Bad Company – Hard Rock Live (2009/Image Entertainment Blu-ray + CD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: C- Concert: B
Paul
Rodgers is one of the great survivors of Rock Music and remains one of its most
important decades after first hits with Free in the late 1960s. By 1973, he formed Bad Company and it remains
his most successful performance vehicle, so to have the original lineup back 33
years later for a one-time concert is an event indeed. On August 8, 2008, that happened and it was
all captured in High Definition video.
Now, Image Entertainment has issued the show on Blu-ray as Bad Company – Hard Rock Live and it is
a winner.
I liked
it more than his solo concert Live In Glasgow from 2006 (see
below) where he could sing, but the energy seemed not to be there all the
time. With his original band, including
Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke, we get all the hits and more including:
1)
Bad Company
2)
Honey Child
3)
Sweet Lil’ Sister
4)
Burnin’ Sky
5)
Gone, Gone, Gone
6)
Run With The Pack
7)
Live For The Music
8)
Seagull
9)
Feel Like Makin’ Love
10) Movin’ On
11) Simple Man
12) Rock Steady
13) Shooting Star
14) Can’t Get Enough
15) Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy
16) Ready For Love
17) Good Lovin’ Gone Bad
His voice
only shows some signs of wear, but it is as distinct as ever while both Kirke
and Ralphs can play with the same energy and power they did 35+ years ago when
most bands from their time are just dragging along and seem bored. I expected this to be good and was not
disappointed. If this is the last
concert they ever do, it will be the band going out on top.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is a little soft throughout and not much
of an improvement from his Glasgow
concert. Still, color is good and there
are a few good shots here and there, plus editing is not bad. The DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mix
is the other highlight here with a nice soundfield and sounding even better
than the somewhat limited PCM 2.0 Stereo on the Blu-ray and PCM 16/44.1 2.0
Stereo on the CD.
Extras include
the CD if you want to include it (we will not) and all you get otherwise is a
trailer on the Blu-ray. However, you can
read more about the solo Rodgers Blu-ray and DVD versions of Live In Glasgow taped two years before
at these links, for which you’ll get all the input you could imagine about it:
Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8511/Paul+Rodgers+%E2%80%93+Live+In
DVD/CD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5406/Paul+Rodgers+%E2%80%93+Live+In
- Nicholas Sheffo
