The Chieftains – Live Over Ireland + The
Dubliners – On The Road: Live In Germany (Eagle Vision Classic)
Picture: C-/C Sound: B- Extras: C/D Concerts: B-
Traditional
music can seem millennia away, even when you hear it now. Sometimes, an older music sound is kept alive
and well and with great Bands like The Chieftans and The Dubliners, Irish music
of the past is not so past. It is alive
and well. EV Classics has reissued two
mid-1990s concerts from the bands on separate DVDs: The
Chieftains – Live Over Ireland and The Dubliners – On The Road: Live In
Germany.
The Music
Video director Maurice Linnane (U2) directed Live Over Ireland and it is a more than serviceable concert. The same for On The Road: Live In Germany directed by Willie Berger, which mixes
concert and behind the scenes footage in parts.
Both are fine if you like this kind of music and the bands. Unfortunately, the playback of the DVDs is
another matter.
The
letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image on Chieftans
is awful, with digital blocking all over the place that is harsh, distorting
and very distracting, while the 1.33 X 1 image on Dubliners is barely better with digititis and softness
throughout. Both were made on what looks
like analog video. Both discs are
supposed to feature Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes, but Chieftans is actually PCM 16/48 2.0 Stereo, while Dubliners adds Dolby and DTS 5.1
mixes. The 5.1 mixes are overstretching
what sound is left, making it harsh and limited. Both recordings are good, but not great. There are no extras on Dubliners despite a
brief essay by Joe Jackson inside the back cover, but The Chieftans disc has
stills, Santiago music clip, Paddy
Malone narration and Rocky Road To Dublin
set.
- Nicholas Sheffo
