Racing Cars – 76 – 60, 30th Anniversary
Concert (DVD-Video)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C Concert: C+
Angel Air
has issued a reunion concert with an early band that briefly signed with the
Chrysalis Records label in the 1970s.
Though they only issued three albums with them, the band known as Racing
Cars still developed a following and even had some hits. 76 –
60, 30th Anniversary Concert brings back Gareth “Morty” Mortimer
as lead singer and the other four original members in a concert with the usual
reflections you get in such reunion deals.
The
oddest thing is that they got a hit record out of a song inspired by Sidney
Pollack’s underrated They Shoot Horses,
Don’t They? About five years after the film was a critical and commercial
success. It is not bad, but as for the
band in general, they are good but not great.
Fans will like this, but it will be nostalgia for others or just an
outright surprise for those who associate Chrysalis with Pat Benatar and
Blondie, the two acts that really put the label on the map.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is on the soft side and very likely not
an HD taping, but color can be consistent and we have seen worse such
productions. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
is just active enough to qualify for its rating, though multi-channel does not
sound like the intent of the original recording. The combination is passable. Extras include a text essay on the band,
interviews and acoustic outtakes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
