50
14. Baby Face 1:56
Disc
2
1. Let Me Roll It 4:28
2. Blue Moon of Kentucky 3:05
3.
Power Cut 1:33
4. Love My Baby 1:13
5. Let It Be 1:02
6.
The Long and Winding Road/Lady Madonna 2:10
7. Junior's Farm
4:17
8. Sally G 3:28
9. Tomorrow 2:12
10. Go Now 3:35
11.
Wild Life 4:30
12. Hi, Hi, Hi 3:57
The
band had already scored a dozen hits worldwide when they recoded this
session, which includes some Beatles classics, some songs that are
not their own and as a nod to Wings member Denny Laine of The Moody
Blues, a cover of their early hit Go
Now.
The joy and energy here are impressive enough, but the other
highlight for me (besides more of Linda, who I always loved) is how
Paul is not only singing his hits well, but how he keeps trying out
new phrasing, different vocal pitches and casually just keeps singing
them in surprising ways that give them new life, new twists and
really captures him live. Also, his voice was in great form at this
point in a way where he had grown since his Beatles years and never
seems to get the major credit he deserves for it.
The
result is one of the big surprise back live sets of the last few
years, a priceless addition to the McCartney catalog and a must-hear
set that has everyone talking who loves great music like this.
A
nicely
illustrated paper pullout on the set including tech info is the only
extra.
Lastly
we have Albert Mangoli's Purple
Rain 4K
(1984) remastered and restored on its 40th
Anniversary as Prince fans remain massive and loyal long after his
still-sad and shocking early death a few years ago. A huge hit in
its time with a huge hit soundtrack to boot, he plays struggling
musician The Kid in the Minneapolis Funk/New Wave scene battling
other musicians, those who want to use him, stop him and still juggle
his female relationships. The film hit a chord (no pun intended)
when it arrived and
is still revered today.
Also
featuring Morris Day, Apollonia, Olga Karlatos and Clarence Williams
III, the casting is great, the look and editing as tight as it is
consistent and the result its own self-contained world that
functioned and worked well. So why was I not as big a fan, despite
the fact that I think Prince was a groundbreaking talent and great?
Well,
I had no issues with him growing as an artist after the likes of
1999,
nor did I have issues with the music here, but I thought the music
(which got overplayed at the time as expected) was a mix of good,
so-so and decent. It did not meld together as an actual musical, but
a backstage musical where the music was not necessarily supporting
the narrative. That was actually a risk, but Prince and company were
trying something different here and it worked for the film, but is
also why it did not work for the sequel Graffiti
Bridge.
Also, the treatment of women has not aged very well at all, but
that's another essay for another time, though The Kid himself is an
abuse victim.
The
great result is that he used his clout after this megahit to do some
of the most experimental and risky albums and music of his career,
sealing his status as a genius for all time. I will say the film
still holds up well for what they do here, will remind you of the
darker look of Streets
Of Fire
or even Absolute
Beginners
as films started to have the studio look of the likes of Blade
Runner.
In 4K, you can see how well they pulled this off.
Extras
include Digital Movie Code, while the disc
adds:
Commentary
by director Albert Magnoli, producer Robert Cavallo and
cinematographer Donald E. Thorin
First
Avenue: The Road to Pop Royalty featurette
and
music videos for... Let's
Go Crazy
Take
Me with U
When
Doves Cry
I
Would Die 4 U/Baby I'm a Star
Purple
Rain
Jungle
Love
The
Bird
and
Sex
Shooter.
Now
for playback performance. The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Purple
Rain 4K
can look really good, but there are more cases of grain and small
flaws than expected despite al the money and hard work done to save
and restore the film. The issue is actually not the film's budget,
but the fact that it was one of the color films shot in the last
years of problematic color film fading issues before the film
companies changed course in 1983 with better film stock. The issue
even affected later films like Cameron's Aliens
(1986) and Kubrick's Full
Metal Jacket
(1987) so don't be thrown off by any down moments.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless mixes are here in 5.1 and 2.0
Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds from the original Dolby A-type analog
soundmaster. Though they pump up the sound for 5.1, the bass sounds
forced and I preferred the 2.0 stereo. Despite the soundtrack album,
being state of the art sonically at the time, the theatrical release
of the film did not include 70mm blow-up prints that would have
offered 6-channel magnetic sound with a Dolby 4.1 70mm mix like
Grease,
Annie,
Can't
Stop The Music,
The
Wiz,
Divine
Madness,
The
Rose,
Fame,
Grease
2,
Forman's Hair,
Streets
Of Fire
or Yes,
Giorgio,
or the Dolby 5.1 70mm treatment of Pink
Floyd: The Wall
or Apocalypse
Now.
So like fellow hits Flashdance
and Footloose,
the theatrical soundtracks were two generations behind the state of
the art at the time, so that is why this can sound problematic and
limited. A Blu-ray Audio version of the soundtrack itself is due
late 2024, so we'll have to compare the two to learn more then.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Back
To Black
is consistent, yet a little softer than I would have liked it to be
and might not be in any future 4K release. Color is consistent and
this is decently shot otherwise. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix an apparent mixdown of its
original 12-track soundmaster and sounds good, but one still feels
they are missing something sonically at times.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer on The
Man I Love
can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a
transfer to all previous releases of the film restored from the
original 35mm elements. Detail and depth are surprisingly good for
their age and this was well shot to begin with. Video Black and
Video White impress and you get some detailed demo shots as well.The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is as good as this
film will ever sound, down to the music. The combination is a
pleasant surprise, though Warner Archive has been doing such great
work, its still surprising.
The
PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo on the Wings
CD set is shockingly as good sonically as anything on this list with
remarkable clarity, fidelity, dynamic range and proves once again
that McCartney was as sonically adept as he had been in The Beatles.
His singing voice is great and he is in rare form here, we still all
too rarely have heard him sing form digital sources in anything on an
audiophile level, though some of the Beatles remasters had Blu-ray or
DVD discs with the album's audio, several of his other non-Beatles
albums/releases were issued as gold CDs, the Concord records CDs have
been top rate and both Venus
& Mars
and Band
On The Run
were issued in 5.1 DTS CDs. This set belongs with them. For more
high fidelity McCartney digital audio on disc, try these links:
Band
On The Run
DVD/2-CD set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10499/Paul+McCartney+&+Wings+%E2%80%93+Band
1979
Rockshow
concert on Blu-ray (with video)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12210/The+Last+Ride+(2010/Fox+Blu-ray)/Let+Freedom
McCartney
(1970) and McCartney
II
(1979) CDs
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11075/Neil+Young%E2%80%99s+Music+Box+%E2%80%
-
Nicholas Sheffo
