Van Morrison – Live At Montreux 1980/1974 (DVD Concert Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C- Concerts: B-
Two
classic concerts by Rock/Jazz icon Van Morrison have arrived on DVD as a double
set from Eagle Eye’s Live At Montreux
series, one from 1980, another from 1974.
His big hit singles ended by 1971, but his fans and FM vinyl record
album radio picked up the slack, allowing his run of hit albums to last until
1978. Touring and becoming more and more
of a fan favorite by being authentic, never selling out and possibly because of
the lack of commercial success, he made it to Montreux on a few occasions. Two of them are now here. The tracklisting for both shows are as
follows:
Disc One
- July 10, 1980
1. Wavelength
2. Kingdom Hall
3. It Stoned Me
4. Troubadours
5. Spirit
6. Joyous Sound
7. Satisfied
8. Ballerina
9. Summertime in England
10. Moondance
11. Haunts of
Ancient Peace
12. Wild Night
13. Listen to the
Lion
14. Tupelo Honey
15. Angeliou
Disc Two
- June 30, 1974
1. (It's Not The) Twilight Zone
2. I Like It Like That
3. Foggy Mountain Top
4. Bulbs
5. Boffyflow & Spike
6. Heathrow Shuffle
7. Naked in the Jungle
8. Street Choir
9. Harmonica Boogie
10. Since I Fell
For You
Unlike
the not-necessarily-kind satire of Morrison in recent years like on Saturday
Night Live with former “I can’t stop laughing while I perform because I am so
damn funny” cast member Jimmy Fallon, who may have never enjoyed Morrison or
any other good music to boot, here is the real man at his prime. Morrison is a showman, artist and class
act. If you like a pair of good concert
and especially like Morrison, you get over 140 minutes of solid music. Only so much has been issued on DVD of
Morrison, but this should more than help to make up for that gap.
Moondance and Wild Night are not just retreads form the vinyl, but mediations on
the songs without dragging them out to the point of satire. The musicians for both shows, noted at the
end of each concert, are also very good.
He even took a break from recording for a few years before the ’80
concert and it seems to have re-energized him.
The 1980 show is also at the tail-end of the singer-songwriter era just
surviving Disco before New Wave arrive ed on the Pop charts and MTV on
cable.
The 1.33
x 1 image was shot on analog color videotape, likely NTSC, and looks fairly
good for its age. The 1980 looks a
little clearer than the 1974 footage, but not by much. The older audio is here in PCM 2.0
16bit/48khz Stereo and DTS 5.1, the latter of which is a little harsh
unavoidably. The combination works fine
in either case, though purists might go for the PCM. Except for a paper pullout with a brief
essay, there are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
