Heart – Alive In Seattle (Image HD-DVD/2002)
Picture: B- Sound: B Extras: C Concert: B-
PLEASE NOTE: This HD-DVD is out of print, but
a Blu-ray was issued and it is just a little better than this version. You’ll find it and two other Heart Blu-rays
at the bottom of the review.
In 1976,
in a male-dominated Rock genre, Ann and Nancy Wilson finally broke through as
the band Heart. Along with the ladies of
Fleetwood Mac, their brand of West Coast Rock was a huge hit spawning several
hit albums and hit singles like Heartless.
Like Fleetwood Mac, 1980 was the last year of the cycle that took them
to the top, but they too made a comeback.
In 1985, they found even more commercial success, though the music was
more Pop and MOR than Rock. While Mac
U.S. members came from California, Heart was up the coast and for this 2002
concert, they return to their hometown in Alive
In Seattle.
Now, the
hit DVD-Video is back as one of the first HD-DVD concerts from Image
Entertainment, which fans can now see and hear with a clarity even
cable/satellite cannot deliver. The songs
performed encompass most of their classics, especially the early hits and include:
Crazy On You
Sister Wild Rose
The Witch
Straight On
These Dreams
Mistral Wind
Alone
Dog & Butterfly
Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters
Battle Of Evermore
Heaven
Magic Man
Two Faces Of Eve
Love Alive
Break The Rock
Barracuda
Wild Child
Black Dog
Dreamboat Annie
Well, it
is some of their best work since the early 1980s as a result and we have never
covered the band on this site yet, so that is a plus. Unfortunately, they are not always able to
get back into that element and in some ways, it is just too hard to go back to
that home. However, it is a smart choice
for an early HD release concert, but with some limits.
The 1080i
1.78 x 1 digital High Definition transfer can be somewhat glitchy like The Black Crowes - Freak ‘N’ Roll … Into The Fog taped three years later in 2005, but
is still better than Image’s HD-DVD release of Barry Manilow – Manilow Live!
That had been taped two years before this. It also looks better than most of their Music
Videos, some of which seemed to be filmed, but they never did do clips of their
better songs save older concert footage.
Maybe Sony will issue a Blu-ray compilation of those with DSD-derived
remasters.
The
standard DVD had standard Dolby Digital and DTS 5.0 mixes, but the sound here
has been upgraded to Dolby Digital and Dolby TrueHD 5.0, which makes it sound
clearer. Unfortunately, the lack of bass
is noticeable, even though the Dolby TrueHD is lossless. The regular DTS (20 – 24-bits/48kHz at best) was
dropped, but in this case, it might have been nice if we had it here for
comparison or even upgraded to DTS-HD Master Audio lossless at the same kHz and
bits as the Dolby TrueHD [though that upgrade for the Blu-ray issued later did
not matter]. At 103 minutes, this disc
might have had the room for that and the concert and three soundtracks. The only extra is an Easter Egg in the heart
inside the logo on the menu page featuring interviews with The Wilsons.
It should
be noted that Sony did issue this concert as a 5.1 Super Audio CD in what was
their first ever multi-channel hybrid SACD including regular PCM 2.0 and DSD
2.0 tracks. Since it is one giant megabit
of DSD sound versus Dolby TrueHD’s problematic mix, a comparison would yield
interesting results. There have been
claims True HD or similar lossless DTS-HD MA could outdo SACD, but that has
never been demonstrated as true, workable or effective, though DTS-MA has
overtaken TrueHD on Blu-ray since we first posted this review.
For this
disc on Blu-ray, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7200/Chicago+and+Earth,+Wind+&+Fire+%
For even more
Heart on Blu-ray, try these links:
Dreamboat Annie Live
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7990/Heart+%E2%80%93+Dreamboat+Anni
Night At Sky Church
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10898/Heart+%E2%80%93+Night+At+Sky
- Nicholas Sheffo
