Live on Saturdays: Video Reviews and Summaries

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by riskylogic, Feb 15, 2020.

  1. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Keys to Ascension

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    Concert Performance by Yes
    Released October 1996
    Recorded March 4-6 at the Fremont Theatre, San Luis Obispo, CA
    Genre Progressive rock
    Label CMC International

    Keys to Ascension is the video release of a concert by the progressive rock group Yes recorded live at the Fremont Theatre in San Luis Obispo, California in March 1996. It marked the first set of Yes concerts to feature keyboardist Rick Wakeman and guitarist Steve Howe since 1991, and the first to feature this exact five-piece lineup since 1979. The three concerts with the newly reunited lineup were followed by two double albums entitled Keys to Ascension and Keys to Ascension 2, featuring all new material alongside live tracks from the San Luis Obispo shows. This along with these companion albums were reissued in 2010 as the Keys to Ascension box set.

    A world tour was abruptly cancelled when Rick Wakeman quit the band in mid-1996. He would not rejoin the band until 2002.

    Personnel
    Jon Anderson: vocals, guitars, harp, percussion
    Steve Howe: 6- and 12-string electric and acoustic guitars, steel and pedal steel, vocals
    Chris Squire: bass guitar, vocals
    Rick Wakeman: keyboards
    Alan White: drums, vocals

    Track Listing
    1. Siberian Khatru
    2. Close to the Edge
    I. "The Solid TIme of Change"
    II. "Total Mass Retain"
    III. "I Get Up, I Get Down"
    IV. "Seasons of Man"​
    3. I've Seen All Good People
    a. "Your Move"
    b. "All Good People"​
    4. Time and a Word
    5. And You and I
    I. "Cord of Life"
    II. "Eclipse"
    III. "The Preacher, The Teacher"
    IV. "Apocalypse"​
    6. The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)
    7. Going for the One
    8. Turn of the Century
    9. America
    10. Onward
    11. Awaken
    12. Roundabout
    13. Starship Trooper
    a. "Life Seeker"
    b. "Disillusion"
    c. "Würm"​

    Version Control
    This was released on VHS, DVD, and laserdisc in 1996. There are multiple international versions of both the VHS and DVD, with some in PAL. It’s out of print, but there are used copies about. Discogs.

    The Concert
    There’s no opening menu – like a VHS tape it launches straight into the concert. But, it’s got widescreen video with decent DVD quality. It has Dolby Digital stereo and 5.1 – that’s all there was in 1996. There’s a screen in back of the stage with Roger Dean imagery on.

    There’s a lot of double imaging and other video editing tricks that really get in the way of just watching the concert – and much of the video is landscape that has nothing to do with the concert. There is no crowd noise - I’m not even sure there is much of a crowd. It might as well be a studio performance. The music oftentimes seems like it is not in sync with the video. In the end, it is perhaps better characterized as a long music video rather than a video of a concert performance.

    The surround mix uses the center channel for Anderson vocals and there is enough reverb to make the rear speakers worth having. Just a smidgeon of crowd noise, which makes me wonder if this is really a live concert.

    “Siberian Khatru”
    From Close to the Edge. White is in the back on drums, in front it’s Howe, Anderson, Squire, and Wakeman. Anderson is wearing a white robe, everyone else is dressed semi-normal. Seems like Howe is featured the most, and White the least, but everyone is featured at least a little.

    “Close to the Edge”
    From Close to the Edge. Starts with just video to go with the synth as prerecorded sounds of the intro. Lots more double-imaging of concert and scenery after that. There’s even triple imaging of concert, scenery, and lyrics at some points. But it’s a great rendition and you so get to see everyone play key passages. Really nice sequence from Wakeman in black and white. I though White didn’t get shown much in Yessongs because he had just joined the band, but he isn’t shown much here either.

    The only clip I could find – it’s 4:3 format so it must be from VHS rather than the DVD:



    “I've Seen All Good People”
    From The Yes Album. Howe starts it off on mandolin, but this one is a mainly a Jon Anderson show.

    “Time and a Word”
    The title track from their second album, which didn’t get into the rotation at all on Yessongs. Might be because Anderson and Squire were only two in the lineup on that album. Wakeman starts it off though, Howe joins in with acoustic guitar, then Anderson, and finally Squire and White.

    “And You and I”
    From Close to the Edge. As on Yessongs, they cover the whole album here. At the beginning of this track they show a shot of the outside of the theater with a Now Playing sign that says “Masterworks of Yes Recording Tonight 8pm”. They are playing in a movie theater and the big screen behind them is the movie screen. Lots of nice acoustic guitar work from Howe on this one. Squire plays harmonica.

    “The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)”
    From Tales From Topographic Oceans. Another whole album side track. Starts off with double and triple imaging, but it’s at least a little bit cool this time. Wakeman sometimes looks like maybe he’s ready to quit again – which he did both right after this album and after this concert.

    “Going for the One”
    From Going for the One. Starts with skiing video as background. Mainly feature Howe on pedal steel guitar and Anderson.

    “Turn of the Century”
    From Going for the One. Howe on acoustic guitar and Anderson. Not what I would call a classic Yes track.

    “America”
    Simon and Garfunkel cover that appears on some editions of Close to the Edge. Get to see a bit of White, but more of Howe and Squire.

    “Onward”
    From Tormato. Howe on acoustic guitar again, then Anderson vocals. Double imagery with landscape video.

    “Awaken”
    From Going for the One. Wakeman starts it off with his keyboard set to piano, then Anderson vocals, the Howe electric guitar. Woman hanging by a rope in the background. Squire with a triple necked beast of a guitar.

    “Roundabout”
    From Fragile. Starts with Howe on acoustic guitar, and then we’re off with another rock song. I was beginning to worry. Wakeman plays real fast. They show a bit of a crowd and they seem to be into it.

    “Starship Trooper”
    From The Yes Album. Anderson with an acoustic guitar and there are stars and planets in the background. White gets a little focus. Nice finale that features Squire and Wakeman.
    ______

    This is much better than the horrible Yessongs video, but it is also nowhere near as good as Symphonic Live. However, unlike Symphonic it has Wakeman on keyboards and features a number of really good tracks that aren’t on the later one, especially “Siberian Khatru”, “The Revealing Science of God”, “Going For the One”, and “America”. The song selection slacks off towards the end – doesn’t seem like three tracks from Going For the One is really necessary, or even one from Tormato. “Owner of a Lonely Heart” seems like a glaring omission. I would also say the audio greatly outshines the video that is often difficult to watch.

    Music – 2.5
    Sound quality – 2
    Video presentation – 2
    Video quality – 2
    Surround – 2

    This exhausts my current three disc Yes video collection. Live At Montreux 2003 is only other one I know of that I am considering.
     
  2. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Ranges indicate either that the rating is version dependent, or that the content varies. The reviews are mine unless other attribution is given. The highlighted link for the reviews and ratings are different if the initial review is from Mark or someone else, or if I have changed the ratings for some reason.

    Rating System Explained Here

    AC/DC – Let There Be Rock / Live Performance and Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley)
    Anathema – A Moment in Time / Live Performance / Rating: 13 &
    Anathema – Universal / Live Performance / Rating: 16
    Ayreon Electric Castle Live and Other Tales / Live Performance / Rating: 14 &
    Ayreon – Ayreon Universe / Live Performance / Rating: 16

    Band, The – The Last Waltz / Live Performance and Concert Documentary / Rating: 15-17
    Beatles, The – A Hard Day’s Night / Movie / Rating: 11-13
    Beatles, The – Help! / Movie / Rating: 11-14
    Beatles, The – Magical Mystery Tour/ Movie / Rating: 10-12
    Beatles, The – Yellow Submarine / Movie / Rating: 17 &
    Beatles, The – 1+ / Video Collection / Rating: 12-18
    Beck, Jeff – Rock 'n' Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul) / Live Performance / Rating: 14-15
    Beck, Jeff – Performing This Week... Live At Ronnie Scott's / Live Performance / Rating: 17
    Big Big Train – Reflectors of Light / Live Performance / Rating: 15
    Blackfield – NYC: Live in New York City / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    Blue Öyster Cult – Live 1976 / Live Performance / Rating: 9
    Blue Öyster Cult – 40th Anniversary - Agents Of Fortune - Live 2016 / Studio Performance / Rating: 14 &

    Camel – Live At The Royal Albert Hall / Live Performance / Rating: 14&
    Camel – Moondances / Live Performance / Rating: 11-12
    Cave, Nick – Once More With Feeling / Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley)
    Church, The – Future Past Perfect / Live Performance / Rating: 13&
    Clapton, Eric – The Cream of Eric Clapton / Video Collection / Rating: 12*&
    Clapton, Eric and Winwood, Steve – Live From Madison Square Garden / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) /Rating:16
    Clapton, Eric – Slowhand at 70 – Live at the Royal Albert Hall / Live Performance / Rating: 16 &
    Cliff, Jimmy – The Harder They Come / Movie / Rating: 15
    Cold Chisel – The Last Stand / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Cure, The – Trilogy / Live Performance / Rating: 13-15

    Dead Can Dance – Yulunga and Other Stories / Video Collection / Rating: 12-15
    Dead Can Dance – Toward the Within / Live Performance / Rating: 11
    Depeche Mode – Live in Berlin / Live Performance / Rating: 12&
    Dido Live at Brixton Academy / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    Djabe – The Magic Stag / Video Collection /Rating: 11
    Dire Straits – Alchemy / Live Performance / Rating: 16*
    Doobie Brothers, The ‎– Live From The Beacon Theatre / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Doors, The ‎– Live At The Bowl '68 / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)

    Dream Theater – Distance Over Time / Video Collection /Rating: 13*&
    Dream Theater – Score / Live Performance /Rating: 13
    Dylan, Bob – No Direction Home / Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley)

    Emerson, Lake & Palmer – 40th Anniversary Reunion Concert / Live Performance / Rating: 14&
    Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams - The Video Album / Video Collection / Rating: 9
    Ferry, Bryan – Live in Lyon / Live Performance /Rating: 17

    Gabriel, Peter – Secret World Live / Live Performance / Rating: 16
    Gabriel, Peter – Play / Video Collection / Rating: 12-15 *&
    Gabriel, Peter – Growing Up / Live Performance / Rating: 16
    Gabriel, Peter – New Blood - Live In London / Live Performance / Rating: 14 &
    Genesis – Pop Shop Live TV 1972 / Studio Performance / Rating: 11 *
    Gentle Giant – GG at the GG / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    Gentle Giant – The Power and the Suite / Video Collection / Rating: 16
    Gilmour, David – Live in Gdańsk / Live Performance / Rating: 11
    Gilmour, David – Live at Pompeii / Live Performance / Rating: 15
    Glass, Philip – Koyaanisqatsi / Movie / Rating: 15 &
    Glass, Philip – Powaqqatsi / Movie / Rating: 13
    Grateful Dead – The Grateful Dead Movie / Concert Documentary / Rating: 13-14
    Grateful Dead – The Closing of Winterland / Concert Performance / Rating: 13
    Grateful Dead – Rocking The Cradle ~ Egypt 1978 / Concert Performance (@~dave~~wave~)
    Green Day – Bullet in a Bible / Live Performance / Rating: 11 &

    Hackett, Steve – The Tokyo Tapes / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    Hackett, Steve – Somewhere in South America / Live Performance / Rating: 10
    Hackett, Steve – Selling England By The Pound & Spectral Mornings: Live at Hammersmith / Live Performance / Rating: 18
    Hendrix, Jimi – Jimi Plays Monterey / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    Hendrix, Jimi – Live at Woodstock / Live Performance / Rating: 12
    Hendrix, Jimi – Band of Gypsys: Live at The Fillmore East / Concert Documentary / Rating: 10 *&

    INXS - Live Baby Live / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating: 13
    Iron Maiden – Flight 666 / Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley)
    Iron Maiden – The History of Iron Maiden – Part 1: The Early Days / Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley)
    Jethro Tull – Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die (The TV Special Edition) / Studio Performance / Rating: 11

    Kansas – There's Know Place Like Home / Live Performance / Rating: 15-16
    Killing Joke – XXV Gathering! / Live Performance / Rating: 11
    King Crimson – Déjà Vrooom / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    King Crimson – Eyes Wide Open, Part 1 / Live Performance / Rating: 11
    King Crimson – Eyes Wide Open, Part 2 / Live Performance / Rating: 15
    King Crimson – Meltdown: Live in Mexico City / Live Performance / Rating: 17
    Knopfler, Mark – A Night in London / Studio Performance / Rating: 9&
    Kraftwerk – 3D 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 / Video Collection / Rating: 15
    Krauss, Allison & Union Station – Live! / Live Performance / Rating: 13

    Led Zeppelin – The Song Remains the Same / Live Performance and Movie / Rating: 14
    Lee, Albert Tearing it Up / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)

    Magma – Theusz Hamtaahk: Trilogie au Trianon / Live Performance (@Sordel)
    Magma – Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré Trilogie / Live Performance (@Sordel)
    Mannheim Steamroller – Fresh Aire 8 / Video Collection / Rating: 11*
    Marillion – Fish Tales / Video Collection / Rating: 12-13*
    Marillion – Recital of the Script / Live Performance / Rating: 13*&
    Marillion – Somewhere in London / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    Marley, Bob & The Wailers – Live! at the Rainbow / Live Performance / Rating: 14
    Mason, Nick Live – At the Roundhouse / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    McCartney, Paul – The McCartney Years, Part 1 ( @mark winstanley)
    Midnight Oil – Best of Both Worlds / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Midnight Oil – Armistice Day / Live Performance / Rating: 16&

    Nightwish – Vehicle of Spirit / Live Performance / Rating: 14
    Opeth – The Roundhouse Tapes / Live Performance / Rating: 12

    Pet Shop Boys – Cubism / Live Performance / Rating: 12
    Pineapple Thief, The – Where We Stood / Live Performance / Rating: 17
    Pink Floyd – 1970 Devi/ation / Video Collection / Rating: 5
    Pink Floyd – 1971 Reverber/ation / Video Collection / Rating: 9&
    Pink Floyd – Live at Pompeii / Live Performance / Rating: 13-15&
    Pink Floyd – The Wall / Movie / Rating: 12
    Pink Floyd – The Endless River / Music Video Collection / Rating: 9
    Police, The - Every Breath You Take / Video Collection ( @mark winstanley)
    Porcupine Tree – Arriving Somewhere... / Live Performance / Rating: 16 - 17
    Porcupine Tree – Anesthetize / Live Performance / Rating: 18
    Presley, Elvis – That's The Way It Is (@mark winstanley)
    Pretenders, The – Loose in L.A. / Live Performance / Rating: 14

    R.E.M – Road Movie / Live Performance / Rating: 11
    Rolling Stones – Steel Wheels Live / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Rolling Stones, The & Various Artists – Rock and Roll Circus / Studio Performance / Rating: 14
    Roxy Music – The High Road / Live Performance / Rating: 15
    Rush – Exit ..... Stage Left / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Rush – Grace Under Pressure Tour / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    Rush – R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating: 17
    Rush – Rush in Rio / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Rush – Snakes & Arrows Live / Live Performance / Rating: 16
    Rush – Clockwork Angels Tour / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Rush – R40 Live / Live Performance / Rating: 15

    Santana – Santana IV Live At The House Of Blues Las Vegas / Live Performance / Rating: 15&
    Simple Minds – Acoustic In Concert / Live Performance / Rating: 12-13
    Springsteen, Bruce The River Tour / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Sting – Live in Berlin / Live Performance / Rating: 12
    Supertramp – Live In Paris '79 / Live Performance / Rating: 15

    Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense / Live Performance / Rating: 14-16
    Tangerine Dream – Live at Coventry Cathedral 1975 / Music Video / Rating: 10
    Tangerine Dream – The Video Dream Mixes / Video Collection: Rating: 8
    Tool – Vicarious / Video / Rating: 12 &
    Townsend, Devin – Ocean Machine – Live / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating: 12-14
    Townsend, Devin – Acoustically Inclined in Leeds / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating: 11
    Transatlantic – Whirld Tour 2010 / Live Performance / Rating: 12

    U2 – Under a Blood Red Sky / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating: 15
    U2 – Rattle and Hum / Studio and Live Performance / Rating: 14-15
    U2 – 360° at the Rose Bowl / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    U2 – Live in Paris / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Ultravox – Rage in Eden / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating: 16

    Vai, Steve ‎– Visual Sound Theories (Live With Holland Metropole Orkest) / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Various Artists – The Monterey Pop Festival / Live Performance / Rating: 13 &
    Various Artists – Woodstock / Live Performance and Concert Documentary / Rating: 15 *
    Various Artists – Baraka / Movie / Rating: 14
    Various Artists – Samsara / Movie / Rating: 13

    Waters, Roger – In the Flesh - Live / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Waters, Roger – Us + Them / Live Performance/ Rating: 17
    Wilson, Steven – Home Invasion / Live Performance / Rating: 18
    Winter, Edgar – Reach For It / Live Performance / Rating: 11
    Wishbone Ash – Live Dates 3 / Live Performance / Rating: 15 &
    Wishbone Ash – Live in Hamburg / Live Performance / Rating: 13

    Yello – Live in Berlin / Live Performance (@jamesc)
    Yes – Yessongs / Live Performance / Rating: 9 *
    Yes – Keys To Ascension / Live Performance / Rating: 13
    Yes – Symphonic Live / Live Performance / Rating: 17

    Zappa, Frank – Baby Snakes / Movie and Live Performance / Rating: 9
    Zappa, Frank – The Torture Never Stops / Live Performance / Rating: 9
    Zappa, Frank – The Roxy Movie / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
    Zimmer, Hans – Live in Prague / Live Performance (@thetman) / Rating: 17&

    * One point deducted from original rating as a result of video rating scale adjustment.
    & Half point deducted from music score before doubling

    Comments on any of the above are always welcome.
     
    Jagger69 likes this.
  3. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Live in Athens 1987

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    Concert Performance by Peter Gabriel
    Released September 2013
    Recorded October 1987 at the Lycabettus overlooking Athens
    Genre Progressive rock
    Length 2 hours and 25 minutes
    Label Eagle Rock Entertainment

    Live in Athens 1987 captures the concert tour that supported the release of Peter Gabriel’s fifth solo album So. Recorded at the open-air Lycabettus theatre above the Greek capital, Live in Athens 1987 documents the final shows of the This Way Up world tour and five musicians at the peak of their game, playing the songs from the album that had catapulted Gabriel into the pop stratosphere. The show features a special guest appearance by the young Youssou N’Dour on a rousing rendition of ‘In Your Eyes’. The concert video also features five songs from the opening set by Youssou N’Dour and his band Le Super Etoile De Dakar.

    Personnel
    Peter Gabriel – vocals
    Manu Katché - drums
    Tony Levin - bass, backing vocals
    David Rhodes - guitar, backing vocals
    David Sancious – keyboards

    Track Listing
    Youssou N'Dour And Le Super Etoile De Dakar

    1. Immigres
    2. Kocc Barma
    3. Nelson Mandela
    4. Ndobine
    5. Sama Dome / My Daughter

    Peter Gabriel
    6. This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)
    7. San Jacinto
    8. Shock The Monkey
    9. Family Snapshot
    10. Intruder
    11. Games Without Frontiers
    12. No Self Control
    13. Mercy Street
    14. The Family And The Fishing Net
    15. Don't Give Up
    16. Solsbury Hill
    17. Lay Your Hands On Me
    18. Sledgehammer
    19. Here Comes The Flood
    20. In Your Eyes
    21. Biko

    Version Control
    This was released on both DVD and Bluray in 2013. Both versions also include a DVD of Play, which is a video collection with surround mixes for all the songs. There are also CD and LP versions that don’t include the opening set by Youssou N'Dour. The DVD version is still available new, but you’ll have to scrounge a used copy of the bluray. Amazon. Discogs.

    The Concert
    Excellent picture quality and a DTS HD 5.1 mix.

    Youssou N'Dour And Le Super Etoile De Dakar
    The opening menu gives the choice of the opening set, the Perter Gabriel set or the whole show as the first choice. I won’t do a track by track, but here’s a brief description of the opening set:

    PG comes on to introduce the band. I think he only gives four names, but there are eight musicians. Youssou N'Dour is the lead vocalist, also have bass, guitar, sax, and the rest are all percussionists of some sort. The music obviously has African influences, but it’s a world beat. The lyrics aren’t in English and I don’t think in French either, but I won’t swear that it isn’t French with an Senegalese accent. It’s a nice warm up. The surround mix has N'Dour in the center channel and crowd vocals but not much else in the rear.

    Peter Gabriel
    “This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)”
    From So. This plays while the credits roll and Gabriel introduces the band before they go to their spots. The stage then goes completely dark.

    “San Jacinto”
    From Security. Starts off with single spotlight on Gabriel. The rest of the band is playing in the dark, I guess. Pretty sure some of it is prerecorded / preprogrammed.

    “Shock The Monkey”
    From Security. More lights come on, but it’s still a little dark. But, it’s Levin on the left front and Rhodes on the right. Katches and Sancious are both in back. Gabriel has a bit of a pedestal in the middle that he dances on and off of – it’s highly choreographed. He’s way more active in this concert than the later ones. Levin and Rhodes do their share of dancing too – they’ve both got lightweight instruments. Gabriel are in the center channel, crowd vocals are pretty much the only thing of interest in the rear channel.

    “Family Snapshot”
    From PG III. There a keyboard setup for Gabriel to the left of Levin – he goes over there for this slow song. No dancing.

    “Intruder”
    From PG III. Gabriel back in the middle with just a microphone. He has almost a full head of hair, but it does look like he is starting to lose it. But he doesn’t just sing – he also whistles.

    “Games Without Frontiers”
    From PG III. Never knew this song was about Nicaragua. Rhodes and Levin with the background whistling and vocals – all in front. Just a tiny bit of reverb plus some decent crowd vocals. Some more choreography but not as much as the first song.

    “No Self Control”
    From PG III. Gabriel starts out with just the microphone but after wandering around the stage he ends up behind the keyboard briefly. But then he’s back cavorting on the stage, and he collapses at the end of the song.

    “Mercy Street”
    From So. Stage goes dark again and a single light descends over Gabriel’s still prone body – he then starts singing from that position – but he gets up. The rest of the band playing in the dark. It seems like all the cameras are run remotely. There’s one mounted in the middle of the stage that seems to be able to shoot in any direction. His voice echoes towards the end of the song – it’s mostly in front, but it does come out of the back speakers a bit.

    “The Family And The Fishing Net”
    From Security. The lights come back up (it’s still a little dark mind you), and Levin has traded his fret board for a keyboard – he’s still playing bass though – and backing vocals along with Rhodes; they both seem to be wearing lab coats.

    “Don't Give Up”
    From So. It seems a bit absurd to do this song without a female vocalist, but here it is: Gabriel sings both parts of what is usually a duet. Levin playing a normal bass quitar – which is unusual for him.

    “Solsbury Hill”
    From PG debut. The front trio are back in dancing mode, but it’s still low key compared to “Monkey”. They all come out to the edge of the stage with Levin on the right and Rhodes on the left for a change.

    “Lay Your Hands On Me”
    From Security. The stage goes dark again. Light comes back on with Gabriel in front of Sancious. He wakls out to the stage and the light follows him. After a couple of minutes the lights come in time for Levin and Rhodes to contribute some backing vocals. After the song is basically over it starts back up again with just Llevin and Rhodes chanting “Lay Your Hands On Me” while Gabriel goes crowd surfing. It looked like he was going to lose his shirt there for a while, but he made back on to the stage OK.

    “Sledgehammer”
    From So. Rhodes starts it off, then the rest of the band kicks in with Gabriel at his keyboard. But he goes back to the center stage for another round of choreography with Rhodes and Levin. Quite like the performance of the song on Secret World Live actually.

    “Here Comes The Flood”
    From PG debut. Gabriel back at the keyboard, where plays the song off mostly by himself – I think Sancious is playing too.

    “In Your Eyes”
    From So. Youssou N'Dour and two percussionists from his band come on stage. N'Dour sings co-lead. Lots of dancing – a female Senagalese dancer comes on the help out. Some decent percussion reverb in the back speakers at the end. Even though I think "Monkey" has the best performance from Gabriel, it seems like the video has to go here.



    “Biko”
    From PG III. Gabriel again starts off behind the keyboard and then migrates towards center. Levin and Rhodes play like statues. Two of the Senegalese percussionists are helping out Katche. At the end of the song N’Dour and two of his bandmates some out to help out with the ending chant, which gets the crowd chanting too. They all leave the stage except for Katche who keeps the beat going and the crowd chanting in the rear speakers – definitely the surround highlight of the concert.
    ______

    Definitely not as strong of a set list as either Secret World Live or Growing Up. But it does have considerably more coverage of both PG III and Security than any of the other options. It has great video and audio, especially for a 1987 concert. The stage show is only lacking in comparison to future Gabriel concerts.

    Perhaps the most glaring difference between this concert and the future concerts that I have already reviewed is that there is no female vocalist. Maybe that that only really matters for “Don’t Give Up”, but still.

    With the minor exceptions of “Mercy Street” and “Biko”, I don’t think you are missing much by listening to it in stereo rather surround. However, let’s not forget that it comes with Play – it has oodles of surround.

    Music – 2.5
    Sound quality – 3
    Video presentation – 3
    Video quality – 3
    Surround – 1

    I’m not sure having the bluray is all that important – the 2 DVD package that is still available new is a pretty good deal, especially if you don’t already have Play.
     
  4. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Rock Goes To College

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    Concert Performance by Bruford
    Released 2007
    Recorded 07 March 1979 at Oxford Polytechnic
    Genre Progressive rock
    Label Winterfold Records

    This concert was filmed as part of the BBC TV series Rock Goes To College at Oxford Polytechnic and featured the classic line-up of Bruford, Holdsworth, Jeff Berlin and Dave Stewart (with guest Annette Peacock) playing material from the albums Feels Good To Me and One Of A Kind.

    Personnel
    Bruford

    Jeff Berlin – Bass
    Bill Bruford – Drums, Percussion
    Allan Holdsworth – Guitar
    Dave Stewart – Keyboards

    Guest
    Annette Peacock – Vocals

    Track Listing
    1 Sample And Hold
    2 Beelzebub
    3 The Sahara Of Snow (Part One)
    4 The Sahara Of Snow (Part Two)
    5 Forever Until Sunday
    6 Back To The Beginning
    7 Adios A La Pasada (Goodbye To The Past)
    8 5G

    Version Control
    This was first released on CD and DVD in 2006. The DVD cover looked like this:

    [​IMG]

    A CD + DVD version was released in October 2020, which is what I have. I got it from importcds, but it seems to be back ordered now. Amazon. Importcds.

    The Concert
    This is a late 70’s BBC production, and as you would expect, it’s VHS quality 4:3 video. It is also stereo only, and the video is dolby digital - good thing it comes with the CD I guess. It’s a very small venue.

    “Sample And Hold”
    From Feels Good to Me. Bruford is in back, in front it’s Stewart, Berlin, and Holdsworth. I will point out here that this particular Dave Stewart was never the guitarist for the Eurythmics, but he is the Dave Stewart who is responsible for many string arrangements in the KScope catalog.

    After a few credits at the beginning of the song. One of the main cameras is behind Stewart, so there’s a lot of watching the band playing from behind – and Stewart and in particular. He’s got multiple keyboards and it seems he’s usually got his hands on two different keyboards. It also seems that the one he wants to play right handed is on his left, so his arms are often crossed. The surround mixes for both Feels Good to Me and One of a Kind have those two keyboard parts mixed separately to the front and back – but that doesn’t happen here.

    “Beelzebub”
    From Feels Good to Me. There is also an audience level camera in front on the right, so there are many shots of both Berlin’s and Holdsworth’s fretwork from below.

    “The Sahara Of Snow (Part One)”
    From One Of A Kind. Stewart has weights that he puts on the keys for sustained notes. Seems like the sort of thing that could be programmed. Bruford has a set of chimes – what sounds like harmonic percussion is sometimes just that. Berlin plays the same keyboard set to piano two-handed. Double imaging using both of the two cameras at the same time – that’s what is on the cover.

    “The Sahara Of Snow (Part Two)”
    From One Of A Kind. Berlin playing lead bass, then Holdsworth overlays. More double imaging.

    “Forever Until Sunday “
    From One Of A Kind. Keyboard heavy piece featuring Stewart from the rear, then the focus switched to Holdsworth from the front. They show Bruford too, but it is sort of odd that they show so little of the band leader and main composer.

    “Back To The Beginning”
    From Feels Good to Me. Bruford introduces Peacock who comes on to sing front and center, sort of - it seems more like narration or a poetry recital than actual singing. She does seem rather formidable in her own special way though. After she is done with her initial spiel, she walks off the stage, leaving the band to jam by themselves with Berlin leading the way. At the end of the song she comes back in the rear of the stage behind Bruford - so we mostly see her from the side from the rear camera. Clip goes here:



    “Adios A La Pasada (Goodbye To The Past)”
    From Feels Good to Me. Bruford makes more use of his alternative percussion instrumentation set up next to his drum set. Peacock comes out front for another delivery. After she is mostly done, Holdsworth tees up a solo. Peacock then finishes up with what at least almost has to be characterized as actual singing.

    “5G”
    From One Of A Kind. Another bass-laden piece that Berlin leads off. Synth from Stewart – he is perhaps twisting knobs more than playing keyboards. Holdworth overlays, but Berlin gets a scorching solo too. The finals credits roll, but wait the song keeps going after that.
    _____

    It has 40 year-old production values and it is a short concert produced for a one-hour TV segment. Not much of a stage show, but they are very good musicians plus Annette Peacock counts. It also wasn’t expensive. I’m glad to have it.

    Music – 2.5
    Sound quality – 2 (But it does come with a CD)
    Video presentation – 3
    Video quality – 1
    Surround – 1

    Why is it that I have far more videos featuring Tony Levin than Bill Bruford? I think Eyes Wide Open, Part One is the only other one I have with Bill.
     
  5. Guy Smiley

    Guy Smiley America’s Favorite Game Show Host

    Location:
    Sesame Street
    I don’t recall this being PPV... I think it aired on network TV? Maybe? I don’t recall paying for it either.

    Anyhow, some buddies and I watched it. The whole show was great. Even Axl Rose came off well (Never was a G&R fan). Clapton sounded great, and seeing John Lee Hooker was a treat.

    There was also a three song segment (Don’t recall which songs) in 3D, which required those silly 3D glasses. I think 7-Eleven was giving those away. The 3D was actually pretty good. Guessing that’s not part of this blu-ray though. Would be fun if they included a couple pairs of 3D glasses with each copy though!
     
  6. Guy Smiley

    Guy Smiley America’s Favorite Game Show Host

    Location:
    Sesame Street
    Saw this show (Not this specific one) three years ago. One of my favorite shows ever. Is This the Life We Really Want? is a fine album too. Easily my favorite of his solo efforts. Definitely need to pick this blu-ray up. Thanks!
     
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  7. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Rush - Clockwork Angels. How many two-and-a-half hour Rush bluray concerts do you really need? I've got four now and I have to admit that I'm getting near saturation. But still, this one has some goodies the other ones don't have.

    Most of those aren't on the first set. There are some songs on there that aren't represented on the others, but you don't get to any of the ones I'm very fond of until the fifth song - "Body Electric", which is a Grace Under Pressure song that isn't any where else as far a I know. I also really like "Bravado" and the three song finale; "Far Cry" is on Snakes and Arrows Live too, of course, but it's a great song.

    But the second set is what really sells it. They play just about all of Clockwork Angels in album order. Obviously, this is only good if you really like that album - but I do. They also brought an eight person string section for the occasion. They're lined up behind Peart and his drum set; so much for the three man band. After they are done with Clockwork Angels they play a finale of standard stuff they almost always play - "Red Sector A", YYZ, "The Spirit of Radio", Tom Sawyer" and an abridged "2112".

    There's quite a bit of reverb in the rear speakers, especially on the second set where there are both Lifeson's guitar and strings back there. Good enough for a surround point.

    Music – 2.5
    Sound quality – 3
    Video presentation – 3
    Video quality – 3
    Surround – 2
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    DEVIN TOWNSEND - ORDER OF MAGNITUDE - EMPATH LIVE VOLUME 1

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    Devin Townsend: Order Of Magnitude: Empath Live Volume 1
    1. Borderlands
    2. Evermore
    3. War
    4. Sprite
    5. Gigpig Jam
    6. Coast
    7. Gato
    8. Heavens End
    9. Ain’t Never Gonna Win
    10. Deadhead
    11. Why?
    12. Lucky Animals
    13. Castaway/Genesis
    14. Spirits Will Collide
    15. Disco Inferno
    16. Kingdom

    The concert was recorded in London in December last year with Townsend joined onstage by Mike Kenneally, Markus Reuter, Morgen Agren,Nathan Navarro, Diego Tejeida, Ché Aimee Dorval, Samantha & Anne Preis and Arabella Packford.

    Townsend says: “The whole objective was that I wanted to make the statement: ‘This is by the seat our pants.' It was important to me to represent this hyper anal-retentive music that I've made over the years, but in a human way. Rather than it just being, ‘Well, here it is, perfectly done.’

    “I was overwhelmed by the fact that all these brilliant people that I have so much respect for were willing to come together and play this weird **** with me. I had these unique players and this interesting instrumentation that allowed us to interpret the music in different ways.

    “It was clear to me that I could just have fun and be me and know that they would be effortlessly be able to follow that.”

    Limited Deluxe 2CD+Blu-Ray+DVD Artbook (including expanded artwork & photos), Limited 2CD+DVD Digipak, Standalone Blu-Ray, Gatefold 3LP+2CD vinyl box-set & as a Digital Album

    Available 23 October 2020

    Devin Townsend with the Empath album and this live recording of tracks from that album and other deep cuts from his musical career, has shown himself to be the embodiment of Frank Zappa within heavy metal. It is music full of challenge and breadth of vision, that in an apparent wall of sound, contains a classical music sensibility, and subtle musical shifts, combined with the passion and drive of metal.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I have been looking forward to this one for while now, and it finally arrived on Thursday.

    The info up there is copy and pasted from various sites to try and give you an idea of what this is and what forms it is available in.
    I just bought the bluray, because these days if I have a live album, I like to watch the concert also, and the chance of me listening to the cd is a lot less likely.

    This is available on record (or vinyl as folks seem to like to say these days) also.

    The 2cd, dvd, bluray, artbook is available from Inside Out for about $41 https://centurymedia.store/product/...e-volume-1-ltd-deluxe-2-cd-bluray-dvd-artbook
    The 3 disc record set, with 2cd's is also at Inside Out for about $109 https://centurymedia.store/product/...-volume-1-ltd-black-3-lp-2-cd-box-set?cp=null
    The 2cd and dvd copy is at Inside Out for about $30 https://centurymedia.store/product/...empath-live-volume-1-digipak-2-cd-dvd?cp=null
    2cd, dvd, bluray, artbook on Amazon for about $36 https://www.amazon.com/Order-Magnitude-Empath-Live-1/dp/B08GV8VLZP
    Stand alone bluray at Napalm records for about 18 pounds devin townsend order of magnitude empath live volume 1 bluray
    Burning Shed has the stand alone bluray for about 15 pounds Order Of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1
    Inside out has the stand alone bluray for about 16 pounds Devin Townsend - Order Of Magnitude - Empath Live Volume 1 (Blu-ray)

    So this is new and available in many different forms at many different retailers, and those links should be able to get you started in a hunt for the version you want at the price you want to pay.

    My understanding is that Devin has been putting on great concerts for years with some inserted taped backing vocals etc to try and recreate his albums precisely in the concert field, and he has done this very well, still using a live band, and great musicians. My understanding also is that this project he decided to go with a straight up raw band delivering an assistance free live concert ....

    I'm just going to hook into the disc and see what we have here ...

    The audio choices for the bluray are
    48/24 lpcm stereo
    Dts hd master audio 5.1

    The concert opens with the keyboard player mixing a cocktail and the band casually coming out to some mellow Hawaiian backing music.

    Devin - vocal and guitar
    Morgan Agren - drums
    Mike Keneally - guitar and vocals
    Che Aimee Dorval - vocals and guitar
    Nathan Navarro - bass
    Diego Tejeida - keyboards
    Markus Reuter - touch guitar
    Samantha Preis - b vox
    Anne Preis - b vox
    Arabella Packford - b vox

    Borderlands opens us up.
    We have a nice looking stage set up, with a very Hawaiian shirt kind of thing going on.
    The picture is beautiful, the band is great, and the audio quality is excellent. Nice clean highs, and nice sub assist for the bottom end.
    The audio has been mastered really nicely, the dynamics are fully intact, and this is really very good sounding.
    As always Devon is consistently interacting with the audience.

    Evermore comes up next.
    The performances are excellent. The mix is very immersive.

    War
    From the Infinity album.
    The mix is really very good, but it is that wall of sound styling that Devin leans towards.

    Sprite
    Devon requests two teddy bears he sees in the audience.
    The backing vocalists recite a poem about a little bird.
    Aimee sound beautiful, as always.
    The whole show we have been surrounded by music, but on occasion it's hard to define what is coming from where. We have a very smooth mix that has everything blending as a whole sound.
    Certainly keys are in the rears on occasion, but with 3 guitars and touch guitar (like the Warr guitars, but I don't know the brand) we have a really thick sound.

    Gigpig jam has Devin playing arpeggios, Morgan up front on a small kit with some very cool drum effects. Diego creating really nice keyboard atmospheres.
    Devin tips out some very cool lead.
    Keys left side. Devin right side. Morgan getting a nice wide stereo front. Morgan gives us a very cool understated drum lead type thing, and plays a fan that Devon is holding up for him.
    This works really well, excellent atmospheric musical jam, that makes the disc worthwhile just on its own.

    Coast from the Ki album comes in, and as smoothly as everyone moved off the stage, most of them are back.
    This is excellent.
    Really nice understated instrumentation.
    Touch guitar left side. Devin guitar front.
    Keys swishes across the middle. I gather that Mike is on the right side.
    Devin takes a lead and the dynamics really start to pump up.
    In the fade off Morgan walk around to his full kit with a percussive effect he is holding.

    Gato also from Ki smoothly comes into.
    Aimee sings the refrain.
    Yea, the longer this goes, the better this mix sounds.
    I just noticed all the Hawaiian shirts have gone, and everyone has changed at some point into more casual clothes.
    It is difficult to watch it all while typing this stuff.
    Essentially this is awesome. Really well done, and great performances all round.


    Heavens End also from Ki comes into play.
    It is nice to get some Ki stuff, much less frequently played, or so it seems.
    Diego takes a synth lead, and it is really effective. Then Markus goes wild on the touch guitar. Nathan gets a bit to show what a good bass player he is. Then Mike cuts loose on the guitar, and then we move back into the song.
    This is really well done.
    Devin goes into a little speech and then the song kicks back in quite surprisingly. Again really well done.

    Ain't Never Gonna Win
    We move into a very cool groove. Aimee does some nice vocalizing. Mike is playing keys also here. Morgan throws in some awesome jazz-like drums as a lead, and the groove keeps on moving along.
    It all winds down, into some atmospheric keys, and we move into

    Deadhead from Accelerated Evolution.
    This is really one of Devin's great tracks particularly live.
    Beautifully dynamic, and that slow menacing groove becomes hypnotic. Morgan Agren is certainly a fantastic drummer .... not overly familiar with him to be honest.
    Again the wide immersive soundfield is very good. The sound is like a warm, comforting blanket.

    Why?
    The surround on the quirky opening here, is very obviously using all channels.
    Aimee comes out in a quirky fluffed lace dress. Devin Don's a black lace skirt, mocking himself as usual.
    Aimee is obviously having a blast.
    Devin has a bit of fun with the audience... he is such a unique character.
    This is quite beautiful, and bizarre at the same time.
    The whole band seem to be loving this.
    So bizarrely brilliant.

    Lucky Animals from Epicloud, with jazz hands.
    This is like metal pop... no nothing like Def Leppard... this is goofy and great, and ends with a fun little poke at a very recognizable track :)

    Castaway/Genesis
    Again the 5.1 is really good, and they carry this off better than anyone should be able to.

    Spirits Will Collide
    Devin pulls out the acoustic. Diego is front of stage on piano. Nathan on the bass.
    Aimee and the backing vocalists are lined up next to Devin.
    This is a beautiful vocal piece and the voices blend beautifully.
    This is simply beautiful.

    Devin says it's all over, and then makes a mockery of the encore routine.

    Disco Inferno
    and yes this is prime, grade A disco. This is the song you think it is.
    Aimee looking stunning in a red cocktail dress delivers a great vocal.
    This is quite brilliant

    Kingdom from Epicloud
    Magnificent.

    End of show with a great 5.1 mix of an unusual track called Frogs Are Nice.

    We have a nice doco added on also.
    Dev talks about logistics.
    Morgan tells us about his kit, and obviously had a ball putting it together.
    Mike runs through his joining the band.
    Markus has his input about the show.
    Nathan also chips in.
    Diego as well, and Morgan gives him props. Diego also runs through his amazing set up.
    Che Aimee has a chat with us, as do the back up singers.

    Look lets have a quick talk about the documentary section. 45 minutes. We look at thoughts beforehand, and then we look at thoughts during, and then we get Devin reflecting on it 6months after it was shut down on the US leg due to the pandemic.
    As was very apparent from watching the concert, these guys got tight, and I don't just mean musically. there was obviously a lot of love shared between these guys and it shows out in the performance. You kind of get the feeling that the band members, and all of them get pretty much equal time to share their thoughts, found this to be a profoundly moving experience, and they all seem to have enjoyed this series of concerts at a very high degree.
    I am not suggesting that the doco will get watched a million times or anything, but if you get this, and you should, watch the doco if you get a spare 45 minutes... it is a good watch.

    The concert is amazing. this obviously had a lot of thought put into it. The show takes the form of an emotional curve. We start off joyous and on vacation in a tropical paradise, we move slowly through some dark times and inner soul searching during the Ki songs, and we come out of the other side better for it. After the hypnotic groove of Deadhead, with one of the most amazing vocals ever laid down (on all occasions, not just this one) we move into the beautiful and yet a little silly and playful Why? Lucky Animals continues this playful and fun environment. Then we hit a spiritual peak with the wonderful and beautiful Castaway/Genesis ...
    Then possibly the highlight of the show. The poignant of beautiful Spirits Will Collide, in this somewhat stripped back, somewhat acoustic, presentation, with some fantastic vocals and harmonies that really touch and emotional peak, and fittingly close the main section of the show. As I say, Devin typically makes fun of the whole encore routine, which essentially is merely a break for a costume change before the final section of the show.
    We come back in with a fantastic version of Disco Inferno, but it fits.... this is a disco song, played absolutely spot on to the original, but it fits into this prog ... prog-metal .... rock/pop ... amazingly technical, musical show, and again just creates this joyous feel, and uplifting after some deep thinking that has involved joy and sorrow. Then we close out the show with the spiritual adrenaline of Kingdom, which still gets me on my toes to this day.

    The audio/video aspect of this show is excellent in my opinion. From a live set perspective the 5.1 mix is very good, and it draws you in to the music. I suppose to some degree there are things I may have adjusted volumes on here and there, but minor subjective things, that in reality may have spoiled the overall feel of the show itself, and the way the music blends to create this beautiful wall of humanity, with no clicks or tapes or other modern interferences.

    I can't recommend this concert enough. I think it is fantastic. I have the By A Thread set, the Royal Albert Hall show, the Retinal Circus show, The Plovdiv show, all on dvd and bluray as applicable, and I really do enjoy them all greatly. I think this set and show and production, because in spite of the totally live show being so good, this is a big production via the costume changes and the flow, and just the general way this has been put together. I do think this is the best show, and concert video that Devin has managed to put together yet.
    If you have broad taste in music, I think you should give this a try. If you are a Devin fan, this is a must own release. If you like concerts, and want something a little bit new and different, I reckon this is highly worth looking at.

    I love this, and now feel I can say that Empath (particularly the 5.1 mix) and this concert are easily my favourite releases this year, and possibly for the last few years.
    Empath, the 5.1 album sits among my favourite albums of all time. this show is very new, and I don't want to get too carried away, because I need a chance to watch it without trying to write a report for you all at the same time.... but my first impressions are that this is among my favourite concert videos at this stage.

    There are other videos I would have liked to post, but being so new, understandably there are only a couple available, and this is probably the most apt to attach here. The large screen tv and 5.1 set up raises the impact substantially over the little youtube box.
    Genesis (with the last little bit of Castaway included at the start)
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2020
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  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Steve Hackett - Spectral Mornings/Selling England By The Pound.

    I enjoyed this. The 5.1 mix is very good, the visual quality is very good. The band is excellent.
    It is very professional and well presented and executed.....
    Having watched it after Devin's concert video reveals something that I hadn't really noticed before, but explains a lot...

    I have most of the Steve Hackett concert video's.
    Total experience
    Wuthering Nights
    Live at Hammersmith
    Live at the Royal Albert
    Live at the Royal Festival Hall
    And now this release, which is also at the Hammersmith....

    Now I really like Hackett, and I enjoy his solo albums, particularly the most recent ones. I love his playing and I actually like his singing well enough also.... but I don't seem to revisit these concerts much... and I think I see why with the compare and contrast.....

    I buy these sets to try and capture something that I almost certainly will never have. A high quality Genesis concert from the Gabriel years, and sadly these end up being high quality concerts that can't capture something from that long ago, with a bunch of very talented, but ultimately different people, who are performing a functional task of recreating someone else's glory days....
    I am not trying to be a stick in the mud, or a pain in the butt, but this really just clicked for me...
    The difference was highlighted by watching Townsend, because he was promoting a new album, that he and the people involved are very proud of, understandably, but they are in the moment, not trying to recapture someone else's vibe from forty five years prior.... and it surprises me, and logically, I don't know why, how much difference that actually makes.

    We do have some improvisational moments among these tracks, and they are played well and sound very good, and are presented very well, but they just don't quite scratch the itch that I personally have been trying to reach... and I need to recognize this, and let it go.
     
  10. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I have Wuthering Nights (I will get to it one of these days), which was filmed at the Birmingham Symphony Hall where I saw him the previous year. I actually went there to see his solo stuff - it was billed as an Acolyte and Wolflight concert. I didn't even get to see the whole Genesis set - we left early to catch the last train back to Oxford where we were staying. My impression of the many Genesis Revisited concerts is that they are sort of the same. Focusing on a single album (i.e. Wuthering and Selling England) does help with that problem. But no, they aren't really Genesis. It's the same deal with all the Pink Floyd reduxes. But still, if it's a good rendition with modern production values, I'll take it. I would probably rather have it without the improvisation. Firth was played pretty much straight up and it was my favorite track.

    All that said, I'm am interested in the Royal Festival Hall bluray seeing as how it has a backing orchestra. I'm thinking you should review that one.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2020
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  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    If I get a chance, I'll look at it next week.
    I don't think I've even had a chance to watch it yet to be honest
     
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  12. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    No reason to hurry on my account. While I've gotten through most of the ones I started this thread with (about a dozen or so left), I've got another 25 with the cellophane still on - and I've had some of them for six months.

    But you really should listen to it one of these days. :D
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2020
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  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Definitely, that's why it is a good excuse to stick it on the player :)
     
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  14. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    mark winstanley likes this.
  15. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Lovely to See You: Live

    [​IMG]

    Concert Performance by The Moody Blues
    Released 15 November 2005
    Recorded 11 June 2005 At the Greek Theatre Los Angeles, California
    Genre Rock, progressive rock
    Length 1:44:22
    Label Image

    Lovely to See You: Live is a two-disc live album by The Moody Blues. Released on 15 November 2005, Lovely to See You: Live was recorded at a performance at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California. The album is named after The Moody Blues song "Lovely to See You", from their 1969 album On the Threshold of a Dream. Unlike the Moody Blues' two previous live albums A Night at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Hall of Fame, Lovely to See You: Live does not feature a live orchestra. It is also their first live album since Ray Thomas retired due to health issues.

    Personnel
    The Moody Blues

    Justin Hayward: vocals, guitar
    John Lodge: vocals, bass, guitar
    Graeme Edge: drums, vocals

    Additional personnel
    Gordon Marshall: drums
    Paul Bliss: keyboards
    Bernie Barlow: keyboards, backing vocals
    Norda Mullen: flute, guitar, backing vocals

    Track Listing
    1 Lovely To See You 4:14
    2 Tuesday Afternoon 4:34
    3 Lean On Me (Tonight) 5:12
    4 The Actor 5:07
    5 Steppin' In A Slide Zone 4:50
    6 The Voice 4:30
    7 Talking Out Of Turn 5:29
    8 I Know You're Out There Somewhere 5:21
    9 The Story In Your Eyes 4:17
    10 Forever Autumn 4:12
    11 Your Wildest Dreams 5:04
    12 Isn't Life Strange 7:37
    13 The Other Side Of Life 5:15
    14 December Snow 5:15
    15 Higher And Higher 4:33
    16 Are You Sitting Comfortably? 4:37
    17 I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock & Roll Band) 6:43
    18 Nights In White Satin 6:02
    19 Question 6:08
    20 Ride My See-Saw 4:58

    Version Control
    This was first released on CD and DVD in 2005. An HD DVD version was released in 2007, and the bluray with a 5.1 mix that I have was released in 2007. I’ve had it for quite some time, but I haven’t watched it since I first got it. It is out of print, but there are used copies about. Amazon. Discogs.

    The Concert
    Great HD video with a DTS-HD 5.1 mix.

    “Lovely To See You”
    From On the Threshold of a Dream. We’ve got Mullen, Hayward, and Lodge in front; Barlow, Edge, Marshall, and Bliss in back. Barlow has a single keyboard while Bliss has a battery of three. But on this song Bliss is playing guitar. There’s a screen in back of the stage that isn’t shown very much. It doesn’t sound like there are two drum sets worth of percussion – they both seem to be doing the same thing. I sort of think Marshall is doing the real drumming and Edge is just up there to look pretty.

    I daresay there is a surround mix. Haywards’ lead vocals in center channel, and while most everything else is in front stereo , there’s some extra backing vocals from Mullen and Lodge in the rear speakers.

    “Tuesday Afternoon”
    From Days of Future Passed. Bliss is on keyboards now, and there are keyboards in the rear. Crowd noise in the rear too. Hayward lead vocals in center channel again. Mullen with flute solo at end.

    “Lean On Me (Tonight)”
    From Keys of the Kingdom. Mullen starts of with flute. Lodge with 12 string acoustic guitar in surround and lead vocals in center. Mostly reverb in the rear really.

    “The Actor”
    From In Search of the Lost Chord. Hayward with acoustic guitar and lead vocals Lots of reverb in the rear, but I wouldn’t say it’s anything more – except maybe a little more flute from Mullen than you would expect.

    “Steppin' In A Slide Zone”
    From Seventh Sojourn. Mullen starts it off and we have keyboards in the rear again. Lodge with lead vocals in center channel, backing vocals from both Mullen and Barlow both heavy in the rear.

    “The Voice”
    From Long Distance Voyager. Synth in rear to start it off. Hayward singing lead, Mullen with acoustic guitar. Besides the synth, rear has backing vocals from Lodge, Mullen, and Barlow.

    “Talking Out Of Turn”
    From Long Distance Voyager. Starts of with synth on the left front and back – which bugs me because it coming from Bliss who is on the right side of the stage. Oh well – it does move to the right after that. Lodge with lead vocals and 12 string in surround. Hayward with electric guitar solo.

    “I Know You're Out There Somewhere”
    From Sur la Mer. Hayward back with lead vocals and keyboards in the rear. Mullen just tambourining. Backing vocals from Barlow and Lodge also show up in the rear speakers.

    “The Story In Your Eyes”
    Unreleased song that first appeared on the live album A Night at Red Rocks. Sounds like a rip off of their own stuff, but I guess the lyrics are different. Mullen with acoustic guitar, some keyboards in the rear.

    “Forever Autumn”
    From Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. Not a Moody Blues song – played by Hayward, Bliss, and Marshall who leaves his drum set to play Barlow’s keyboard. Everyone else off the stage. Acoustic guitar in surround and nearly discrete keyboards in rear (from Marshall I think).

    “Your Wildest Dreams”
    From The Other Side of Life. I like the early stuff better, but I used to have this LP – didn’t like it enough to get any more Moody Blues after that. This starts out with keyboards, some of it in the back. Hayward still has the acoustic guitar and lead vocals. After the opening, it’s just reverb in the rear -especially cymbals. The backing vocals are all in front.

    “Isn't Life Strange”
    From Seventh Sojourn. Starts out with flute and keyboards, with some of the latter in the rear. Lodge with lead vocals. Lodge has a double-neck; he plays the guitar part in the slow sections and switched to bass for the sections with the rest of the band. Moslty reverb in the rear, but the keyboards float in throughout the song. Marshall stands up and plays a set of larger drums with mallets – clearly doing something different from Edge.

    “The Other Side Of Life”
    From The Other Side of Life. Hayward back to lead vocals, Lodge back to just bass, Mullen with an electric guitar. Lots of reverb in rear – some guitar as well as keyboards.

    “December Snow”
    From December. Flute, keyboards and guitar – pretty much all in front. Some keyboards in the rear.

    “Higher And Higher”
    From To Our Children's Children's Children. Hayward with lead vocals and electric guitar. Edge leaves his drum set to come up front and narrate (can’t really call it singing). He dances a bit too and helps Mullen out with the tambourining. Almost nothing in the rears on this one.

    “Are You Sitting Comfortably?”
    From On the Threshold of a Dream. Mullen back to flute and Marshall has one too. Flute in the rear speakers, I think from Marshall. Hayward with lead vocals and acoustic guitar that reverbs in the rear.

    “I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock & Roll Band)”
    From Seventh Sojourn. Hayward and Lodge co-lead vocals- both in center channel. Barlow comes out front to share Mullen’s microphone – they can be heard in the rear speakers.

    “Nights In White Satin”
    From Days of Future Passed. Hayward lead vocals, background from Lodge, Barlow, and Mullen. Keyboards and backing vocals in the rear.

    “Question”
    From A Question of Balance. Hayward with 12-string acoustic. Not much in the rear, but the keyboards imitating a string section do show up in the rear.

    “Ride My See-Saw”
    From In Search of the Lost Chord. Starts of with synth in surround plus drums. Mullen in back with Barlow to start. But then they both come forward. Hayward and Lodge colead vocals again. Not much but crowd voise in the rear.
    _____

    The only Moody Blues CD I has for a long time was a compilation from their first eight albums, but I just ordered my third Moody surround disc. I probably bought this bluray because my wife likes them. Given that this concert covers pretty much their whole catalog, it does function as a compilation. I definitely like the early stuff better – but that’s mostly what it is. The renditions here have female backing vocals that the originals didn’t have. Not much of a stage show, but you get to see them play. The surround is nothing to get excited about, but lead vocals are isolated in the center and keyboards and backing vocals are often mixed partially to the rears; definitely better than average for a live performance.

    Music – 2.0
    Sound quality – 3
    Video presentation – 2
    Video quality – 3
    Surround – 2

    Couldn’t find a video clip for this one.
     
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Love the Moody Blues.
    I reckon Days of Future Passed through Seventh Sojourn and Long Distance Voyager are all essential albums to me.

    I only ever had The Hall of Fame, Royal Albert Hall dvd. Fantastic concert, though I don't remember whether the surround mix was any good.
     
  17. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    DVD, Part 1: Live at The Royal Albert Hall

    [​IMG]

    Concert Performance by Led Zeppelin
    Released 26 May 2003
    Recorded 9 January 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall, London
    Genre Hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock, folk rock
    Length 102 minutes
    Label Atlantic
    Director Dick Carruthers
    Producer Jimmy Page, Dick Carruthers
    Compiler Jimmy Page

    Led Zeppelin DVD is a double DVD set by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in the United Kingdom on 26 May 2003, and the United States on 27 May 2003. It contains live concert footage of the band spanning the years 1969 to 1979. The DVD includes performances from the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, Madison Square Garden in 1973, Earls Court in 1975, and Knebworth in 1979, plus other footage. Bootleg footage from some of the concerts is interspersed with the professionally shot material.

    The DVD cover features West and East Mitten Buttes, photographed from the visitor centre at the Navajo Tribal Park located at Monument Valley, Arizona.

    Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer of the DVD, Jimmy Page, commenced work on the project in the early 2000s. While fans had been trading poor quality versions of Led Zeppelin video material for years, this was the first official archival video release to contain any footage of the band playing live. In an interview he gave after the release of the DVD, Page explained the impetus behind the project:

    The reason for [the DVD] was that there was no visual material [of the band] that was out there really. The studio albums had been put out in many different shapes and forms, but this was something that was sorely missing because [Led] Zeppelin built its material on live performances. So that had to be done.​

    The idea for a live chronology had, however, dated back some time before this, according to singer Robert Plant in 2003:

    The idea of creating a Led Zeppelin collage has been in the works for ... fifteen years. We just didn't really have the time to put it together as a project because there was so much concentrated work that was required. So, as we all finished our individual projects, Jimmy Page took the helm along with some technical guys and this is what we've got.​

    For the DVD, Page collaborated with music producer Kevin Shirley, with whom Page worked when he was performing with The Black Crowes. Shirley recalled:

    I produced the Black Crowes, and Jimmy joined them for a run of live dates in 1999. I saw the show in New York, and then I went to California and recorded the shows, took the tapes away, and fixed them up a little and mixed them. I did Live at the Greek without any input from anyone, as it wasn't originally going to be an official release. But I think everyone was impressed with it; certainly Jimmy said he was. Then, when Jimmy decided to do a new [Led Zeppelin] DVD, he started looking for someone familiar with the modern applications necessary for surround sound mixing. If you listen to the Royal Albert Hall [concert] opening in 5.1, you can see Jimmy had this audio concept really early on of giving people a sense of the band going onstage and the audience swells around you. We had a meeting to discuss the requirements needed for the DVD project audio, and afterward, he asked if I would be interested in ‘helping’ him.​

    Page, with Shirley and the producer and creative director Dick Carruthers, worked for the best part of a year to research, compile, load, mix and present the material. Much of the footage which was included on the DVD was painstakingly restored for several months, before being mixed at Sarm West Studios in London. In all, 132 cans of film and two sets of two-inch video tape were examined for the project. In order to view material on the two-inch Quadruplex videotapes, a suitable playback machine had to be located. A working Quadruplex machine was finally found in Singapore.

    This review will just cover the first disc, which is all from one concert held at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1970.

    Personnel
    John Bonham – drums, backing vocals
    John Paul Jones – bass guitar, organ, backing vocals
    Jimmy Page – guitars, theremin, backing vocals
    Robert Plant – lead vocals, harmonica

    Track Listing
    No. Title Length
    1. "Opening" 0:27
    2. "We're Gonna Groove" (James Bethea, Ben E. King) 3:13
    3. "I Can't Quit You Baby" (Willie Dixon) 6:56
    4. "Dazed and Confused" (Jimmy Page; inspired by Jake Holmes) 15:33
    5. "White Summer" (Page) 12:23
    6. "What Is and What Should Never Be" (Page and Robert Plant) 4:39
    7. "How Many More Times" (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Page) 20:17
    8. "Moby Dick" (Bonham, Jones, Page) 15:21
    9. "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant) 6:24
    10. "Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, Page) 4:16
    11. "C'mon Everybody" (Jerry Capehart, Eddie Cochran) 2:31
    12. "Somethin' Else" (Bobby Cochran, Sharon Sheeley) 2:10
    13. "Bring It On Home/Bring It On Back" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant) 7:44
    14. "Credits" 0:21

    Version Control
    This was released on DVD in 2003, with multiple international. It’s out of print, but something there are lots of used copies about. I got a very nice copy for under $10 shipped. Discogs.

    The Concert
    There’s no opening menu; it launches straight into the concert. It’s got widescreen video, but it’s more than a little fuzzy – going have to say it’s VHS quality.. It has Dolby Digital stereo and 5.1, plus DTS 5.1.

    "We're Gonna Groove"
    Plant and Page are in front, Jones and Bonham in the back. Seems like the cameras are all on stage, and most the shots a relatively close up and often at odd angles. But we get to see lots of everyone but Jones he is usually hidden behind Plant and Page. They don’t’ show the crowd much at all – you can’t tell they are at the Royal Albert Hall. Plant vocals are in center channel, but not just the center channel. The video is no great shakes, but the audio is good.

    Most of the songs are from the first two albums, but there are also several covers – this is one of them.

    "I Can't Quit You Baby"
    From Led Zeppelin debut. Pretty much a Page show.

    "Dazed and Confused"
    From Led Zeppelin debut. An extended version – pretty much the same as in The Song Remains the Same with Page playing his guitar in the rears. Very nice reverb in the rears – that’s going to be worth a point.

    "White Summer"
    Song written by Page that didn’t make it onto the first album. Solo noodling by Page.

    "What Is and What Should Never Be"
    From Led Zeppelin II. The band is back and we’ve got a brief JPJ sighting. More tasty reverb in the rears.

    "How Many More Times"
    From Led Zeppelin debut. Extended version with lots of extra noodling from Page again; some vocal noodling from Plant too; with reverb. The sound quality takes a turn for the worse near the end.

    "Moby Dick"
    From Led Zeppelin II. Bonham drumfest, but the other guys play some too at the beginning and the end. Bonham puts the sticks down for a while and plays with his hands.

    "Whole Lotta Love"
    From Led Zeppelin II. Relatively short and to the point, the video clip goes here:



    Also has some great reverb. Crowd vocals are in the front though. This might lead into the encore, but I’m not sure, not sure what they were trying to say….

    "Communication Breakdown"
    From Led Zeppelin debut. Get to see the crowd in front– looks like there some headbanging going on. The video and audio get a little ragged at the end.

    "C'mon Everybody"
    A cover for the encore, and

    "Somethin' Else"
    Another cover; Page is breaking up a bit, but once he starts picking instead of strumming it sounds OK.

    "Bring It On Home/Bring It On Back"
    From Led Zeppelin II. Plant with harmonica – he still manages to sing with it up to his mouth. Like most of the rest of this concert, the short studio song is padded out with some extra jamming.
    ______

    The video quality is just passable and the camera work is a little odd. The audio is very good most of the time, but it leaves a lot to be desired sometimes too. The set list looks good, but it’s a 102 minute concert with only 12 songs; none of which are prog rock epics: There’s a whole lotta jamming going on. The surround is not noteworthy most of the time, but reverb wakes up the rear speakers on many occasions. The bottom line is that it’s nice historical footage of the band when they were just starting out. I only payed 10 bucks for both DVDs, and I feel like I already got my money’s worth. I’m hoping and somewhat expecting the second disc to be better.

    Music – 2.0 (a little too much noodling)
    Sound quality – 2
    Video presentation – 2
    Video quality – 1
    Surround – 2
     
    Sordel, jamesc, Jagger69 and 3 others like this.
  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Personally I prefer the second disc. I think the acoustic Earls Court section is fantastic
     
    riskylogic likes this.
  19. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I'm most looking forward to the Knebworth set that has material from Physical Grafitti. But the Eagles are up next.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Joe Cocker Fire It Up live

    Label: Sony Music ‎– 88883740669, Epic ‎– 88883740669, Columbia SevenOne Music ‎– 88883740669
    Format:
    Blu-ray
    Country: Europe
    Released: 2013
    Genre: Rock
    Style: Blues Rock, Classic Rock

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    1 I Come In PeaceWritten-By – Rick Brewster, Ross Wilson (2)
    2 Feelin' AlrightWritten-By – Dave Mason
    3 The LetterWritten-By – Wayne Carson Thompson
    4 When The Night ComesWritten-By – Bryan Adams, Diane Warren, Jim Vallance
    5 You Love Me BackWritten-By – Dennis Matkosky, Stephanie Bently*, Steve Diamond
    6 I'll Be Your DoctorWritten-By – Jeff Trott, Steven McMorran, Victoria Horn
    7 Up Where We BelongWritten-By – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jack Nitzsche, Will Jennings
    8 Come TogetherWritten-By – John Lennon / Paul McCartney*
    9 Eye On The PrizeWritten-By – Calvin Turner, Chad Gilmore, Courtlan Clement, De Marco Johnson, Jamie Kenney, Marc Broussard
    10 You Don't Need A Million DollarsWritten-By – Rob Giles (3)
    11 You Are So BeautifulWritten-By – Billy Preston, Bruce Fisher
    12 YoungerWritten-By – Gary Burr
    13 Fire It UpWritten-By – Alan Frew, Johnny Reid, Marty Dodson
    14 N'oubliez JamaisWritten-By – Jim Cregan, Rus Kenkel*
    15 You Can Leave Your Hat OnWritten-By – Randy Newman
    16 Unchain My HeartWritten-By – Bobby Sharp, T. Powell*
    17 With A Little Help From My FriendsWritten-By – John Lennon / Paul McCartney*
    18 Summer In The CityWritten-By – John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian, Steve Boone
    19 Hard KnocksWritten-By – Marc Broussard, Maxwell Aaron Ramsey, Shannon Sanders
    20 Cry Me A RiverWritten-By – Arthur Hamilton
    21 You Don't Know What You're Doing To MeWritten-By – Tyler Hilton, Wayne Kirkpatrick
    22 Behind The Scenes

    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Ok really like Joe Cocker, a lot of very under-appreciated albums, and often a very inventive remaking of other people's songs give listening to his material a twist of interest for me.
    To some degree he got caught in the system and passed between producers that didn't seem to really understand how the best way to present him was, but he managed to have something excellent on every album he made.

    This is essentially his last release, and for us Cocker fans, it is nice to have something of a little higher quality to check out.

    Sorry Risky, I'll get to Hackett soon. I need to give this a listen for the Joe album thread.

    Not sure if I will make it all the way through. but here goes.

    I Come In Peace
    We have that beautiful clarity that we expect from newer blurays.
    Joe sure looks like the granddad of rock music here, but his vocals come through really well, and this is a very good song from his final album.

    Joe slides his jacket off, and we slide into a stone cold classic.

    Feelin' Alright

    The audio here is very good with nice sub assist for the bass. A nice broad range frequency and dynamic sounding disc.

    The Letter

    The band is excellent
    The piano spreads from left side to the front.
    This is a solid wall of music, and is mainly up front, but it feeds into about a 180 degree soundfield.
    The organ is from right side round to the front.
    The backing vocalists, and bass player, who also adds backing vocals, sound great.
    The song is a little slower, but no less powerful.

    When the Night Comes
    This comes across really well, and the Cocker roar comes in really well.

    You Love Me Back/I'll Be Your Doctor
    Again from the final album.
    All these performances are very solid

    Up Where We Belong
    Again the pace is slightly slower, this has a sober delivery, and black lady on Backing vocals does an excellent job on the vocals, though it is quite a different approach.

    Come Together
    A nice solid version of the Beatles classic.

    Eye on the prize
    A solid live version of the track off the new album.

    You don't need a million dollars
    Here we have a nice laid back track, that is driven by the acoustic guitar. Even with some synth backing, this has an organic kind of feel to it.
    This works really well.

    You are sing beautiful
    While we're in this mode we get the piano and vocal version here.
    The piano plays the regular intro, and then we move into a slower version to give Joe the chance to squeeze all the notes out.

    Younger
    We step it up slightly here with the easy going track off the new album.

    Fire It Up
    This is a bit of a powerhouse on the new album.
    Here we open with a bit of a slow burn, and as we move into the first chorus we start to pump up a bit.
    As we move into the second chorus we pump it up a bit more and the band vocal is very effective.
    The crowd is obviously into the song, clapping the beat all the way through.

    N'oubliez Jamais
    Apparently this was very popular in Europe, and here we have a very smooth version, complete with a piano accordion.

    You can leave your hat on
    The hit single gets a good rendering. We have a sax, but not the whole horn section. It comes across well. Although Joe is struggling to some degree, he manages to take the song all the way home well.

    Unchain my heart
    We have had a slew of new tracks, but we are entering the ramp up finish part of the show, and the hits come out.
    Obviously a crowd favourite, and the show really does have a lot of energy.

    With a little help from my friends
    The song that for many is the song...
    We open with a little organ improvisation, and it smoothly transitions into the Help organ line, thr build works very well.
    Certainly this isn't Joe in the seventies, but it DT does come over very well. The backing singers are certainly better than some guys singing falsetto.
    We get a big build up finish and it works really well.

    Summer in the city
    This is a bit of a different version. A little slower, missing the keyboard hook, and we have a faux-reggae chorus section, but it is still pretty good.

    Hard Knocks
    The title track from Joe's second last album. We have a cool groove, and a bit of a funky kind of feels, and the sing works pretty well.

    Cry Me A River
    The pulsing drive of this works well, and the back up singers both get a bit of a lead vocal opportunity and they carry it off well.
    Everyone gets a little lead break.
    Nice job.

    You don't know what you're doing to me
    The show closes with this, the final track on the final album, which is probably fitting.
    It is a fairly slow kind of reflective love song, and brings the audience down from the pumping power of the last couple of tracks.

    This isn't Joe at the peak of his singing abilities, but he is still able to get the songs across well. I think the audio video quality id very good. The surround element is probably just enough to make it worthwhile having, it does create a nice sound space, but there are sounds flying from the rears and spinning your head around. Like I said it is like a 180 degree mix, rather than 360, or the general flat front mix. I think it works well.
    The band is really excellent, and they are really getting into it, or they are very good actors. I prefer to believe that they are getting into it, and that seems much more likely.
    Joe was a very hard lived 68 when this was recorded, and died when he was 70, two years later. It is quite a remarkable performance in many ways, but it probably isn't going to appeal to everybody.
    If you love Joe Cocker, this is going to be the highest quality release available on video. There may be better performances, but in context, this is an excellent performance.

    Here is With A little Help From My Friends. The video is a little sharper on the bluray, but this gives you a good idea of what you get with this.

     
    JulesRules, Jagger69, FritzL and 2 others like this.
  21. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Loved it, but he had a lot more hair at Woodstock.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  22. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    I might be mistaken but I think this was a regular feature of their live shows. Hence the cheering when the film suddenly pops up.

    Maybe also worth mentioning that Rick Davies talked about footage from a later (I guess post-Hodgson) concert. Hopefully we'll get a high quality Supertramp Blu-Ray at some point.
     
  23. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Live from the Forum MMXVIII

    [​IMG]

    Concert Performance by the Eagles
    Released October 16, 2020
    Recorded September 12–15, 2018
    Venue The Forum, Inglewood, California
    Genre Country Rock
    Length 2:17:32
    Label Warner, Eagles Recording Company

    Live from the Forum MMXVIII is a live album and concert film from the Eagles. It records the concerts at the Forum in Inglewood, California that took place over three nights in September 2018. It is the first release to feature new band members Deacon Frey and Vince Gill alongside Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit. Deacon, son of former band member Glenn Frey, and Gill joined the band following the passing of elder Frey in 2016.

    In 2016, after Glenn Frey died, the Eagles went on a hiatus as Don Henley decided that the band would not play again. However, Henley reversed his decision and it was announced in March 2017 that the Eagles would perform in two festivals featuring classic rock bands organised by their manager Irving Azoff, starting with The Classic West festival held at the Dodger Stadium in July that year. Henley brought in Frey's son Deacon to perform with the remaining members of the Eagles in these shows after he saw Deacon performed Glenn Frey's songs at his memorial service. According to Henley, in order for the band to continue, "the only way it felt justified to me was to have family blood in the band". They were also joined by Vince Gill after he performed at the Kennedy Center Honors in tribute to the Eagles in December 2016,[5] and who "fit like a glove" according to Henley. The band later announced that a North American tour featuring Deacon Frey and Vince Gill would begin in March 2018 in Chicago, followed by a world tour in 2019 and another world tour scheduled for 2020 titled the Hotel California 2020 Tour, which was postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

    The tour included a three-night stop (September 12, 14, and 15, 2018) at the Forum in Los Angeles, California where the concerts were recorded. The setlist included many of the best-known songs of the Eagles, but also hits recorded by individual members, such as Henley's "The Boys of Summer", Walsh's "Life's Been Good", and Gill's "Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away". The band performed 26 songs every night apart from the show on September 14 when they performed 27 songs, adding "The Long Run" to their second encore. The recordings of the concerts were compiled into a 26-song live album and a concert film. The only song on their setlist omitted on this release is "Witchy Woman", with "The Long Run" from September 14 added instead.

    The film of the concert was directed by Nick Wickham and filmed on 14 4K cameras. It premiered on ESPN on July 5, 2020, the first time a concert was aired on the sports network.

    Personnel
    Eagles

    Don Henley – vocals, drums, guitar, percussion
    Joe Walsh – vocals, guitar, keyboards
    Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar, vocals
    Deacon Frey - vocals, guitar
    Vince Gill - vocals, guitar

    Eagles backing band
    Michael Thompson - keyboards, accordion, vocals
    Will Hollis - keyboards, vocals, musical director
    Scott Crago - drums, percussion
    Steuart Smith - guitar, vocals

    Horns
    Michael Boscarino
    Michael Cottone
    Tom Evans
    Jamie Hovorka
    David Mann

    Strings
    Milo Deering
    Kristine Kruta
    Christiana Liberis
    Laura Sacks
    Erica Swindell

    Track Listing
    No. Title Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
    1. "Seven Bridges Road" Steve Young 3:33
    2. "Joe Walsh: "How ya doin?"" 0.33
    3. "Take It Easy" Jackson Browne, Glenn Frey Deacon Frey 4:14
    4. "One of These Nights" Don Henley, Frey Henley 4:23
    5. "Don Henley: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen"" 2.12
    6. "Take It to the Limit" Henley, Frey, Randy Meisner Vince Gill 4:21
    7. "Tequila Sunrise" Henley, Frey Gill 3:05
    8. "In the City" Joe Walsh, Barry De Vorzon Walsh 5:45
    9. "Timothy B. Schmit: "Hey, everybody, that’s Joe Walsh"" 0.48
    10. "I Can't Tell You Why" Henley, Frey, Timothy B. Schmit Schmit 5:08
    11. "New Kid in Town" Henley, Frey, J. D. Souther Gill 5:11
    12. "Don Henley: "Just want to thank all of you…"" 1.25
    13. "How Long" Souther Deacon Frey, Henley 3:21
    14. "Deacon Frey: "Hello, everybody…"" 0.36
    15. "Peaceful Easy Feeling" Jack Tempchin Deacon Frey 4:29
    16. "Ol' '55" Tom Waits Gill 4:18
    17. "Lyin' Eyes" Henley, Frey Gill 6:30
    18. "Love Will Keep Us Alive" Jim Capaldi, Paul Carrack, Peter Vale Schmit 4:13
    19. "Vince Gill: "How about a nice hand for California, man..."" 0.36
    20. "Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away" Vince Gill, Pete Wasner Gill 5:18
    21. "Those Shoes" Henley, Frey, Don Felder Henley 5:07
    22. "Already Gone" Robb Strandlund, Tempchin Deacon Frey 4:23
    23. "Walk Away" Walsh Walsh 3.58
    24. "Joe Walsh: "Is everybody OK?" 1:54
    25. "Life's Been Good" Walsh Walsh 8:04
    26. "The Boys of Summer" Henley, Mike Campbell Henley 5.15
    27. "Heartache Tonight" Henley, Frey, Bob Seger, Souther Gill 4:28
    28. "Funk #49" Walsh, Jimmy Fox, Dale Peters Walsh 4:44
    29. "Life in the Fast Lane" Henley, Frey, Walsh Henley 5:55
    30. "Hotel California" Henley, Frey, Felder Henley 8.27
    31. "Rocky Mountain Way" Walsh, Roche Grace, Kenny Passarelli, Joe Vitale Walsh 6:29
    32. "Desperado" Henley, Frey Henley 4:10
    33. "The Long Run" Henley, Frey Henley 4.40

    Version Control
    The recordings were released on October 16, 2020 in multiple audio and video formats and in various configurations, including a super deluxe box set with Blu-ray, two CDs and four LPs. I bought the 2CD + Bluray edition. It’s a new release and widely available. Amazon.

    The Concert
    The picture is ultra widescreen with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The 5.1 audio is DTS-HD. Center channel isn’t used and there’s just a tiny bit of reverb in the back – the 5.1 is basically stereo. There are few tracks of banter interspersed with the song tracks that I will just skip over.

    "Seven Bridges Road"
    From Eagles Live. Steven Young cover. Starts with with six guys out front singing acapella. Except for the second guy (that would be Schmit), they’ve all got guitars in their hands too. From left to right, it’s Gill, Schmit, Henley, Frey, Walsh and Smith. In back there’s piano and keyboards (Thompson) , empty drum set, Crago, and keyboards (Hollis).

    Big screen in back of the stage that shows both video and live band shots. There are also a couple of smaller screens on the sides mounted at an angle.

    "Take It Easy"
    From Eagles debut. Schmit picks up a bass, and Henley moves back to the drum set previously played by Crago, Crago moves to the standup percussion set (congos etc) on the left. Frey lead vocals and acoustic guitar. Walsh lead electric guitar.

    "One of These Nights"
    From One of These Nights. Henley with lead vocals. Backing vocals from all the guys in front except for Smith, and they are all playing electric.

    "Take It to the Limit"
    From One of These Nights. Henley back in front with an acoustic guitar. Gill sings lead, also with acoustic guitar, Frey also acoustic, but Walsh and Smith play electric. The string section way in the back on the left kicks in too.

    "Tequila Sunrise"
    From Desperado. Gill singing lead again, otherwise the same lineup except Henley goes back to his drum set.

    "In the City"
    From The Long Run. Everyone playing electric guitars and Walsh is singing and playing lead.

    "I Can't Tell You Why"
    From The Long Run. Schmit singing lead, Gill and Henley backing. Walsh playing keyboards back on the left.

    "New Kid in Town"
    From Hotel California. Gill singing lead, Henley and Frey backing; Smith playing lead guitar. Frey playing acoustic.

    "How Long"
    From Long Road Out of Eden. Frey and Henley (back in front) both with an acoustic guitar and co-lead vocals.

    "Peaceful Easy Feeling"
    From Eagles debut. Frey with acoustic guitar and lead vocals. Schmit backing vocals, Walsh and Smith electric guitar. No keyboards or Crago –just Henley in the back. Ends with picture of Glenn Frey on the screen.

    "Ol' '55"
    From On the Border. Thompson starts it out on piano. Gill with lead vocals, and some uncredited person is playing pedal steel back right.

    "Lyin' Eyes"
    From One of These Nights. Gill lead vocals, everbody backing.

    "Love Will Keep Us Alive"
    From Hell Freezes Over. Schmit lead vocals. Henley up front again so Crago on drums. Everyone with acoustic guitar except for Smith who plays lead.

    "Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away"
    Vince Gill song with Gill as vocalist, and like everyone else he has an electric guitar. Two drummers, but it’s Henley standing on the left and Crago on the regular set. Also two keyboard players. Gill with guitar solo.

    "Those Shoes"
    From The Long Run. Walsh lead guitar and treated vocals, Henley up front singing lead.

    "Already Gone"
    From On the Border. This was my first Eagles album and still one of my favorites. Frey with lead vocals and everyone still playing electric.

    "Walk Away"
    From James Gang Thirds. Walsh with lead guitar and vocals, of course. Horn section shows up way back right.

    "Life's Been Good"
    From Joe Walsh But Seriously, Folks... . Same line up, but no horns. We’ve suddenly got a light show of sorts – green, red, and blue lights steam from the back of the stage.

    "The Boys of Summer"
    From Don Henley Building the Perfect Beast. Now it’s Henley’s turn – he comes up front to sing lead with an electric guitar. Smith plays lead guitar.

    "Heartache Tonight"
    From The Long Run. Henley still up front, now with an acoustic guitar, but everyone else is still electric. Gill singing lead, everyone else except Crago backing- even Hollis at the keyboards has a mike.

    "Funk #49"
    From James Gang Rides Again. Walsh back in charge. The horns are back, Crago still playing primary drums. I think Henley is taking a break. Pretty nice light show and there’s stacks of televisions on the big screen in the back. I don’t think the original version had the horns.

    "Life in the Fast Lane"
    From Hotel California. Henley back in front with lead vocals, but Walsh still playing lead guitar. Smith gets a solo too. There’s three other guys with guitars too, but I’m not sure what they are doing. The horn guys are still back there, but they aren’t playing.

    "Hotel California"
    From Hotel California. Starts out with solo trumpet. Then Smith with double necked guitar playing the 12-string. Henley singing lead vocals from the drum set. Smith switches too six strings – he and Walsh play coleads down the strtch.

    "Rocky Mountain Way"
    From Joe Walsh The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get. We’re into the encores now. The horn players are the first ones back on the stage. Walsh lead vocals and lead guitar, Henley on drums – no Crago or keyboards either. More vocoder vocals from Walsh – his voice is almost indistinguishable from his guitar. No horns on the original version of this either – I looked it up just to be sure.

    "Desperado"
    From Desperado. Henley up front singing lead, and the strings are back on left. Horns are gone. The five Band members take a bow – but really Smith is more important than Frey. “The Long Run" plays while the credits run; I think it’s the studio version.
    ______

    The set list unfortunately goes pretty light on the first four albums, but I guess that’s understandable given the fact that Walsh didn’t join the band until Hotel California, and Schmit first joined for the Hotel California tour. Henley is the only original member; the fact that there are four tracks from the Long Run may be attributable to the fact that there are three out of five members from that version of the Eagles present. The inclusion of four Walsh tunes that came prior to his Eagles career does make up for it though.

    Besides there really being no surround, there’s nothing in the stage show that merits that last point; I could listen to this in stereo and get almost the same experience. There is at least one exception worth mentioning though – the cruise down the road on “Already Gone” is very cool. I will rip the CDs.

    Also it’s sort of like there’s a country half and then a rock half starting with “Those Shoes” where they put the acoustic guitars away. Well, they go country again at the end with “Desperado”.

    Music – 2.5
    Sound quality – 3
    Video presentation – 2
    Video quality – 3
    Surround – 1
     
  24. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Wuthering Nights: Live In Birmingham

    [​IMG]

    Concert Performance by Steve Hackett
    Released 26 Jan 2018
    Recorded May 2017
    Venue Birmingham Symphony Hall
    Genre Prog Rock
    Label Inside Out Music

    Wuthering Nights was filmed at the Birmingham Symphony Hall during Hackett's recent, critically-acclaimed Genesis Revisited & Classic Hackett tour. This tour marked the 40th anniversary of Wind & Wuthering, Hackett's last album with Genesis which reached number 7 in the UK album chart. It is also the tour that followed the release of The Night Siren.

    Personnel
    Steve Hackett – Guitar, Vocals
    Nick Beggs – Bass, Twelve-String Guitar, Vocals, Guitar [Variax]
    Gary O'Toole – Drums, Percussion, Vocals
    Roger King – Keyboards
    Rob Townsend – Saxophone, Woodwind, Percussion, Vocals, Keyboards, Bass [Pedals]
    Nad Sylvan – Vocals, Tambourine

    Guests
    John Hackett – Flute
    Amanda Lehmann – Guitar, Vocals

    Track Listing
    1 Every Day
    2 El Nino
    3 The Steppes
    4 In The Skeleton Gallery
    5 Behind The Smoke
    6 Serpentine Song
    7 Rise Again
    8 Shadow Of The Hierophant
    9 Eleventh Of The Mar
    10 One For The Vine
    11 Blood On The Rooftops
    12 In That Quiet Earth
    13 Afterglow
    14 Dance On A Volcano
    15 Inside And Out
    16 Firth Of Fifth
    17 The Musical Box
    18 Los Endos

    Version Control
    There are CDC only, CD+DVD, CD+Bluray, a stand-alone bluray version of this concert. I have the latter, but I think it’s OOP. The CD + bluray version is still available new and there are used copies of the solo bluray about. Amazon.

    The Concert
    The picture is widescreen and the picture quality is excellent. The 5.1 audio is DTS-HD. This concert is special to me because my wife and I went to see Hackett in Birmingham during the Acolyte to Wolflight tour in 2015. But in order to catch the last train back to Oxford and had to leave 20 minutes into the Genesis set – right in the middle of “Supper’s Ready”. So this is sort of a chance to make up for what I missed. But the lineup is a little different in one respect; this one has Nicholas Beggs instead of Roine Stolt on bass and 12-string, plus Amanda Lehmann wasn’t at the the concert we attended. The set list is substantially different.

    “Every Day”
    From Spectral Mornings. Townsend, Hackett, Lehmann, and Beggs lined up in front, King and O’Toole in the back. All the vocals are sung in unison, with Townsend, Hackett, Lehmann and O’Toole all contributing. Townsend starts out on keyboards, but switches to soprano sax. Lehmann with second guitar.

    “El Niño”
    From The Night Siren. Wolflight was the new album at the concert I attended, but this is the new album here. Lehmann off stage, Townsend healing out with the drumming with electronic percussion before switching to flute.

    “The Steppes”
    From Defector. Townsend starts it off with soprano sax. The rest of the band joins in, but King isn’t busy on this one. Beggs is seated and I dare say he is playing a five-string bass.

    “In The Skeleton Gallery”
    From The Night Siren. I presume the synthesized string section is from King; also some more normal keyboard parts. Lehmann back out to help with the vocals and some guitar work too. Hackett with some harmonica and Townsend with alto sax and flute. Beggs standing with regular four string bass.

    “Behind The Smoke”
    From The Night Siren. King more synthetic strings, Townsend flute and soprano sax, Hackett lead vocals and flaming guitar, Lehmann off stage again.

    “Serpentine Song”
    From To Watch the Storms. John Hackett in for cameo on flute – I think he was at our concert too. More vocals in unison from Hackett, Beggs, O’Toole, and Lehmann who is back on stage. Townsend also playing flute.

    “Rise Again”
    From Darktown. Back to the fivesome. Hackett sings like an north emrcian Indian, or so we are to imagine. Beggs and O’Toole backing; Townsend on his keyboard a little, but then he takes a break. Pretty nice guitar and synth reverb.

    “Shadow Of The Hierophant”
    From Voyage of the Acolyte. The concert I went to featured this album, but for the lack of a female vocalist they only did an abbreviated version of Hierophant. But Lehmann is here this time to sing lead and they do the whole. The rest of is was really good too, but definitely the high point of the solo set. … and we’ve got surround; Hackett’ guitar solo swirls around the back speakers. King simulates the chimes, but O’Toole contributes one real one. Beggs sits on the floor and plays the bass pedals with his hands. Townsend on flute then soprano sax. Synth in surround down the stretch, and the lights are spiffy too. Fantastic finale for the solo set. Clip goes here:



    “Eleventh Of The Mar”
    From Wind & Wuthering. We’re into the Genesis set and Sylvan comes out for the first time. He does this Genesis set to cover for Gabriel, but on this album Gabriel was gone and Collins sang lead. But he still sounds more like Gabriel, so we’re getting a Gabrielized version of W&W. O’Toole backing vocals. He is also Beggs with a double-neck, playing both bass and 12-string. Townsend with alto sax and keyboard. More synth in surround.

    “One For The Vine”
    From Wind & Wuthering. Beggs with plain old bass and Townsend with flute and soprano sax. King mainly playing piano, which means less going on in the back.

    "Blood On The Rooftoops"
    From Wind & Wuthering. Starts out with Hackett playing solo with acoustic guitar in surround. O’Toole with lead vocals – he’s not playing drums and he does sound more like Collins. King contributes on keyboards before Townsend (Soprano sax) and Beggs join in as O’Toole pucks up his sticks. Sylvan taking a break.

    “In That Quiet Earth”
    From Wind & Wuthering. O’Toole starts it, Beggs with double-neck, Townsend still with soprano sax, synth in surround. No Sylvan – this is an instrumental piece.

    “Afterglow”
    From Wind & Wuthering. Sylvan wanders out to sing lead, Townsend at the keyboard, Beggs backing vocals and normal bass. That’s the end of the W&W coverage - not the whole album, but most of it.

    “Dance On A Volcano”
    From A Trick of the Tail. Nad covering Phil in a Gabrielesque manner again. Beggs double-neck, Townsemd soprano sax. Just moderate reverb in the rear.

    “Inside And Out”
    From Spot the Pigeon; this EP has three tracks that didn’t make it onto Wind & Wuthering. Never heard this song before. It’s yet another Phil song that Sylvan covers. Townsend on keyboard then soprano sax, Beggs still doublenecked. O’Toole backing vocals in the rear speakers – there’s another snippet of real surround.

    “Firth Of Fifth”
    From Selling England By the Pound. This one of the two songs Hackett always plays, and after King starts it out with the piano solo Sylvan finally gets a chance to cover Gabriel. Beggs playin double necked and Townsend with soprano sax and little percussion. This rendition has a some extra clapping from the audience in the middle which is a little annoying actually. Lots of reverb in the rear, but nothing fancy.

    “The Musical Box”
    From Nursery Cryme. This is one he doesn’t play all the time and it is also from the Gabriel era. Townsend playing flute with lots of reverb, also bass pedals a recorder. Beggs playing six string guitar. Sylvan finally has a great reason to be out there – this is the high point Genesis set. However, I couldn’t find a clip for it, so I settled for “Heirophant”.

    “Los Endos”
    From A Trick of the Tail. This is the staple ending, but it always seems to be a little different. This one starts out played at breakneck speed, but it slows down a bit. Townsend with soprano sax, Beggs with guitar. I daresay this is the prog metal version. Lots of reverb again, with synth basically in surround.
    __________

    While I loved the solo set, the Genesis set was a little light on Gabriel era material that I hold in higher esteem– some of his other concerts are better in that regard. The lights are very nice again, and I just like watching them play – not at all tempted to just listen instead of watch. The surround was quite decent; plenty of reverb plus a little extra mixing at a few junctures. The mix wasn’t done by King or Wilson – some guy named Benedict Fenner did it. A really great concert, but not in the same rarefied air as the more recent Hammersmith concert.

    Music – 2.5
    Sound quality – 3
    Video presentation – 3 ( A little generous perhaps)
    Video quality – 3
    Surround – 2

    Still have at least one more Hackett to do (a DVD with Djabe), and I will probably latch onto the Festival Hall bluray unless Mark says it's terrible.
     
  25. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    Ben Fenner is Steve's FOH guy and also quite involved with the production side. He did some of the remasters of his classic albums (e.g. Spectral Mornings) and also produced one song on Hackett's recent album that wasn't done by King.

    I have this concert as a CD/DVD pack (bought it at the Selling England... gig last year); I quite like it but I guess the DVD isn't offering the same quality as the blu-ray. As with a lot of Hackett's releases it seems to have a somewhat muddy, indistinct sound if I remember well.
     
    riskylogic and mark winstanley like this.

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