April Wine – Live In London (Cherry Red/MVD DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Film/Concert: C+
Though
they formed in 1969, it was the early 1980s that saw the Canadian band April
Wine hit their commercial peak. Though
they had hits in the 1970s, The Nature
Of The Beast was a big hit album, though it did not even make the Top 10 in
the U.S., yet they went on a world tour and April Wine – Live In London is a film of a January 1981 playdate at
England’s Hammersmith Odeon.
Performing
many of their own hits, they are good, but an attempt to cover King Crimson’s
21st Century Schizoid Man shows their limits and is too soft a
performance for such material. Still,
they give the concert their best and not victimized by digital mass media and
the Internet, are relaxed and themselves for the most part when they are
interviewed, which makes this more watchable than it would otherwise be. Too bad there are not more of them off stage.
The 1.33
X 1 image is from a poor analog video source instead of the 16mm film this was
originally shot on. This also affects
the Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, which is practically mono and though the case says
there is a Dolby 5.1 track (we could not find it) and/or suggests using Pro Logic
II or DTS Neo, forget good sound here.
Previews for other Cherry Red DVDs are the only extras and they are
dull.
- Nicholas Sheffo
