Run DMC – Live At Montreux 2001 (DVD-Video + CD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: D Concert: B-
Run DMC
was one of the first big Rap/Hip Hop acts and they did more for the genre
without the big benefits so many later acts got thanks to them, that the
injustice is only amplified more by the untimely loss of Jam Master Jay a few
years ago. That makes Run DMC – Live At Montreux 2001 one of
their last recorded performances together and Eagle Eye has issued the concert
on DVD, while sister label Eagle Records issued a CD.
From the
band who did such a good job launching what became the dominant music genre
until recently, they are very good and able to go a few rounds with any of
their contemporaries, successors (so to speak) or acts that have followed. That is because they were originals, the kind
of group that is that group no matter where or when they reassembled and it is
funny how this could be from 1991 or almost 1981 they are so on the mark
throughout. Tracks performed include:
- It’s Like That
- It’s Tricky
- Rock Box/Sucker MCs/Freestyle/Here We Go/Beats To The
Rhyme (medley)
- King Of Rock
- Interlude
- Mary Mary
- Walk This Way
- School Of Old
- It’s Over
- Run’s
Freestyle
- Peter Piper
- Down With The
King
The DVD
has three more songs than the CD, which are “Who
Wants My Shirt?” in two parts and Got
To Be Real. Either way, they give so
much and except for not offering much new or just not being overwhelmed overall
by the concert, it is an interesting concert and besides historical, they end
as strong as they started and it is all here for posterity. When it ends, there is a sadness in that what
was once radical is now nostalgia and history.
Imagine that.
The 1.33
X 1 image was shot in analog video (NTSC) and looks a little more aged and
flawed than it should, but is fine otherwise.
The sound is PCM 16-bit on both discs (44.1 kHz on the CD vs. 48 kHz on
the DVD) and the DVD also has 5.1 mixed in Dolby Digital and DTS. They are all limited as this was not
conceived as a 5.1 audio project and the two-channel version can be rough and
limited. However, it is not overly
bass-oriented to their credit. There are
no extras, but fans will want both format versions for completion and closure.
- Nicholas Sheffo
