Nile Rodgers & Chic – Live At Montreux 2004
Picture: B-
Sound: B Extras: D Concert: B
Though constantly written off as just another original
Disco-era act, Chic has turned out to be one of the most influential, important
and innovative music acts of the last half of the 20th Century. Why?
For one thing, the late Bernard Edwards and his partner Nile Rodgers
must have a record or near record for most artists ever worked with in the
history of the music industry. With
only five Top 40 hits from 1977 – 1979, that was all they needed to influence a
new generation of post-Disco, post-R&B dance music fans, with Good Times
in particular being the foundation for Hip Hop itself. Rodgers has continued to work non-stop and
has also kept Chic together. Live At
Montreux 2004 is a recent concert (7/17/04) that shows Rodgers has not
allowed the group to lose much of its luster.
The loss of Edwards’ bass is unavoidably audible and the
loss of drummer Tony Thompson in 2003 another major blow, the new configuration
of the band figures well here. The
songs included in this 99 minutes long concert are:
1) Everybody
Dance
2) Dance,
Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)
3) I Want
Your Love
4) Diana
Ross & Sister Sledge medleys (I’m Coming Out, Upside Down, He’s The Greatest
Dancer, We Are Family)
5) At Last
I’m Free
6) CHIC
Cheer
7) My
Forbidden Lover
8) Le Freak
9) Good
Times
The weak point here are the medleys, which are a key or
two too low and do not have the energy, spirit or spontaneity of the
originals. I’m Coming Out is
supposed to be revelatory, but this version drags and has limited energy. Upside Down lacks the convincing sass
of the original. In those cases,
Rodgers and Edwards did not get their versions of those hits on the original Diana
album, only recently issued in a Deluxe Edition double CD set (reviewed
elsewhere on this site), but they are ultimately Miss Ross’ songs by vocal
ownership. The Sister Sledge tracks do
not suffer as badly, but this was some of that vocal group’s best work, so it
is still hard to compete.
My Forbidden Lover fares better and was too hot
and R&B for pop radio of the time, but it is grossly underrated. The same female vocalists are much more on
target in this case. At Last I’m
Free was likely too feminist to the same stations, and that was at a time
of broadcasting. It is another
gem. The musicians and Rodgers (of
course) are terrific without missing much throughout, but the ladies are
ambitious and deserve credit for that.
The result is still one of the best Montreux DVD concerts to date.
This extends to the DVD performance. The digital HD-shot 1.78 X 1 image is
anamorphically enhanced and may have the usual detail limits of that format
versus film, but this is one of the most naturalistic-looking ones we have seen
to date. The sound is even better, here
in PCM 2.0 16Bit/48kHz Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and especially good DTS 5.1,
which is the preferred way to play it back if you can. The DTS is perfect to capture all the bass,
rhythm and richness of the soul throughout.
The Dolby just is not as soulful, while the PCM is good, but cannot
match the DTS. Sadly, there are no
extras, except for a pullout inside the DVD case with illustrations and a brief
essay by Graham Betts. Nile Rodgers
& Chic – Live At Montreux 2004 is one of the best concert DVDs to date.
- Nicholas Sheffo
