Gary Moore & The Midnight Blues Band –

Live At Montreux: 1990 (DTS)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C     Concert: B

 

 

Gary Moore has been a major guitarist since the 1970s, when he joined the original Skid Row (not to be confused with the 1980s band) and then with Thin Lizzy.  Less known is his work with Jazz-Rock band Colosseum II, but here he is with his Midnight Blues Band in Live at Montreux: 1990 and the songs offered here include:

 

1)     Oh Pretty Woman

2)     Walking By Myself

3)     The Stumble

4)     All Your Love

5)     Midnight Blues

6)     You Don’t Love Me

7)     Still Got The Blues

8)     Texas Strut

9)     Moving On

10)  Too Tired (featuring Albert Collins)

11)  Cold Cold Feeling (featuring Albert Collins)

12)  Further Up On The Road (featuring Albert Collins)

13)  King Of The Blues

14)  Stop Messin’ Around

15)  The Blues Is Alright

16)  The Messiah Will Come Again

 

PLUS THESE BONUS TRACKS:

17)  Out In The Fields

18)  Over The Hills & Far Away

19)  Parisienne Walkways

 

 

Moore can still jam with the best of them, as all the tracks prove, though the cover of Roy Orbison’s Oh Pretty Woman is a weak way to open such a fine set.  If it was not enough that his grasp of Jazz, Rock and Blues was superior, he also has showmanship to spare, something we do not see enough.  The Albert Collins tracks are at least minor classics and the music is top notch once things get started.

 

The full frame 1.33 X 1 image shows its age, but was likely taped in the analog PAL format.  The bonus performances are in non-anamorphic 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 framing that looks a bit clearer and likely originated in early HD.  Too bad it was not anamorphic.  The sound is available here in PCM 2.0 Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, though the main concert does not sound like multi-channel presentation was on anyone’s mind in 1990.  The 1997 tracks are sadly only in PCM 2.0- Stereo, but have some Pro Logic surrounds.  The only extra is three bonus songs from a 1997 Montreux appearance, listed as the last three tracks in the list above, though the DVD case has a foldout on Moore’s career.  Gary Moore & The Midnight Blues Band – Live At Montreux: 1990 is one of the better concert DVDs we have encountered lately.  Even when the sound comes up a bit short, he and his band make up for it.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo