Live on Saturdays: Video Reviews and Summaries

jamesc · Mar 6, 2021

riskylogic said: ↑

Amadeus

Movie by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Directed by Miloš Forman
Produced by Saul Zaentz
Screenplay by Peter Shaffer
Based on Amadeus
by Peter Shaffer
Starring F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay
Cinematography Miroslav Ondříček
Edited by Nena Danevic, Michael Chandler
Production company The Saul Zaentz Company
Distributed by Orion Pictures
Release date September 6, 1984 (Los Angeles), September 19, 1984 (United States)
Running time 161 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $18 million
Box office $90 million

Amadeus is a 1984 American period biographical drama film directed by Miloš Forman and adapted by Peter Shaffer from his 1979 stage play Amadeus. The story is set in Vienna, Austria during the latter half of the 18th century, and is a fictionalized story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the time he left Salzburg, described by its writer as "fantasia on the theme of Mozart and Salieri". Mozart's music is heard extensively in the soundtrack of the film. The film follows a fictional rivalry between Mozart and Italian composer Antonio Salieri at the court of Emperor Joseph II. The film stars F. Murray Abraham as Salieri (who received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance) and Tom Hulce as Mozart (who was also nominated for the same award as Abraham).
Considered one of the greatest films of all time, Amadeus was nominated for 53 awards and received 40, including eight Academy Awards (including the Academy Award for Best Picture), four BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Directors Guild of America award. As of 2021, it is the most recent film to have more than one nomination in the Academy Award for Best Actor category. In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it 53rd on its 100 Years... 100 Movies list. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Music Film Credits
Music conducted and supervised by Neville Marriner
Music coordinator: John Strauss
Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner
Choruses
Academy Chorus of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by László Heltay,
Ambrosian Opera Chorus, conducted by John McCarthy
The Choristers of Westminster Abbey, conducted by Simon Preston
Instrumental soloists
Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K. 482: Ivan Moravec
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466: Imogen Cooper
Adagio in C minor for Glass Harmonica, K. 617: Thomas Bloch with The Brussels Virtuosi

Soundtracks
The soundtrack album reached No. 1 in the Billboard Classical Albums Chart, No. 56 in the Billboard Popular Albums Chart, has sold over 6.5 million copies and received thirteen gold discs, making it one of the most popular classical music recordings of all time. It won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album in 1984.

All tracks on the album were performed specifically for the film. According to the film commentary by Forman and Schaffer, Marriner agreed to score the film if Mozart's music was completely unchanged from the original scores.

In 1985 an additional album with the title More Music from the Original Soundtrack of the Film Amadeus was issued containing further selections of music that were not included on the original soundtrack release.

In 2002, to coincide with the release of the Director's Cut of the film, the soundtrack was remastered with 24-bit encoding and reissued with the title Special Edition: The Director's Cut – Newly Remastered Original Soundtrack Recording on two 24-karat gold CDs. It contains most of the music from the previous two releases, but with two minor omissions and two minor additions.

Finally, a one CD version of the soundtrack was included with the 2009 bluray release that I have. Since I’m really just going to cover the movie highlights anyway, I’ll just list that (all composed by WA Mozart):

1. Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384), Chorus of the Janissaries (arr.)/Ich möchte wohl (Ein Deutsches Kriegslied), K.539 (arr.) 4:30, Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

2. Concerto for Two Pianos, K.365; 3rd movement 7:15 Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Imogen Cooper, Anne Queffelec pianos.

3. Le nozze di Figaro, Act IV, Ah Tutti Contenti 2:19, Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

4. Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Aria (No. 14), “Queen of the Night” (Die Hölle Rache Kocht) 6:53, Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Louisa Kennedy soprano.

5. Piano Concerto in D minor, K.466; 2nd movement (Romanza) 12:21, Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Imogen Cooper piano.

6. Symphonie Concertante, K.364; 1st movement 13:38=, Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Levon Chilingirian violin; Csaba Erdélyi viola.

7. Six German Dances (Nos. 1-3), K. 509. 2:52, Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

8.W.A. Mozart: Don Giovanni, K.527; Act II, Commendatore scene 6:56, Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Ambrosian Opera Chorus, John McCarthyCdirector. Richard Stilwell (Don Giovanni), John Tomlinson (Commendatore), Willard White (Leporello).

Version Control
In addition to the many earlier editions on VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD there are several bluray releases and a new 4K release. The movie was released in 2009 with both one and 2 disc (CD+BR) versions. The one disc version is still for sale new (Amazon); the 2 disc version is out of print, but used copies are available (Amazon).

The Movie
The picture is ultra-wide screen with black bars at the top and bottom (2.25 to 1 I think). The 5.1 is Dolby True HD, and also Dolby Digital with multiple language options.

“Serenade for Winds in B-flat major, K. 361, 3rd movement”
This is on chapter 5 (of 47), right after Salieri has witnessed Mozart’s proposal to Constanze. There’s already been several snippets of Mozart background music, plus something by Salieri. But this is the first “performance” (OK, they’re not really playing) that goes for about a minute. I’m also guessing about what’s what, but this piece is scored for 10 woodwinds and string bass and that’s what’s out there. Oh it’s just stereo; the center channel is used for movie dialogue, but that’s it. I think we can probably squelch any notion of a surround mix, but I’ll let you know if that changes.

“The Marriage of Figaro aria”
On chapter 8, Mozart delivers an impromptu adaptation of a Salieri march in front of his new emperor-employer. I’m pretty sure it didn’t happen that way.

“The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384”
Only one chapter later we get two separate passages from his first commission for the emperor, albeit somewhat marred by movie dialogue. Salieri is jealous. Clip goes here just because it's a great scene:

“The Marriage of Figaro”
No further performances worth mentioning until chapter 28, at which point we get two passages – one clean passage from the third act that comes with a stage performance and another from the fourth that mostly plays in the background of a Salieri monologue, but has a brief clean passage with stage performance.

“Don Giovanni, K. 527, Act II, Commendatore scene”
Another opera stage performance found on chapter 30 which goes for almost seven minutes. The stage scenes are clean but cuts away for Salieri commentary. Not unlike watching a concert documentary.

“The Magic Flute”
On chapter 33, we get a clean stage performance that goes for over six minutes. But it’s not Mozart’s; it’s another work based on a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, who invites Mozart to write something for his more plebian theater. The result of that comes on chapter 39, first with Act II, Scene 3 -The Queen of the Night, which is followed by a passage from Scene 8. Both renditions are entirely clean. Mozart collapses during the latter, and Salieri takes him back home to finish his work on the Requiem.

“Requiem”
Mozart finishes this piece with Salieri taking dictation, and parts of it play cleanly as he does so on chapter 42. Mozart dies afterward. More of it plays on chapter 44 as Mozart is buried.

“Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, 1st movement”
Plays during the closing credits on chapter 46.
________

Perhaps I’m stretching a bit to put this movie on this thread. Only about 30 minutes of the 3 hr movie consists of unadulterated music, and most of that comes in the last hour. However, there is lots of Mozart background music throughout the rest of it. The composition selection is heavy on the heavy on the operas, which aren’t my favorite. I love Mozart, but I usually go for the concertos and symphonies. I hadn’t watched this movie in many years, and I couldn’t remember whether or not it had surround. It doesn’t; the stereo sounds great, but there’s not one speck of surround.

Music – 2.5
Sound quality – 3
Video presentation – 3
Video quality – 3
Surround – 1
Click to expand...

Love this movie and just watched the blu-ray recently. Apparently, they're working on a 4k transfer which is supposed to include the theatrical cut again. The blu-ray has an hour long documentary which is worth checking out if you like the film.

mark winstanley · Mar 6, 2021

Rainbow ‎– Live Between The Eyes / The Final Cut
Label: Universal ‎– 0602498424124
Format: 2 × DVD, DVD-Video, Multichannel, Compilation, Stereo, Regions 2-6
Country: Europe
Released: 2006
Genre: Rock
Style: Hard Rock, Classic Rock

Live Between The Eyes
1-1 Overture: Over The RainbowWritten-By – Harburg*, Harold*
1-2 Spotlight Kid
1-3 Miss Mistreated
1-4 It Can't Happen Here
1-5 Tearin' Out My Heart
1-6 All Night Long
1-7 Stone Cold
1-8 Power
1-9 Blues Interlude
1-10 Beethoven's Ninth: Ode To Joy
1-11 Long Live Rock And RollWritten-By – Dio*
1-12 Smoke On The WaterWritten-By – Gillan*, Paice*, Lord*
The Final Cut
2-1 Spotlight Kid
2-2 Death Alley Driver
2-3 I Surrender
2-4 All Night Long
2-5 Can't Happen Here
2-6 Difficult To Cure
2-7 Can't Let You Go
2-8 Power
2-9 Since You've Been Gone
2-10 Stone Cold
2-11 Street Of Dreams
-----------------------------------

Ok a small little story... back in the home video days, when I was a wee pup, I saw Live Between The Eyes on the shelf at the blockbuster, and seeing it was Ritchie Blackmore I had to give it a go... for some context, I was pretty much only really familiar with Deep Purple Mk II, and I didn't like it.
Years go by and I am probably a bigger Rainbow fan than a Deep Purple fan, and I see this set, and I am wondering what I think of it now... it wasn't too expensive, so lets wee what it's like.

This is a dvd, and apparently has a DTS soundtrack.

Available on discogs from about $9 Rainbow – Live Between The Eyes / The Final Cut (2006, Regions 2-6, DVD)
On Amazon from about $11 https://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Live-Between-Final-Region/dp/B000I5Y98Q
Ebay for around $13 Rainbow Live Between The Eyes and Final Cut dvd | eBay

So lets see what we have here then ...

We open up with a black and white film, a bit grainy, but certainly not awful.
The bottom of the picture has that slight bit of weirdness where you see.... idk, the top of the screen...

Somewhere over the Rainbow comes in and we move to the stage. We get that ultra close up of Joe Lynn Turner, and it's a little shaky.... but we move into some more normal shots, and some better footage after this.

The video isn't amazing, it's pretty good. It isn't crystal, but is certainly watchable.
Most of the filming is good, just a couple of questionable shots here and there.
For me there's nothing that's a deal breaker.

Spotlight Kid was excellent, and Turner's vocal are excellent.
Miss Mistreated goes over well.

We have Bobby Rondinelli on drums (I believe
Roger Glover bass
I'm not sure about the keys, but solid playing
There are some decent backing vocalists too.

Can't Happen Here really punches hard, and is a favourite from the band.

Tearin out my heart is a nice punch power ballad type track.
Blackmore is so interesting to watch when he is in his younger years. Hell of a player. He kind of stands fairly still playing, and then it seems like he suddenly remembers he's on stage and he will do some crazy over exaggerated thing, that looks crazy and in entertaining at the same time.
This is a solid song

Blackmore teases with a snippet of Mistreated, and a snippet of Lazy. Then we get another few snippets...
Then we get All Night Long, as if it's going to be a snippet, then we get a full blast version of the song.
Blackmore pulls some weird faces, that would make most question his sanity.

So far this is solid. Aside from some not so great video choices on occasion, it is predominantly pretty good.

Rears are essentially ambience, but on the whole the concert sound good.

All night Long gets a bit of an extension, with the vocal and guitar jam, then a sort of pumping atmospheric madlib section that bursts back into the main song and the playout.

Stone Cold opens with the keyboard player playing a slightly fast Child in Time and then moving into something else again, and I guess this turns out to be a bit of a solo, that leads into the song. It's pretty good.
Solid, power ballad type track.
Power moves back to a solid rock kind of track.

We have a big pair of bloodshot eyes behind the stage with spotlights coming out of them. They look around the audience ... it's actually pretty goofy, and pretty cool at the same time.

We move into a bit of a jam, called, fairly accurately Blues Interlude.
The guitar is cool, and the keys are too, but he uses a synth, and it sounds fairly dated.
This moves into Beethoven's 9th.
I didn't realise Joe Lynn Turner could play guitar, and maybe he can't, but he is here on guitar support.
We get a keyboard and bass breakdown, and launch back into it.
Roger Glover throws his hat into the crowd. Ritchie does his whammy bar thing, with all his unusual little fingerboard scratches and scrapes, then we launch into a drum solo. He does that audience participation thing, and then does the Bonham hand drum solo.
Then he does the firing drumsticks into the crowd from the cymbals routine.
He's a good drummer, and he kept the crowd interested really well. He knows how to work the crowd well.

Long live Rock and Roll comes bursting out of this. Turner isn't Dio, but this is a good version.
Turner gets to do the crowd involvement thing, and we get the call and response thing, that ends up in a slightly overlong rock and roll chant.
We get some pretty decent pyros... with four 8-10 foot sparklers up the front, and then some flash pots in the lighting rig.
The crowd are pumped up and chanting rock and roll, and Ritchie burst into something and band joins him. We have a feedback hum from something.
Ritchie then assaults his guitar .... wiping it on the fold back, the floor and his ass. Throws it fifteen feet in the air, let's it hit the deck, catches it let's it hit the deck, then smashes the neck on him amp, swings it by the cord, whipping it into the stage, and then gets another guitar, and Long Live Rock and Roll gets a reprise.

After the encore chant we move into mellow organ backed lead guitar melody, then Smoke on the Water comes in.
Pretty solid version of the song.
Blackmore ends up with a frisbee and bangs out the chords with it for a bit.
It's a sort of truncated version but it's solid, and the crowd chants out rock roll again.

I actually reckon that's a really cool concert.
The keyboard player is Dave Rosenthall.
This was from 1982 in San Antonio Texas.

So we move to Final Cut which seems be the video version of Final Vinyl.
Here the video is a little more smokey/grainy than Between The Eyes.
I think we have the same band members, and we still have the eyes behind the stage.

Spotlight Kid opens us up, and then we move into a video for Death Alley Driver...
It is a fairly smooth transition, even though, not something I would do personally.
The video is that kind of goofy early to mid eighties type thing. We have a motorbike being chased by a gangster type car with shots of the band in the studio and on location but into it... mixed with a few video game shots... just a couple, nothing horrendous.
It end with a photo scrapbook shot, and the page turns and I surrender starts playing, and ine of the pics on the next page is the video, which moves to full frame.
Again the surround mix is ambience.
The video is essentially just a studio filmed thing.
We end on a siren that moves to some crowd noise...

And this moves into Graham Bonnet with the band doing All Night Long.
This is a video of the band playing, with cuts to an attractive lady dancing in a sparkly boob tube and short shorts.
The scrapbook song change is used again.

We get the video for Can't Happen Here.
We have the band playing cut with some shots that relate to the lyrics cut in.
The scrapbook again changes scene, and we move to a live version of...

Difficult to Cure. Which has Ritchie solo, playing some mellow eastern type guitar melodies.
Then he gets a more aggressive tone and style, and the band joins in.
They jam a bit, and go back to Ritchie solo and we realise there is an orchestra, and we launch into Difficult To Cure/Beethoven's 9th/Ode To Joy.
The bass and keys fo a little thing, and then the Orchestra plays without the band.
Then we get a section that is designed as a drama builder with the band and orchestra, and launch back into the main theme. Nice bit of work.

We get a cross fade to Can't let Go.
This is a video with Ritchie carrying a girl from her bed to a table in one of those abstract eighties video rooms.
We get shots of the band playing. Shots of Turner with the girl. Another goofy eighties video.

A crossfade to Power, from the video we just watched.

Scrapbook crossfade to the since You've Been gone video with Bonnet.

Scrapbook crossfade to Stone Cold.
Another goofy eighties video

We move to a film type video... a girl tied to a chair, and a guy goes to a shrinks office and we get him describing a dream, that I guess is going to be the video.
He gets shrunk hypnotised the song starts playing.
We move into another goofy eighties video. A little more cinematic, but still with cuts to the band.
He comes to fights off the shrink and rescues his girlfriend, who the shrink had tied up in the next room.

So this is definitely a game of two halves.

I enjoy the concert, because I like the band. The video quality isn't enough to make you say I have to have this. The surround is not anything to buy this for. Essentially you are getting this because you want a concert (about 70 mins?) of Joe Lynn Turner era Rainbow.
I suppose disc two was a disappointment, because I thought it was some kind of document of a final concert with guest vocalists as a last hurrah for the band, but it is just a couple of live clips, which are pretty good, and a bunch of MTV era type videos... I doubt I'll watch disc two again, but I like the concert enough to give it a spin again sometime.

mark winstanley · Mar 7, 2021

Allan Holdsworth, I.O.U. (3) ‎– Live in Japan 1984
Label: Manifesto Records, Inc. ‎– MFO 46516
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered DVD, DVD-Audio, Reissue, Remastered All Media, Limited Edition
Country: US
Released: 2018
Genre: Jazz, Rock
Style: Prog Rock, Fusion, Jazz-Rock

I.O.U. Live is a live album by guitarist Allan Holdsworth, released on 15 April 1997 through Cleopatra Records.[1][2] According to Holdsworth, the tracks were taken from video footage of a 1984 concert in Japan, which later became a bootleg circulating under the name of Tokyo Dream: Allan Holdsworth in Japan.[2][3] He therefore considered it an unauthorised release and not part of his discography.[4]

Allan Holdsworth – guitar

Paul Williams – vocals

Chad Wackerman – drums

Jimmy Johnson – bass

CD1 Tokyo Dream 6:58
CD2 Road Games 4:25
CD3 White Line 7:02
CD4 Panic Station 4:11
CD5 Letters Of Marque 6:43
CD6 Home 5:42
CD7 Devil Take The Hindmost 5:27
CD8 Material Real 7:42
CD9 Metal Fatigue 5:03
CD10 Where Is One 8:00
CD11 The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun) 7:28
CD12 Was There? 6:30
DVD1 Tokyo Dream
DVD2 Road Games
DVD3 White Line
DVD4 Panic Station
DVD5 Letters Of Marque
DVD6 Home
DVD7 Devil Take The Hindmost
DVD8 Material Real
DVD9 Metal Fatigue
DVD10 Where Is One
DVD11 The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun)
DVD12 Was There?
-------------------------------------------
I actually used to have the bootleg of this ... I knew this guy ..... anyway ...

Allan is one of those guys you are either going to love or hate ... you will get it, or you won't .. even if you respect how amazing this guy is as a guitar player, you may not get it. At least Allan seems to avoid being labelled a shredder, when you are in the jazz world that tag has no meaning, when you are in the rock world it is almost a prerequisite to call any technically good player a shredder as a way of dismissing them, so nobody can compare them to your favourite guitarist who isn't a shredder, and plays with "such amazing feel"
All of that stuff is Bull$**t ... you either like a player or you don't. There is more than one type of feel, and blues based slow bends aren't all that counts ( I am not knocking blues, I love it and have plenty, but it is not the only valid guitar playing.

I believe this was a posthumous release, as Allan is sadly no longer with us.
I can already tell you before I put this on that the band is quite amazing. Chad Wackerman is a machine. When I first heard Paul Williams vocals, I really didn't like them, but I have grown accustomed to them. I ended up getting the cd album box set, and he is certainly very good.

You can pick this up on discogs for about $15 Allan Holdsworth, I.O.U. – Live in Japan 1984 (2018, CD)

It is still available new for about $15 on Amazon also BUT - I believe that only the first thousand copies came with the dvd. So I don't think the Amazon copies have that dvd.
Also be aware that a truncated version of this was released in 1997, with nine tracks

So the safest place to get this if you are interested is discogs, or some seller that is specific about what it is you are going to get.

So lets have a look.

The dvd just starts. There is no menu.
There is no audio selection.
The audio is DD 48khz 2.0

The video is 4:3 ratio. It isn't bad, but this is not hi res, or ultra detailed video.
This is, I gather, a broadcast for tv in Japan concert.
Now having said that. You can see everything. There are very few artifacts, unless something changes as I watch.

If you are watching to see what Allan does, you can see what Allan does.
This isn't a modern, edited video that changes shots every 1.5 seconds. There are certainly camera changes, but they are measured, and not obtrusive.

The audio is clear, and you can hear everything. I would say it was pretty well set up and recorded on the day.

We open with the instrumental Tokyo Dream.... it's excellent.

Paul William's comes out.... and I have been unfair in my opinions on this guy over the years, he does an excellent job. He isn't a rock singer. He is a smooth, clear singer, singing some reasonably difficult melodies, and getting it right.

We run through Road Games. Paul mutes Allan's strings for a tapping section.
Another great performance from all involved.

White Line from the IOU album comes along.
The dvd has pretty good dynamic range, the quiet bits are quiet. I don't think this has been compressed either, I needed to crank the volume a bit to be where I wanted it.

IOU was my first Holdsworth album years ago, when I wanted to hear what all the great guitarists were doing, and try to aspire to reach that level.... well I never really did, but I enjoyed trying, and it really broadened my listening tastes as well (because jazz horn players were on that list too, hence my love of Miles and Coltrane).

Holdsworth has a really nice style of playing. He uses a lot of legato phrases, but his volume swell techniques, and tapping techniques are very much him.
His use of chords is excellent. He also encouraged me to learn to stretch my hand out for better chord voicings... and back in the day I could... it's been a while now.

Letters of Marque comes along.
Now with me talking of the guitar stuff may give some folks the impression that this is just music for guitarists..... I don't think it is really, it is very melodically interesting and if you like jazz stylings, I think it is also very engaging.

We get Allan introducing the band, and then an interview.
He is a very quiet kind of understated guy. A humble kind of guy, but driven to better himself. He is certainly not a braggard and comes across a little uncomfortable, and a little self effacing.

Home comes into play, and it is another instrumental. The playing of all the guys is beyond reproach.
Chad Wackerman gets a solo spot, and it is interesting. He isn't a look how fast I can do a snare roll kind of drummer. Technically excellent, and some incredibly interesting playing and phrasing, but the band could have come back in at any time..
They do come back in, and we wind up the track.

Allan acknowledges Chad's solo, and introduces Jimmie Johnson again.

Devil Take the Hindmost is a mellow chordal arpeggio set up. When you listen to him enough, you will he where his melodic slant lays, and it becomes a comfortable place, once you grow accustomed to it.
What once seemed like amazing but random guitar leads, become melodic journeys....
Again it probably isnt for everybody, but it really is excellent.

This track finishes gently, and Allan fiddles with some equipment and we get another insert of interview, asking about equipment and the future direction.
He's asked why he meditates before the show, he says he doesn't, he trembles ... and doesn't even think he should have become a musician lol

There have been a couple of very minor glitches in the playback that are obviously part of the original source.

Material Real is an atmospheric track that is almost like something Robert Fripp would do as an atmospheric opener for a Crimson gig. It isn't a series of looped delays or anything. It is volume swell arrangement of really cool chords.
Then Paul William's comes back on, and we get the song.
We get this building arpeggio section with Chad laying it out on the drums again.

Metal Fatigue has some sort of octave type effect on the intro, and it's a very cool effect.
This is a very vool song.

Where is the one is the next track.
The dynamic shift between the mellow Holdsworth chords a the distorted, riffs and leads is very cool.

Allan tells the crowd how grateful they are to be there.

The things you see (when you havent got your gun) has to be among the best song titles ever, and brings William's out to sing again.
It is a short vocal section, and then we move into an atmospheric section.
Then we get another stunning lead break.

Was There Something? is the encore track after some very enthusiastic unison clapping.

So again, not for everybody, and I believe that there are some probably better dvd available
Holdsworth and Pasqua Live at Yoshi's - shot in hd
Frankfurt 86
Warsaw 98
Allan Holdsworth dvd - which is apparently seven song live, but it includes him talking about his chord voicings and scale choices ect, for the guitar enthusiast probably, but who knows, it may interest others.
Live at The Galaxy Theater

I don't have any of those ones though, so I can't really say much about them. If you do have them, it would be cool to give them a run down for everyone.

Anyway. This is a flawed product in some ways. It isn't hi tech video, it isn't hi tech audio. It has three glitches in the running of the concert, which are tiny pauses or skips, but they aren't the end of the world, and are more a minor irritation than anything else. This is only really going to interest you, if you particularly liked this version of the band, or they are playing songs here that aren't available on other dvd releases.
I really like it, but I have been familiar with it since the late eighties, so I have a sort of attachment to it.

This is the whole show

riskylogic · Mar 7, 2021

mark winstanley said: ↑

Allan Holdsworth, I.O.U. (3) ‎– Live in Japan 1984
Label: Manifesto Records, Inc. ‎– MFO 46516
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered DVD, DVD-Audio, Reissue, Remastered All Media, Limited Edition
Country: US
Released: 2018
Genre: Jazz, Rock
Style: Prog Rock, Fusion, Jazz-Rock

I.O.U. Live is a live album by guitarist Allan Holdsworth, released on 15 April 1997 through Cleopatra Records.[1][2] According to Holdsworth, the tracks were taken from video footage of a 1984 concert in Japan, which later became a bootleg circulating under the name of Tokyo Dream: Allan Holdsworth in Japan.[2][3] He therefore considered it an unauthorised release and not part of his discography.[4]

Allan Holdsworth – guitar

Paul Williams – vocals

Chad Wackerman – drums

Jimmy Johnson – bass

CD1 Tokyo Dream 6:58
CD2 Road Games 4:25
CD3 White Line 7:02
CD4 Panic Station 4:11
CD5 Letters Of Marque 6:43
CD6 Home 5:42
CD7 Devil Take The Hindmost 5:27
CD8 Material Real 7:42
CD9 Metal Fatigue 5:03
CD10 Where Is One 8:00
CD11 The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun) 7:28
CD12 Was There? 6:30
DVD1 Tokyo Dream
DVD2 Road Games
DVD3 White Line
DVD4 Panic Station
DVD5 Letters Of Marque
DVD6 Home
DVD7 Devil Take The Hindmost
DVD8 Material Real
DVD9 Metal Fatigue
DVD10 Where Is One
DVD11 The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun)
DVD12 Was There?
-------------------------------------------
I actually used to have the bootleg of this ... I knew this guy ..... anyway ...

Allan is one of those guys you are either going to love or hate ... you will get it, or you won't .. even if you respect how amazing this guy is as a guitar player, you may not get it. At least Allan seems to avoid being labelled a shredder, when you are in the jazz world that tag has no meaning, when you are in the rock world it is almost a prerequisite to call any technically good player a shredder as a way of dismissing them, so nobody can compare them to your favourite guitarist who isn't a shredder, and plays with "such amazing feel"
All of that stuff is Bull$**t ... you either like a player or you don't. There is more than one type of feel, and blues based slow bends aren't all that counts ( I am not knocking blues, I love it and have plenty, but it is not the only valid guitar playing.

I believe this was a posthumous release, as Allan is sadly no longer with us.
I can already tell you before I put this on that the band is quite amazing. Chad Wackerman is a machine. When I first heard Paul Williams vocals, I really didn't like them, but I have grown accustomed to them. I ended up getting the cd album box set, and he is certainly very good.

You can pick this up on discogs for about $15 Allan Holdsworth, I.O.U. – Live in Japan 1984 (2018, CD)

It is still available new for about $15 on Amazon also BUT - I believe that only the first thousand copies came with the dvd. So I don't think the Amazon copies have that dvd.
Also be aware that a truncated version of this was released in 1997, with nine tracks

So the safest place to get this if you are interested is discogs, or some seller that is specific about what it is you are going to get.

So lets have a look.

The dvd just starts. There is no menu.
There is no audio selection.
The audio is DD 48khz 2.0

The video is 4:3 ratio. It isn't bad, but this is not hi res, or ultra detailed video.
This is, I gather, a broadcast for tv in Japan concert.
Now having said that. You can see everything. There are very few artifacts, unless something changes as I watch.

If you are watching to see what Allan does, you can see what Allan does.
This isn't a modern, edited video that changes shots every 1.5 seconds. There are certainly camera changes, but they are measured, and not obtrusive.

The audio is clear, and you can hear everything. I would say it was pretty well set up and recorded on the day.

We open with the instrumental Tokyo Dream.... it's excellent.

Paul William's comes out.... and I have been unfair in my opinions on this guy over the years, he does an excellent job. He isn't a rock singer. He is a smooth, clear singer, singing some reasonably difficult melodies, and getting it right.

We run through Road Games. Paul mutes Allan's strings for a tapping section.
Another great performance from all involved.

White Line from the IOU album comes along.
The dvd has pretty good dynamic range, the quiet bits are quiet. I don't think this has been compressed either, I needed to crank the volume a bit to be where I wanted it.

IOU was my first Holdsworth album years ago, when I wanted to hear what all the great guitarists were doing, and try to aspire to reach that level.... well I never really did, but I enjoyed trying, and it really broadened my listening tastes as well (because jazz horn players were on that list too, hence my love of Miles and Coltrane).

Holdsworth has a really nice style of playing. He uses a lot of legato phrases, but his volume swell techniques, and tapping techniques are very much him.
His use of chords is excellent. He also encouraged me to learn to stretch my hand out for better chord voicings... and back in the day I could... it's been a while now.

Letters of Marque comes along.
Now with me talking of the guitar stuff may give some folks the impression that this is just music for guitarists..... I don't think it is really, it is very melodically interesting and if you like jazz stylings, I think it is also very engaging.

We get Allan introducing the band, and then an interview.
He is a very quiet kind of understated guy. A humble kind of guy, but driven to better himself. He is certainly not a braggard and comes across a little uncomfortable, and a little self effacing.

Home comes into play, and it is another instrumental. The playing of all the guys is beyond reproach.
Chad Wackerman gets a solo spot, and it is interesting. He isn't a look how fast I can do a snare roll kind of drummer. Technically excellent, and some incredibly interesting playing and phrasing, but the band could have come back in at any time..
They do come back in, and we wind up the track.

Allan acknowledges Chad's solo, and introduces Jimmie Johnson again.

Devil Take the Hindmost is a mellow chordal arpeggio set up. When you listen to him enough, you will he where his melodic slant lays, and it becomes a comfortable place, once you grow accustomed to it.
What once seemed like amazing but random guitar leads, become melodic journeys....
Again it probably isnt for everybody, but it really is excellent.

This track finishes gently, and Allan fiddles with some equipment and we get another insert of interview, asking about equipment and the future direction.
He's asked why he meditates before the show, he says he doesn't, he trembles ... and doesn't even think he should have become a musician lol

There have been a couple of very minor glitches in the playback that are obviously part of the original source.

Material Real is an atmospheric track that is almost like something Robert Fripp would do as an atmospheric opener for a Crimson gig. It isn't a series of looped delays or anything. It is volume swell arrangement of really cool chords.
Then Paul William's comes back on, and we get the song.
We get this building arpeggio section with Chad laying it out on the drums again.

Metal Fatigue has some sort of octave type effect on the intro, and it's a very cool effect.
This is a very vool song.

Where is the one is the next track.
The dynamic shift between the mellow Holdsworth chords a the distorted, riffs and leads is very cool.

Allan tells the crowd how grateful they are to be there.

The things you see (when you havent got your gun) has to be among the best song titles ever, and brings William's out to sing again.
It is a short vocal section, and then we move into an atmospheric section.
Then we get another stunning lead break.

Was There Something? is the encore track after some very enthusiastic unison clapping.

So again, not for everybody, and I believe that there are some probably better dvd available
Holdsworth and Pasqua Live at Yoshi's - shot in hd
Frankfurt 86
Warsaw 98
Allan Holdsworth dvd - which is apparently seven song live, but it includes him talking about his chord voicings and scale choices ect, for the guitar enthusiast probably, but who knows, it may interest others.
Live at The Galaxy Theater

I don't have any of those ones though, so I can't really say much about them. If you do have them, it would be cool to give them a run down for everyone.

Anyway. This is a flawed product in some ways. It isn't hi tech video, it isn't hi tech audio. It has three glitches in the running of the concert, which are tiny pauses or skips, but they aren't the end of the world, and are more a minor irritation than anything else. This is only really going to interest you, if you particularly liked this version of the band, or they are playing songs here that aren't available on other dvd releases.
I really like it, but I have been familiar with it since the late eighties, so I have a sort of attachment to it.

This is the whole show

Click to expand...

I have this on CD - seems like maybe I should just stick with that and watch Bruford again if I want see Holdsworth perform on stage again. He is really good on that one.

riskylogic · Mar 13, 2021

Summer Storms and Rocking Rivers

Live Performance by Djabe and Steve Hackett
Released 24 Feb 2017
Recorded 14 July 2011
Venue MMC Club, Bratislava, Slovakia
Genre Jazz, Progressive rock
Label Esoteric Antenna
Length 97:36
Producers Tamás Barabás, Attila Égerházi

Summer Storms and Rocking Rivers captures Steve Hackett performing with gifted Hungarian Jazz / Rock ensemble Djabe in July 2011 and November 2012 in Budapest. The music features well known Steve Hackett solo material such as The Steppes and Ace of Wands, alongside legendary Genesis material such as Firth of Fifth, Blood On The Rooftops, In That Quiet Earth and Los Endos.

Personnel
Tamás Barabás – Bass Guitar
Szilárd Banai – Drums
Attila Égerházi – Guitar, Percussion
Steve Hackett – Guitar, Vocals
Zoltán Kovács – Keyboards
Ferenc Kovács – Vocals, Trumpet, Violin

Tracklist
No. Title Length
1. City Of Habi 7:07
2. The Steppes 7:19
3. Dark Soup
4. Butterfly 8:48
5. Scenes - Above Poland 8:10
6. Scenes - Sunset At The Seaside 1:15
7. Steve's Acoustic Set (Classical Gas - Black Light - Blood On The Rooftops - Horizons) 6:24
8. Ace Of Wands 3:38
9. Firth Of Fifth 5:08
10. Last Train To Istanbul 5:14
11. Summer Storms 2:49
12. Rocking Rivers (Angklung) 1:27
13. Rush For Ménes 8:13
14. Strange Places 3:00
15. Rush For Ménes Reprise 0:59
16. Summer Rain
17. In That Quiet Earth 6:39
18. Distant Dance 8:23

Track times are for the CD; I think the DVD is bit longer in places, plus “Dark Soup” and “Summer Rain” are not on the CD.

Version Control
A CD and an LP were first released in 2013. The CD+DVD digipack is a 2017 release and it is still available. Burning Shed. Amazon.

The Concert
The video quality is substandard for a modern DVD and the lighting is a little on the dark side. The surround is DTS 5.1. Most of these songs are from Djabe. There are some I can an identify an origin for, but man others I can’t. Some of the songs may be new.

“City Of Habi”
From Djabe – Slices Of Life. Ferenc, Barabás, Hackett, and Égerházi are lined up front. Zoltán is on keyboards back left, while Banai is on drums rear right. Barabás has a five-string bass. Ferenc starts off with a violin, he’s the last one to join in. Cymbals seemed to be mixed to the rear (i.e. not reverb, the cymbals are just in the rear, plus what seems to be a vocal chorus also comes from the rear – it seems we have a surround mix. But no one singing, so I think it’s keyboards or prerecorded. Hackett starts out sitting, but gets up to play lead for a bit. But the violin is the main lead instrument. This is one with a clip available, so here goes:

“The Steppes”
From Hackett – Defector. Ferenc still with a violin, and he starts off by himself, and he’s mixed in surround. The everyone else comes in, I think it’s Hackett featured in the center channel, and there’s synth in the rear – might be coming Égerházi who seems to be over on the right playing a keyboard with one hand. Hackett’s guitar pans to the rear at the end.

“Dark Soup”
This is introduced as a new song. Written by Barabás, and he seems to be the lead at first, but then Zoltán, Ferenc, Hackett, and Égerházi all get their turns, with the lead instrument in surround. Cymbals in rear again.

“Butterfly”
From Djabe – Take On. We get vocals for the first time, and it’s Ferenc singing in what I presume to be Hungarian.

“Scenes - Above Poland”
Barabás plays solo, mostly from the center channel. He is mostly using the skinny strings, so it doesn’t sound like bass. After several minutes, the rest of the band sans hackett join in. Ferenc is on trumpet, and there are cymbals in the rear, and keyboards in surround. Long solo from Zoltán, then Ferenc – seems to be somewhat improvised.

Scenes - Sunset At The Seaside”
Starts out with synth in the rear, the rest of band join in, including Hackett. Ferenc still with trumpet, he’s in surround. Égerházi with a solo too. More keyboards in the rear and Ferenc back to violin at the end.

“Steve's Acoustic Set (Classical Gas - Black Light - Blood On The Rooftops - Horizons)”
A cover, Hackett solo song from Bay of Kings, then two Genesis tunes. All with Hackett playing solo on acoustic guitar, mostly from center channel.

“Ace Of Wands”
From Hackett – Voyage of the Acolyte. A very jazzy version with Ferenc playing the lead part on trumpet. Trumpet, keyboards in surround. Hackett still with acoustic guitar in center channel. No drums or Égerházi.

“Firth Of Fifth”
From Genesis – Selling England By the Pound. Hackett starts out with acoustic guitar, and Ferenc plays the lead on violin, then Zoltán with piano in front then keyboards in rear. Hackett switches to electric guitar, and takes after the keyboard solo finishes. Except for the violin instead of oboe or soprano sax, this sounds like Genesis or Genesis Revisited.

“Last Train To Istanbul”
From Djabe - In The Footsteps Of Attila And Genghis, written by Lehman, King, Hackett. Eastern flavored tune, with Égerházi playing exotic percussion in the rears, Ferenc on violin, Hackett electric guitar. Ferenc, Hackett, and Égerházi all singing.

“Summer Storms”
Title tracks in sequence, I’m thinking these are new. Starts with Zoltán synth in surround, and a drum solo in front. Everyone else taking a break.

“Rocking Rivers”
Whole band plus a couple extras all with the same very weird percussion instruments that are at least somewhat harmonic. The six main band members have one in each hand, but the two extra guys are playing one handed. That adds up to 14. Somebody please tell me what those things are.

“Rush For Ménes”
From Djabe – Slices Of Life. More drums – Banai starts it off. Ferenc with trumpet, Hackett sitting out, Barabás playing lead bass with the thick strings, Zoltán set to piano – both he and Barabás are in surround. Zoltán is good, and not just because he can cover Tony Banks. His non-brother Ferenc takes over with trumpet after that.

“Strange Places”
with “Rush For Ménes Reprise”at the end. Barabás takes over again, playing by himself from the center channel. He leads the reprise to, but the rest of Djabe (no Hackett) helps him out. Trumpet in surround.

“In That Quiet Earth”
From Genesis – Wind and Wuthering. Both Barabás and Égerházi switch to percussion while Hackett plays in surround. Some synth in the rear too. Ferenc using the trumpet to replace woodwind this time. End of set.

“Distant Dance”
From Djabe - In The Footsteps Of Attila And Genghis, written by Égerházi. Barabás leads off in surround, Ferenc with violin in center channel. Égerházi also in center channel, Hackett just noodling a bit. Zoltán keyboard solo in surround, then Hackett gets a solo in the center channel
________

If you want to pretend that this is a Steve Hackett concert, then there are a couple of Djabe versions of “Los Endos” that are embedded in a documentary as bonus material - but they were recorded later in Budapest. Plus, it does come “Firth of Fifth”, which is could reasonably be taken as the key litmus test. But it is really just a Djabe concert with Steve Hackett as special guest.

I must say I like it much better than some more recent Hackett-infused Djabe material that I purchased largely because Hackett plus surround. But those are missing the Kovács non-brothers, whom are rather key ingredients here. They seem to be classically trained musicians, which makes them more suited for covering Genesis and the like.

The surround is very decent too. Way better than average and almost good enough for full marks. Not quite enough going on the back though.

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

mark winstanley · Mar 13, 2021

Boz Scaggs - Greatest Hits Live

Greatest Hits Live is a live concert by Boz Scaggs. It was released on August 17, 2004 by Mailboat Records.

Backing vocals - Miss Mone't, Barbara Wilson
Bass - Matt Bissonette
Drums - John Ferraro
Guitar - Drew Zingg
Keyboards - Jim Cox and Michael Bluestein
Sax - Charles McNeal
Trumpet - Rich Armstrong

1 Lowdown 5:43
2 Slow Dancer 4:41
3 Heart Of Mine 4:27
4 It All Went Down The Drain 6:15
5 Harbor Lights 7:52
6 Jojo 5:51
7 Ask Me About Nothing But The Blues 6:10
8 Breakdown Dead Ahead 5:57
9 Look What You've Done To Me 6:44
10 I Just Go 5:15
11 Georgia 4:45
12 Miss Sun 6:39
13 Lido Shuffle 5:36
14 Running Blue 11:28
15 Loan Me A Dime 15:45
16 We're All Alone 4:38
-------------------------------
Don't walk on by, this one ...
Don't let the title fool you ...
Don't let the idea of Silk Degrees dissuade you, if you happened to dislike it.

This release certainly does have some of Boz Scaggs Greatest Hits on it, but it sort of looks and sounds like it would be a bit of a shonky cast aside release. It certainly isn't.
In reality this release may be worthwhile for Running Blue and Loan Me A Dime alone.... so just hold your horses, remember that Boz actually had some great pop/rock hits, and be aware this is a fantastic band, that seem to be right into it, and really smoke this concert into another dimension.

I bought this off the cuff, somewhere way back when it was released. I wasn't sure, but it felt like there hadn't been too much coming out that interested me, and I saw it had most of the Boz songs, that I personally knew and loved, so I gave it a go, and brought it home with me.
I have certainly not been disappointed with that decision, and it is probably among my most watched concert movies over the years.

I have never watched this with an eye to video quality or audio quality or 5.1 immersion before, I just watched it as a concert and I loved it.

Anyway
Still available on Amazon for about $19.99 https://www.amazon.com/Boz-Scaggs-Greatest-Hits-Live/dp/B0002IQI2Y
3 on Discogs from $10 Boz Scaggs – Greatest Hits Live (2004, DVD)

No messing about here. Boz Scaggs was huge in the seventies, and if you like late seventies pop/rock, then get Silk Degrees and Middle Man ... If you want to know more about Boz ... hey you're on a computer google it

Lowdown opens us up, and what a great song.
This is recorded at the beautifully ornate Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. We open with the rhythm section, and some video panning around different features of the hall, and then we see Boz walk on.
The video quality is good quality dvd, and having been shot in hi-def this should have been reissued on bluray by now.
The audio is beautifully. This is a concert that was set up, particularly to record, and they have this set up beautifully.

Lowdown is quite stunning. Technically perfect. As we will find through the show, every person on this stage is a valuable asset to the show.
Now, this is perfect, but it is not sterile.... it is not soulless or whatever. It is just brilliantly executed, and recorded.

Slow dancer comes in next.
The balance between the instruments is beautiful. The ladies on backing vocals are about as perfect as one could hope.

We have a very appreciative audience that are listening to the songs, and showing their appreciation when they have finished... and in this context it works beautifully. If you closed your eyes this could be a well recorded studio album.

Boz is a quiet personable fellow on stage. Introducing the songs in a calm and thoughtful way.

We do have a surround mix.
The vocal isn't completely isolated, this is live, but it is centre channel.

Heart of Mine, comes and goes beautifully.

Here we get Earle King's It All Went Down The Drain.
The organ chirps right rear.
The horns swell across the left side.
This is a great smooth blues strut.
Boz gives a nice lead on his es335?, really nice tone. The crowd acknowledges a nice lead.

I suppose nobody is jumping around the stage, but there is a heartfelt focus on the music, and that works for me.

The 5.1 is nice, it is a nice warm mix that spreads nicely, and I think it is mixed appropriately for each song, rather than just a solid live set mix.
You can hear all the instruments, and it sounds very good.
Dts 5.1

Harbor Lights.
This is a favourite of mine.
Boz sits with the acoustic guitar.
Percussion right rear.
We move into a sort Latin breakdown down and we get our first taste of really how good this band is.
Blurstein plays a really nice electric piano lead, and Charles McNeal takes us out with some beautiful sax.
Top class.

Jojo reminds of how smooth Boz's seventies groove was.
Synth strings left rear.
Guitar left side towards front.
As smooth as this is, it still has punch.
I know Boz is getting older here, but his vocals are excellent, I doubt anyone would be disappointed with them.
Mcneal lays down another excellent sax lead.
Top class version. Nice mix, great playing.
This is more like a big cool jazz club than a rock concert in some ways.

Ask Me Bout Nothing But The Blues, next up. A Bobby Blue Bland track. A mellow blues style track, that has a sort of touch of a jazz feel.
The two horn players work together beautifully, as do the two keyboard players. They take their spotlights and make the most of them, but they know how to work together for the benefit of the song. Boz takes another nice lead.
The organ player really knows how to lay on a nice organ backing.
Organ in the rears.

Breakdown Dead Ahead gives Drew the guitarist a chance to do some riffing.
Again this is a really solid live version of the track.
Drew takes the lead, and rolls out some really nice Steely Dan-esque lead.

To me this is a fantastic band recorded really well, working well together, putting down some great songs really well and taking the spot when their turn comes around.

Look What You've done to me.
This is another beautiful ballad.
There are a lot of mellow tracks on here, but for me, the playing, arrangements and recording are so good, that it is far from dull.
The backinging singers finish this one off beautifully. The harmony is beautiful, and Ms Mone't gives us one of those incredible dog whistle vocals, but not piercing, beautiful delicate and amazing.

I Just Go starts with Boz playing some nice acoustic front left.
Matt Bissonnette is on the upright, electric bass.
Drew Zingg is playing some really nice delicate lead, with a nice subtle delay on it.
This is an excellent track too. Another engaging beautiful ballad.

Georgia a spot on version of Georgia.
Look this is just really good. Zingg lays down a very short, but excellent lead.

Miss Sun is another of Boz's peak period smooth rock jazz type grooves, and Box takes a nice concise lead. The ladies shine again.

Lido Shuffle was possibly Boz's biggest hit. Here we start off like a ZZ Top kind of smooth blues boogie... almost a tease, then we move into the vocals.
The people can't help themselves, they stand up and start grooving.
This is the same song, a slightly different arrangement.
The synth break is here, but not as pronounced as the original.
This is great, but actually one of the slightly lesser tracks on here in my opinion.

We get the obligatory end of show walk off. Obviously after and hour and twenty minutes of playing, they get called back on.
Boz reminisces about his original horn band, and we get a swing blues track, and very authentic.

Runnin' Blues, and for me this is where this disc takes off into the stratosphere.
After a nice swinging couple of verses, Boz takes a nice lead on his thick bodied semi-acoustic.
He passes of to Jim Cox on the organ. The band drops back, and the organ starts of mellow and we get a really nice build, and then with some flicks of the controls we move into some nice punishing organ lead.
Then we move to Charles on the sax, and again we drop the dynamics, we get the nice understated opening and then we're blowing again. We get some of those high stepping blasts.
Bluestein on the piano. Again the drop off for the mellow opening, we move into a nice shuffle and we play the building game again and again we get that wonderful explosion.
Like I say, these guys can play.
Rich Armstrong on the trumpet gets his turn. This is his first spotlight section, he starts with a hand held mute, giving some really nice effective stuff by the time we get to the wide open section the mutes gone, and he's just blowing out.
We drop back into the vocal, the crowd can't help but give a loud burst of appreciation of all the great musicianship they just heard.
The song plays out.

Boz introduces everyone.
A very appreciative audience let's them all know they are enjoying this.

Loan Me A Dime, is a great slow blues.
We open with the organ, the piano comes in, and we have an excellent atmospheric slow burn blues come rolling in.
Boz opens with a really nice lead that leads us into the vocals.
We move into a tacet chord section by the band, as Drew Zingg takes a lead, then we get that solid dynamic build again.
Back to the vocals.
Organ through the rears.
Boz takes another lead.
The band moves into a groove subtly and very effectively.
Jim Cox takes the lead with his organ.
They're mixing up the beat nicely.
Drew Zingg comes in again and tears it up. The band are swinging by now.
On the last line of Drew's barn burner we drop back into that slow blues.
Boz comes in with a vocal again.

We're All Alone is a beautiful, and the key has been dropped, but that would be expected at this stage of Boz's life.
In spite of it not being as pitched in drama, the simple beauty of the song and melody carries the song home really well.

This is an excellent concert. Perhaps for some it may be too smooth ... I mean, this isn't Motorhead ... but it is excellent in every way.
The A/V is very pleasing. The surround mix is using the whole whole field. Different things at different times. It seems to have been thought out, how best to present the songs, rather than ok, this is the stage, this guy is here, and this guy is there etc ... they have just mixed this nicely ... It isn't exactly a studio mix, but it is very satisfying ... the video is clear and solid.
But the thing is, to me, these things are merely bonuses, because the heart and soul of this concert is the songs, and the band that is playing them. Every band member contributes to the song. Sure in the last couple of tracks we have the big lead break and such, and everyone gets a chance to burn, and they do, but even in that scenario, all the players are playing for the song.

Unless you dislike Boz Scaggs a lot, I can't see how anyone wouldn't find something to really enjoy here. Personally I enjoy the whole thing. we get some pop/rock hits, some mellow ballads, some swinging blue/jazz, some solid straight up blues, and all executed with passion and very well.
I think this is a great disc and worth having.

I'm going to post a few tracks, because you can't do this justice with one.

Lowdown

mark winstanley · Mar 13, 2021

Look What You've Done to Me

Even if you don't listen to the whole song, listen to the last 45 seconds at least, those backing harmonies are amazing.

mark winstanley · Mar 13, 2021

Loan Me A Dime

I was going to post Runnin' Blue, but it appears to be not available... This is great too though.

riskylogic · Mar 13, 2021

mark winstanley said: ↑

I'm going to post a few tracks, because you can't do this justice with one.
Click to expand...

That's cheating. But I think I'm sold anyway.

mark winstanley · Mar 13, 2021

riskylogic said: ↑

That's cheating. But I think I'm sold anyway.
Click to expand...

lol

riskylogic · Mar 20, 2021

All One Tonight - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Live Performance by Marillion
Released August 10, 2018
Recorded October 13th, 2017
Venue Royal Albert Hall, London
Genre Progressive rock
Label Ear Music
Length 2 hrs
Producer Tim Sidwell

In two parts, All One Tonight firstly showcases the band’s acclaimed 2016 studio album F E A R in full, accompanied by a light show and films. The second half introduces In Praise Of Folly and guests, a string quartet with flute and French horn that accompanies some of Marillion’s best-loved live material.

Personnel
Marillion
Steve Hogarth – lead vocals, hammered dulcimer (on "The New Kings"), bass xylophone (on "The Leavers")
Steve Rothery – guitar, additional fretless bass on "White Paper"
Pete Trewavas – bass, additional vocals
Mark Kelly – keyboards
Ian Mosley – drums

In Praise Of Folly String Quartet
Margaret Hermant - Violin
Maia Frankowski - Violin
Nicole Miller - Viola
Annemie Osborne – Cello

Other Guests
Emma Halnan– Flute
Sam Morris – French Horn

Tracklist
1. El Dorado
2. Living In Fear
3. The Leavers
4. White Paper
5. The New Kings
6. Tomorrow's New Country
7. The Space
8. Afraid Of Sunlight
9. The Great Escape
10. Easter
11. Go!
12. Man Of A Thousand Faces
13. Waiting To Happen
14. Neverland
15. The Leavers: V.One Tonight

Version Control
There 2CD, 2DVD, 4LP, 2 Bluray, and 2 CD + 2 Bluray versions. I have the double bluray. Still available new. Amazon.

The Concert Video
Excellent bluray video quality with DTS-HD 5.1.

“El Dorado”
From F.E.AR., as are the next five tracks – the entire album is played in order. Three of the tracks are 15+ minute prog epics with multiple passages. This is the first. Starts with what sure sounds like the Close to the Edge opening as the band takes the stage. It Rothery, Hogarth, and Trewavas in front, Mosley and Kelly are in the rear. Big screen in the rear, focused light beams projecting both from above the screen, the sides of the stage and up from the floor in front. The video is semi-abstract, with images that compliment the lyrics. Pretty cool.

Rothery starts if off with acoustic guitar then Hogarth chimes in at the center spot. Then Kelly takes over with synth, Hogarth back in again, then drums and bass. Hogarth vocals are isolated in the center channel, but there’s only a tiny bit of reverb in the rears. Rothery solo also gets the center channel treatment. Hogarth plays a little guitar.

“Living In Fear”
Hogarth has a keyboard, and he sings from behind that; Trewavas and Kelly with backing vocals. Crowd continues the chant at the end of the song in the rear speakers.

“The Leavers”
Kelly starts off the second opus, then Hogarth, then the rest of the band. Humanoid couple start out together on screen, then the male takes off running. Hogarth plays piano at a bit, then he has a guitar but all I can hear is Rothery. The song slows down and suddenly we get discrete sound effects and keyboards in the rear speakers. It doesn’t last, but still that’s going to be worth a point. The lights go wild.

“White Paper”
Hogarth starts out seated again, but the keyboards are from Kelly, with Trewavas on bass also. The light show has tapered off, which call more attention to the screen. Rothery playing double-necked guitar.

“The New Kings“
Another keyboard start for the third epic, with continued focus on the screen which has a video with live actors for the first time. I still think Hogarth’s guitar is just a prop. We get another sound effects blurb of airplane engine noise in the rears that is associated with the video. Rothery’s guitar is not a prop.

“Tomorrow's New Country”
The band leaves the stage and this plays prerecorded. End of album and set.

“The Space”
From Season’s End. We’ve got a new platform in the center-rear part of the stage where Hogarth’s keyboard and hammered dulcimer used to be, and there’s a string quartet plus a flute and French horn player are parked on it. They start the second set off by themselves. Then the rest of the band comes on. The screen is less busy – more like part of the light show.

“Afraid Of Sunlight”
From Afraid Of Sunlight. Kelly starts the song off, Hogarth has a guitar again. There’s a sun on the screen. The quartet sounds great. So does the horn. Previous song had more flute.

“The Great Escape”
From Brave. Hogarth and Kelly, then the strings, then everyone else. More cover art on the screen – this time it’s the Brave face. Flute solo. But Rothery takes over down the stretch, and Trewavas gets the last of the fade out. Hogarth introduces the band afterward.

“Easter”
From Season’s End. Rothery starts out with an acoustic guitar, but switches to electric for a blazing solo. Crowd sings along from the rear speakers along with what seems like a little extra reverb.

“Go!”
From Marillion.com. Trewavas starts it off and there are spots of light playing off the ceiling and wall of the arena. Nice string backing of another Rothery solo while Hogarth takes a nap. Then, as it turns out, audience members all around the arena have been outfitted with lights that may or not have been the lights at the beginning (I think not). In any case, very cool light show, have to put the clip here:

Also, more crowd vocals.

“Man Of A Thousand Faces”
From This Strange Engine. Rothery with acoustic guitar again, Hogarth sings, everyone else claps. Kelly with the main solo. Trewavas and Kelly with backing vocals, and more crowd vocals to end the set.

“Waiting To Happen”
From Holidays in Eden. Rothery starts the encore off, along with Hogarth. Then Kelly, then the rest of the band, then the quartet+2 who are still out there.

“Neverland”
From Marbles. Keyboard start, lights on screen and around the arena take on a galactic motif. Hogarth sings, and Rothery gets serious. The lights go 4th of July with a castle onscreen. This is this my favorite track on here, but I can’t find a clip.

“The Leavers: V. One Tonight”
Reprise of the fifth section of the song performed earlier in the night. But this time there’s a quartet, and especially a horn. Also quite a bit of confetti.
_________

Marillion is still a relatively new band for me, and I am less familiar with the Hogath-era than the first four albums. However, F.E.A.R. is the second Hogarth era album I acquired (after Brave) – the SACD with a surround mix was cheap. I wouldn’t call it a classic, but I quite like it and have listened to it a lot. The second set has a quite a few songs that I’m not as familiar with, but that’s probably reflects my unfamiliarity with 21st century Marillion more than anything else. Even though they often got drowned out by the band, the quartet+2 was a very nice addition when you could hear them.

The visual production was fantastic. Nice videos, especially on the first set; they have those all by themselves on the second bluray. Also a great light show with shots of the stage from the rear rafters. Quite reminiscent of the Steven Wilson concert at the RAH.

The surround was not great. But, there was nice use of the center channel, some pretty good crowd vocals in the rear, plus about three minutes of actual surround on the“The Leavers”. Enough to squeak by for a point.

Music – 2.5
Sound quality – 3
Video presentation – 3
Video quality – 3
Surround – 2

I got it for under $20 – a great bargain if you like Marillion at all.

mark winstanley · Mar 20, 2021

Barclay James Harvest ‎– Berlin (A Concert For The People)
Label: Eagle Vision ‎– EREDV806
Format: DVD, DVD-Video, Multichannel, NTSC
Country: UK
Released: Aug 2010
Genre: Rock
Style: Prog Rock

Les Holroyd – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards (1966–1998)

John Lees – vocals, guitars (1966–1998)

Mel Pritchard – drums, percussion (1966–1998; died 2004)

Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme – vocals, mellotron, keyboards, guitars (1966–1979; died 2010)

1 Berlin
2 Loving Is Easy
3 Mockingbird
4 Sip Of Wine
5 Nova Lepidoptera
6 In Memory Of The Martyrs
7 Life Is For Living
8 Child Of The Universe
9 Hymn

Time Honoured Tales
10 Jonathan
11 Titles
12 Moongirl
13 One Night
14 Beyond The Grave
--------------------------------------------
Barclay James Harvest aren't my favourite band of all time or anything, but they released some album that I think are very good albums, and I think this is somewhat their peak ... in my opinion at least.
These guys aren't the coolest rock band in the world, or the toughest mongrels to ever pick up a guitar, but they wrote and recorded some excellent songs, and put together some solid albums.

This album, and dvd was my introduction to the band. I saw it on tv when I was a young fella in the eighties.
Recorded live in front of a quarter of a million people in Berlin, it captures some of the band's best material in a pretty big atmosphere environment.
These guys were huge in Europe and a few other places, and I pulled this out of the cupboard today after being inspired to revisit it by @Goat 's Barclay James Harvest thread.

On discogs for about $10 Barclay James Harvest – Berlin (A Concert For The People) (DVD)
On amazon new for about $20 https://www.amazon.com/Berlin-Concert-Barclay-James-Harvest/dp/B003V5CTBO

It is a DTS soundtrack, so lets see what we have here.

Recorded August 30, 1980 in front of the Reichstag in Berlin.

The video quality is good dvd quality, and is in a 4:3 ratio.
We open with the song Berlin playing in the background, and video of the stage being set up. A German fellow gives a press conference. Then we get the early scenes and crowd build up. Some backstage stuff.
This all takes about seven minutes.
Loving Is Easy opens up the show here.
The audio has a solid bass in the sub.
The bass guitar and kick somewhat overpowers the resr of the drums, but they are there.
Some synth effects intermittently swoosh into the rears.
The opening track is very solid, the dts mix slightly disappointing.

Mockingbird has more breathing space with a less busy bassline.
Somewhat of a BJH classic it comes across well.
We have keys doing some stuff in the rears.
The concert footage has little bits of video footage interspersed in it.

Sip of Wine comes in third.
Les Holroyd sings this one. John Lee's sang the first two.
Colin Browne is playing the bass, as Holroyd plays the guitar on his twin neck.
Lees plays some nice lead breaks without being amazing.

Nova Lepidoptera from the album XII is next up.
Again the surround speakers have a few keys and effects rolling through them.
Lees handles the vocals again.
We have Kevin McAlea with the band playing keys and sax, and also Colin Browne playing keys, guitar and bass.

In Memory Of The Martyrs...
This was the song that really caught my ear all those years ago.
Wolstenholme leads us in with a nice synth melody and then the acoustic guitars come in, and Lees takes the vocal.
We have the guitars and keys weaving a beautiful musical backdrop for the lyrics to sit on, we have a nice immersive mix, with plenty going on.
The bass comes in a few minutes in, and it steals the Sonics again somewhat.
The song still works well though.

Life is for living .... I think this was a bit of a hit in Australia, because I knew this when I first saw this, but didn't know who these guys are.
A bouncy, feel good song, that Holroyd sings.
We have the dancing keys on top a kick with the vocals.
Then the songs cut in for a short instrumental before the bridge.
We break down to the main refrain, and get unison vocals over some good drumming that for too much of the show is buried in a disappointing mix.

Child Of The Universe is obviously a favourite of the crowd.
This is a good track, and it has some good harmonies and really nice arrangement.
Again we get some decent surround mixing.

Hymn is the other song that grabbed my attention. I think some folks think of this as a Christian track, and I personally can't help but see it in that light, but I believe it was actually supposed to be a song about addiction.... but I'm sure someone with more knowledge of the band can fill us in on that.

We get Berlin play over the credits.

Time Honoured Tales
This is 5 tracks and their promotional videos from the Time Honoured Ghosts album.
This has a 5.1 mix also, and also in dts.

Jonathon.
We are surrounded by synths, with vocals across the front, and it sounds pretty good. We have bass, but it isn't overpowering the other instruments.

Titles.
The backing vocals come in through the rears here.
This is a series of Beatles song titles interspersed with some other lines... and it is pleasant, and more effective than it sounds in description.
We get keys on the rears also.

Moongirl.
A keyboard kind of floats around the field.
We have the vocal and keys up front.
It is quite effective as a mix.
The videos aren't stunning, but hey there's a naked girl swimming in this one lol.

One Night.
Again a pretty decent mix here.
Another nice mellow track.

Beyond The Grave.
Again some keys in the rear.
It looks like Wolstenholme sings this one.
Another pretty interesting keyboard driven song.

This could have been a great concert. There isn't much that you can do with the video, without a big budget, but it is certainly acceptable. Unfortunately the mix just doesn't really work very well.
I assume they had multitracks, because it seems to have some separation, but the bass is just too prominent and it sort of smothers a lot of the rest of the audio track.
You can hear the guitar and keyboards well, and you can hear the vocals, but it all has a bit of an unbalanced sound to it.
If you love the band, I think this is an important document, but it could have been so much better, and less muddy in its presentation.

On the other hand, the videos for Time Honoured Ghost have pretty decent sound, and the mixes, although not earth shattering are pretty good, and I think someone could get pretty good value out of this section of the video.
The videos are really nothing to speak of in themselves, but the 5.1 mixes aren't too bad, and I thought it came over pretty well. It's just a real shame the concert mix wasn't what I feel it should be.

In Memory Of The Martyrs
This edited video shows a bit of the intro and then moves into the song.
Interestingly the audio here sounds better .... did they redo this?

PJayBe · Mar 21, 2021

mark winstanley said: ↑

Barclay James Harvest ‎– Berlin (A Concert For The People)
Label: Eagle Vision ‎– EREDV806
Format: DVD, DVD-Video, Multichannel, NTSC
Country: UK
Released: Aug 2010
Genre: Rock
Style: Prog Rock

Les Holroyd – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards (1966–1998)

John Lees – vocals, guitars (1966–1998)

Mel Pritchard – drums, percussion (1966–1998; died 2004)

Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme – vocals, mellotron, keyboards, guitars (1966–1979; died 2010)

Click to expand...

Woolly had left before this show, John, Les and Mel were joined on the day by Kevin McAlea on keyboards, backing vocals and saxophone, and Colin Browne on keyboards, guitar, bass and backing vocals.

mark winstanley · Mar 21, 2021

PJayBe said: ↑

Woolly had left before this show, John, Les and Mel were joined on the day by Kevin McAlea on keyboards, backing vocals and saxophone, and Colin Browne on keyboards, guitar, bass and backing vocals.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate ... I wondered why there would be three guys on keyboards lol

riskylogic · Mar 27, 2021

The Dance

Studio Performance by Fleetwood Mac
Released 19 August 1997
Recorded 23 May 1997
Venue Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank, California
Genre Rock, pop
Length 79:11
Label Reprise
Producer Lindsey Buckingham, Elliot Scheiner

The Dance is a live album and concert video by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 August 1997. It hailed the return of the band's most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since 1987's Tango in the Night a decade earlier. It was the first Fleetwood Mac release to top the U.S. album charts since 1982's Mirage.

This was the last Fleetwood Mac album to date that featured Christine McVie, who left the group a year after the album's release; although she returned to the band in 2014, it has not released an album since her return. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 199,000, The Dance became the fifth best-selling live album of all time in the United States, selling a million copies within eight weeks, spending more than seven months within the top 40, and eventually selling over 6,000,000 copies worldwide. The DVD version has been certified 9x platinum in Australia for selling 135,000 copies. The 44 date tour grossed $36 million.

Unlike 1980's Live, which was a collection of live recordings over a series of 60 shows, The Dance was recorded in one night, albeit with good isolation to allow for overdubs. The concert was recorded for Fleetwood Mac's MTV The Dance special at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California on 23 May 1997, and features the University of Southern California Marching Band who perform on the tracks "Tusk" (having played on the original studio recording) and "Don't Stop".
Although predominantly a live greatest hits package, The Dance also features new material written by each of the primary songwriting members of the band (two from Buckingham) as well as popular album tracks. For example, "Bleed to Love Her" was a previously unreleased track when this album was released, although a studio recording of the song was later included on the Say You Will album. No tracks from the Mirage album were included on the CD, although "Gypsy" was included in the video and DVD versions.

The album cover, taken by David LaChapelle, has Mick Fleetwood recreating his pose from the cover of Rumours, the band's most successful album, and Lindsey Buckingham holding the cane used on the cover of the Fleetwood Mac album, Rumours' predecessor.

This album spawned three singles in the USA: "Landslide", "The Chain" and "Silver Springs", and earned the band three Grammy nominations in 1998, in the categories "Best Pop Album", "Best Rock Performance by a Group or Duo with Vocal" for "The Chain" and "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "Silver Springs". A fourth single, "Temporary One," was released in some European markets.

Personnel
Fleetwood Mac
Stevie Nicks – vocals, tambourine
Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, banjo on "Say You Love Me", vocals
Christine McVie – keyboards, piano, vocals, accordion on "Tusk", tambourine on "Say You Love Me", maracas on "Everywhere"
John McVie – bass guitar, background vocals on "Say You Love Me"
Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion

Additional musicians
Brett Tuggle – keyboards, guitar, background vocals
Neale Heywood – guitar, background vocals
Lenny Castro – percussion
Sharon Celani – background vocals
Mindy Stein – background vocals
Dr. Arthur C. Bartner – director of the USC Trojan Marching Band

Tracklist
1. "The Chain" (Buckingham, Fleetwood, C. McVie, J. McVie, Nicks)
2. "Dreams" (Nicks)
3. "Everywhere" (C. McVie)
4. "Gold Dust Woman" (Nicks)
5. "I'm So Afraid" (Buckingham)
6. "Temporary One" (C. McVie, Quintela)
7. "Bleed to Love Her" (Buckingham)
8. "Gypsy" (Nicks)
9. "Big Love" (Buckingham)
10. "Go Insane" (Buckingham)
11. "Landslide" (Nicks)
12. "Say You Love Me" (C. McVie)
13. "You Make Loving Fun" (C. McVie)
14. "My Little Demon" (Buckingham)
15. "Silver Springs" (Nicks)
16. "Over My Head" (C. McVie)
17. "Rhiannon" (Nicks)
18. "Sweet Girl" (Nicks)
19. "Go Your Own Way" (Buckingham)
20. "Tusk" (Buckingham)
21. "Don't Stop" (C. McVie)
22. "Songbird" (C. McVie)

Version Control
The DVD is double sided with hires stereo on one side and 5.1Dolby Digital on the other. It was also releases on VHS ad laser disc, and there are multiple international versions of the DVD. It is still available new, but I settled for a used copy that I think I got for $15. Amazon. You can also stream this, but it’s stereo only.

The Concert Video

It 4:3 video with pretty poor DVD quality, but still better than VHS I guess. There is no main menu, and there is only one audio option on each side of the double sided disc.

"The Chain"
From Rumours. It’s a studio, but there is a small crowd of maybe 300 people. The stage is semi circular with Christine, Nicks, and Buckingham in front, John and Fleetwood in the back. The additional musicians are sprinkled around the sides of the main stage. Castro is behind Buckingham with addition percussion on the right, and there’s an acoustic guitar player behind McVie on the left. Seems to be a true surround mix with the additional musicians mixed to the rear – percussion and acoustic guitar for this song. The front three share lead vocals; the center channel is just another front speaker.

"Dreams"
From Rumours. Micks is sole lead vocalist, still distributed across the front. The two backing vocalists are to the right of the stage. I think they sing a bit on this one, but all I hear in the rear is acoustic guitar. There’s a second keyboard player over there too, which means the guitar player rear left must be Heywood.

"Everywhere"
From Tango in the Night. Christine comes up from behind her keyboard to sing lead, Nicks and Buckingham backing in front, also I think the side vocalists are mixed to the rear along with 2nd guitar.

"Gold Dust Woman"
From Rumours. Nicks singing lead, percussion and backing vocals in the rear.

"I'm So Afraid"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). Buckingham singing lead, Nicks backing, McVie on keys, plus keys in the rear - but it’s mainly a Buckingham and Fleetwood show.

"Temporary One"
New song. McVie singing lead from behind the keyboard, Nicks and Buckingham backing in front. Acoustic guitar and additional backing vocals in the rear.

"Bleed to Love Her"
New song. Buckingham playing acoustic and singing lead, additional acoustic guitar in rear.

"Gypsy"
From Mirage. Nicks singing lead, Buckingham backing, guitar and additional backing vocals in the rear.

"Big Love"
From Tango in the Night. Buckingham goes solo with acoustic guitar, and he’s mixed across the front.

"Go Insane"
From Lindsey Buckingham Go Insane. More of the same.

"Landslide"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). Buckingham on acoustic guitar and Nicks singing. Not a surround highlight either.

"Say You Love Me"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). The band is back, sort of. Christine in up front singing lead, Fleetwood is up front playing a single drum, Buckingham on banjo; John, Nicks, and Buckingham are backing in front, plus there’s some backing vocals in the rear.

"You Make Loving Fun"
From Rumours. Christine singing from behind the keyboard, Buckingham has an electric guitar again, percussion and backing vocals in the rear.

"My Little Demon"
New song. Buckingham with lead vocals, Christine and Nicks backing, synth, percussion and guitar in the rear.

"Silver Springs"
Written for Rumours. Christine plays piano, Nicks sings, backing vocals and guitar in the rear, Buckingham plays a solo.

"Over My Head"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). Chiristine sings from behind the keyboard, Buckingham with acoustic guitar, Nicks backing in front, 2nd acoustic guitar and additional backing vocals in rear,

"Rhiannon"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). Christine piano and backing vocals in front, Nicks singing lead, Buckingham with electric guitar, backing vocals and keyboards in the rear.

"Sweet Girl"
New song. Buckingham with acoustic guitar, Nicks singing, 2nd acoustic guitar and backing vocals in rear

"Go Your Own Way"
From Rumours. The men start it off, with Buckingham playing electric. Buckingham sings lead, Chiristine and Nicks backing in front, acoustic guitar and additional backing vocals in rear. End of set

"Tusk"
From Tusk. They come back, Fleetwood starts it off with extra percussion in the rear. Buckingham sings lead, Christine has an accordian. Then the USC marching band shows up with drummers lined up surround the drum kit and horns and woodwinds behind the stage - and as you might expect the horns are mixed to the rear.

"Don't Stop"
From Rumours. The woodwinds move down in front of the stage, but the drummers stay and about half the horns too. Christine plays piano, Buckingham and Christine share lead, Buckingham with electric guitar, horns and band drums in the rear. Can’t hear the woodwinds at all. The band members leave with the USC folks still playing from the rear speakers.

"Songbird"
From Rumours. Christine comes back and plays solo. All in front.
________

The video looks like something that was recorded for 4:3 tube TVs, but other than that it’s a fine reunion concert done while all the members were in fine form. Nicks might be better than ever. I pretty much lost interest in Fleetwood Mac after Rumours, but this is a fine compilation of Nicks-Buckingham era material: A large sampling of both Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, a smattering of material from their later albums, plus a few new songs. Not much of a stage show, and I don't like the fact that the additional musicians are all but invisible.

I have to agree with @J_Surround that the volume level in the back needs a boost – even though it’s a discrete mix, the volume in the rear is pretty faint. After ripping and editing (+4dB to the rears) the nineteen tracks with a surround mix (I left the three solo tracks alone), the backing vocals and percussion in the rear can be heard distinctly, and “My Little Demon” is turned into a surround classic. Maybe I over did it with the two marching band tracks; the horns were pretty loud already, but I like it.

I ripped the stereo side too. The audio outshines the video on this one.

Music – 3.0
Sound quality – 2 (but there is PCM stereo)
Video presentation – 2
Video quality – 2
Surround – 2 (3 with a boost to the rears)

mark winstanley · Mar 27, 2021

riskylogic said: ↑

The Dance

Studio Performance by Fleetwood Mac
Released 19 August 1997
Recorded 23 May 1997
Venue Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank, California
Genre Rock, pop
Length 79:11
Label Reprise
Producer Lindsey Buckingham, Elliot Scheiner

The Dance is a live album and concert video by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 August 1997. It hailed the return of the band's most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since 1987's Tango in the Night a decade earlier. It was the first Fleetwood Mac release to top the U.S. album charts since 1982's Mirage.

This was the last Fleetwood Mac album to date that featured Christine McVie, who left the group a year after the album's release; although she returned to the band in 2014, it has not released an album since her return. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 199,000, The Dance became the fifth best-selling live album of all time in the United States, selling a million copies within eight weeks, spending more than seven months within the top 40, and eventually selling over 6,000,000 copies worldwide. The DVD version has been certified 9x platinum in Australia for selling 135,000 copies. The 44 date tour grossed $36 million.

Unlike 1980's Live, which was a collection of live recordings over a series of 60 shows, The Dance was recorded in one night, albeit with good isolation to allow for overdubs. The concert was recorded for Fleetwood Mac's MTV The Dance special at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California on 23 May 1997, and features the University of Southern California Marching Band who perform on the tracks "Tusk" (having played on the original studio recording) and "Don't Stop".
Although predominantly a live greatest hits package, The Dance also features new material written by each of the primary songwriting members of the band (two from Buckingham) as well as popular album tracks. For example, "Bleed to Love Her" was a previously unreleased track when this album was released, although a studio recording of the song was later included on the Say You Will album. No tracks from the Mirage album were included on the CD, although "Gypsy" was included in the video and DVD versions.

The album cover, taken by David LaChapelle, has Mick Fleetwood recreating his pose from the cover of Rumours, the band's most successful album, and Lindsey Buckingham holding the cane used on the cover of the Fleetwood Mac album, Rumours' predecessor.

This album spawned three singles in the USA: "Landslide", "The Chain" and "Silver Springs", and earned the band three Grammy nominations in 1998, in the categories "Best Pop Album", "Best Rock Performance by a Group or Duo with Vocal" for "The Chain" and "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "Silver Springs". A fourth single, "Temporary One," was released in some European markets.

Personnel
Fleetwood Mac
Stevie Nicks – vocals, tambourine
Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, banjo on "Say You Love Me", vocals
Christine McVie – keyboards, piano, vocals, accordion on "Tusk", tambourine on "Say You Love Me", maracas on "Everywhere"
John McVie – bass guitar, background vocals on "Say You Love Me"
Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion

Additional musicians
Brett Tuggle – keyboards, guitar, background vocals
Neale Heywood – guitar, background vocals
Lenny Castro – percussion
Sharon Celani – background vocals
Mindy Stein – background vocals
Dr. Arthur C. Bartner – director of the USC Trojan Marching Band

Tracklist
1. "The Chain" (Buckingham, Fleetwood, C. McVie, J. McVie, Nicks)
2. "Dreams" (Nicks)
3. "Everywhere" (C. McVie)
4. "Gold Dust Woman" (Nicks)
5. "I'm So Afraid" (Buckingham)
6. "Temporary One" (C. McVie, Quintela)
7. "Bleed to Love Her" (Buckingham)
8. "Gypsy" (Nicks)
9. "Big Love" (Buckingham)
10. "Go Insane" (Buckingham)
11. "Landslide" (Nicks)
12. "Say You Love Me" (C. McVie)
13. "You Make Loving Fun" (C. McVie)
14. "My Little Demon" (Buckingham)
15. "Silver Springs" (Nicks)
16. "Over My Head" (C. McVie)
17. "Rhiannon" (Nicks)
18. "Sweet Girl" (Nicks)
19. "Go Your Own Way" (Buckingham)
20. "Tusk" (Buckingham)
21. "Don't Stop" (C. McVie)
22. "Songbird" (C. McVie)

Version Control
The DVD is double sided with hires stereo on one side and 5.1Dolby Digital on the other. It was also releases on VHS ad laser disc, and there are multiple international versions of the DVD. It is still available new, but I settled for a used copy that I think I got for $15. Amazon. You can also stream this, but it’s stereo only.

The Concert Video

It 4:3 video with pretty poor DVD quality, but still better than VHS I guess. There is no main menu, and there is only one audio option on each side of the double sided disc.

"The Chain"
From Rumours. It’s a studio, but there is a small crowd of maybe 300 people. The stage is semi circular with Christine, Nicks, and Buckingham in front, John and Fleetwood in the back. The additional musicians are sprinkled around the sides of the main stage. Castro is behind Buckingham with addition percussion on the right, and there’s an acoustic guitar player behind McVie on the left. Seems to be a true surround mix with the additional musicians mixed to the rear – percussion and acoustic guitar for this song. The front three share lead vocals; the center channel is just another front speaker.

"Dreams"
From Rumours. Micks is sole lead vocalist, still distributed across the front. The two backing vocalists are to the right of the stage. I think they sing a bit on this one, but all I hear in the rear is acoustic guitar. There’s a second keyboard player over there too, which means the guitar player rear left must be Heywood.

"Everywhere"
From Tango in the Night. Christine comes up from behind her keyboard to sing lead, Nicks and Buckingham backing in front, also I think the side vocalists are mixed to the rear along with 2nd guitar.

"Gold Dust Woman"
From Rumours. Nicks singing lead, percussion and backing vocals in the rear.

"I'm So Afraid"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). Buckingham singing lead, Nicks backing, McVie on keys, plus keys in the rear - but it’s mainly a Buckingham and Fleetwood show.

"Temporary One"
New song. McVie singing lead from behind the keyboard, Nicks and Buckingham backing in front. Acoustic guitar and additional backing vocals in the rear.

"Bleed to Love Her"
New song. Buckingham playing acoustic and singing lead, additional acoustic guitar in rear.

"Gypsy"
From Mirage. Nicks singing lead, Buckingham backing, guitar and additional backing vocals in the rear.

"Big Love"
From Tango in the Night. Buckingham goes solo with acoustic guitar, and he’s mixed across the front.

"Go Insane"
From Lindsey Buckingham Go Insane. More of the same.

"Landslide"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). Buckingham on acoustic guitar and Nicks singing. Not a surround highlight either.

"Say You Love Me"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). The band is back, sort of. Christine in up front singing lead, Fleetwood is up front playing a single drum, Buckingham on banjo; John, Nicks, and Buckingham are backing in front, plus there’s some backing vocals in the rear.

"You Make Loving Fun"
From Rumours. Christine singing from behind the keyboard, Buckingham has an electric guitar again, percussion and backing vocals in the rear.

"My Little Demon"
New song. Buckingham with lead vocals, Christine and Nicks backing, synth, percussion and guitar in the rear.

"Silver Springs"
Written for Rumours. Christine plays piano, Nicks sings, backing vocals and guitar in the rear, Buckingham plays a solo.

"Over My Head"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). Chiristine sings from behind the keyboard, Buckingham with acoustic guitar, Nicks backing in front, 2nd acoustic guitar and additional backing vocals in rear,

"Rhiannon"
From Fleetwood Mac (1975). Christine piano and backing vocals in front, Nicks singing lead, Buckingham with electric guitar, backing vocals and keyboards in the rear.

"Sweet Girl"
New song. Buckingham with acoustic guitar, Nicks singing, 2nd acoustic guitar and backing vocals in rear

"Go Your Own Way"
From Rumours. The men start it off, with Buckingham playing electric. Buckingham sings lead, Chiristine and Nicks backing in front, acoustic guitar and additional backing vocals in rear. End of set

"Tusk"
From Tusk. They come back, Fleetwood starts it off with extra percussion in the rear. Buckingham sings lead, Christine has an accordian. Then the USC marching band shows up with drummers lined up surround the drum kit and horns and woodwinds behind the stage - and as you might expect the horns are mixed to the rear.

"Don't Stop"
From Rumours. The woodwinds move down in front of the stage, but the drummers stay and about half the horns too. Christine plays piano, Buckingham and Christine share lead, Buckingham with electric guitar, horns and band drums in the rear. Can’t hear the woodwinds at all. The band members leave with the USC folks still playing from the rear speakers.

"Songbird"
From Rumours. Christine comes back and plays solo. All in front.
________

The video looks like something that was recorded for 4:3 tube TVs, but other than that it’s a fine reunion concert done while all the members were in fine form. Nicks might be better than ever. I pretty much lost interest in Fleetwood Mac after Rumours, but this is a fine compilation of Nicks-Buckingham era material: A large sampling of both Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, a smattering of material from their later albums, plus a few new songs. Not much of a stage show, and I don't like the fact that the additional musicians are all but invisible.

I have to agree with @J_Surround that the volume level in the back needs a boost – even though it’s a discrete mix, the volume in the rear is pretty faint. After ripping and editing (+4dB to the rears) the nineteen tracks with a surround mix (I left the three solo tracks alone), the backing vocals and percussion in the rear can be heard distinctly, and “My Little Demon” is turned into a surround classic. Maybe I over did it with the two marching band tracks; the horns were pretty loud already, but I like it.

I ripped the stereo side too. The audio outshines the video on this one.

Music – 3.0
Sound quality – 2 (but there is PCM stereo)
Video presentation – 2
Video quality – 2
Surround – 2 (3 with a boost to the rears)
Click to expand...

I really enjoyed this when it came out. Somehow it isn't on my shelf anymore ...

mark winstanley · Mar 27, 2021

Michael Schenker Group - Immortal

MSG* ‎– Immortal
Label: Nuclear Blast ‎– NB 5162-0, Nuclear Blast ‎– 27361 51620
Format: CD, Album Blu-ray, Stereo All Media, Digipak
Country: Europe
Released: 29 Jan 2021
Genre: Rock
Style: Hard Rock

CD-1 –MSG* Drilled To Kill 4:31
CD-2 –MSG* Don't Die On Me Now 4:52
CD-3 –MSG* Knight Of The Dead 4:05
CD-4 –MSG* After The Rain 4:26
CD-5 –MSG* Devil's Daughter 4:20
CD-6 –MSG* Sail The Darkness 3:37
CD-7 –MSG* The Queen Of Thorns And Roses 4:03
CD-8 –MSG* Come On Over 4:19
CD-9 –MSG* Sangria Morte 4:16
CD-10 –MSG* In Search Of The Peace Of Mind 6:27
Live At Bang Your Head 2019
BD-1 –Michael Schenker Fest Holiday
BD-2 –Michael Schenker Fest Doctor Doctor
BD-3 –Michael Schenker Fest Into The Arena
BD-4 –Michael Schenker Fest Ready To Rock
BD-5 –Michael Schenker Fest Attack Of The Mad Axeman
BD-6 –Michael Schenker Fest Messin Around
BD-7 –Michael Schenker Fest Armed And Ready
BD-8 –Michael Schenker Fest Coast To Coast
BD-9 –Michael Schenker Fest Dancer
BD-10 –Michael Schenker Fest Desert Song
BD-11 –Michael Schenker Fest Night Moods
BD-12 –Michael Schenker Fest Assault Attack
BD-13 –Michael Schenker Fest Captain Nemo
BD-14 –Michael Schenker Fest Save Yourself
BD-15 –Michael Schenker Fest Anytime
BD-16 –Michael Schenker Fest Heart & Soul
BD-17 –Michael Schenker Fest Love Is Not A Game
BD-18 –Michael Schenker Fest Vigilante Man
BD-19 –Michael Schenker Fest Lord Of The Lost And Lonely
BD-20 –Michael Schenker Fest Girl With The Stars In Her Eyes
BD-21 –Michael Schenker Fest Take Me To The Church
BD-22 –Michael Schenker Fest Warrior
BD-23 –Michael Schenker Fest Rock Bottom
BD-24 –Michael Schenker Fest Shoot Shoot
BD-25 –Michael Schenker Fest Natural Thing
BD-26 –Michael Schenker Fest Lights Out
------------------------------------------------------------
I bought this essentially for the bluray, which is slightly disappointingly just a stereo soundtrack.

The album is ok. It is essentially the same kind of stuff we have heard from Schenker in years prior. I'm not dismissing it, I have only heard it once, and it left me thinking I would prefer to put on Assault Attack or even one of the Temple Of Rock albums.... but that's fine. I am sure some hardcore Schenker fans will find something to like about the album, and perhaps I may revisit it and it may grab me.... but that's not why we're here.

It's the bluray that appealed to me, because it looked like a great setlist, so I rolled the dice.

Available at Nuclear Blast MSG (MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP) - Immortal DIGIPAK
There is a single cd/bluray, which is what I have.
There is also a 3cd/bluray, which has the bluray concert on cd also.
the single cd/bluray is on discogs from about $12 MSG – Immortal (2021, CD)

This may be a bit of a hit and run affair, as I am not sure how much time I have.... but anyway, here we go.

This opens with some of the typical video type things, and then we move to the stage, and Michael introduces himself and reminisces about some recent deaths.

He then goes on to sing and play Holiday. I've never heard him sing before, but he does a good job.
Then he introduces the band and then they launch into Doctor Doctor.
Graham Bonnet comes out for the first verse. Two other singers come out. Gary Barden is the first... not sure who the third guy is.
Goes well anyway.

Into The Arena comes in, and this is Schenker's bread and butter. Just some nice guitar playing framed in a good piece of rock music.

Are You Ready To Rock
Barden comes out to sing this.
He does a good job, but he has obviously aged.

The video quality is solid. It's clear, crisp bluray... not the ultra sharp, super hi-def, but clear crisp and solid.

Attack of the Mad Axeman, has Barden continue. The third guy comes out for the bridge, couldn't catch the name McCrory?

The audio is pretty good. Lpcm 2.o 48/16.
This is straight live, no overdubs, or "fixing". Everything is audible solid bottom end, and Schenker's guitar isn't buried. Not hi-def studio, but very acceptable live at a festival audio.

Messin Around and Armed and Ready come into the picture, with Barden still on the mic.

The video is edit pretty well. We get some changes of angle and such, but it isn't that A.D.D. editing that is seizure inducing. It could probably change shots less, but it isn't bad at all.

Coast To Coast. Michael seems a little annoyed at Rudolph for stealing some some songwriting credits, and that's how we are introduced here.

Dancer has Graham Bonnet coming out.
The timbre of his voice is quite remarkably, seemingly unchanged. It's not a perfect vocal, but for actually live, and at an outdoor festival ... and what is he, 70 years old, it's good.

Desert Song is next up.
Bonnet nails this one, sounds excellent.
For somebody's grandad he really knocks it out of the park, and he engages the crowd, who don't hesitate to join in.

Night Moods is a good vocal.
Schenker is on the money all the way do far.

Assault Attack has Bonnet slapping down another excellent vocal.

Captain Nemo has Schenker taking the spotlight with one of his best instrumental tracks, for me at least.
The second guitarist also plays the keyboard parts.

Schenker knocks out a nice neo-classical solo to intro Save Yourself... ok the third singer is Robin Mcauley... this guys voice is still strong.
This sing comes over well.

Anytime comes on and again Mcauley lays down an excellent vocal.

Heart and Soul is a new song here, with Mcauley still on vocals.
On quite a few of the songs here, one of the guys sings lead, and the other two run the backing vocals.

Love Is Not A Game has Mcauley still on vocals, and he really does have a good set pipes. We have a fourth singer on stage doing back up vocals now... Doogie White.

Vigilante Man has Doogie taking the vocals, and his vocals are solid.

Lord Of The Lost And Lonely, this is a pretty cool recent song from the Temple Of Rock albums. Doogie on vocals and still solid.

Girl with the Stars in her Eyes has Doogie continuing.

Take Me To The Church has an organ intro, and Doogie revving up the crowd.

Warrior has Barden and Schenker on their own for the intro. I really like the guitar part. Barden sings it well.
The main body of the song comes in and Barden, Mcauley and Doogies rotate lines.
Then Bonnet sings the chorus lines into between the Warrior chants.
It actually works pretty well. Barden pulls a little extra fuel out of the tank.

Rock Bottom has Mcauley come out for the vocal.
Barden takes the second verse.
Schenker is one of those ageless guitarists, if you like his euro-metal style, he hasn't lost any of his flair or ability, and of course, this is one of his signature lead break tracks, where live he normally has a bit of improv and such. Here is no exception, he plays some really nice stuff.

The backing band is solid, and if some names come up I'll write them down.

After a nice extended lead Doogie comes out for the next verse to lead us out.
Schenker takes some pictures of the crowd while rolling out some nice one handed lead stuff. Then we get some more lead on the outro, and Michael thanks everyone and we get a bit of a drum lead over the sustained outro chord.
The band does the lined up bow ... and Schenker asks if everyone wants another song.

Shoot Shoot comes roaring in wit Mcaulry on the vocals. Solid version.

Natural Thing has Doogie, and it comes over pretty well. The second guitarist takes a nice lead, and Schenker follows him.

Lights Out has Bonnet come out for the vocal. Then Barden. Then Mcauley.
All singing the chorus in unison.
Doogie comes out for the last verse.

This is a pretty solid bluray. It isn't a high production number, it is seemingly an afterthought that they filmed well and were happy enough to put out as a bonus with the album. I think any hardcore Schenker fan would probably be happy with it, it's nice to have some of the original singers, singing some of their songs in this kind of a career, overview, celebration, or whatever.
As I say the video quality is very good, and the editing isn't perfect, from my perspective, but isn't generally that A.D.D. editing that tries to pump the show up by freaking out the viewer.
The audio is pretty solid, but a little muddy live. The rhythm guitars can get a little swampy on occasion, but most importantly the leads are all clear. The bottom end is solid, and I didn't check if the sub was going to be honest, but it had that thuddy sub sound about it.
These are some old singers, and for the most part they all carry off their vocals well. Doogie just sounds like Doogie. Mcauley is new to me, and he has a very strong voice. Bonnet is pretty solid, he has a couple of slightly shaky spots, but mostly surprisingly good. Barden probably struggles the most, but he is a slightly different type of singer to the other three. He ends up doing what needs to be done, and certainly doesn't disgrace himself, and in a couple of spots seemingly surrounded by power singers, he pulls some good stuff pout of the bag.
If Euro-metal and particularly Schenker is in your wheelhouse, I think this is a nice disc to have, not sure it will get played a lot, but I reckon it will get played..... Whereas the other bluray we looked at, is a fairly big sort of produced concert, this one is a little more raw, but for me it has a better setlist ....
That's probably about the best I can sum it up.
The album doesn't suck. It is just that for the first and only listen I had so far, it just sounded a little out of it's time.... but I have only heard half of it once, so I am not going to write that in blood.
At about $12 on discogs, I reckon it's probably worth it.

Oh I forgot, the concert is just over two hours I think.

I don't think there is anything on youtube at the moment ... this is from the concert, but not the official footage, nor audio ... just crowd shot....

riskylogic · Mar 28, 2021

The Way Up - Live

Live Performance by Pat Metheny Group
Released 2006
Recorded April 2005
Venue LG Arts Center, Seoul, Korea
Genre Jazz Fusion
Length 70 minutes
Label Eagle Vision
Producer Pat Metheny

The Way Up - Live is a live performance of the studio album The Way Up with no additional material.

Personnel
Pat Metheny – Guitar
Lyle Mays – Piano, Keyboards Drums, Xylophone
Steve Rodby –Guitar Bass, Violin, Cello
Antonio Sanchez – Drums, Xylophone
Richard Bona – Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
Gregoire Maret – Harmonica
Cuong Vu – Whistle, Trumpet, Vocals

Tracklist
1 Opening
2 Part One
3 Part Two
4 Part Three

Version Control
Released on both DVD and Bluray in 2006. Still available new. Amazon.

The Concert Video
Excellent bluray video and the 5.1 mix comes in both DD and DTS-HD.

“Opening”
Starts with percussion in center and rear - it’s definitely a surround mix of some sort. The rest of the band comes in and there’s also keys in the rear. Most of the camera shots are close ups; it may take me a while to figure out the stage layout. OK, it’s Mays, Metheny, and Sanchez in front (yep, drums in front). The other four guys are in back, Rodby with a stand up string bass on the left. Mays has two keyboards and a real piano – he often plays two at once. This is the only short track, so the clip goes here:

“Part One”
Maret starts off with a toy xylophone. A lot of trumpet in the rear, but it’s not completely discrete. I think this has to be characterized as an immersive mix. Vu has his trumpet hooked up to some electronics and makes some weird noises. Then a duet from Metheny and Mays, and it’s Metheny in center + rear. Followed by lengthy Metheny and May solos, and a shorter one from Vu.

“Part Two”
Metheny starts it off with his mounted acoustic guitar, Rodby playing electric bass, then Maret harmonica which sounds like a synthesizer. Metheny and Rodby go back to normal as the rest of the band comes in. More Mays on piano. Then percussion heavy sequence with Rodby back on electric bass and trumpet from Vu. More harmonica which shows up in the rear, then Metheny returns to the acoustic guitar, Rodby returns to string bass. Metheny back to electric guitar for solo. Then back to acoustic guitar while Mays plays piano, and we get some backing vocals from the guys in back. They’re mixed in front though.

“Part Three”
Mays on piano and Rodby string bass start it, then drums, percussion and Metheny on electric guitar. Maret plays a little guitar while the other two guys percuss. More vocals from Vu and Bona. Restart with May, Metheny, and Sanchez playing guitar, Rodby playing with bow. Fade out with Metheny playing solo, but Rodby plucks the last note.
________

I’m just a casual fan of Metheny and jazz fusion in general. I do have several albums of his that I don’t listen to very much. Which means this concert is unlike anything else I have on the video shelf, and it’s very nice for a change.

This is a performance of their last studio album that might as well be a studio recording: Lots of great musicianship on display, but there nothing else in the way of a stage show.

The surround mix seems to use the center channel and the rear speakers to feature the lead instrument. That makes it a nice ambient mix worthy of a point.

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

riskylogic · Mar 28, 2021

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
Anathema – A Sort of Homecoming / Live Performance / Rating: 16
Arcade Fire – Live At Earls Court / Live Performance / Rating: 15
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
Barclay James Harvest ‎– Berlin (A Concert For The People) / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
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
Big Big Train – Empire / Live Performance / Rating: 17
Birtles Shorrock Goble ‎– Full Circle / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Blackfield – NYC: Live in New York City / Live Performance / Rating: 13
Blackmore, Richie – Blackmore's Night ‎– A Knight In York / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Blackmore, Richie – Memories In Rock - Live In Germany / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Blue Öyster Cult – Live 1976 / Live Performance / Rating: 9
Blue Öyster Cult – 40th Anniversary - Agents Of Fortune - Live 2016 / Studio Performance / Rating: 14 &
Blue Öyster Cult – 45th Anniversary - Live in London / Live Performance / Rating: 16
Bruford – Rock Goes to College / Live Performance / Rating: 12
Byrne, David – American Utopia / Live Performance / Rating: 15

Camel – Moondances / Live Performance / Rating: 11-12
Camel – In From the Cold / Live Performance / Rating: 14
Camel – Live At The Royal Albert Hall / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Cave, Nick – Once More With Feeling / Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley)
Church, The – Future Past Perfect / Live Performance / Rating: 13&
Cheap Trick – Silver / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
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
Cocker, Joe – Fire It Up Live / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
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&
Devo – Hardcore Devo Live! / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Dido – Live at Brixton Academy / Live Performance / Rating: 13
Djabe (and Steve Hackett) – Summer Storms and Rocking Rivers / 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 – Score / Live Performance /Rating: 13
Dream Theater – Distance Over Time / Video Collection /Rating: 13*&
Dream Theater – Distant Memories - Live In London / Live Performance /Rating: 15
Dylan, Bob – No Direction Home / Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley)

Eagles – Hell Freezes Over / Live Performance /Rating: 16 (@Yankeefan01)
Eagles – Live from the Forum MMXVIII / Live Performance /Rating: 14
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
Fleetwood Mac – The Dance / Studio Performance / Rating: 14
Flying Colors – Second Flight: Live At The Z7 / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)

Gabriel, Peter – Live in Athens 1987 / Live Performance / Rating: 15
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 – Still Growing Up: Live / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Gabriel, Peter – New Blood - Live In London / Live Performance / Rating: 14 &
(The J.) Geils Band ‎– House Party Live In Germany / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
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 – Remember That Night / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Gilmour, David – Live in Gdańsk / Live Performance / Rating: 13
Gilmour, David – Live at Pompeii / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Glass, Philip – Koyaanisqatsi / Movie / Rating: 15 &
Glass, Philip – Powaqqatsi / Movie / Rating: 13
Glass, Philip – Naqoyqatsi / Movie / Rating: 17
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 – Wuthering Nights: Live In Birmingham / Live Performance / Rating: 16
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 *&
Holdsworth, Allan – I.O.U. ‎- Live in Japan 1984 / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Hiromi – Move: Live In Tokyo / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)

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)

Jarre, Jean Michel – Oxygene: Live In Your Living Room / Studio Performance/ Rating: 14
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
Katatonia – Last Fair Day Gone Night / Live Performance / Rating: 13
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
King Crimson – Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind / Live Performance / Rating: 16
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
Led Zeppelin – DVD, Part 1: Live at The Royal Albert Hall / Live Performance / Rating: 11
Led Zeppelin – DVD, Part 2: 1972-1979 / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Lee, Albert – Tearing it Up / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)

Magma – Theusz Hamtaahk: Trilogie au Trianon / Live Performance (@Sordel)
Magma – Mythes et Legendes Epok 1 / Live Performance (@Sordel)
Magma – Mythes et Legendes Epok 2 / Live Performance (@Sordel)
Magma – Mythes et Legendes Epok III / Live Performance (@Sordel)
Magma – Mythes et Legendes Epok IV / Live Performance (@Sordel)
Magma – Mythes et Legendes Epok V / Live Performance (@Sordel)
Magma – Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré Trilogie / Live Performance (@Sordel) / Rating: 12
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
Marillion – All One Tonight - Live At The Royal Albert Hall / Live Performance / Rating: 16
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 / Video Collection ( @mark winstanley) / Rating: 13-14
McCartney, Paul – The McCartney Years, Vol 3 / Concert Performances / Rating: 12-16
(Pat) Metheny Group – The Way Up - Live / Live Performance / Rating: 14
Midnight Oil – Best of Both Worlds / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Midnight Oil – Armistice Day / Live Performance / Rating: 16&
Moody Blues – Lovely to See You: Live / Live Performance / Rating: 14
Motörhead ‎– Stage Fright / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Mozart, Wolfgang – Amadeus / Movie / Rating: 15

Nightwish – Vehicle of Spirit / Live Performance / Rating: 14
No-Man – Mixtaped / Live Performance / Rating: 16
Opeth – The Roundhouse Tapes / Live Performance / Rating: 12

(The Alan) Parsons Symphonic Project – Live in Colombia / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating: 16
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 – Delicate Sound of Thunder / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Pink Floyd – The Endless River / Video Collection / Rating: 9
Police, The – Every Breath You Take / Video Collection ( @mark winstanley)
Police, The – Certifiable: Live in Buenos Aires / Live Performance / Rating: 17
Porcupine Tree – Arriving Somewhere... / Live Performance / Rating: 16 - 17
Porcupine Tree – Anesthetize / Live Performance / Rating: 18
Presley, Elvis – That's The Way It Is / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Presley, Elvis – '68 Comeback Special / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Pretenders, The – Loose in L.A. / Live Performance / Rating: 14

Rainbow ‎– Live Between The Eyes / The Final Cut / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
R.E.M – Road Movie / Live Performance / Rating: 11
Rolling Stones & Various Artists – Rock and Roll Circus / Studio Performance / Rating: 14
Rolling Stones – Steel Wheels Live / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Rolling Stones – Some Girls: Live in Texas '78 / Concert Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating: 16
Roxy Music – The High Road / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Roxy Music – Live at the Apollo / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Rush – Exit ..... Stage Left / Live Performance (@mark winstanley) / Rating:14
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) / Rating: 16
Rush – R40 Live / Live Performance / Rating: 15

Santana – Santana IV Live At The House Of Blues Las Vegas / Live Performance / Rating: 15&
Scaggs, Boz – Greatest Hits Live / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Schenker, Michael – On A Mission - Live In Madrid / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Schenker, Michael – Immortal / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Setzer, Brian – Rockabilly Riot! Osaka Rocka! / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Simple Minds – Acoustic In Concert / Live Performance / Rating: 12-13
Soundgarden ‎– Live From The Artists Den / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Springsteen, Bruce – The River Tour / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Steely Dan – Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party / Studio Performance / Rating: 16
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
Talking Heads – True Stories / Movie / Rating: 12-14
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
Townsend, Devin – Live At The Royal Albert Hall / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Townsend, Devin – Order of Magnitude - Empath Live Volume 1 / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Transatlantic – Whirld Tour 2010 / Live Performance / Rating: 12
Transatlantic – The Absolute Universe / Video Collection / Rating: 16

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
Who, The – Tommy / Movie / Rating: 14
Who, The – The Kids Are Alright / Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley ) / Rating: 11-15
Who, The – Live At Shea Stadium 1982 / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Who, The - Live in Boston / Concert Performance (@mark winstanley )
Wilson, Steven –Get All You Deserve/ Live Performance / Rating: 15
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

YACHT - Chain Tripping / Video Collection / 13
Yello – Live in Berlin / Live Performance (@jamesc) / Rating: 16
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.

riskylogic · Apr 3, 2021

Curætion-25

Live Performance by The Cure
Released 18 Oct 2019
Recorded 24 June 2018
Venue The Royal Festival Hall, London
Genre New Wave, Goth rock
Directed by Nick Wickham
Produced by Robert Smith
Distributed by Eagle Vision, Universal Music Group

In 2018, The Cure performed two historic shows celebrating a 40-year career. CURÆTION-25: From There To Here, From Here To There captured on the tenth and final night of the 25th Meltdown Festival (curated by lead singer Robert Smith) at London’s Royal Festival performing two songs from each of their 13 studio albums in chronological order, plus a pair of unreleased tracks. I’ll cover ANNIVERSARY: 1978-2018 Live In Hyde Park at some later date.

Personnel
Robert Smith Voice/Guitar/6 String Bass
Simon Gallup Bass
Reeves Gabriels Guitar/6 String Bass
Jason Cooper Drums/Percussion
Roger O'Donnell Keyboards/Percussion

Track Listing
Set 1: From There to Here
1. Three Imaginary Boys
2. At Night
3. Other Voices
4. A Strange Day
5. Bananafishbones
6. A Night Like This
7. Like Cockatoos
8. Pictures Of You
9. High
10. Jupiter Crash
11. 39
12. Us Or Them
13. It's Over
14. It Can Never Be The Same

Set 2: From Here to There
15. Step Into The Light
16. The Hungry Ghost
17. Alt.End
18. The Last Day Of Summer
19. Want
20. From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
21. Disintegration
22. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
23. Sinking
24. Shake Dog Shake
25. One Hundred Years
26. Primary
27. A Forest
28. Boys Don't Cry

Version Control
This concert is part of a two disc set, which is available on either DVD or bluray. Box sets with CDs as well are also available. I have the 2 bluray set (but just covering the first disc here). Still available new. Amazon.

The Concert
The picture quality is excellent ultrawide screen video and the 5.1 audio is DTS-HD.

Set 1: From There To Here
“Three Imaginary Boys”
From Three Imaginary Boys and Boys Don’t Cry. This concert video has the same producer as Trilogy, and it looks like it. It’s bit on the dark side. Robert Smith is the old guy here at 59 and he has some grey hair and he might be a little pudgy, but doesn’t seem that that old otherwise. But like I say, it’s a bit dark. The lineup in front is Gabriels, Smith, Gallup, and O’Donnell, Cooper on drums in the back.

Anyway, this set runs from the early stuff to the recent stuff, and it starts out with a simple goth-punk-rocker. It once again seems like Wickham has a penchant for video editing because the screen temporarily collapses to grainy video with a 4:3 ratio. Hey, it’s 1979. The new guy (Gabriels) handles the guitar solo just fine.

The center channel seems to emphasize Smith vocals while the rears have pretty heavy reverb but nothing discrete.

“At Night”
From Seventeen Seconds. I love every song on this album. This is a mope-rock classic in my book. The keys are heavy in the back; it’s definitely a bit of a mix. Gallup plays lead bass.

“Other Voices”
From Faith. The screen in the back of the stage wasn’t really worth mentioning before, but it comes to life here, but the video goes to black and white. It seems to be generated by five projectors, each of which projects a vertical image – but since they are lined up side by side they end up presenting a horizontal image.

“A Strange Day”
From Pornography. Back to color, and the psychedelia from the back screen spills on the stage – more video editing trickery. Lots of reverb in the back again; this definitely qualifies as an ambient mix.

“Bananafishbones”
From The Top. RGB lighting on stage is accentuated with some video editing. The back screen takes a break.

“A Night Like This”
From The Head on the Door. The first set is supposedly comprised of “deep cuts”, but I think this is the best song on the album. Gabriels nails it. The back screen shows band members and the video editing is unremarkable.

“Like Cockatoos”
From Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. Smith starts out on lead bass, then sings, then watched the other guys play. Cooper playing synth drums in surround, everything else up front.

“Pictures Of You”
From Disintegration. Smith and Gallup play side by side, mellotron chorus in surround. Still normal video with the stage lit a little more than at the beginning. Gallup roams over to play with Gabriels.

“High”
From Wish. Blue sky on screen and blue lighting on stage. I think Gabriels has a six string bass like Smith does, which makes 3 bass guitars out there.

“Jupiter Crash”
From Wild Mood Swings. Some yellow lights to go with the blue, plus a dry ice cloud. Smith playing acoustic guitar. Mellotron in surround above and beyond the usual heavy reverb.

“39”
From Bloodflowers. Fire on the screen with red a yellow on stage with funky psychedelic video editing. Very cool, and I’d spend the embedded video here but I went with this song on Trilogy so I really should do something else. Lots of bass in the rear.

“Us Or Them”
From The Cure. The video goes black and white with a sporadic red tinge that might come from the back screen, but I think it must be edited in. Heavy keys in surround again.

“It's Over”
From 4:13 Dream. This is the one of the 13 albums I don’t have, nor do I think I’ve ever heard it. Back in color with lots of video distortion – Wickham is playing tricks again. Gabriels definitely has a real electric guitar and he’s localized in the left speaker.

“It Can Never Be The Same”
New song. Candle on screen, yellow lights on stage. Smith starts out with bass before switching to voice. Mellotron in surround again.

Set 2: From Here To There

“Step Into The Light”
ew song, new set. The warm has a little color, but once the song starts it goes straight to black and white. Looks like there’s some overhead lights that I don’t remember in the first set. I’m not impressed with either of the new songs.

“The Hungry Ghost”
From 4:13 Dream. Another new song for me, I like this one better. The overhead lights are mostly blue now (we’re back to color), but Wickham is messing around with double imaging.

“Alt.End”
From The Cure. Gabriels gets fancy for the first in a while, but Gallup is lead bass.

“The Last Day Of Summer”
From Bloodflowers. A lush very non-goth landscapewith a tree in the middle on the screen. The stage even seems almost brightly lit for once. Smith plays lead bass, at least before he gets around to singing. Mellotron in surround.

“Want”
From Wild Mood Swings. Great performance of a great song, but not a video highlight. [It is one of the video clip options]

“From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea”
From Wish. Green lights in front, blue and red behind. Not nearly as good of a song. Gallup still likes to play the bass off his knee, Gabriels wailing away again.
“Disintegration”
From Disintegration. Another great song, but reinterpreted a bit – bass is fuzzier. A microbiological theme on the back screen. Smith mostly just sings, Gabriels comes in second half. Less going in the rears for some reason. One of the two official video releases, and I’ll go with it:

“If Only Tonight We Could Sleep “
From Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. Band members on the screen but with weird filtration of some sort. Cooper and O’Donnell dominate the start, and I have to wonder why Smith plays a six-string bass when he mostly plays the four skinny strings anyway. Maybe what he really needs is a four string guitar. Anyway, the oriental refrain is all O’Donnell

“Sinking”
From The Head on the Door. Another Gallup classic, and yes he’s playing off his knee. Lots of reverb; especially mellotron, but also bass.

“Shake Dog Shake”
From The Top. Band members on screen; black and white very bright low contrast with one band member per subscreen. Video is color though.

“One Hundred Years”
From Pornography. This seems to have the same black and white with red tinge video scheme as “Us or Them”, but the back screen video seems to have a demented clown theme. Or maybe it’s nuclear holocaust - some flavor of grim anyway. Anyway, we’re getting back to the early albums, which means the really good stuff to me. Gabriels is awesome.

“Primary”
From Faith. Now we’re getting back into the really good stuff. Red and blue lighting scheme, band member shots flashing on back screen, Gallup playing his bass as if it were a dobro.

“A Forest”
From Seventeen Seconds. Probably my favorite Cure song. There’s a Steven Wilson cover, even. O’Donnell then Smith then the rest of the band. Just crowd noise in the rear at the beginning, but it goes ambient when the band kicks in. Green lighting scheme with lots of dry ice, Wickham goes with lots of double imaging that pulls the forest on the back screen onto the stage. Smith plays lead bass, but Gallup gets the last note. The high point of the concert for me, but I can’t find a clip.

“Boys Don't Cry”
From Boys Don’t Cry. Back to grainy 4:3 video and 1979, blue lighting. O’Donnell is playing tambourine and there isn’t much in the rear.
_______

That was fun concert. Most, but not all, of my favorite Cure albums are the early ones, so I enjoyed the beginning and the end the most. Lots of great stuff in between though.

The video editing is a little off putting at some points, but it is also really cool on others. The red tinge tracks and the psychedelic spill over from the screen onto the stage on a couple of tracks was were the video highlights.

It was also a very good audio performance – doesn’t seem like a band at it’s 40th anniversary all. That’s partly because they started early – the two old guys (Smith and Gallup) were still both under 60 at this point.

It’s not a discrete surround mix, but it’s a better than average ambient mix with lots of activity in the rear speakers.

Music – 2.5
Sound quality – 3
Video presentation – 3
Video quality – 3
Surround – 2

Even though there's another concert in the package, I already feel like I got my money's worth.

riskylogic · Apr 10, 2021

A Show of Hands

Concert Performance by Rush
Released 9 January 1989
Recorded April 21-24, 1988
Venue Birmingham N.E.C. Arena
Genre Progressive rock, hard rock
Length 74:22
Label Anthem
Producer Rush

A Show of Hands is a live album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1989. The songs on the CD were recorded at multiple venues, including Birmingham UK (7 of 14 tracks), Meadowlands NJ (2 tracks), New Orleans (2 tracks), Phoenix, (2 tracks) and San Diego (1 track). However, the video releases have a different tracklist and are entirely from the Birmingham performances of April 21-24, 1988 from the tour for the album Hold Your Fire.

Personnel
Geddy Lee – bass guitar, synthesizers, vocals
Alex Lifeson – electric and acoustic guitars, synthesizers
Neil Peart – drums, percussion

Track Listing

DVD Track Listing:
1 Intro / The Big Money
2 Marathon
3 Turn The Page
4 Prime Mover
5 Manhattan Project
6 Closer To The Heart
7 Red Sector A
8 Force Ten
9 Mission
10 Territories
11 The Rhythm Method (Drum Solo)
12 The Spirit Of Radio
13 Tom Sawyer
14 2112 / The Temples Of Syrinx / La Villa Strangiato / In The Mood

Version Control
The video was first released in 1989 on VHS and Laserdisc. It was released on DVD in 2006 as part of the Replay X3 box set (which is what I have), and in 2007 as a single disc. Discogs.

The Concert
The video quality isn’t as good as a DVD can be, but it’s widescreen and definitely a step above VHS – which makes it the best in the box set. The audio has DTS 5.1

"The Big Money"
From Power Windows, performance in Birmingham, UK. There’s a cartoon to start things off, but once we get to the concert it’s the standard Rush layout with Lifeson front left, Lee and his keyboard setup on the right, and Peart is center rear. Lee has a relatively large keyboard setup – three different sets of keys, which is more than he usually has. There’s a screen in the rear showing video that is barely visible, but the video is often briefly shown full screen in place of the concert footage. They are playing in a stadium – this ain’t the Birmingham Symphony Hall.

Geddy vocals in the center channel and lots of reverb in the rear, better than most Rush concerts.

"Marathon"
From Power Windows. Peart has really short hair, Lee really doesn’t, Lifeson splits the difference. Unlike the first song, Lee spends most of his time behind the keyboard on this one.

"Turn the Page"
From Hold Your Fire. Lee still being keyboard, but playing bass. He only ventures to the center of stage when he is neither singing nor playing keys – which often coincides with a Lifeson solo.

“Prime Mover”
From Hold Your Fire. Lee does have another microphone though. He spends this song at that one – no keys. No video on the screen this time; more stage lighting instead.

"Manhattan Project"
From Power Windows. Lee back to keyboards, and more cartoon video. But the cartoons give way to Einstein and friends making a big bomb, and Lee plays a little bass.

"Closer to the Heart"
From A Farewell to Kings. Lifeson starts with an acoustic guitar, Lee out from behind the keyboards. Peart comes in, Lifeson goes electric, Lee plays a bass solo.

"Red Sector A"
From Grace Under Pressure. Lee back at the keyboards playing two at once. Laser light show, no video. Peart wearing headphones and what looks like a leather helmet that he didn’t have on before. Maybe it was getting too loud back there. Lifeson takes over after Lee finishes singing.

"Force Ten"
From Hold Your Fire. Another cartoon. Lee behind the keyboards, but he’s mostly playing bass. Pretty sure there’s some preprogrammed keyboards in the mix.

"Mission"
From Hold Your Fire. Lee playing mostly keyboards, Lifeson solo, cartoon at the end

“Territories”
From Power Windows. Lifeson and Peart start it off – Peart no longer has the headgear. Lee plays both keyboards and bass, he does get out from behind the keyboard for a bit. Lifeson is apparently providing backing vocals for not the first time, but I can never hear him.

"The Rhythm Method"
Peart Drum Solo. Lee and Lifeson get to take a break even though it seems Peart would seem to be most in need of one.

“The Spirit Of Radio”
From Permanent Waves. Lifeson is back, and so is Lee on bass. Shouldn’t need keyboards for the rest of this set list.

“Tom Sawyer”
From Moving Pictures. Another cartoon, the best of the bunch. Lee back over by the keyboards again, but mostly playing bass. Short flurry on keys near the end. End of set.

“2112 / The Temples Of Syrinx / La Villa Strangiato / In The Mood”
From 2112/Hemispheres/Fly By Night. Encore time. Nice reverb echo in the rear. Lifeson and Lee spend more time than usual playing side by side in the middle of the stage, which means Lee is sticking to bass, of course. Crowd vocals in surround. Lifeson shows off, Lee back to the keyboard for a bit, and a final cartoon.
Here’s the 2112 segment – it’s from the VHS release. The DVD video quality is much better,, and it's widescreen:

______

The set list is dominated by songs from Power Windows and (CAD converted to USD), neither of which are among my favorite Rush albums. The end of the concert is the standard fare that they almost have. The stage show was pretty mediocre, and I can’t get excited about the videos. That means I have six other Rush concert videos that I prefer to this one. The video quality is better than the other DVDs in the box set (Rush – Exit ..... Stage Left and Rush – Grace Under Pressure Tour, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the newer blurays. It does have one of the better surround mixes though.

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

mark winstanley · Apr 10, 2021

riskylogic said: ↑

A Show of Hands
Click to expand...

I have to say that I really liked this dvd, even though I was kind of expecting not to. at the time I got it

riskylogic · Apr 10, 2021

"(CAD converted to USD)"

How the hell did that get in there instead of Hold Your Fire? I did my tax return two weeks ago.

jamesc · Apr 10, 2021

riskylogic said: ↑

"(CAD converted to USD)"

How the hell did that get in there instead of Hold Your Fire? I did my tax return two weeks ago.
Click to expand...

I just assumed that was the working title for Hold Your Fire.

mark winstanley · Apr 10, 2021

jamesc said: ↑

I just assumed that was the working title for Hold Your Fire.
Click to expand...

I just scratched my head and moved along lol

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