Live on Saturdays: Video Reviews and Summaries

There's Know Place Like Home



Live Performance by Kansas
Released October 13, 2009
Recorded February 7, 2009
Venue Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas
Genre Progressive rock
Length 104 min.
Label Star City Records (US), InsideOut Music (Europe)
Director Steve Angus
Producer Jeff Glixman, Jim Gentile, Kansas, Tom Gregory, Steve Angus

There's Know Place Like Home is Kansas' fifth live album. It was released as a double CD and also on DVD on October 13, 2009 and Blu-ray on November 23, 2009. The DVD charted at No. 5 on the Billboard Music DVD chart the week of its release, Kansas's only appearance on that chart.[citation needed]

There's Know Place Like Home is a recording of a concert that took place on February 7, 2009 in Topeka, Kansas at Washburn University (which several members of Kansas attended) along with the Washburn University Symphony Orchestra. The concert featured several orchestral arrangements by Larry Baird of Kansas songs (Baird also served as conductor for this concert) - arrangements the band has been playing with symphony orchestras around the US since the release of 1998's Always Never the Same which featured the London Symphony Orchestra accompanying the band.

The cover features the old man depicted on the cover of Leftoverture and the papers around him with a black background.

Personnel
Kansas
Steve Walsh - keyboards, lead vocals
Rich Williams - lead guitar, acoustic guitar
David Ragsdale - violin, electric guitar, backing vocals
Billy Greer - bass guitar, acoustic guitar, lead and backing vocals
Phil Ehart - drums, director

Guest musicians
Larry Baird - conductor, orchestral arrangements
Kerry Livgren - guitar
Steve Morse – guitar
Washburn University Symphony Orchestra

Track Listing (for DVD and bluray)
No. Title Length
1. "Howlin' at the Moon" (excerpt from "Magnum Opus") 3:40
2. "Belexes" 5:43
3. "Point of Know Return" 3:25
4. "Song for America" 9:29
5. "On the Other Side" 7:51
6. "Musicatto" (orchestral arrangements by Andrew Powell) 3:22
7. "Ghosts/Rainmaker" 4:32
8. "Nobody's Home" 4:55
9. "Hold On" 5:07
10. "Cheyenne Anthem" 7:34
11. "Icarus II" 6:57
12. "Icarus: Borne on Wings of Steel" 6:37
13. "Miracles Out of Nowhere" 6:40
14. "The Wall" 5:51
15. "Fight Fire with Fire" 4:20
16. "Dust in the Wind" 4:13
17. "Carry On Wayward Son" 6:50

Version Control
There’s a US single CD version, a 2 CD European version, 2 different DVD versions, a 2CD + DVD version, and a bluray version. I have the Starcity US DVD. I’ve had it for a while, but I don’t think I got it when it was first released. I have no idea if the specs on the bluray are better, but it is available new from Amazon.

The Concert
We’ve got widescreen DVD video with DTS surround. So this is a 35th anniversary concert. Ehart and Williams are the only two members who have been in the group continuously. Walsh left and came back. Original violinist Robby Steinhardt left, came back, and left again with Ragsdale replacing him both times. Livgren left, came back, and left again – but he makes a guest appearance here. Greer replaced original bass player Dave Hope in 1985.

The surround seems to be quad with a “concert hall”mix – the orchestra is heavily featured in the rear channels. Sounds good, but there’s nothing discrete in the back.

"Howlin' at the Moon" (excerpt from "Magnum Opus")
From Leftoverture. This excerpt from their stone cold prog classic plays with clips of the concert being setup, but we finally join the concert in pregress. Ragsdale on lead electric violin is front and center. Walsh and Ehart are behind him, Williams in front on the left, while Greer is over on the right. The Washburn University Orchestra is behind the rest of the band. The stage is swathed in blue light. Now, if it weren’t for the orchestra, Ragsdale would just be THE violin player, but here we have a whole bunch of them. Ragsdale does start out playing solo, but the rest of the band and the orchestra joins in. We get a guitar solo from Williams, then Walsh vocals, Greer finishes with the wolf howl.

"Belexes"
From s/t debut. I think I started with Song for America, but I got all of the first three albums in a short time span and played them all a lot. Haven’t heard it in ages, but I know this song like the back of my hand. The crowd seems to know it too. A concerto for violin and guitar.

"Point of Know Return"
From Point of Know Return. The mighty fine but not quite as good album after Leftoverture. This was a big hit song of sorts, but you know what- the last song was much better.

"Song for America"
From Song for America. Orchestra leads off, I’m thinking there’s an Aaron Copland angle here. The lead violin is up front, but orchestra has earns its keep here. Concert video gives way to industrial imagery. That was awesome. “Miracles Out of Nowhere” (light show) and “Carry On Wayward Son” (with Livgren) would also be excellent choices, but this one shows off the orchestra:



"On the Other Side"
From Monolith. I had this album as an LP, but it’s not one I replaced with a CD. At his point, the musical trajectory of Kansas reminds me of Journey. The songs may be more polished, but their earlier stuff is so much more interesting. Williams and Ragsdale seem to be noodling instead of playing. Nice finish from Williams with orchestral backup.

"Musicatto"
From Power. Now we’re into Kansas territory that I am unfamiliar with. Steve Morse was a member of the band briefly, and comes on for a reprise. I am reminded of Journey once again; Morse seems to be a reasonable facsimile of Neil Schon.

"Ghosts/Rainmaker"
From In the Spirit of Things. Ragsdale start off, Walsh vocals and keyboards, strings from the orchestra, Morse is still in the mix. Ragsdale and Williams finally get involved, which is where it gets a little interesting.

"Nobody's Home"
From Point of Know Return. Another orchestral intro, Ragsdale steps back to play with Walsh and the orchestra, Williams with acoustic guitar. Livgren is on stage for this one, but it’s hard to notice: This one’s been heavily rearranged for orchestra.

"Hold On"
From Audio-Visions. Livgren is more active on this one, so is Ragsdale. I’m still thinking Journey. That’s it for Livgren.

"Cheyenne Anthem"
From Leftoverture. Back to the classics. Williams acoustic, Greer with colead vocals, Walsh with synth, and the strings are in surround.

"Icarus II"
From Somewhere to Elsewhere. This is introduced as a tribute to military heroes, and there are B17 bomber clips to go with it – one of which goes down in flames. Also seems be dominated by the orchestra. I don’t get the connection to Icarus I, but it goes straight into it.

"Icarus: Borne on Wings of Steel"
From Masque. Classic prog rock again. Yay. “Without my wings I would surely die” Ok, there is a connection. But it still seems like Icarus I should come first.

"Miracles Out of Nowhere"
From Leftoverture. Another classic, with Greer colead vocals again. Ragsdale plays lead violin, but the often lets him take a break. Williams starts out with acoustic then switches to electric. A few red lights appear among the blue ones and then they go purple and green.

"The Wall"
From Leftoverture. After into with whole band, Walsh plays piano solo, starts singing and is joined by the orchestra. Very nice. Ragsdale is just another violin player – the orchestra dominates the mix.

"Fight Fire with Fire"
From Drastic Measures. The run of 70’s classics stops, and I’m thinking Journey again. This album didn’t have Walsh in the lineup, but he seems to cover lead vocals just fine.

"Dust in the Wind"
From Point of Know Return. Classic hit song. Williams starts out with acoustic guitar, orchestra very active again. Morse back out on stage with electric violin, Livgren with acoustic guitar. Greer backing vocals.

"Carry On Wayward Son"
From Leftoverture. Walsh and Greer with colead vocals and split screen. Livgren on electric guitar. Williams plays acoustic. Ragsdale switches to guitar. The orchestra sits it out as Livgren finishes with a flaming solo.
_______

Even though it’s a 35th anniversary concert, the musicianship is excellent. The material from the 70’s was what I enjoyed the most, of course, but the rest of it pretty decent too. However, I could skip from “Song for America” to “Cheyenne Anthem” with missing anything important. It’s a great show with an orchestra and the surround is just good enough to scrape by for a point.

Music – 2.5
Sound quality – 3
Video presentation – 3
Video quality – 2 (bluray presumably worth an extra point)
Surround – 2

 

The Absence of Presence


Studio album by Kansas
Released July 17, 2020
Length 47:21
Label Inside Out
Producer Zak Rizvi, Phil Ehart, Rich Williams

The Absence of Presence is the sixteenth studio album by American progressive rock band Kansas. The album was originally due to be released on June 26, 2020,[2] but due to manufacturing delays the release date was postponed to July 17, 2020. It is their fourth studio album without founding member, lead vocalist and keyboardist Steve Walsh, who retired from the band in 2014; the other three being 1982's Vinyl Confessions, 1983's Drastic Measures and 2016's The Prelude Implicit. It is their second album with lead vocalist and keyboardist Ronnie Platt and guitarist Zak Rizvi. It is the first album with keyboardist Tom Brislin, who replaced former keyboardist David Manion.

The Absence of Presence serves as a follow-up of The Prelude Implicit, but unlike that album, The Absence of Presence was written entirely by the band. The bulk of the songwriting duties were carried out by the band's newest members, Zak Rivzi (who wrote the music for 6 of the 9 songs) and Tom Brislin (who wrote the music for the other 3 songs, plus lyrics for 6 songs), with other lyric contributions by Ronnie Platt (2 songs) and founding member Phil Ehart (4 songs). Ehart also came up with the album title, as well as at least three of the song titles (the title track, "Throwing Mountains",[4] and "Animals on the Roof"), which gave Brislin a concept to work with. The Absence of Presence marks the debut lead vocal from Brislin, making the total number of lead vocalists in the band at three, a feature not seen since Somewhere to Elsewhere. The album's recording sessions took place contemporaneously with the band's tour cycle.

Personnel
Ronnie Platt – lead vocals
Rich Williams – electric and acoustic guitars, co-producer
Zak Rizvi – electric guitar, backing vocals, production and mixing
Tom Brislin – keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on "The Song The River Sang"
David Ragsdale – violin, backing vocals
Billy Greer – bass and backing vocals
Phil Ehart – drums, percussion, co-producer

Track listing
No. Title Lyrics Music Length
1. "The Absence of Presence" Tom Brislin, Phil Ehart Zak Rizvi 8:22
2. "Throwing Mountains" Brislin, Ehart Rizvi 6:18
3. "Jets Overhead" Brislin Rizvi 5:17
4. "Propulsion 1" Instrumental Brislin 2:17
5. "Memories Down the Line" Brislin Brislin 4:38
6. "Circus of Illusion" Ronnie Platt Rivzi 5:19
7. "Animals on the Roof" Brislin, Ehart Rizvi 5:12
8. "Never" Platt, Ehart Rizvi 4:50
9. "The Song the River Sang" Brislin Brislin 5:05
_______

The album was released on CD, vinyl, various colored vinyl, and blu-ray with a 5.1 mix. It was the first Kansas studio album mixed in surround sound. I preordered from Amazon for $19 and ended up getting it for $12 from the low-price guarantee. The price is $17 now. Amazon.

5.1 mix by Jeff Glixman
Having just digested the Kansas 35th anniversary concert, the main question to me regarding this album is how are the newcomers at songwriting? We’ve still got the original drummer and one of the guitar players, plus a bass player and violinist who have been in the group for over twenty years. But Livgren and Walsh are gone, and new guitar player Rivzi and new keyboardist Brislin are writing the songs. Will they be like 70’s prog Kansas, the Journeyesque band of the 80’s or something different entirely? Brislin did a great job filling in Rick Wakeman on my favorite Yes concert video, so I’m hoping for prog. Have to check out the surround too, of course.

"The Absence of Presence"
Starts off with keyboards, then some trademark lead violin. Then the rest of the band. Platt sounds a little like Steve Walsh. My initial thought is that it is not like either 70’s or 80’s Kansas, but it is definitely prog rock. The main indicator that it’s Kansas is the violin in the mix. The surround mix is dominated by the front left and right speakers, but there is some use of the front and back speakers. The center seems to mainly have drums on this track, while rears feature synth and cymbals; rather like mixes from many live performances.

"Throwing Mountains"
Starts with swirling guitar using rears, then keyboards and violin in front. After that, it’s mostly synth and keyboards in the rear, just a smidge of drums in the center. The vocals and violin sound like Kansas, but the keyboards sound like Yes. I like it a lot.

"Jets Overhead"
Piano intro mostly in front, rest of band kicks in with some extra guitar in the rear. Cymbals heavier in the rear too. Bass, drums, and vocals

"Propulsion 1"
Starts with keyboards and bass, then drums – all in front. The synth comes in spilling to the rear. There’s a brief moment where there’s definitely a discrete but of synth coming from the left rear.

"Memories Down the Line"
Starts with piano and vocals in front. Rest of band comes in with drum and guitar reverb in rear. Now this sounds more like an 80’s song – guitar heavy, not much in the way of keyboards after the intro.

"Circus of Illusion"
Two guitars with one in surround, a violin solo. Keyboards show up in rear too. Platt sounds like LaBrie here; sounds like Dream Theater but not as frenetic.

"Animals on the Roof"
A similar song also written by Rizvi. Mostly guitars, but there is a keyboard solo in the middle. Cymbals and synth dominate the rear speakers. Not much in the way of violin.

"Never"
Piano, guitar, vocals – all in front. Brief violin forays from Ragsdale. The usual synth and cymbals in the back.

"The Song the River Sang"
Starts with synth in surround, violin in front. Then bass, drums and guitar, with drums in surround. Brislin lead vocals. Discrete drums in rear!! Ends with cacophonic crimsonesque dual guitar work that stops suddenly. Best song on the album by a wide margin.

To answer the first question, I guess I’d say the Rizvi-penned songs sound like old Kansas, while the Brislin songs sound like non-Kansas prog. I prefer the latter. It’s a very good album, but only the last song is great. As for the surround mix, it’s pretty timid. There’s enough going on in the back speakers to let you know they’re there, but it doesn’t get very interesting until the last track. Even though the surround mix isn't so great, it does reportedly have more dynamic range than the stereo mix. I am tempted to get their previous album with the same lineup even though it’s not in surround (2/2).

 

^^^^^^^
Kansas - Absense of Presence review in above post intended for surround thread. Any comments should go there.

 

Rock 'n' Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul)



Live Performance by Jeff Beck and Imelda May
Released 22 February 2011
Recorded June 2010, Iridium Jazz Club, New York City
Genre Rock and Roll, jazz
Length 61:44 (CD), 86:52 (DVD)
Label Eagle Vision

Rock 'n' Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul) is a live album by Jeff Beck, recorded as a tribute album to the late guitarist Les Paul. The album is recorded at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City where Les Paul played almost every week until his death in August 2009. It was recorded on 9 June 2010, which would have been Les Paul's 95th birthday. The songs played were popular hits from the 1950s and 1960s, including many songs Les Paul played himself. Jeff Beck is joined by Imelda May and her band, in addition to Jason Rebello, Brian Setzer, Trombone Shorty and Gary U.S. Bonds. On some of the songs, May sings together with a pre-recorded voice of herself, imitating the recording technique used on songs sung by Les Paul's wife Mary Ford.

Personnel
Band
Jeff Beck – Guitar
Imelda May – vocals, bodhrán
Darrel Higham – guitar, vocals
Al Gare – bass, double bass
Steve Rushton – drums, percussion, Backing Vocals
Dave Priseman – trumpet

Guest musicians
Leo Green
Brian Setzer
Gary U.S. Bonds
Trombone Shorty
Jason Rebello
Blue Lou Marini

Track Listing (for DVD and bluray)

1. "Baby Let's Play House" (Feat. Darrel Higham) –
2. "Double Talking Baby" (Feat. Darrel Higham) – 2:08
3. "Cruisin'" (Feat. Darrel Higham) 2:13"
4. "The Train It Kept A Rollin'" (Feat. Darrel Higham)
5. "Poor Boy" (Feat. Imelda May)
6. "Cry Me A River" (Feat. Imelda May and Jason Rebello)
7. "My Baby Left Me" (Feat. Imelda May)
8. "How High The Moon" (Feat. Imelda May)
9. "Sitting on Top of the World" (Feat. Imelda May)
10. "Bye Bye Blues" (Feat. Imelda May)
11. "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" (Feat. Imelda May)
12. "Vaya Con Dios" (Feat. Imelda May)
13. "Mockin' Bird Hill" (Feat. Imelda May)
14. "I'm A Fool To Care" (Feat. Imelda May)
15. "Tiger Rag" (Feat. Imelda May)
16. "Peter Gunn" (Feat. Jason Rebello and Trombone Shorty)
17. "Rocking Is Our Business" (Feat. Darrel Higham, Jason Rebello And Trombone Shorty)
18. "Apache"
19. "Sleep Walk"
20. "New Orleans" (Feat. Gary U.S. Bonds and Jason Rebello)
21. "Walking in the Sand" (Feat. Imelda May)
22. "Please Mr. Jailer" (Feat. Imelda May)
23. "Casting My Spell on You" (Feat. Imelda May and Darrel Higham)
24. "Twenty Flight Rock" (Feat. Brian Setzer)
25. "The Girl Can't Help It" (Feat. Darrel Higham and Jason Rebello)
26. "Rock Around the Clock" (Feat. Darrel Higham)
27. "Shake Rattle and Roll" (Feat. Darrel Higham, Brian Setzer, Jason Rebello and Trombone Shorty)

Version Control
There are multiple CD, DVD, and Bluray versions. I have the 2011 DVD. The bluray is currently available new from Amazon for $8. I am tempted to upgrade, but the DVD is really very good too – there are cheap used copies of those about. Discogs.

The Concert
My copy is a DVD and the video quality is very good, but the bluray is presumably better. The DVD has DTS surround - which is good enough for me, but again the bluray is probably a bit better. The 5.1 mix uses the center channel for lead vocals, but there’s only a tiny bit of reverb in the rears.

“Baby Let's Play House”
From Elvis Presley - A Date with Elvis (1959). Intro shows Beck and crowd entering, announcer gives intro, and we’re off. Rushton and Gare are in back left and right, respectively. Higham is centered just a little in front of them, and beck is little more in front on the left. Higham has an acoustic guitar, and Beck has was almost looks like an acoustic guitar, but it’s wired and it has a toggle switch, so I guess it’s electric. Higham with vocals, Beck lead guitar. Rushton with an old school drum set – just four drums and a couple of cymbals. Gare has a string double bass.

“Double Talking Baby”
From Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps (1957). Same line up, Beck has a more electric looking guitar.

“Cruisin'”
From Smokey Robinson - Where There's Smoke... (1979). Same story.

“The Train It Kept A Rollin'”
From Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n Roll Trio. Beck has yet another guitar, but still the same foursome.

“Poor Boy”
Traditional, covered on the Jeff Beck album Emotion & Commotion with Imelda May. May introduced by her hubby Higham as she comes on. There’s a microphone waiting for her in front of Higham and to the right of Beck. Rebello also comes on stage and sits behind the keyboards a little on front of Gare – I don’t think he plays on this song though. Beck has yet another guitar, and he’s playing slide. My favorite song on here.

“Cry Me A River “
From Julie London – Julie Is her Name (1955). Looks like guitar #1 again. Just Beck, May, and Gare.

“My Baby Left Me”
Arthur Crudup single (1950). Covered by Elvis, CCR, and others. Jason is gone, I guess he must have done something, but I’m not sure what. Everyone else is in on this song, still May with lead vocals.

“How High The Moon”
A 40’s jazz standard covered by Les Paul. Prerecorded backing vocals form May, Higham has an electric guitar too.

“Sitting On Top Of The World”
A country blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon. They were core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, who first recorded it in 1930. Same line up.

“Bye Bye Blues”
From Les Paul and Mary Ford - Bye Bye Blues! I presume these are songs Les Paul used to play – this is a 1925 standard. Mary Ford is who May is filling in for on many of these songs. Same line up. Most of these songs are pretty short, so we’re cruising through them pretty fast.

“The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise”
Written in 1918, covered by Paul and Ford in 1951.

“Vaya Con Dios”
Written in 1952, single by Les Paul and Mary Ford (1953) .

“Mockin' Bird Hill”
1951 single based on Swedish waltz.

“I'm A Fool To Care”
Originally written by Fats Domino in the 40’s, covered by Paul and Ford in 1954.

“Tiger Rag”
Paul and Ford hit in 1952. This ends the run of Paul and Ford covers.

“Peter Gunn”
Theme music composed by Henry Mancini for the television show of the same name (1959). Time for a lineup change –a group of four horn players (trumpet, trombone, two saxes) who line on the front right side of the stage. Rebello is back too, but May is gone. This song is in the Blues Brothers movie; there's a sax solo from Green here too. Beck had traded the red guitar he used for all the Paul and Ford covers for a white one, but this song is dominated by the horns.

“Rocking Is Our Business”
The Treniers in the 1940s were playing "Rockin' Is Our Bizness," which was inspired by Jimmie Lunceford's "Rhythm Is Our Business" from the 1930s. We’re down to a trumpet and two saxes, and Higham is covering vocals again. The sax dominates again, but Beck gets a solo this time.

“Apache”
From Cliff Richard and The Shadows - Meeting With The Shadows (1960). Rebello and the rest of the horns leave the stage, so we’re down to the original foursome again. Gare has an electric bass. No vocals, Beck’s guitar carries the classic surf song.

“Sleep Walk”
From Johnny and Santo - Santo & Johnny. Sounds like another surf song, but the trumpet and saxes are back for this one. Gare back on double bass.

“New Orleans”
From Gary U.S. Bonds - Dance 'Til Quarter To Three (1960). He’s no spring chicken anymore, but Bonds on stage to cover the vocals. Rebello is back out too. Another sax solo from Leo Green.

“Walking In The Sand” (aka “Remember”)
From The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack (1965). May comes back out with a new dress, and we’ve got the whole semi-regular crew on stage, and Beck gets a really nice solo in. Seems like a good place to drop the video.



“Please Mr. Jailer”
From Wynona Carr single (1957). I think Rebello has gone missing again, but it is a little hard to tell because he is hidden behind the horns when they are out there.

”Casting My Spell On You”
Johnny Otis single (1959). May and Higham co-lead vocalists. Rebello is back.

“Twenty Flight Rock”
From Eddie Cochrane - Twenty Flight Rock (1957). May leaves, replaced by Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats. He sings, plays lead guitar too. Rockabilly duet.

“The Girl Can't Help It”
Little Richard single (1958). May returns for backing vocals with Beck!! I’ve never seen him sing before. He’s better at guitar. Lead vocals from Higham.

“Rock Around The Clock”
From Bill Haley & His Comets - Shake, Rattle and Roll (1955). May gone, Higham lead vocals.

“Shake Rattle and Roll”
Written in 1954 by Jesse Stone. It was originally recorded by Big Joe Turner and most successfully by Bill Haley & His Comets. Rebello gets to be the star for once. Setzer back out, plusTrombone sighting, Higham lead vocals.
_______

This is almost as much of an Imelda May concert as a Jeff Beck concert – it’s mostly her band with Beck as a guest. I like this concert enough to go out and get some of her albums - Mayhem is my favorite. Then again, May herself is only on about half the songs and it’s a collection of covers that aren’t written by either Beck or May/Higham, and Rebello came with Beck. Truth be told, it’s mostly stuff I never listen to, but it’s still a very fun set. It also has a steady stream of guest musicians and shifting lineups, which makes a really good show. The 5.1 mix is not impressive, but it does use the center channel for lead vocals with some reverb in the rears – enough to squeak by for a point.

Music – 2
Sound quality – 3
Video presentation – 3
Video quality – 2 (bluray presumably worth an extra point)
Surround – 2

 

I had this recommended to me by a forum member, and I really enjoyed it.
It is a blast from the past done in a very convincing manner

 

Eyes Wide Open, Part 2



Live Performance by King Crimson
Released 2003
Recorded 16 April 2003
Venue Koseinenkin Kaikan in Tokyo, Japan
Genre Progressive rock
Length 98:03 minutes
Label Discipline Global Mobile

Eyes Wide Open is a live 2-DVD set by the British progressive rock band King Crimson, released in 2003. It presents two concerts filmed in the early 2000s, the band lineup featuring Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto.

This review will cover the later concert (on DVD1), filmed at the Kouseinenkin Kaikan in Tokyo, Japan, on 16 April 2003 during the tour promoting The Power to Believe. It is presented in non-anamorphic 1.66:1 format. Zooming the image is required on widescreen TVs to avoid black bars on all four sides. Also included, as an extra feature, is an excerpt from the sound and camera check before the show.

Personnel
Robert Fripp – guitar
Adrian Belew – guitar, vocals
Trey Gunn – Warr guitar
Pat Mastelotto – acoustic/electronic drums & percussion, drum programming

Track Listing
1. "Introductory Soundscape" (Fripp)
2. "The Power to Believe I: (A Cappella)" (Belew)
3. "Level Five"
4. "ProzaKc Blues"
5. "the construKction of light"
6. "Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With"
7. "Elektrik"
8. "One Time" (Belew, Bruford, Fripp, Gunn, Levin, Mastelotto)
9. "Facts of Life"
10. "The Power to Believe II (Power Circle)"
11. "Dangerous Curves"
12. "Larks' Tongues in Aspic: Part IV"
13. "The Deception of the Thrush" (Belew, Fripp, Gunn)
14. "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum"

Version Control
In addition to appearing on Eyes Wide Open DVD set this concert is available is CD format as the live album entitled Elektrik. It is also included on the Heaven and Earth Box Set both in CD and on bluray with a lossless 5.1 surround mix. The bluray also seems to have the 2000 Shepherd’s Bush concert in lossless stereo. However, I don’t think the video is included for either concert. I have the 2009 DGM Live version, which is still available new. Amazon.

The Concert
It’s an ultrawide screen with black bars at the top and bottom – you can get rid of those by zooming, but that reduces the resolution. It’s kind of like having 4:3 video, but the unused screen space is on top instead of the sides. Anyhow, let’s call it low end DVD quality video. Unlike the other disc in the set, this one does have surround, but it’s Dolby Digital 5.0 – no subwoofer track. It also doesn’t use the center channel, so this is really a quad mix.

"Introductory Soundscape"
Just Fripp on stage – he plays with no sound emanating for about a minute, but we eventually get a beautiful soundscape in surround. The rest of the band comes out as in concludes.

"The Power to Believe I"
From The Power to Believe. Belew sings acappella with treated vocals. Belew seems to have a bozo haircut – he’s balding in front and I think his hair may dyed a little orange or pink – then again that might just be the lighting.

"Level Five"
From The Power to Believe. A rather prototypical Crimson instrumental piece Mastoletto is centered in the back, Fripp is to his right – a little hidden and out of the way as usual. Beleve is front and center, and Gunn is front left. Gunn with 12 string Warr guitar, Fripp plays what might be called rhythm guitar, Belew lead. It took be while to figure out what going on with the surround mix, but I think the basic scheme is bass, drums, and vocals in front, with Belew left front and rear right while Fripp is right front and rear left.

"ProzaKc Blues"
From The Construkction of Light. Belew vocals, Fripp with a little more lead guitar work. Fripp mellotron is surround.

"the construKction of light"
From The Construkction of Light. Starts out as another instrumental that begins with another Fripp soundscape. Then a very cool guitar duet. Belew is in the spotlight, while Fripp in in back bathed in blue light. Belew eventually gets around to singing the lyrics, and Gunn lays his Warr machine flat it looks like he’s playing keyboards – but he isn’t. The better of my two choices for a video:



"Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With"
From The Power to Believe. A song with vocals because there has to be a chorus, right?

"Elektrik"
From The Power to Believe. TBTB is definitely my favorite of the three late-Belew era albums, and this song is a big reason why. Gorgeous dual guitar from start to finish, plus an awesome bass line. There’s also some sound samples in the rear.

"One Time"
From Thrak. The only song older than the last two albums. I guess they needed a pretty one. . Interlude with a Fripp soundscape in surround. Camera shot at 45 degree angle.

"Facts of Life"
From The Power to Believe. OK, this isn’t isn’t pretty, but I like it anyway. It starts with vocals right off the bat.. Left and right guitars again, with lots of presence in the rear.

"The Power to Believe II (Power Circle)"
From The Power to Believe. Another great one from TPBP. Starts with soundscape in front, sound effects in rear. The stage is suddenly adorned with half-arches or tusks that protrude from the stage to the right and to the back of the musicians. I really can't decide whether they are actual physical objects or projections of some sort. In most of the songs they aren't visible, but thay may be because they are outside the portion of the stage that is usually lit.. Synthesized harmonic percussion from both Mastoletto on left and Belew on right with both spilling into rear, treated vocals from Belew. Mellotron goes to surround with Fripp guitar in front. Very deep bass lines from Gunn. The tusks get lit up red and green, then blue with some other images projected for good measure – pretty awesome visual display for a Crimson concert. Best song on here, but I can’t find a video to show for this one unfortunately.

"Dangerous Curves"
From The Power to Believe. Yet another instrumental. Mellotron in surround. Belew rips it up. Goes straight into next song

"Larks' Tongues in Aspic: Part IV"
From The Construkction of Light. They played this in the 2000 concert too; the only token acknowledgement of the Crimson back catalog. The tusks light up again, and they stay red this time. May I also point up that having Fripp bathed in blue light while everyone else in in red is rather striking. Mellotron in surround again. Is that what they call avoiding the spotlight? Not buying it – I think he’s just trying to call attention to himself. End of set, they take their bows – well, sort of.

"The Deception of the Thrush"
Only found on live albums. Everyone but Belew is back and it’s time for another soundscape. Treated vocals on left side – must be prerecorded. Percussion on right. Fripp guitar with Gunn spelling Belew in the X surround mix. Warr machine goes horizontal again. Finishes with mellotron in surround.

"The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum"
From The Construkction of Light. Belew is back for the regular X mix and vocals. Gunn seems to still be playing the still horizontal Warr with one hand while still holding another stringed electric guitar of some sort. Belew tears it up, then the blue man gets a solo.
_______

A much better concert than the undercard in the 2 DVD set. They are touring in support of a better album, so it has a better set list. It has also stage visuals barely worthy of top marks – best I’ve seen for King Crimson concert. Even though it’s not nearly as good as the mix in Meltdown: Live in Mexico City, the surround mix also squeaks by for top marks. I have a digital copy of the Elektrik 5.1 mix sans video from Heaven and Earth, and it seems to be the same mix except that it does have a subwoofer track, but still no center channel. There is noticeably more bass from that version on the home theater system I am using this week.

Music – 2.5
Sound quality – 2 (Heaven and Earth version is 3)
Video presentation – 3
Video quality – 2
Surround – 3

 

Really good, and quite an interesting set.
If I remember rightly disc two had this sort of random concert shuffle feature or something ... It's been a while ...

 

Right - I went in chronological order, so I did disc 2 first:

King Crimson – Eyes Wide Open, Part 1 / Live Performance / Rating: 11

 

It is really good, and well worth the low price.

Beck Live at Ronnie Scott’s is also fantastic. If you like Beck and don’t have it, you should. Better than the album since there’s more songs (Including Clapton’s guest appearance). Just a good DVD/BR all around. Highly recommended.

 

That was the bluray under discussion when this disc was recommended.
That Ronnie Scott's disc is brilliant, and more my style for Beck ... this one is equally excellent, just a more old school styling

 

Beck, Jeff – Performing This Week... Live At Ronnie Scott's / Live Performance / Rating: 17

Just noticed that one didn't get an updated rating to the 18 point scale on the last index. Here's reminding myself to fix it.

 

Crazy how much really great stuff is getting released in the near future. Here's one for this thread:

Bruford: Rock Goes To College, CD/DVD Edition - Cherry Red Records

 

Steve Vai ‎– Visual Sound Theories (Live With Holland Metropole Orkest)



Released in 2007, this concert is a little different and offers a little insight into the music of Steve Vai.
Forever, it seems, branded as a shredder, noodler and all those other things, this dvd concert (and 2cd album) goes a long way to showing that Steve is more than just some guitar gymnastics freak. Here we have Steve's music live with the Metropole Orchestra, and the arrangements clearly show, that whether one likes the music or not, this is written music that just happened to be played on the guitar. Certainly there are improvisational sections, it would be unusual for improvisation to be missing from music that is somewhat in the rock field, even if it isn't always, completely rock music.

Steve was commissioned to write a two hour piece of music for the Metropole Orkest, but instead decided that he wanted to rearrange, or modify his guitar pieces to incorporate the orchestra into it, and the results are excellent.
The orchestra is obviously enjoying the opportunity to stretch their legs, Steve is obviously having a blast, and the music, although essentially exactly the same music, is shown to have a much deeper musical portrait than first glance of it on a guitar oriented album would show.

The tracks we have here are
Kill The Guy With The Ball
The God Eaters
The Murder Prologue
The Murder
Answers
Lotus Feet
I'm Becoming
Salamanders In The Sun
The Attitude Song
Gentle Ways
Liberty
For The Love Of God
Shadows And...
Sparks
Frangelica Pt. I & II --Red Ink

So lets have a slightly closer look at this
The surround is only Dolby digital unfortunately, and is mixed by Vai.
The whole disc is approximately 131 minutes.
The bonus features
Bledsoe Bluvd
Behind the scenes
Steve Vai interview
Steve speaks

Kill The Guy With The Ball
We open with a percussion assault, then Steve walks out.
Steve makes one of his bendy note licks and the string section repeats it.
The creates little licks for each section of the orchestra and they repeat that lick, and with a crescendo of using the audience as an instrument in this concoction we move into a solid track.
We have a surround mix that uses all speakers. We have different different section of the orchestra in different section of the speakers.
A percussionist right rear.
Trap set is front and center.
Piano across the front.

The God Eaters
The Murder Prologue
The Murder
We get some guitar sounds swirling from the front to either side quite effectively.
The cymbals are generally rears. Tom fills roll into the sides.
After a nice length guitar show case backed by an orchestra drone, we get the two percussionists and drummer play a section.
One percussionist either side and the trap set in the middle rolling either way.
During which one of the percussionists destroys the skin of his tympani drum.

Answers
We have a rhythm guitarist right side.
The orchestra is used here to double sections, and fill out the arrangement, and quite nicely.
Vai and the conductor work closely together to make the tricky changes work smoothly.

Lotus Feet
The video quality is very good dvd quality.
The audio is very good, but I would have preferred dts over dd.
Nice intro from the harp and strings.
Then the piano, bass and Vai play the opening melody.
With the horn section and strings creating the chord structures.
Vai's guitar has the effects sends to both rears.
The mix is very good.

I'm Becoming
A beautiful solo guitar intro, conductor and orchestra seemingly mesmerised by Vai's control.
Percussion comes in around us, super effective

Salamanders In The Sun
Smoothly transitioning in this piece.
The orchestra shares the opening melodic statements.
The windsection seems to be generally across the back.
The strings and guitar blend beautifully, sort of creating their own sound field.
Excellent arrangement.

The Attitude Song
Steve's lines on this classic are generally accompanied by different sections of the orchestra at different points. Even in the breakdown section.
Mindblowingly tight from Steve and the orchestra.
This is some tight arrangement and it comes over really well. It isn't as rock as the original version, but it is an impressive piece of work by all.

Gentle Ways
The guitar arpeggio starts us accompanied by piano and harp.
The melody comes in via the strings and winds.
Again a beautiful arrangement
There is no doubt Steve is the star of the show, but this is a team effort.

Liberty
The conductor gives us the "heads up"
The orchestra comes in for the opening.
Then we get another well arranged guitar and orchestra piece.

For The Love Of God
This is magic, and really showcases what my opening spiel was about.
We get a new opening and then harp and oboe play the opening theme, that had been all guitar on the album.
The winds then play the beautiful harmonised second section.
Steve comes on at the change, he is again punctuated and highlighted and harmonised by the orchestra.
It is an amazing piece of music. Even moreso in this arrangement.

Shadows And...
Sparks
The beginning of the concert.
We get Steve conducting the crowd, then introducing the conductor on a typically comedic way.
The percussionists open us up. With good surround spread.
Then the harp comes in. The the piano.
This ends up sort of defining the mix locations to a degree.
All current members on stage joining in.
Gradually everyone comes out and joins in. It is really well done.
A violinist comes in from the crowd playing a melodic theme, the orchestra joins in.
We have snippets from different pieces of Steve's music making up this big arrangement.
This really defines the mix well for us though, and it would have been cool for the disc to start as the show did, for this definition purpose.

Frangelica Pt. I & II --Red Ink
A solo violin plays again and we have the orchestra gradually join in.
The solo violin, goes a long way to show what I meant in the opening statement also, because if this was a guitar, it would be referred to as noodling, but by being the violin, the context is changed to the listener and it is suddenly classical music.
This has some mild similarities to some of Zappa's orchestral pieces, with an almost movie soundtrack quality to it.
Very effective.
Again this arrangement beautifully accentuates the mix.

A very appreciative audience applauds pt 1

Pt 2 starts. This is a much more full orchestra more consistently.
Again this is excellent and the mix is excellent also.

Bledsoe Bluvd
Only in stereo unfortunately

This is an excellent disc. I think music lovers, 5.1 lovers, and Steve Vai lovers would really enjoy this a lot.

For The Love Of God

 

Snakes & Arrows Live



Live Performance by Rush
Released April 14, 2008
Recorded October 16–17, 2007
Venue Ahoy Arena, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Genre Progressive rock, hard rock
Length 151:42
Label Anthem

Snakes & Arrows Live is a live double CD and DVD by Canadian band Rush. The CD was released on April 14, 2008, in the UK and on April 15, 2008, around the world. It was also released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2008. The material was taken from two performances during the first leg of the Snakes & Arrows Tour, recorded at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands on October 16 and 17, 2007. This live album highlights one studio work specifically, with nine of the 27 tracks drawn from Snakes & Arrows.

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

Track Listing
1 Limelight
2 Digital Man
3 Entre Nous
4 Mission
5 Freewill
6 The Main Monkey Business
7 The Larger Bowl
8 Secret Touch
9 Circumstances
10 Between The Wheels
11 Dreamline
12 Far Cry
13 Workin' Them Angels
14 Armor And Sword
15 Spindrift
16 The Way The Wind Blows
17 Subdivisions
18 Natural Science
19 Witch Hunt
20 Malignant Narcissism - De Slagwerker
21 Hope
22 Distant Early Warning
23 The Spirit Of Radio
24 Tom Sawyer
25 One Little Victory
26 A Passage To Bangkok
27 YYZ
28 Ghost Of A Chance
29 Red Barchetta
30 The Trees
31 2112 / The Temples Of Syrinx

Version Control
There are many different versions of this with different track listings, including CD only, CD + DVD, and two different bluray versions. It is also Disc 3 of the 6 Bluray R40 set that @mark winstanley described in his R30 review. I have the European bluray digipack that has the 31 tracks listed above. The last four are bonus material from a concert in Atlanta. I think I’ll find that 27 tracks are enough.

The Concert
The main menu gives you the option to play the “DVD”, and the opening video seems to be just DVD quality, but once the concert starts it looks like a bluray. We’ve got DTS-HD 5.1 audio.

“Limelight”
From Moving Pictures. Instead of the washing machines appearing on R30, we’ve got a battery of rotisserie chickens over on the right side of the stage behind Lee. The appliances are labeled Hen House, which is a chicken fast food restaurant in Rotterdam. Besides a stack of amps, Lifeson’s side of the stage is adorned with dolls and other toy figures. Some of them are at his feet. A toy dinosaur by itself over on the far left of the stage is in front of a spotlight, which results in it’s outline being projected onto the amp stack. Over on the right, Lee has two spots, each with it’s own microphone. The bass-only spot is symmetrical with Lifeson’s main spot. The other one further to the right has keyboards. Three screens overhead.

We’ve got a wall of sound in front, the center channel is just another speaker, but there is plenty of reverb in the back. So, basically a concert hall mix your receiver could do just about as well by itself.

“Digital Man”
From Signals. Well, the previous song was really good, and so is this one. Looking at the set list, I don’t think there are going to be many duds, but if there is I’ll let you know.

“Entre Nous”
From Permanent Waves. Lee doesn’t put his bass down, but he does start out on the synth. Lifeson also takes a brief turn on the acoustic guitar he has mounted to the right of his main perch.

“Mission”
From Hold Your Fire. The screens above have been showing live shots of band member, but now they switch to active computer graphics. Lee plays more synth than bass. He’s got a little stomehenge on his keyboard that looks like It was borrowed from the Spinal Tap set.

“Freewill”
From Permanent Waves. The first big hit song of the set, at least for me. Lee is back on the bass. Lifeson is smoking.

“The Main Monkey Business”
From Snakes & Arrows. Love this song, but then again I really like the whole album. That’s pretty much why this was my first Rush concert video acquisition. Lifeson starts out acoustic and Lee is nowhere near the keyboards, so the rotisserie chef takes the opportunity to baste the chickens. Lifeson goes electric. King Kong and other monkey business video on the screens.

“The Larger Bowl”
From Snakes & Arrows. Great White North introduction on the screens. What a beautiful song. Contrasting have and have-not images on left and right screens.



“Secret Touch”
From Vapor Trails. I have this album (well I have them all) but I’ve never listened to it enough to be familiar with any of the songs. Seems like a mighty fine song though that song has not so much of a wall of sound, but it does have plenty of reverb from Lifeson. The rear speakers come in a little handy.

“Circumstances”
From Hemispheres. The wall of sound is back, except for little synth break from Lee.

“Between The Wheels”
From Grace Under Pressure. Great song from one of my favorite Rush albums. Since he is using the synth a lot, he stays in front of the keyboards. Computer graphics on the screens again. Lee doing the work of three musicians. Improvisation at the end from Lifeson and lee on synth.

“Dreamline”
From Roll the Bones. Another song I don’t know well. Lee sticks to the bass, and we have a light show with some green lights. Lots of reverb from Lifeson again, which wakes up the rear speakers. Intermission with Snakes and Arrows video.

“Far Cry”
From Snakes & Arrows. Yeah, they’re back with the album opener. Another fantastic song. This is where I decided to find what Rush had been doing since about 1985 when I lost interest. More computer graphics both on the stage screens and superimposed on the video.

“Workin' Them Angels”
From Snakes & Arrows. There are no bad songs on this album, but this one is merely very good. More screen graphics with winged workers, Lifeson now has a mandolin mounted to the left of his main spot that he plays briefly.

“Armor And Sword”
From Snakes & Arrows. Another great song. The bass riff sounds like it’s from 2112, and that’s not a bad thing. More graphics – guy in armor seems to be going up in flames.

“Spindrift”
From Snakes & Arrows. Yes, the hits keep on coming. The overhead lights go orange, plus we’ve the got the green lasers again – very cool. Blue abstract graphics on screen.

“The Way The Wind Blows”
From Snakes & Arrows. Maybe the best song on the album. Starts out with drum solo. The screens show a humanoid family that primarily resides in the desert, but skyscrapers pop up periodically. The wind sure blows a lot, that’s for sure. Flaming solo from Lifeson, also some backing vocals that I never can seem to hear.

“Subdivisions”
From Signals. The run of five songs from S&A is over, and we’re back to the 80’s. That means Lee can go back over to synth, but he finishes up on bass.

“Natural Science”
From Permanent Waves. Hand held video of crowds from the tour from Lee spliced in, with one more shot added live. Lifeson makes his electric guitar sound acoustic. Peart sits the first half of the song out. Abstract green graphics that turn to a double helix when the song start to heat up, and Peart joins in. Another solo from Lifeson. Ends with very cool kaleidoscopic computer graphics on screen.

“Witch Hunt”
From Moving Pictures. Song starts off in the dark, with witchy looking graphics on screen. Lifeson starts out back in front of the amps, but works his way up to the front of the stage and another solo. Lee still working out the synth.

“Malignant Narcissism - De Slagwerker”
From Snakes & Arrows. Back to work on S&A: Lee rededicates himself to the bass until he holds it up for a drum solo from Peart with overhead shots on the screens. He makes extensive use of his harmonic drum machine, which is very cool. He also seems to have some horn backup coming from somewhere.

“Hope”
From Snakes & Arrows. The lights go out over the drum set, and Lifeson comes back out with an actual acoustic guitar in his hand and plays solo.

“Distant Early Warning”
From Grace Under Pressure. That’s it for S&A, but the rest of the set should be great. Had the last song off of GUP earlier, now we have the most excellent first. Lee back out on the synth, but switches back and for the between that and the bass. Reverbing vocals and guitar. Overhead lights back in action, apparently they can go purple too. Kid riding a missile on screen.

“The Spirit Of Radio”
From Permanent Waves. Another big hit song. Guy in chicken suit comes out to check on rotisserie. Lee doesn’t need the synth, Lifeson does need his electric guitar.

“Tom Sawyer”
From Moving Pictures. South Park intro. Lee play synth, bass, and hits some high notes. End of set.

“One Little Victory”
From Vapor Trails. In my mind, this kind of breaks up a pretty stellar run of classic Rush songs at the end. Oh well, it’s not like it isn’t a good song. Lifeson backing and I can hear him.

“A Passage To Bangkok”
From 2112. This is a good way to get back on track. Lifeson smokes an air doobie. Before launching into a solo with a video tour of what seem to be a bunch of random places.

“YYZ”
From Moving Pictures. The overhead lights are green, and the green lasers are back. Frenetic bass play from Lee, while Lifeson concentrates on style. Lee takes a last turn on the synth before going back at it on the bass. And that’s it.
_______

Once again, the only thing to pick on is the surround. I grudgingly gave R30 a point for surround, but this one just doesn’t get there. But S&A Live is still arguably better than R30 because of the set list, but there’s really no reason to not have them both; there’s actually very little overlap. R30 covers more from the 70’s and it also has quite a few from the cover album Feedback. Besides playing most of the album they are touring for, this set list here hits the 80’s really hard, especially Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures.

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

 

I watched this for the first time recently and really enjoyed it. Snakes and Arrows is the first studio album I've really liked since Hold Your Fire. I probably need to give the others more listens to get into them but Snakes and Arrows surprised me. Seeing the shows in the R40 box makes me realize I should have made an effort to see them again in the later years. Great video though... nicely filmed, excellent setlist and love their humor as always. A better surround mix would've been icing on the cake but there are so few concert videos with excellent surround so I guess I can't give them too much grief.

 

Not a live video of course, but I was poking around on the internet this past week trying to find if there was any news on a Blu-ray release for The Wall. Unfortunately, what I did find was that director Alan Parker died a couple of weeks ago. I've been putting off watching the DVD for years after reading that Guthrie was working on a new surround mix for a Blu-ray release but that seems to be less likely to ever happen now with the deterioration of both the tapes and band relations. So, I put on the DVD and was surprised at how good it looked and sounded considering it was released in 1999. I was also surprised to hear some very discreet surround in portions of the music. The Hey You bonus video is a good example where you get isolated instrumentation in the rear channels at times. Fingers crossed for a proper Blu-ray release with a new Guthrie surround mix!

 

Whirld Tour 2010



Live Performance by Transatlantic
Released 26 October 2010
Recorded 21 May 2010
Venue Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, England.
Genre Progressive rock
Length 183:25
Label Metal Blade Records, Radiant Records (US ), InsideOut (Europe0

Whirld Tour 2010 (Live From Shepherd's Bush Empire, London) is the third live album by the progressive rock supergroup Transatlantic. Released in 2010, it documents the May 21, 2010 show by the band at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, England. The show was also filmed and released on a 2-DVD set with additional performances (including a cover of the Genesis song "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" with Steve Hackett) and documentary footage. This was the second-to-last show of the "Whirld Tour" (not counting their appearance at The High Voltage Festival) in support of the band's third studio album, The Whirlwind.

Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation returns this tour, playing additional keyboards, guitars, percussion, and vocals throughout the show. Like their previous live albums, this set features 6 songs, however because of the amount of material the band had thus far, no cover songs are featured (although bits of covers are scattered throughout the show, including Deep Purple's Highway Star, Santana's Soul Sacrifice, and even the McDonald's theme).

Personnel
Neal Morse – Lead vocals, keyboards, guitar
Roine Stolt – Guitar, vocals
Pete Trewavas – Bass guitar, vocals
Mike Portnoy – drums, vocals
Daniel Gildenlöw – additional keyboards, additional guitar, additional percussion, lead vocals on "Almost Home", backing vocals

Track Listing
1. The Whirlwind
2. All Of The Above
3. We All Need Some Light
4. Duel With The Devil
5. Bridge Across Forever
6. Stranger In Your Soul

Return of the Giant Hogweed - This is a bonus track, but of course I’m going to cover it.

Version Control
There are CD only, DVD only, and CD + DVD versions. I have the US DVD only version. It seems to be OOP, but I snagged what seems to be a new copy via Discogs for about $20 shipped.

The Concert
We’ve got normal DVD quality video. The label doesn’t say what inside, but the audio choices turn out to be either DD stereo of DD 5.1 Have to go with the 5.1 under those circumstances, but it isn’t much of a surround mix – the center channel is used, but it’s just another speaker, and there’s just a little reverb in the back.

“The Whirlwind “
I’ve been to a concert here – went to see Lord Huron in Shepherd’s Bush with my daughter in November 2015. Seated capacity is listed as 1098 and it looks full. We sat in one of the balconies, but I don’t recall if it was the second or third.

Morse, Stolt, Trewavas, and Portnoy are lined up in front left to right. Portnoy has his drum set facing the band. In the back is multi-instrumentalist Gildenlöw – he’s got keyboards, a mini-drum set, electric guitar and a mounted acoustic guitar.

Even though there’s only six “songs” this is a long concert. Exhibit A is that this is their most recent album played in its entirety, lasting just under 80 minutes. The segments are broken up into individual chapters on the bluray, but no I won’t try to go through them individually. However, I will still throw in a few random observations. Portnoy is much hairier than he was a few years ago, but Trewavas looks pretty much the same. Gildenlöw is scary dude sometimes – he sort of reminds me of the hyperkinetic second guitarist in the Dire Straits, and he does get a turn up front at the end. All five of them provide vocals, but the lead vocalists in order of importance are Morse, Stolt, and Portnoy.

Even though the rear speakers are pretty silent most of the time, there is a surround passage featuring sound samples at the beginning of "Is It Really Happening?" that uses all five speakers discretely.

The “song” is so long that they take an intermission before the final 12 epilog/reprise.

“All Of The Above”
From the first album SMPT:e. This is a measly 30 minute track. Morse starts off with keyboards and vocals, then the others join in – but it still dominated by Morse for the first five minutes. Trewavas and Gildenlöw with backing vocals. Eventually Stolt breaks loose. Then Morse and Stolt take turns singing for a while, but after a while they stop singing and start jamming and covering other songs including “Soul Sacrifice” – definitely the best part. They then return to regularly scheduled programming to finish the song.

“We All Need Some Light”
Also from SMPT:e. A short little song that is just over 8 minutes. Starts with guitar duet from Morse on acoustic and Stolt on electric. Then Trewavas comes back on bass and Stolt vocals. After another instrumental session Morse finishes up the vocals, still with an acoustic guitar in his hand.

“Duel With The Devil”
From Bridge Across Forever. Another nearly 30 minute song. Starts with prerecorded strings, the Morse who is back on keyboards, and the rest of the band kicks in. Stolt and Morse again handle most of the vocals, but Portnoy chips in a little. There’s a very nice bluesy segment with Stolt leading with the guitar – my favorite part of the concert so far. Seems like it might be a cover, but I can’t place it. Then it gets proggy again, and Gildenlöw gets a turn at lead vocals. End of regular set, and have to but it the next disc to get to the encores.

“Bridge Across Forever “
From Bridge Across Forever. This one is just over six minutes. Morse on piano and Stolt soundscapes with his guitar. Morse lead vocals.

“Stranger In Your Soul”
From Bridge Across Forever. The rest of the band comes back for one last 30 minute song. Portnoy starts off with a furious drum solo, then Stolt takes over on guitar, and then he passes off to Morse keyboards and vocals. Trewavas is the lead vocalist on one of the passages, which means all five them got a turn at one point. Gildenlöw also gets another turn to come out in front for a solo. After about ten minutes they break into a jam where Morse runs around the back of the stage to takes on turn on drums while Trewavas wanders over to the left to take over on keyboards. Portnoy then goes crowd surfing. After he returns they go back to their normal positions a finish the rest of the song. Great finale.

“Return of the Giant Hogweed”
This cover of the Genesis song is from the last concert on the same tour. It’s stereo only. Morse does his best to cover Gabriel; quite good really. Not the tightest performance of it I’ve ever heard though either. Still very fun though. Neither Stolt or Gildenlöware are very busy, but Stolt and Hackett do get into a nice duet towards the end.
_______

I’m a Transatlantic newbie – I’ve just got The Whirlwhind and this, which is rather redundant. When they first formed, I’d never heard of any of the groups that this supergroup drew members from. By 2010, I was familiar with Dream Theater, but not any of the others. But I have become a big Marillion fan in the last five years. I also have a 2 CD Spock’s Beard compilation and a multialbum economy box from the Flower Kings. I haven’t listened to either of those latter two very much though. So Transatlantic seems like a band I should like, and I do. But just a little. Since the songs are long and complex, I suspect I would like them more with repeated listens.

Another good thing about this set is that it covers just about their entire catalog to data. Besides having The Whirlwhind in it’s entirety, it also has the better part of the first two albums as well.

Music – 2 (for now)
Sound quality – 2
Video presentation – 3 ( a little generous perhaps, but I liked the Portnoy crowd surf)
Video quality – 2
Surround – 1

I'll listen to The Whirlwind a few more times before I watch this again.

 

Music-centric movies are definitely allowed on this thread: I've already gone over all four Beatles movies and The Wall DVD.

Pink Floyd – The Wall / Movie / Rating: 12

Also - 2 out of 3 Qatsi trilogy movies so far, and Baraka. Still have one more Qatsi and the sequel to Baraka called Samsara.

And then there are also the concert documentaries originally released in theaters.

Three more I plan to do:

The Passion (Peter Gabriel)
Tommy (The Who)
True Stories (Talking Heads)

 

Universal



Live Performance by Anathema
Released 23 Sep 2013
Recorded 22 September 2012
Venue Ancient Theatre Of Philippopolis, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Genre Alternative Rock, Prog Rock
Length 140 Minutes
Label KScope, Snapper
Director Lasse Hoile

Universal is a live double CD, DVD and Bluray by Liverpool band Anathema of a performance in Plodiv, Bulgaria on September 22, 2012, While the performance was part during the tour following the release of the album Weather Systems, it is the only concert of the tour to feature a backing orchestra (The Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra).

Personnel
Anathema
Daniel Cavanagh – lead vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, keyboards, piano
Jamie Cavanagh – bass guitar
Vincent Cavanagh – lead vocals, keyboards, programming, electric, acoustic and bass guitars
John Douglas – drums
Lee Douglas – lead and backing vocals

Additional Musicians
Daniel Cardoso – keyboards
Plovdov Philharmonic Orchestra

Track Listing
1 Untouchable Part 1
2 Untouchable Part 2
3 Thin Air
4 Dreaming Light
5 Lightning Song
6 The Storm Before The Calm
7 Everything
8 A Simple Mistake
9 The Beginning And The End
10 Universal
11 Closer
12 A Natural Disaster
13 Deep
14 One Last Goodbye
15 Flying
16 Fragile Dreams
17 Panic
18 Emotional Winter / Wings Of God
19 Internal Landscapes
20 Fragile Dreams

Version Control
There are many different versions of this, including LP, CD only, CD + DVD, and a bluray. I have the bluray digipack. It’s OOP and used copies are going for a little more that the original price. Discogs.

The Concert
The video is 1080p and looks great, but this fairly modern bluray doesn’t have a surround track at all – LPCM stereo is the only choice. Bummer.

“Untouchable Part 1 and 2”
From Weather Systems. This outdoor amphitheater is the same place that Townsend, Devin – Ocean Machine – Live was recorded at exactly five years later. It’s the same backing orchestra and conductor too. However, the nighttime concert looks much darker here mainly because it is not as brightly lit – just a little blue light, with a dry ice machine blowing a faint mist on stage most of the time. Also, Townsend had the full orchestra or at least more of it – this one just seems to have the string section. It’s a young crowd – most of the newer concerts I watch seem to populated by grey haired folks.

Most of the band members all have a last name of Cavanagh or Douglas (three brothers and a brother and sister), so I’ll go with first names: Daniel, Vincent, Lee, and Jamie are lined up in front. John and not-yet-a-band-member Daniel Cardoso are in back of them, and then the Orchestra is behind them.

This two part song is the opener from their most recent album which, like the one before it (We’re Here Because We’re Here) is much more ethereal that their earlier work. The album itself includes strings, so the songs are not rearranged for the orchestra. Vincent and Lee are co-lead vocalists, and both Vincent and Danny have electric guitars.

“Thin Air”
From We're Here Because We're Here. This song is the opener from the album before last, which also had strings. Vincent is the only lead vocalist. Daniel with backing vocals, and Lee comes back from a break to join in at the end.

“Dreaming Light”
From We're Here Because We're Here. Starts out with just piano and Vincent vocals – Lee is gone again. Strings come in first, and then guitar, bass and drums. Daniel with gorgeous guitar solo. The dry ice machine gets turned up a notch.

“Lightning Song”
From Weather Systems. Starts out with just guitar, then strings come in, and Lee is back to take a turn at lead vocals. Bass and Vincent backing vocals join in, but no drums. Eventually, they break loose with drums and Vincent guitar joining the fray.

“The Storm Before The Calm”
From Weather Systems. The dry ice machine kicks up another notch, and Vincent recedes back into the mist next to Cardoso, which leaves Lee front and center by herself. Vincent still singing backing vocals and plays a synthesizer too. Strobe lights on. No strings. After the storm part, the calm begins as Vincent moves back up front with a guitar, takes over lead vocals, with strings joining in too. Reverbing guitar from Vincent that cries out for surround that just isn’t there.

“Everything”
From We're Here Because We're Here. Vincent and Lee colead vocals with piano. Then drums kick up and Daniel guitar and bass join in too. The dry ice machine is back to its original level. No strings. Daniel guitar takes over.

“A Simple Mistake”
From We're Here Because We're Here. Starts out with Vincent guitar and strings and some synth, then drums bass and Daniel lead vocals, Lee backing. The song recedes back to an interlude with just Vincent guitar, synth and strings, then bass Vincent guitar and drums back in again. Vincent then Daniel vocals in finale.

“The Beginning and the End”
From Weather Systems. Just piano to start, bass and drums, then Vincent vocals, then Daniel guitar. Lee not on stage, no strings either. The song recedes the way it started, finishing with just piano.

“Universal”
From We're Here Because We're Here. Starts with strings and Vincent vocals, drums start in slowly, Lee is back for backing vocals, and Vincent takes over with his guitar again. Shows off all the individual band members and the orchestra really well - I can see why KScope picked this one for a promotional video:



“Closer”
From A Natural Disaster. This is the first song not off the previous too albums. Starts off with keyboards, drums and Danny singing through a vocoder or something like it. Then bass and then keyboards, strings and finally Vincent guitar. Unlike the original, this version has a Dave Stewart string arrangement.

“A Natural Disaster”
From A Natural Disaster / Hindsight. So perhaps it is worth explaining that in between the album A Natural Disaster and WHBWH, the band reworked some the material from their previous five albums with more acoustic instruments and strings – which resulted the album Hindsight. The version of the song “A Natural Disaster” is closer to the Hindsight version. Both Vincent and Daniel have electric guitars though, but there’s lots more strings. This is also the song that made Lee a group member – she’s the lead vocalist with Danny backing.

“Deep”
From Judgement. This song didn’t appear on Hindsight. After Vincent leads off, Vincent with lead vocals, then the rest of the band comes in - except that Lee is off and the strings stay silent. They’ve officially gotten into the back catalog.

“One Last Goodbye”
From Judgement/Hindsight. This one does appear on Hindsight, and the strings are back big time. The crowd knows this song well, they coaxed into singing some of the lyrics. They don’t hold a candle to the Sydney crowd at the Midnight Oil concert though – I’m thinking English isn’t the native language of this crowd..

“Flying”
From A Natural Disaster/Hindsight. Vincent starts out with vocals, his own acoustic guitar, and strings. The rest of the band joins in – Daniel still has an electric guitar and he provides backing vocals, and a flaming guitar solo. The crowd takes a shot at the backing vocal chant with no lyrics - they do a lot better this time. Fireworks after the song is over.

“Fragile Dreams “
From Hindsight. Let’s not beat around the bush – this is the Hindsight version – they do the other one later. The conductor and lead violin of the orchestra are introduced. Song starts out with piano, gorgeous strings, and guitar. After the intro, the song picks up slightly – gotta remember this is the ethereal version. Well, that’s the end of the regular set. Vincent promises to come back and play rock songs.

“Panic”
From A Fine Day to Exit. This one wasn’t on Hindsight – which is good because the orchestra is gone. Lee is still off too, so it’s just a five man rock band playing prog metal. Maybe four – I’m not sure Cardoso did anything.

“Emotional Winter / Wings of God”
From Judgement. Daniel guitar and Cardoso synth to start. Then Vincent on lead vocals, bass and drums. Didn’t start out or finish like a rock song, but it does blaze in the middle.

“Internal Landscapes”
From Weather Systems. OK Vincent lied; this is definitely not a rock song. Even though this is from the last album, I guess they don’t need strings – just prerecorded narrative. Lee comes back on for the first time since “A Natural Disaster” to take over on lead vocals – undoubtedly why this song is here.

“Fragile Dreams “
From Alternative 4. Well, enough of the slow rolling angst for one night. Here’s the original version. Short intro, and then it spends very little time being anything other than a rock song. Vincent flames it out.

The Union Chapel concert

There is some bonus material from another concert included with a five songs on it. Starts out with just Daniel and an acoustic guitar, a piano, and a tape loop machine. Vincent and Lee come on too. There’s two songs from WHBWH “A Natural Disaster” and yet another version of “Fragile Dreams”. Anathema were supposed to open for a 2011 Blackfield concert (Washington 9:30 club) I went to, and it was just this sort of thing – just Vincent and Daniel playing acoustic with tape loops.
_______

I have three Anathema concert videos, and this one is the best by far. But no surround, unfortunately. How hard would it have been to put some lead vocals in the center channel and the strings and some guitar reverb in surround? Probably didn’t happen because it was an outdoor concert. I guess if I want to hear them properly in surround, I’ll have to stick to the studio recordings. It should also be noted that of you really want to hear them play rock songs, then you are better off putting in A Moment in Time.

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

 

Yello - Live in Berlin. I'd only heard "Oh Yeah" before, but if @jamesc says it has good surround I'll check it out. The only other thing I have like this is Kraftwerk - and it's a lot like them. However, unlike Kraftwerk they have more than a few musicians on stage. In order of importance:

1. Boris Blank on the far right and the percussionist on the far left. Blanc is the main composer and one and only keyboard programmer. The other guy is also on stage the whole time.

2. Dieter Meier and the other drummer are also on stage most of the time. Dieter is the other official group member and lead vocalist - really more of a deep throated rapper.

3. A trio of background vocalists - they are out there about two thirds of the time.

4. A guitar player - he's only on about half the songs, but he figures prominently when he is out there.

5. A five member horn section - they are out there about one third of the time. The songs are a lot jazzier when they are.

6. Two lead vocalists who come out front and center for a total of five songs, sometimes with Meier as co-lead.

The visual show also puts Kraftwerk to shame. There's a huge screen in back of the stage that has video and computer graphics that are often spectacular. There are also screens on the podium below Blank and projections down the sides of the auditorium.

The surround is also fantastic on some of the songs, and it tends to be better on the songs that are primarily instrumental. I'm OK with that - those are the songs I like the most anyway. Those are the ones that sound more like earlier Kraftwerk that I like, rather than later Kraftwerk (especially Techno Pop) that I'm not so fond of.

So I am going to drop a video, and I'm going to have to decide whether to show off the band or the screen and light show. I'll go with the latter; only Blank and the two drummers on this one:



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

 

Clockwork Angels Tour [Blu-ray]

• Geddy Lee – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards
• Alex Lifeson – guitar, backing vocals
• Neil Peart – drums, percussion

Clockwork Angels String Ensemble

• David Campbell – conductor
• Mario De Leon – violin
• Joel Derouin – violin
• Jonathan Dinklage – violin
• Gerry Hilera – violin
• Audrey Solomon – violin
• Adele Stein – cello
• Jacob Szekely – cello
• Hiroko Taguchi – violin
• Entcho Todorov – violin

Set One
Subdivisions
The Big Money
Force Ten
Grand Designs
The Body Electric
Territories
The Analog Kid
Bravado
Where s My Thing?/ Here It Is! (drum solo)
Far Cry

Set Two
Caravan*
Clockwork Angels*
The Anarchist*
Carnies*
The Wreckers*
Headlong Flight*/ Drumbastica (drum solo)
Peke s Repose (guitar solo)/Halo Effect*
Seven Cities of Gold*
Wish Them Well*
The Garden*
Dreamline*
The Percussor (I) Binary Love Theme (II) Steambanger s Ball (drum solo)
Red Sector A*
YYZ*
The Spirit of Radio

Encore
Tom Sawyer
2112

Bonus
Limelight (soundcheck filmed in Dallas)
Middletown Dreams (filmed in Phoenix)
The Pass (filmed in Phoenix)
Manhattan Project* (filmed in Phoenix)
*With the Clockwork Angels String Ensemble

SPECIAL FEATURES
Can t Stop Thinking Big (25 min tour documentary)
Behind The Scenes (featuring Jay Baruchel)
Outtakes
Interview With Dwush
Family Goy
Family Sawyer
The Watchmaker (intermission tour film)
Office Of The Watchmaker (closing tour film)

---------------------------------------------------------
This is still available new on bluray for between $15 and $20

This is the tour to support the Clockwork Angels album, which ended up being the band's last album. The first set works like a sort of best of, and the second set is the album complete, with a couple of encores.
I'm not sure if I have watched this one yet, so lets see how we go with this.

We open with some preshow stuff. Roadies setting up, and the string section practicing .. if that is anything to go by, this may be a good surround mix... at least in the second half.
The come out and say hi to the string players, and run through Limelight.
This all fits into about five minutes.

We get some typically goofy Rush opening then the Clockwork Angels clock with the tock tock either side in the rears.
The sub is getting a workout.
Subdivisions/Big Money/Force Ten/Grand Designs roll by.
The band is playing really well. Geddy sounds good, but is struggling with top end vocals.
There is a fair bit of stuff going on in the surrounds. Mainly keys, and some guitar effects.
The Body Electric and Territories again have some nice stuff going on in the rears, it isn't constant or studio, but it is effective, and good.
Analog Kid and Bravado. I really like Bravado.
Where's my thing rolls into Neil's drum solo, and it's a really nice, concise solo. Plenty of fireworks, and the old boy can still knock the crud out of a drum kit.
Far cry storms us out of the first set beautifully. Geddy's voice seemed to be a bit stronger as the set went on.

We get the string section doing some country fiddling walking out.

We get a nice little movie to introduce the second set, with a tax collector trying to see Mr Watchmaker, and our three goofy Rush guys are gnomes.

Caravan and Clockwork Angels open up really well, and the strings come over really well. The mix isn't heavy in the rears. The strings seem to get the sides.

As with most of these Rush blurays, the picture quality is excellent.
I think the 5.1 ends up being a very passable 5.1 also. Not spectacular, but solid, and not a waste of time.

The Anarchist rocks on through. Geddy's vocals are pretty good, but struggle with this one.
Carnies is introduced with a short video of a merry go round which continues through the song.
The Wreckers comes over very well.
Headlong Flight gets another slightly more concise drum solo in the middle, and the string section has a bird's eye view, which would have been cool to me.

Alex them comes in with a chordal type guitar solo. It has a folky kind of feel and works well. It moves smoothly into Halo Effect.
Seven Cities of Gold, Wish Them Well, both go well.
The Garden starts with a really nice bass with the strings duo. Then Alex comes in on the acoustic. This song works really well, and with the levels a bit lower, the strings are a little more effective.
Dreamliner is a great song, and it really ploughs along nicely.
The Percussor/Binary Love Theme/Steambangers Ball is a different kind of Neil solo with the first incorporating a lot of triggered synth parts, giving it a lot of melody, and the second having a soundtrack-like quality to it. It works well.
The classic Red Sector A comes into the fray, and the strings embellish this nicely.
YYZ gets the appropriate crowd response. Again the strings embellish this and it works well.
Spirit of the Radio closes out the set nicely.

The encore starts with the guys throwing stuff into the crowd, and chatter in the background ... 1,2, buckle my shoe it's Tom Sawyer time.
We close out with perennial favourite 2112 .. the regular live edit.
The show closes with a video of the lawyer at the office of the Watchmaker... and he takes a number, one that will never come up, and we pan to our gnomes in the next room goofing off with the girls.
We get an instrumental hillbilly version of Tom Sawyer playing over the credits.

I think this, again is a really good show. Musically it is excellent, the band are tight as ever. The second set augmentation with the strings works very well. Neil's three shorter drum solos work very well, and probably only the first is long enough to bother those that don't like drum solos.
There are a lot of folks that comment on Geddy's vocals towards the end of the band's touring career as just not being up to it ... To a degree that's true, but it is only really in small sections. There is not really anything that makes me want to turn it off ... and here's the thing, to me anyway, at least he didn't just overdub studio vocals to put on a charade. I have a lot of respect for that.
Again we get a three hour set that really the only problem will be finding time to watch it all in one sitting.

The video quality is excellent.
I think the 5.1 mix may not be sensational or mind blowing, but I think it is very good and adds the dimension that you want from a live bluray.

Overall I think this is a good disc, and worthwhile for the Rush fan particularly. The concert fan that wants something by Rush, I would perhaps look at something a few years earlier. R30 is very good for that casual fan. Perhaps Show Of Hands if you like the synth era... I reckon the Grace Under Pressure tour dvd is very good for what it is.

This is the first set

 

Well, if it has strings I guess I'm going to have to get it. What about Cleveland - are you going to do that one?

Did you do the GUP tour DVD on the Rush thread?

I'll get around to R40 soon.

 

GUP - Quickly. It wasn't an in depth. I thought I had done it here ... I can do it at some point.

Cleveland - I can at some point if you like.

I did this one today, because I have been trying to crack Clockwork Angels, and I am close ... @ceddy10165 suggested the concert might shed some light on it for me, and it did. I figured if I am going to watch it, I may as well run down some thoughts. sorry they aren't very detailed, I did more watching think phone typing

 

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

Rating System Explained Here

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

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

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

Dead Can Dance – Yulunga and Other Stories / Video Collection / Rating: 12-15
Dead Can Dance – Toward the Within / Live Performance / Rating: 11
Depeche Mode – Live in Berlin / Live Performance / Rating: 12&
Dido - Live at Brixton Academy / Live Performance / Rating: 13
Dire Straits – Alchemy / Live Performance / Rating: 16*
Dream Theater – Distance Over Time / Video Collection /Rating: 13*&
Dream Theater – Score / Live Performance /Rating: 13
Dylan, Bob – No Direction Home / Concert Documentary (@mark winstanley)

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

Gabriel, Peter – Secret World Live / Live Performance / Rating: 16
Gabriel, Peter – Play / Video Collection / Rating: 12-15 *&
Gabriel, Peter – Growing Up / Live Performance / Rating: 16
Gabriel, Peter – New Blood - Live In London / Live Performance / Rating: 14 &
Genesis – Pop Shop Live TV 1972 / Studio Performance / Rating: 11 *
Gentle Giant – GG at the GG / Live Performance / Rating: 13
Gentle Giant – The Power and the Suite / Video Collection / Rating: 16
Gilmour, David – Live in Gdańsk / Live Performance / Rating: 11
Gilmour, David – Live at Pompeii / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Glass, Philip – Koyaanisqatsi / Movie / Rating: 15 &
Glass, Philip – Powaqqatsi / Movie / Rating: 13
Grateful Dead – The Grateful Dead Movie / Concert Documentary / Rating: 13-14
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
Hendrix, Jimi – Band of Gypsys: Live at The Fillmore East / Concert Documentary / Rating: 10 *&
Hendrix, Jimi – Live at Woodstock / Live Performance / Rating: 12

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

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

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

Mannheim Steamroller – Fresh Aire 8 / Video Collection / Rating: 11*
Marillion – Fish Tales / Video Collection / Rating: 12-13*
Marillion – Recital of the Script / Live Performance / Rating: 13*&
Marillion – Somewhere in London / Live Performance / Rating: 13
Marley, Bob & The Wailers – Live! at the Rainbow / Live Performance / Rating: 14
Midnight Oil – Best of Both Worlds / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
Midnight Oil – Armistice Day / Live Performance / Rating: 16&
Nightwish – Vehicle of Spirit / Live Performance / Rating: 14

Pineapple Thief – 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
Porcupine Tree – Arriving Somewhere... / Live Performance / Rating: 16 - 17
Presley, Elvis – That's The Way It Is (@mark winstanley)

R.E.M – Road Movie / Live Performance / Rating: 11
Roxy Music – The High Road / Live Performance / Rating: 15
Rush – Exit ..... Stage Left / Live Performance (@mark winstanley)
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)

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

Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense / Live Performance / Rating: 14-16
Tangerine Dream – 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)
Transatlantic – Whirld Tour 2010 / Live Performance / Rating: 12

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

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

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

Yello – Live in Berlin / Live Performance (@jamesc)
Yes – Yessongs / Live Performance / Rating: 9*
Yes – 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
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.

 

The Harder They Come



Movie by Jimmy Cliff
Released 1972
Film Location Kingston, Jamaica
Genre Reggae
Length 103 Minutes
Label Island Records. Xenon Productions (2006 restoration)
Director Perry Henzell

Reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff is Ivan, a rural Jamaican musician who journeys to the city of Kingston in search of fame and fortune. Pushed to desperate circumstances by shady record producers and corrupt cops, he finally achieves notoriety—as a murderous outlaw. Boasting some of the greatest music ever produced in Jamaica, The Harder They Come brought the catchy and subversive rhythms of the Rastas to the U.S. in the early 1970s.

Because of the thick accents, and the extensive use of Jamaican slang, the U.S. release prints contained English subtitles.

Plot Summary
Ivan is a country boy in Jamaica who comes to see his Grandmother and `make it big' by recording a record. However when he finds himself exploited by a record producer he turns to drug running to make money. When he kills a cop who is in on the trade he goes on the run and finds fame as an outlaw standing up against `the man'.

Personnel
Jimmy Cliff ... Ivanhoe "Ivan" Martin

and many others. The cast is all Jamaican.

Track Listing (Soundtrack)
Artist Song Title Length
Jimmy Cliff You Can Get It If You Really Want 2:38
Scotty (2) Draw Your Brakes 2:55
The Melodians Rivers Of Babylon 4:10
Jimmy Cliff Many Rivers To Cross 2:57
The Maytals Sweet And Dandy 2:58
Jimmy Cliff The Harder They Come 3:36
The Slickers Johnny Too Bad 3:02
Desmond Dekker Shanty Town 2:37
The Maytals Pressure Drop 3:43
Jimmy Cliff Sitting In Limbo 4:52
Jimmy Cliff You Can Get It If You Really Want (Alternate Version) 2:38
Jimmy Cliff The Harder They Come (Edit Version) 3:02

Version Control
There are many different versions of this, including LP and CD versions of the soundtrack, VHS, DVD, the CD+DVD version that I have, and a Criterion Collection Bluray. You can also stream the movie from Amazon Prime. The CD+DVD is still available new. Amazon

The Movie
It’s ultrawide screen with black bars at the top and bottom, and it’s definitely DVD quality. Even though the original movie is mono, the DVD has a 5.1 option; it’s Dolby Digital. In the movie, you only hear snippets of most of the songs on the soundtrack. All but one of the exceptions feature Jimmy Cliff:

“You Can Get It If You Really Want”
This plays during the opening credits and throughout the opening chapter. However, there is a dialog interruption in the middle. It has surround, but there is nothing discreet about it. Part of the song plays again on chapter 14.

“Many Rivers to Cross”
This plays on chapter 3 with surround, but it is also interrupted by movie dialog.

“Sweet and Dandy”
When Ivan makes a delivery to the studio, the Maytals are there recording this on chapter 5. There is no surround.

“The Harder They Come”
Ivan gets his chance to sing in the studio with a backup band on chapter 8. There no surround, but it’s still the musical highlight of the movie.



The song plays again during the closing credits with surround.

“Limbo”
This plays during a beach scene on chapter 16 and it has surround.
_______

This is a great movie with a great soundtrack. While the soundtrack is a much better vehicle for delivering some classic reggae by Jimmy Cliff and others (I recommend getting the CD +DVD package), the movie does have a few Jimmy Cliff tracks in surround. It’s not discrete, but it sounds good.

Music – 3
Sound quality – 2
Video presentation – 3
Video quality – 2
Surround – 2 (This is generous, but any reggae in surround is hard to find)