Rush - Exit ..... Stage Left Video by Rush Released February 13, 1982 (MTV) November 1982 (CED) June 1983 (Laserdisc) July 1983 (Betamax, VHS) May 1, 2007 (DVD) Recorded March 27, 1981 Genre Progressive rock, hard rock Label Anthem/Mercury Records Exit... Stage Left is a concert film released on CED, Laserdisc, Betamax, VHS and DVD by the Canadian band Rush. It documents a live concert performance by the band on their 1981 Moving Pictures tour. In October 1981, the band released an audio album of the same name of the same performance at the Montreal Forum, in Montreal, Quebec on vinyl LP, audiocassette, 8-track cartridge and (later) compact disc. The video has a different track list from the album, as well as voice-over comments from the band members about songwriting and performing. The four songs from the European dates of the Permanent Waves tour, included on the audio album, are not included on the video. Geddy Lee – bass and rhythm guitar, vocals, synthesizers, bass pedal synthesizer Alex Lifeson – electric and acoustic guitars, bass pedal synthesizer Neil Peart – drums and percussion Intro (includes narration, with segments of "The Camera Eye" live version), 2:15 "Limelight", 4:38 "Tom Sawyer" (Lee, Lifeson, Peart, Pye Dubois), 5:00 "The Trees", 4:47 > "Xanadu", 12:32 (narration at the beginning) "Red Barchetta", 6:37 "Freewill", 5:50 "Closer to the Heart" (Lee, Lifeson, Peart, Peter Talbot), 3:30 "YYZ" (Lee, Peart) (segments of the live version, with interview audio) 1:25 "By-Tor and the Snow Dog", 4:13 > "In the End" (Lee, Lifeson), 1:42 > "In the Mood" (Lee), 1:35 > "2112: Grand Finale", 2:42 End Credits ("YYZ"), 2:20 -------------------------------------------------------- The live cd/record of this is an absolute stunner of an album ... I mean really great. The dvd is good but has it's limitations. I have never been fond of Concert movies that interrupt music for talking, and unfortunately this is one of those, and it irks me. If they had been able to, or decided to just do the concert and perhaps add the other stuff afterwards, it would have been much better from my perspective. Having said that though what we do get is good. Now don't forget I said video. I don't believe this was shot on film, so we have that slight little edge against us also. I held off getting this for so long, because all the reviews basically said it looked terrible. In light of the Rush thread I figured I had to get it so that I could have some form of valid input about it, and some time this week we will be starting the album, so I figured with @riskylogic 's thread here, would be a good place to go through this. I believe that you can look forward to him going through the R40 bluray at some point, but my understanding is that he doesn't have this one, so I feel comfortable I am not stepping on his toes here. So lets roll tape after that little overview. So yea we have grainy video tape footage, but it not unwatchable. If you like the band, I think the historic value outweighs the technical quality in terms of video quality at least. We get an opening sequence with some commentary, and video footage of different stuff. Then we switch to the concert and the band hooks into Limelight. The audio is on the compressed side, but clear. It's funny seeing Peart in a red bowtie lol. You get some nice bits of video that show for example after the lead break Alex kicks his delay to hold the end note and then while playing chords clicks it to cut it off. Undisturbed song. Tom Sawyer comes in and the commentary quits just before the vocals come in. Disappointing, but not the end of the world. Geddy's synth slides through the middle nicely from a 5.1 perspective. All the instruments are clear. The 5.1 is not state of the art, but the mix is full and enjoyable. We get some psychedelic video stuff thrown in for a few seconds, but mainly we just have the band, and that's all that interests me. The Trees. Alex has his nylon string on one of those fancy guitar holder, like I always wanted, then the band launches into it. We get some flanger swooshing around, and that's always fun. Geddy has his little synth lead, Alex is rolling out his arpeggios, neil is tinkling and hit many of his supplementary percussion pieces, then we break back into it with some lead from Alex. Most importantly, no interruptions, until the ending mellow section of Trees, and it is short, and not too annoying. We move into Xanado with some really nice surround effects. Geddy's synth, Neil's percussion all getting some surround action, and the birds also. Sounds pretty f'n good actually. Love Alex's volume swells and there are fx sends from that also. This is a real concert moment, and it would have been great to be in the crowd for this. Love this track, particularly the mega intro. More synth wooshes through the rears, and then it's on. For me it is cool seeing the interaction between Alex and Geddy, best mates having a blas . As it should be. It's funny these days seeing them both with these huge double necks. Peart is a machine. With the concentration needed to do what he does, I'm not surprised he didn't feel like hanging out afterwards... that kind of thing is exhausting. We get a nice drum mix in the surrounds also, with cymbal fire and some of the percussion pieces. Now in the instrumental break Alex and Geddy pushing each other around back to back, great stuff. For all the talk of the video quality, it really isn't that bad. Certainly not 4k, but very serviceable. I would much rather have this, than nothing. Alex's lead break is fire on mustard. Great stuff. Red Barchetta has a little commentary on the song at the beginning, its interference is minimal. Great song, and the performance is flawless. During the staccato section we get a video game road with the band in set to the side. A bit cheesy, but it's ok. We get few variations on this until the next verse section kicks in. Yea it's cheesy, but the song and performance are too good to really care. I do prefer straight concert vids though. The finesse of these guys is remarkable. Freewill has a commentary intro, but it is over audience noise, so no harm, no foul. I can't see many bands wanting to follow these guys on stage.... Geddy and Neil go off, and then Alex throws in one of his Zappaesque leads, and it is brilliant, to my ears. Then so smoothly back into the groove. Geddy has a little voice over while the crowd goes wild. Closer to the Heart. Looks like an Ovation acoustic on the guitar stand this time. Neil has a large kit, but he sure uses it all. Alex and Geddy having more fun at the end. We get another commentary, and quite a long one that completely covers the snippets of YYZ, which is very disappointing. Bytor comes in unscathed. Alex is actually a fun guitarist to watch, he's a bit goofy, and having a blast, and it ups the fun of watching this quite a bit. We move into In The End, with a nice transition from Bytor. To some degree with Neil behind the kit, and Geddy stuck behind the mic with pedals and synth, Alex is left to be the entertainment and he does a good job, in spite of having a ton of difficult stuff to play.... In The Mood slides into effect. This is probably one of the better medleys actually, it is sharp and blows through the essential elements and moves on. We bang into the 2112 finale and it's weird without the rest of the track, but in context with the medley works brilliantly. The guys look so young in comparison to the later vids lol. We get some more commentary, and then we get YYZ over the credits, which makes up for the earlier commentary covering the snippet that was there. It is a short version though. So this dvd does have a few shortcomings, but for me, I think the pros outweigh the cons. I enjoy it a lot, particularly for its historical value, in terms of the band. The video quality is lower than we have come to expect on newer releases, but I think just the fact that there is footage far outweighs any quarms about quality. There are some shots that are poor, but I think they were editing choices more than anything, and the majority of the footage is clear and relevant. I think the audio is good. There are some nice 5.1 treats in there, which isn't always the case with a concert. The musicianship is A1 top class. So to me this is very worth getting, and if you like Rush, I would say it is essential.
My current Rush holdings are R40 and Snakes and Arrow Live. I could be probably be talked into getting Clockwork Angels Tour rather easily.
Woodstock Concert Documentary / Live Performance by Various Artists Directed by Michael Wadleigh Produced by Bob Maurice Edited by Michael Wadleigh, Martin Scorsese, Stan Warnow, Yeu-Bun Yee, Jere Huggins, Thelma Schoonmaker Distributed by Warner Bros. Performance Date: Aug 15-18, 1969 Release date March 26, 1970 Running time: 185 minutes (1970 original), 224 minutes (1994 Director’s Cut) Country United States Language English Budget $600,000 Box office $50 million Woodstock is a 1970 documentary film of the watershed counterculture Woodstock Festival which took place in August 1969 near Bethel, New York. Entertainment Weekly called this film the benchmark of concert movies and one of the most entertaining documentaries ever made. The film was directed by Michael Wadleigh. Seven editors are credited, including Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese, and Wadleigh. Woodstock was a great commercial and critical success. It received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Schoonmaker was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, a rare distinction for a documentary. Dan Wallin and L. A. Johnson were nominated for the Oscar for Best Sound. The film was screened at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition. The 1970 theatrical release of the film ran 185 minutes. A director's cut spanning 224 minutes was released in 1994. Both cuts take liberties with the timeline of the festival. However, the opening and closing acts are the same in the film as they appeared on stage; Richie Havens opens the show and Jimi Hendrix closes it. In 1996, Woodstock was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". An expanded 40th Anniversary Edition of Woodstock, released on June 9, 2009 in Blu-ray and DVD formats, features additional performances not before seen in the film, and also includes lengthened versions of existing performances featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival and others. Woodstock Band List Friday, August 15 to Saturday, August 16 Richie Havens Swami Satchidananda Sweetwater Bert Sommer Tim Hardin Ravi Shankar Melanie Arlo Guthrie Joan Baez Saturday, August 16 to Sunday, August 17 Quill Country Joe McDonald Santana John Sebastian Keef Hartley Band The Incredible String Band Canned Heat Mountain Grateful Dead Creedence Clearwater Revival Janis Joplin and the Kozmic Blues Band Sly & the Family Stone The Who Jefferson Airplane Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18 Joe Cocker and the Grease Band Country Joe and the Fish Ten Years After The Band Johnny Winter Blood, Sweat & Tears Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Paul Butterfield Blues Band Sha Na Na Jimi Hendrix Tracklist Not all of the bands listed above appear in the film. Furthermore, the order on the film doesn’t conform to the order in which they appeared, and some of the concert audio is coupled with documentary that appears at different points in the film. So just for fun, since I’ve seen the original film many times anyway, I’m going to review the songs in the order they appeared in the concert rather than the order on the bluray, and I’m going to include the bonus material that’s on the second disc. However, I’m largely going to ignore the documentary part of the film. Basically, I will be reviewing the concert rather than the movie per se. Version Control There are many different versions of this. I already had a 90’s DVD, but I splurged for a 40th Anniversary bluray for this thread. The video is no better on the bluray. Even though the specs say “1080p”, much of the film is shown in the middle of the screen, and even then it’s not using all the pixels. However, I do think the audio is a significant upgrade. It’s DTS HD instead of Dolby digital, and it does sound better. Furthermore, the 40th also has some extra music on a second disc with much better video quality than the movie; definitely worth the $15. Amazon. There are also some other editions that have three or six more songs on the bonus disc than the one I have, but they are hard to find. Discogs listing of all versions. The Concert The hyperlinks for each artist lead to additional information about each set. Richie Havens We’re already on track 10 before Richie steps on the stage with his acoustic guitar. He plays “Handsome Johnny” and “Freedom”. It’s basically mono – guitar and vocal both come from the center channel; there’s a little reverb and conga (from his one accompanist, Daniel Ben Zebulon) in the other four speakers. Arlo Guthrie Fast forward to track 27 to find Arlo playing “Coming Into Los Angeles”. He’s playing at night, but you don’t learn that from the film until track 28 – most of the video shown while he is playing is daytime footage of the crowd smoking marijuana. Mix is stereo with a little reverb, not much in center. Joan Baez The first night finishes with pregnant Joan. On the film, she sings “Joe Hill” (track 14) and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (track 15) in mono acapella. If you put in the second disc, you also get the Willie Nelson cover “One Day at a Time” played with two other male singer/guitarists – Richard Festinger and Jeffrey Shurtleff. That song was played between the two songs seen in the film, and the video uses all five speakers with lots of reverb. Seems like Joan’s voice is primarily in center channel Country Joe McDonald Now let’s sleep through Quill and wake up on the second day to Country Joe playing without his Fish. He is on the second disc, where Joe is playing “Flying High” solo. Voice is centered a bit perhaps, nothing out the back. Santana An early afternoon concert seems like a low billing spot for then, but only their first album had been released at this point – most of the eight songs they played were from that. We get two. “Evil Ways” is on the bonus disc while “Soul Sacrifice” can be found on Track 39. Evil Ways has the better video quality, but Soul Sacrifice has 3-screen video that often shows both the band and the crowd at once. Some of the crowd shots are among the most memorable in the film. Like the naked guy dancing with a sheep in his arms – you just can’t unsee that. The mix on “Evil Ways” is pretty close to stereo, but there is lots of drum reverb in the back on “Soul sacrifice”” and it seems like Carlos is featured a bit in the middle. After Santana IV last week, it’s amazing to see these guys when they were so much younger. Michael Shrieve totally beats his drums into submission here – at age 20 he was the youngest musician to play at Woodstock. When you add it all up, the sample video simply must go here. John Sebastian He plays one song “Younger Generation” at Track 35 of the movie. He talks for several minutes, but the eventually gets around to a solo performance with crowd shots of young children in the crown. Vocals are in the center channel, with guitar in stereo. Canned Heat Skipping over another two names on the band list. Canned heat only played 7 songs at Woodstock, but we get to hear at least parts of four of them. However, we will need to work to put them all together. “I’m Her Man” is on the bonus disc, the audio from “Going Up the Country” is way back at track 5 of the movie, while concert footage of “A Change is Gonna Come” is on track 13, then we go back to the bonus disc for “On the Road Again”. Their set started at 7:30 pm – it was daylight when they started and night when they finished. Lead vocals on both “I’m Her Man”, “A Change” and “On the Road” are featured in center, with just a smidge of reverb in the back. Unlike the harmonica on the others, the flute on “Going Up” is mixed in surround. Mountain They don’t appear in the movie at all, but there are two tracks on the bonus disc of them playing at night – “Beside the Sea” and “Southbound Train”. A 4:3 screen with a stereo mix. Grateful Dead They don’t play in the movie at all; that is probably because they had a number of problems including a member of the audience who took a turn at lead vocals and electrical issues; they kept getting shocked while playing and the amps overloaded at the end of the fifth song, cutting the set short. However, the bonus disc shows an epic 37+ minute version of “Turn on Your Love Light”. It’s not entirely clear that it was ever going to end if the amps hadn’t ended it for them. Stereo recording with a little crowd noise in the back. Creedence Clearwater Revival This seems even more inexplicable. No Creedence in the film? Fortunately, the bonus disc comes to rescue again with “Born On the Bayou”, “I Put a Spell On You” and Keep on Chooglin”. John though the Dead sabotaged their career by playing for too long, but this is a good performance. Seems like it’s mostly stereo with a little guitar reverb. Janis Joplin Back to the movie disc (track 41) where we must be in the wee hours of the morning. Janis sings one song “Work me, Lord”. She gets the center channel all to herself, while the Kozmic Blues band is in stereo, A little reverb in the back. Sly and the Family Stone Now let’s back up to Track 40 for Sly doing “I Want to Take You Higher”. Sly vocals and harmonica are in the center channel along with the horn, the rest of the band in stereo, and just a little reverb. The Who The British invaders flew over to start playing at five in the morning. That’s OK, it was midmorning for them, right? We get three songs from their set where they played Tommy in its entirety. “We’re Not Gonna Take It” in both the movie at track 16 and the bonus disc – the latter has some missing footage at the beginning. “Summertime Blues” is in the movie at track 17, while the encore of “My Generation” is on the bonus disc. The two movie tracks have a split screen while the bonus tracks don’t. It’s pretty much all stereo with a little reverb, but Entwhistle gets the center channel for his raspy vocals on “Summertime Blues”. At the end of both the movie and bonus footage, Townsend smashes his guitar and throws it to the audience at the end. The sun had already started to come up by the time The Who finished. Jefferson Airplane Time for Sunday morning maniac music. JA were supposed to be the last act on Saturday, but we’re running behind – they start playing at about 8 Sunday morning. Their setlist is represented by two songs in the movie plus one on the bonus disc. “3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds” is on the latter and unlike most of the bonus disc footage this one pans to the crowd quite a bit. They aren’t all awake. Movie track 31 actually starts with the set intro of “The Other Side of This Life”, but then switches to “Won’t You Try”, where co-lead vocalists Balin and Slick share the center channel Track 34 is the Jorma Kaukonen song “Uncle Same Blues”, with Grace watching; Jorma vocals and guitar are in center. Both the movie tracks use split screen, and just have a little reverb in the back. Joe Cocker The real Sunday schedule started up at 2:00 pm with Joe Cocker who probably helped his musical career more than anybody here. “Something's Coming On” appears on the bonus disc with the 4:3 split screen. Joe is in the center channel, guitar solos are on the left. However, it was his finale of “With A Little Help From My Friends” shown at track 22 of the movie that he is really famous for. It also usually has split screen, with one camera for Joe and another for his bandmates. Country Joe and the Fish There was a storm between Cocker and Country – tracks 23-25 cover that. On the first one, the announcer wildly underestimates the amount of time that it will take to get Joe (with the Fish this time back on stage). In the film, it’s just a short trip up to track 26 for “Rock and Soul Music”, which mostly features the band rather than Joe. For some reason, they seem to all be mixed to center, so this sounds like a mono recording. On track 36 is where we get his big hit song “I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag” that was played as an encore. Lots of footage of the crowd while Joe is singing and the band is playing– the crowd are singing along from the rear speakers. Ten Years After Their performance was also hindered by technical issues. They only played six songs, and only the last one was recorded. “Going Home” can be found on movie track 29. This features a triple screen, Alvin’s vocals are in center, everything else is stereo, with reverb in the back. Johnny Winter Skipping over The Band for whom there is no video (don’t know why), we get to Johnny Winter, who started playing around midnight. “Mean Town Blues” is on the bonus disc with the 4:3 screen. This seems to be a mono recording – it’s just about all from the center channel. That may be because it’s mostly all about Johnny – a majority of the track is guitar solo. But it still sounds good; I love Johnny – sure wish there were more of him. This is the highlight of the bonus disc IMO. Edgar is on the stage too, but we don’t see him or much of the other two band members either. Edgar sang lead on one of the other songs (“Tobacco Road”). Damn, I wish I could see that. Crosby, Stills & Nash Skipping over BS&T, who are also a video no-show, it’s on to CS&N who started played around 3 am. The did a 9 song acoustic set with just the threesome, a five song electric set with a full band, and then a 2 song acoustic encore. Their songs are well represented in the movie, but we must hunt around to find them. The opener “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” is at track 28, and it is the only one that has concert footage of them playing. Stephen Stills is featured in the center channel. The electric set is heard much earlier in the film. “Long Time Gone” is heard on track 3 that mostly shows landscape footage of upstate New York, and ending with some footage of the stage being constructed. “Wooden Ships” is heard on track 6 that shows video of the stage still being worked on at night. On those two tracks the varying lead vocalists also get the center. The film credits roll on track 49 with the song “Woodstock”, which is a cover of a Joni Mitchell song from the CSN&Y album Déjà Vu, and not from the concert. The encore song “Cost Of Freedom” is the soundtrack to a coda added to the movie in the director’s cut (track 50) – it is a very brief eulogy to a long list of people – Hendrix and Joplin are near the end. Paul Butterfield It’s now dawn on Monday. Seems like a good time to play “Morning Sunrise”, which can be found on the bonus disc with the 4:3 screen. This blues number has lead vocal in center plus horns with lost of reverb. Sha Na Na It’s now 7:30 am, and if you are going to play a 50’s “Happy Days” soundtrack this is as good a place as any. Apparently these guys are here at the behest of Jimi Hendrix, who comes on next. “Teen Angel” is on the bonus disc. This is a solo vocal and features a number of shots of the crowd many of whom seem thoroughly flabbergasted by the tale of a prom queen who met an early demise. But Jimi and others seem amused. The movie shows “At the Hop” at track 20. It’s all mini-widescreen with the vocals in the center channel, except there are some surround shenanigans at the end. Jimi Hendrix The concert ends at around 11:00 am with Jimi, and so does the film. “Voodoo Child”, “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Purple Haze” are on movie tracks 45-47. There are big gaps in the crowd as many people have left already, but Hendrix puts on an amazing performance. His video is also all mini widescreen, with his guitar and vocals in the center channel. On “Star-Spangled Banner” Hendix plays solo, and this track has tons of reverb in the back channels. _____ Whew. I am guessing this will be my longest review. Social distancing and six hours of video deserve most of the credit, plus I had a lot of fun delving into Woodstock history. I was very impressed with the video quality of the bonus material. There is a bluray of the entire Hendrix set that I hope will be as good -I just ordered it. I would have used the sample video for him, but I’ll catch him the next time. The movie is a classic, everyone needs to see it. Furthermore, the 40th anniversary edition (not just the movie) is essential for any rock music collection. Music – 3 Sound quality – 3 Video presentation – 3 Video quality – 2 Surround – 2
Nice run through mate. Woodstock is such a funny one. It is essential music viewing, but it done terribly. The tiny boxes were probably hip and cool at the time, but they are awful. It is heartening to see the bonus footage is regular. I would say that it would be great if they recut the movie with whole screen shots rather than the chopped up little boxes, but it is almost certainly a licensing and copyright issue and being Warners .... good luck with that. It would be nice if CCR, Joe Cocker and a couple of others got footage rights to release their own sets on dvd. If Hendrix could, no reason the others couldn't one would assume. I would have liked to get the recent set that was released, but the price was richer than my interest unfortunately.
Besides Hendrix, I would like to hear or see the whole set for a few of the bands - Santana, CCR, and Johnny Winter are the first to come to mind. But for the large part, the two blurays are quite enough for me. However, I don't think there is video or even audio for all of it - they had technical problems throughout the concert.
Hardly surprising really a cow paddock in a rain storm isn't an ideal recording studio Cocker's whole set is on cd, and I believe the whole CCR set just got released. I can only assume it's filming issues ... I was just pondering
But they weren't little boxes when it was released. They were huge boxes on the big screen in a theater. I used to take a bus 40 miles to the city and watch it 2 or 3 times in a row.
Fair point. From my perspective, which is obviously just my perspective, it was a little overdone in the film.
Given the fact that Woodstock was shown in theaters on a big screen, it does seem like the video on the bluray ought to be better than it is. Maybe the original film is no longer intact, so they had to rely on a transfer done for VHS or DVD. Same goes for Stop Waking Sense.
Terrible mixing IMO. Only one bonus track sounds decent. I think R30 is far more enjoyable overall. Been a while though since I've watched those Rush live videos though (I have the R40 book set which includes the blu-rays of Rio, R30, S&A, Time Machine & Clockwork Angels Tour plus a lot of bonus footage).
Sadly most of those blurays are too compressed. I still enjoy them, but they really could have been superb
The Tokyo Tapes: Live in Japan Live Performance by Steve Hackett Recorded: December 16th and 17th, 1996 at Koseinenkin Hall in Tokyo, Japan Released: 2001 (an earlier CD version was released in 1997) Video Director: Kohichi Yamamoto Video Producer – Masa Matsuzaki Audio Mixing: Roger King Label: Camino Records "What would happen if occasional members of Genesis, King Crimson, Asia, Yes, Frank Zappa & Weather Report all got together to form a unique team for just one night" Besides being a solo artist, Hackett was an original member of Genesis. John Wetton is the costar of this production; he was a member of King Crimson, Asia, and many other bands. Ian McDonald was a member of King Crimson (before Wetton) and Foreigner. Chester Thompson was the touring drummer for Genesis after Gabriel left – making Phil Collins the frontman. Julian Colbeck played with both Hackett and Yes. Personnel Steve Hackett – Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals John Wetton – Bass, Guitar, Vocals Ian McDonald – Keyboards, Lead Vocals Chester Thompson – Drums Julian Colbeck – Keyboards, Vocals Tracklist 1. "Watcher of the Skies" (Banks, Rutherford, Hackett, Gabriel, Collins) – 8:59 [Genesis] 2. "Riding the Colossus" (Hackett) – 3:32 [Solo Steve Hackett] 3. "Firth of Fifth" (Banks, Collins, Hackett, Rutherford, Gabriel) – 9:32 [Genesis] 4. "Battlelines" (Wetton, Marlette, Mitchell) – 6:43 [Solo John Wetton] 5. "Camino Royale" (Hackett, Magnus) – 9:06 [Solo Steve Hackett] 6. "The Court of the Crimson King" (McDonald, Sinfield) – 7:39 [King Crimson] 7. "Horizons" (Hackett) – 1:53 [Genesis/Solo Steve Hackett] 8. "Walking Away from Rainbows" (Hackett) – 3:47 [Solo Steve Hackett] 9. "Heat of the Moment" (Wetton, Downes) – 4:06 [Asia] 10. "...In That Quiet Earth'" (Hackett, Rutherford, Banks, Collins) – 4:02 [Genesis] 11. "Vampyre With a Healthy Appetite" (Hackett) – 7:23 [Solo Steve Hackett] 12. "I Talk to the Wind" (McDonald, Sinfield) – 5:37 [King Crimson] 13. "Shadow of the Hierophant" (Hackett, Rutherford) – 7:14 [Solo Steve Hackett] 14. "Los Endos" (Banks, Collins, Rutherford, Hackett) – 6:54 [Genesis] 15. "Black Light" (Hackett) – 2:30 [Solo Steve Hackett] 16. "The Steppes" (Hackett) – 6:48 [Solo Steve Hackett] 17. "I Know What I Like" (Hackett, Banks, Rutherford, Collins, Gabriel) – 5:51 [Genesis] Version Control This was originally released as a stand-alone DVD in 2001. I have a 2CD + DVD set released in 2013. Amazon has it new. The audio is dolby digital, unfortunately. The Concert We’ve got a a 4:3 screen and normal DVD video quality. I think the audio on the CDs is better. “Watcher of the Skies” from Genesis - Foxtrot This is the first of what will probably be many Steve Hackett concerts. All of those will have Genesis songs heavily represented in them. But this concert stands out in one important respect, John Wetton is replacing Michael Rutherford and sometimes Peter Gabriel too. On this track, it appears to be just the latter. There is a bass track though; I think that is McDonald pounding it out with a keyboard. “Riding the Colossus” This is a new song that doesn’t appear on previous studio albums. Wetton plays bass; McDonald remains as a second keyboardist. “Firth of Fifth” from Genesis – Selling England By the Pound Wetton is lead vocalist and plays bass. McDonald fills in for Gabriel on flute. Veers into some experimental jazz-tinged jamming. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a Hackett concert that doesn’t feature this song. I tend to judge Chinese restaurants by their Hot and Sour soup. Hackett lineups can similarly be judged by their Firth. This one is very good. “Battlelines” – From Wetton, John – Voice Mail Now we are definitely going off script with a Wetton solo album song. Besides Wtton on bass and vocals this song features Colbeck. Hacking isn’t very busy on this one, but he does have a short solo near the end. “Camino Royale” from Hackett Steve – Highly Strung The band is introduced by Steve. Hackett is lead vocalist, but it’s more like reciting poetry than actually singing. Wetton does backing vocals plus bass. Saxophone solo for McDonald, Hackett plays harmonica, and Colbeck solos on keyboard, then Hackett comes back on guitar. “The Court of the Crimson King” from King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King The next song is introduced by Wetton – whose concert is this anyway? It’s the title track from the King Crimson debut album that McDonald coauthored. Although McDonald was gone by the time he joined, Wetton had plenty of experience filling in for Greg Lake on both bass and vocals when on tour – so we are getting a pretty authentic version of the song here. We have Hackett filling in for Fripp and Thompson for Giles. Sounds damn near perfect; let’s use the video here: “Horizons” from Genesis – Foxtrot, also appears on Hackett Steve – Bay of Kings Wetton introduces Hackett, who plays this short acoustic solo piece. “Walking Away from Rainbows” from Hackett Steve – Guitar Noir Hackett continues with acoustic guitar as he is joined by Colbeck “Heat of the Moment” from Asia – s/t Not to be outdone, Wetton returns with an acoustic guitar in hands. McDonald has one too. Along with Hackett, the three of them play an acoustic version of the hit Asia song. “In That Quiet Earth” from Genesis – Wind & Wuthering The whole band is back now with another jazzed up Genesis song. McDonald plays sax – an instrument not heard in the original version. “Vampyre with a Healthy Appetite” from Hackett Steve – Guitar Noir Hackett again with spoken vocals and some harmonica. All the members of the band get a turn soloing. “I Talk to the Wind from King Crimson” – In the Court of the Crimson King King Crimson makes another appearance with the other song from the debut that McDonald wrote. Wetton and McDonald both sing, McDonald also plays flute. Hackett does a fine Fripp imitation. “Shadow of the Hierophant” from Hackett Steve – Voyage of the Acolyte From the first Hackett solo album, this features a long drum solo from Thompson, and an improvisational finale that is Wetton bass-heavy and McDonald on sax. “Los Endos” from Genesis – Trick of the Tail This song is a reprise of the Genesis album it appears at the end of. The version here features a lot more flute (from McDonald) than the original. “Black Light” from Hackett Steve – Bay of Kings Another acoustic piece with just Hackett. “The Steppes” from Hackett Steve – Defektor McDonald starts out with solo flute, but this is mainly a drum, guitar, and keyboard piece. Wetton is woefully underutilized. “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)” from Genesis – Selling England By the Pound It’s going to be another jazzed up Genesis song; starts out with Wetton on lead bass. Hackett tries to replace Gabriel, but he really can’t – it seems like he knows he is botching it. Oh well, the background vocals are OK, kinda. Thankfully they stop singing and concentrate on playing, with lots of improvisation. A rather poor ending to a great concert. _______ This is a special crimsonized Steve Hackett concert. With a 4:3 screen and dolby digital stereo encoding it’s unfortunately not up to modern standards. There also isn’t much of a show; we just get to see an unusually talented line up play. I will probably continue to listen to the CDs (well the flacs ripped from the CDs) far more than I watch the video, but it is something I am very glad to have seen at least once. Music – 3 Sound quality – 2 Video presentation – 2 Video quality – 2 Surround – 1
The Tokyo Tapes is how I became a Hackett fan. I had never seen him before this. I rented this DVD because I was a fan of John Wetton, but I absolutely fell in love with Steve’s playing. I hadn’t heard the early Genesis stuff before, so between that and Steve’s solo work, a lot of money was dropped to get caught up. Standouts for me: 1. Watcher of the Skies - I noodle around a bit on various instruments and with this “stay-at-home” thing we get to do, I’m learning the intro keyboard chords for this. Mainstage has a mellotron setting that gets you amazingly close to the sound of the intro. 2. Firth of Fifth - Classic solo. I can’t recall now if he used it on this song or another, but I bought an eBow because of this DVD. I could have sworn he used it on this song. 3. Horizons - One I’ve tried at various points to learn on guitar. It just so happens that Steve played this today on his YouTube channel as part of his acoustic series to keep people entertained while at home. 4. Vampyre with a Healthy Appetite - Love the solos on this. One of my favorite Hackett songs and a rather odd one lyrically speaking... both the content and the way it’s delivered. 5. Los Endos - This song was a revelation for me. The drama of it at the end makes this a favorite song for me on every live recording Steve does. Easily one of my top five Genesis songs, but even better in a live setting. I doubt we’ll ever see an enhanced version of this on BluRay, but if so, I’ll be the first in line.
I agree pretty much with your review. Great to see it once, great to have it and will keep listening to the CDs too!
Band of Gypsys: Live at The Fillmore East Documentary and Live Performance by Jimi Hendrix Recorded: Dec 31, 1969 and Jan 1, 1970 Released : 1999 Director: Bob Smeaton Producer – Chips Chipperfield, Neil Aspinall Concert Video Recording: Jan Blom, Woody Vasulka Band of Gypsys is a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was recorded on January 1, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, frequently referred to as the Band of Gypsys. The album mixes funk and rhythm and blues elements with hard rock and jamming, an approach which later became the basis of funk rock. It contains previously unreleased songs and was the last full-length Hendrix album released before his death. After his appearance at Woodstock with an interim group that included Cox, Hendrix began developing new songs and recording demos. When Miles became involved, he and Cox agreed to record a live album with Hendrix to be used to settle a contract dispute with a former manager. The new material, influenced by Cox's and Miles' musical approaches, signals a new direction for Hendrix. Songs such as "Power of Soul" and "Message to Love" (originally "Power to Love" and "Message of Love") still maintain the dominant role of Hendrix's guitar, but show funk and R&B influences. Lyrically, they also explore new, more humanistic themes for Hendrix. The two numbers written and sung by Miles bear the stylings of soul music. The anti-riot/anti-war "Machine Gun", draws on Hendrix's earlier blues aspirations, but incorporates new approaches to guitar improvisation and tonal effects. As the album's producer, Hendrix had a difficult time completing the task. Presented with the sometimes problematic recordings and resigned to turning it over to a different record company, Hendrix expressed his dissatisfaction with the final product. Shortly after its release, Band of Gypsys reached the top ten of the album charts in the US and UK as well as appearing in charts in several other countries. Although it was as popular as his albums with the Experience, it received mixed reviews. Some faulted the performances as tentative and underprepared; additionally, Miles' contributions on drums and vocals have been characterized as plodding and obtrusive. However, "Machine Gun" is generally regarded as the album's highlight and one of Hendrix's greatest achievements. The influence of Band of Gypsys is heard in the funk rock developments of the 1970s and has been cited as an inspiration by various later rock musicians. The trio was filmed performing two of the songs that are included on the original album. Black and white footage for part of "Who Knows" was filmed by Woody Vasulka from the hall, while Jan Blom shot "Machine Gun" from the balcony. It was later included on the 1999 DVD documentary Band of Gypsys: Live at the Fillmore East. Personnel Billy Cox – bass, vocals Jimi Hendrix – guitar, vocals, producer, liner notes Buddy Miles – drums, vocals Tracklist 1. Who Knows 2. Machine Gun 3. Changes 4. Power Of Soul 5. Stepping Stone 6. Foxey Lady 7. Stop 8. Earth Blues Total running time: 58:28 Version Control The original Band of Gypsys LP released in 1970 had six songs. A CD version with the same six tracks was first issued on 1984. A 16 song extended edition (3 LP or 2 CD) was released in 1999 with the same cover and title of “Live at the Fillmore East” as the DVD being reviewed here. It contains additional songs recorded at the Fillmore East performances of Dec 21, 1969, and Jan 1, 1970. There is also a new box set entitled Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts that has all four concerts performed on those two dates in their entirety. The DVD issued at the same time has a documentary of the concerts, plus concert footage of eight songs. The DVD is still available new. _____ The Documentary Ostensibly, this DVD is mainly a documentary about the production of the Band of Gypsys concert. It is comprised of interviews spliced together with concert footage. The interviews with sound engineer Eddie Kramer, Buddy Miles and Billy Cox are interesting, plus there is a short discussion of the band cobbled together by Hendrix for Woodstock that Cox was a member of. Most of the rest of the interviews I could do without. There are also a bunch of Dick Cavett Show interview clips, many of which I’ve seen elsewhere. But for the most part, I think the best part of the documentary is the concert footage. The video quality is not good, which is probably why they couldn’t just release it as a concert video. However, it’s still what is worth watching more than once. Here’s the good part: If you want to just watch the concert film footage, you can. It’s not worth a separate entry, so I’ll just mention it here: The same producers also did a documentary on the making of Electric Ladyland that can be found in the bluray in the recent boxset that has the surround mix. There is a little concert footage in that one too, but not much. The interviews with Eddie Kramer are the best part. The discussion of …and The Gods Made Love has a soundtrack that includes the glorious surround version, which is very cool. The Concert This looks like and old black and white video tape, and that’s because it is. The audio is usually halfway decent, but there are a few dropouts and there is some feedback hum on ocassion. I think the video segments shown in the documentary have the soundtrack replaced with a different recording. “Who Knows” This in one of the two songs that are the same performance used on the original Band of Gypsys release. It is shot from the front hall at ground floor level. “Machine Gun” This is also the same performance as the original album, but the video is shot from balcony on the right side of the stage. We mainly just get to see Jimi. Even when the camera is on Buddy he is partially obscured by his drum set. There is a screen with psychedelic video behind the stage – the camera occasionally focuses on that. Since this is all I could find, this short clip goes here: "Changes" While this song also appears on the original album, this is a different performance. Like Machine Gun, this song was written by Miles, and the video is shot from the balcony. Even though he is often featured, you can barely see him – there is a cymbal in front of his face. “Power of Soul” Another song that appeared on the original album, but a different performance. We are back on the floor and Jimi is glad Southern California beat the hell out of Michigan (in the Rose Bowl). Miles head is hidden by a different cymbal, but we get a better view of Cox. Hendrix has lead vocals; the audio was better from the balcony. “Stepping Stone” This Hendrix song doesn’t appear on the original Band of Gypsys album, however it is found on many of the Hendrix albums released posthumously. This is a much longer version of it though. We are back on the balcony, with a slight uptick in audio quality. “Foxey Lady” Song from Are You Experienced? Still on the balcony, audio quality not good. Extended jam after the lyrics have all been sung, which is awesome. “Stop” Still in the balcony with a Miles song that doesn’t appear on the original album. Miles is back on lead vocals, and you can see his face a little better now – there is only a microphone stand in the way. Hendrix still gets plenty of tasty licks in. “Earth Blues” Back on the floor again; seems to start in the middle of the song. Mostly Hendrix jamming with just a few vocals. That’s the end. _____ This DVD is basically for people who are already familiar with the Band of Gypsys LP or CD and like it a lot. I fall in that category, so I am glad to have it. However, even though I’ve had the DVD for many years, I think I just watched the documentary for the first time. Even though the video is dodgy, it’s the part that bears repeated watching IMO. If you want to just spend a half hour with this disc, there is something to be said for playing the documentary and skipping over the interview parts – the audio accompanying the performance video is far better there. The following ratings are for the concert footage: Music – 3 Sound quality – 1 Video presentation – 3 (just watching Hendrix play is mesmerizing) Video quality – 1 Surround – 1
Live Dates 3 Live Performance by Wishbone Ash Recorded: April 22, 2000 at Shepherds Bush Empire, London Released: 2001 Genre:Rock Director: Bob Smeaton Producer – Chips Chipperfield, Neil Aspinall Personnel Wishbone Ash Bob Skeat – Bass, Vocals Ray Weston – DrumsAynsley Powell Mark Birch – Guitar, Vocals Andy Powell – Guitar, Vocals Guest Musicians Mick Parker – Accordion Laurie Wisefield – Guitar, Vocals Giles Hedley – Harmonica Paul Moran – Keyboards Glen Le Fleur – Percussion Lewis Gibson – Violin Claire Hamill – Vocals Aynsley Powell – Drums Tracklist 1 Real Guitars Have Wings 2 The King Will Come 3 Fubb 4 Wings of Desire 5 Ballad of The Beacon 6 Errors of My Way 7 No Joke 8 Strange Affair 9 Living Proof 10 Blowin' Free 11 Phoenix 12 Come In From The Rain 13 Hard Times Total running time: 58:28 Version Control The DVD is out of print, but used copies are not expensive. Discogs. There is also a CD with the same title, but it is a different concert. The Concert It a 4:3 screen with normal DVD quality. The Audio is excellent. The surround is practically non-exixtent; there is ocassionally some crowd noise in the back with next to no reverb. The center channel is used sparingly too. For the most part, there’s one guitar on the left (Powell) and one on the right (Birch) – maybe that is all the surround you really need with Wishbone Ash. We’ve got two screens behind the stage that show feeds from the cameras that are taping the show for the DVD. There are at least three cameras; close up cameras on each side of the stage, plus one from the floor that shows the whole stage. Sometimes the back screens show the same view as the camera used for the video, but it is usually different. Also, the two screens usually differ from one another, but sometimes they are the same. The two guitars are the main show, there are close ups of pick and fret work on a regular basis. “Real Guitars Have Wings” - from Nouveau Calls. This is a 30th anniversary concert; we start with old video clips of previous band members. An announcer (David Vance) comes on to introduce the band. "The King Will Come" – from Argus They always play this song and it always sounds awesome. Let’s not muck around, the video goes here: "F.U.B.B." – from There’s the Rub Skeats leads off with bass solo. Powell and Birch often play in unison, sometimes an octave apart. At one point camera shows Birch with back screen behind him directly in line show same feed, which results in multiple imaging. At the end of the song, both guitars are doing their own thing. This song has the first guest musician – that’s Glen Le Fleur back on the right with congas "Wings of Desire" – from Strange Affair They are touring in support of Bare Bones; this is the start of an acoustic set. Skeat sill has an electric bass. Claire Hamill comes on for backing vocals. “Ballad of The Beacon” – from Wishbone 4 Another acoustic rendition of an old song, but this one isn’t on Bare Bones – which is quite irksome. Claire Hammill still on backing vocals, plus we now also have Lewis Gibson in the back on violin. “Errors of My Way”– from Wishbone Ash This one is on Bare Bones, Hamill leaves, and Gibson comes up front along with Mick Parker playing accordion. Gibson is the lead. “No Joke”– from Illuminations Time to plug the guitars back in, and it’s just the four band members again. A still photographer walks on stage and starts taking pictures. "Strange Affair"– from Strange Affair This one is on Bare Bones, but we get the electric version here. I like it better. Paul Moran is on keyboards, while Giles Headly comes on with a harmonica. “Living Proof” – from Just Testing Former band member Laurie Wisefield comes on, and Claire Hamill comes back. They were the cowriters of this song. Birch steps back and let’s Wisefield take his place in front. However, Wisefield doesn’t get the right speaker – he is the center channel instead. I guess this is a 5.1 mix after all. Way better than the Bare Bones version. “Blowin' Free / Bad Weather Blues” – from Argus and No Smoke Without Fire Ted Turner was the second guitarist back then, but this is the triple guitar version. Wisefield and Hamill are still here, and each of the three guitarists have their own speaker. Two guitars duel, so what is it called with three? I dunno, but it’s cool. Let’s ignore the fact that Wisefield on the right on stage, but still in the center channel. The back screens are fooling around with Picture in a Picture technology. There are few snippets from “Time Was” in here too. “Phoenix”– from Wishbone Ash Wisefield and Hamill leave, so we are back to just the four band members again. Great rendition of a classic, but Birch doesn’t cover the vocals as well as the guitar part. “Come In From The Rain” – from Front Page News At this point I had a bizarre technological disaster. First, of all the disc stopped playing. I tried to restart it several times, and then my Oppo 203 refused to even try. So, I tried a different disc in the Oppo and it won’t play either. I guess the drive is done for. I will just use the Oppo as a multichannel file player. I then tried to put Live Dates in two other players, and it won’t play there either. I put it in my laptop, and the drive started to make the same sickly noises my Oppo drive did before it died. So the disc went back in the box, which is now headed for the garbage. "Hard Times" – from Strange Affair Indeed. _____ As DVDs go, this was top notch before things blew up. The video was great for a DVD (albeit 4:3), the audio quality was excellent, and the background screens and stream of guest musicians made for an entertaining show. Even if the 5.1 mix didn’t use the rears, it did put the center channel to fine use when Laurie Wisefield was in there. If I ever recover from the emotional trauma, I may try to find another copy. Music – 3 Sound quality – 3 Video presentation – 3 Video quality – 2 Surround – 2 This is part of a Wishbone Sunday double header: Bare Bones is reviewed on the surround thread. It has most of the same musicians.
The Video Dream Mixes Video Collection by Tangerine Dream Released: 1996 Genre: Electronic Style: Ambient Director: Edgar Froese Producer: Edgar Froese Video Editor: Wanja Janowsky Computer Animation: Dennis Lange Personnel Edgar Froese: Keyboard, Guitar Jerome Froese: Keyboard, Guitar Linda Spa: Keyboard, Sax Tracklist 1 Bride In Cold Tears (The Motown Monk Mix) 5:33 2 Catwalk (Dress Up Mix) 7:47 3 Jungle Journey (Reptile Mix) 6:18 4 Touchwood (Poison Byte Mix) 7:53 5 Change Of The Gods 7:15 6 Rough Embrace 5:31 7 Little Blonde In The Park Of Attractions (The Thai Dub) 7:21 8 San Rocco 7:18 9 Fire Tongues (End Credits) 3:31 Total running time: 60 Min. Approx. Version Control This release is different from either of the two “Dream Mix” CDs. The DVD is still available; there is a newer version with a different cover. The Videos "Bride In Cold Tears (The Motown Monk Mix)" I’d guess this is shot in Southern California. Lots of video of the desert with some beach and urban area too. The video editing features lots of double imaging and coloration experiments. I’m guessing the video was black and white to begin with. It’s all wide screen. "Catwalk (Dress Up Mix)" More of the same, but this looks like Venice: Lots of canals and boats. "Jungle Journey (Reptile Mix)" I’ll go with India, but it could be somewhere else in Asia. Starts with a few shots of the ocean and some mountains, and then we’re in an urban area with lots of rickshaws and not much motorized transportation. Mostly straight photography, but it’s gets colorized at the end. Finishes with more ocean and mountains. No band members. " Touchwood (Poison Byte Mix)" The credits say Malaysia, so that’s where this one starts out: Bhuddas, trains and some big cities. Features band members quite a bit, often playing. There are winter shots near the end, so maybe we’ve moved on. Finishes with books - I’m not sure this one ends anywhere in particular. "Change Of The Gods " Animation with planets, satellites, pyramids, clocks. Well, hell: "Rough Embrace" OK, we’re back to home videos again, but they aren’t all Edgar’s. Much of it is old black and white somewhere in Europe, I’d guess. Then we go world hopping, with the band members popping up. "Little Blonde In The Park Of Attractions (The Thai Dub)" Also splices new photography from all over with old black and white. Band members busy touring. "San Rocco" Besides the usual random video, we get snippets of concert footage. Well, not much, but more than on any of the others. _____ None of the videos on the disc are really that spectacular – the one I posted is the best. However, that’s the only one with animation, so it’s not very indicative of what the rest of it is like. The audio is also dolby digital, so you’ll get better on one of their CDs. Three of the songs here are from Tyranny of Beauty, which I have and like. You can probably watch all of the videos from this on youtube, and it will be just as good. Music – 2 Sound quality – 2 Video presentation – 2 Video quality – 2 Surround – 1 Well, at least I’m back in the saddle. The next one is going to be fun.
Yulunga and Other Stories Video Collection by Dead Can Dance Curated by riskylogic I was thinking the next disc I would review would be the Toward the Within DVD, which is a Live Performance. It’s a great production that I used to have on laserdisc. However, the laser disc began with a music video for “Yulunga” that was the best thing on there. It is on the DVD as well, but it has been relegated to “Extra” status. I went on Youtube to see if I could find it to include with the review. What I found instead was a new HD version of it that has much better video quality. Not only that, there are many other astounding videos on there as well. So let’s save Toward the Within for later. These are arranged in chronological order of the music. The chronology for the video productions are different. Since I can’t embed them all, and there is no physical product this time, I am providing links (click on track title) instead. Personnel Lisa Gerrard – vocals and multiple instruments Brendan Perry – vocals and multiple instruments The Videos All of these videos utilize great music worthy of making a video for. Since are all from YouTube, they all have lossy audio. There is no surround. That leaves the remaining matters of video quality and entertainment value. Since those vary substantially, I will rate as we go along: 1. Summoning of the Muse The song is from Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, which was released in 1987. Gerrard is lead vocalist. Among the additional personnel listed for the album, the ones I’m pretty sure are playing on this track are; Peter Ulrich – timpani, military snare, Ruth Watson – oboe, Gus Ferguson – cello, Tony Gamage – cello, Andrew Claxton – bass trombone, tuba, Mark Gerrard – trumpet, Piero Gasparini – viola, Alison Harling – violin, Emlyn Singleton – violin The HD widescreen video was produced in July 2012. It starts with a Christian funeral procession with lots of candles somewhere in Europe – must be historical footage. The video then switches to a different church in the desert; this part of the video may be staged. There are a gaggle of nuns about. We see our Muse from behind kneeling and facing the desert; at the end she turns and we see her face. (3/3) 2. Yulunga This song is from Into the Labyrinth, which was released in 1993. Gerard is lead vocalist. Gerrard and Perry play all instruments. in Gerrard's native Australia, yulunga means "dance" or "spirit dance", apparently in the Gamilaraay language of the Aboriginal Kamilaroi (Indigenous Australians). In an Aboriginal dreamtime legend, Yulunga is a variant of Julunggul, the Aboriginal mythological Rainbow Serpent goddess. The HD video was produced in 2005. Starts with aerial photography of a volcano. Then mountains and clouds with time lapse video. Then we switch to African and Sufi dancers, and we’re off on a mesmerizing world tour. (3/3) 3. The Carnival is Over Also from Into the Labyrinth. Brendan Perry is lead vocalist. This song described as a reminiscence of pre-teen Perry living in East London, visiting the circus. The video starts out in 4:3 format, but most of it is non-HD 16:9. It has a circus theme, and it is a video rather than a series of still photographs. Had to say when this was produced, but it is better than the 4:3 videos, but still not at all in the same league as the HD videos. (2/2) 4. Rakim This is a new song that appears on Toward the Within, which was released in 1994. Perry is lead vocalist, Gerrard backing.. Additional musicians are Lance Hogan (guitar), Andrew Claxton (keyboard, percussion), John Bonnar (keyboard, percussion), Rónán Ó Snodaigh (percussion), and Robert Perry (percussion, flute, guitar). This older 4:3 video was probably released around the same time as the album. Consists of a series of still photographs featuring women. (2/1) 5. Song of the Stars This song, which was released in 1996. Brendan Perry is narrator and lead vocalist at the beginning, Gerrard sings during second half. Gerrard and Perry play all instruments. Another 4:3 video was probably released around the same time as the album. Consists of a series of still photographs; the sun and birds are a common feature. Pictures fade in and out over each other. (2/1) 6. Indus Also from Spiritchaser. Gerrard is lead vocalist. In addition to Perry and Gerrard Renaud Pion plays Turkish clarinet. The older 4:3 video, with still photographs again, features landscape photographs of mountains, sometime with the sun. There is a big green eyeball in there too. (2/1) 7. The Lotus Eaters This song was recorded in 1998 and is included on the 2003 compilation album Wake. Lisa Gerrard is lead vocalist. The 4:3 format video features still photography of artwork, with lot of zooming in and out. (2/1) 8. Kiko This is from Anastasis, which was released in 2012. Lisa Gerrard is lead. The HD video was produced in February, 2013. Move over “Yulunga”, this is the one I will not do grave injustice to by trying to describe it: (3/3) 9. Act II: The Mountain This is from their most recent album Dionyius, released in 2018. This album is light on vocals, but they both sing a bit on this song. The video has an ultrawide HD screen. Some of it is staged (two women in the woods), but also features a bevy of goats who are probably not acting. Seems to have something to do with mystical goat love. I dunno, maybe someone else can explain it to me. In any case, I think the goats steal the show. (3/2) 10. ACT II: The Invocation Also from Dionyius. Gerrard sings lead and background. The HD video is basically a sequel to “Yulunga”: Lots of landscape with time lapse video, and ritualized dancing – but it’s just one set of dancers. The signage is in Cyrillic; they are probably somewhere in Russia, and they are definitely invoking the onset of Spring. (3/3) _____ So we get to see all these for nuthin’ but the price of an internet connection. But I really would like to have the video, for the top six anyway, combined with lossless audio. Seems like that’s an excellent start on a killer bluray. Just a few more HD videos with some of the earlier stuff would seal the deal – like maybe something from Spleen and Ideal, The Serpent’s Egg and Aion. Oh, and surround too please. Music – 3 Sound quality – 2 Video presentation – 1 to 3 Video quality – 2 to 3 Surround – 1
Since I've been on a binge lately, here's another index. I’m also putting up my ratings for the ones I have – see post #1 for an explanation of them. Ranges indicate either that the rating is version dependent, or that the content varies. The reviews are mine unless other attribution is given. The video content is categorized as follows Concert Documentary: Contains extensive narration along with some performance footage. Live Performance: Mostly concert footage, perhaps with a little narration. Movie: A theater release featuring a particular band or artist Studio Performance: Video of Recording in Studio Video Collection: Collection of music videos that may or may not include live performance Beatles – Help! / Movie / Rating: 7 Cave, Nick – Once More With Feeling / Concert Documentary (mark winstanley) Dead Can Dance – Yulunga and Other Stories / Video Collection/ Rating: 9-12 Dylan, Bob – No Way Home / Concert Documentary (mark winstanley) Gabriel, Peter – Secret World Live / Live Performance / Rating: 13 Genesis – Pop Shop Live TV 1972 / Studio Performance / Rating: 9 Hendrix, Jimi – Band of Gypsys: Live at The Fillmore East / Concert Documentary / Rating: 9 Iron Maiden – Flight 666 / Concert Documentary (mark winstanley) Mannheim Steamroller – Fresh Aire 8 / Video Collection / Rating: 10 Pink Floyd – Devi/ation 1970 / Video Collection / Rating: 6 Rush – Exit ..... Stage Left / Live Peformance (@mark winstanley) Santana – Santana IV Live At The House Of Blues Las Vegas / Live Performance / Rating: 13 Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense / Live Performance / Rating: 11-13 Tangerine Dream – The Video Dream Mixes / Video Collection / Rating: 9 Townsend, Devin – Ocean Machine – Live / Live Performance (mark winstanley) / Rating: 10-12 Wilson, Steven – Home Invasion / Live Performance / Rating: 15 Wishbone Ash – Live Dates 3 / Live Performance / Rating: 13 Yes – Yessongs / Live Performance / Rating: 7 Zimmer, Hans – Live in Prague / Live Performance (thetman) / Rating: 15 Comments on any of the above are always welcome.
The Last Waltz Concert Documentary by The Band Concert: Nov 25, 1976 at Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA Directed by Martin Scorsese Produced by Robbie Robertson, Jonathan Taplin Cinematography Michael Chapman Edited by Jan Roblee, Yeu-Bun Yee Distributed by United Artists Release date April 26, 1978 Running time 116 minutes The Last Waltz was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The Last Waltz was advertised as The Band's "farewell concert appearance", and the concert saw The Band joined by more than a dozen special guests, including their previous employers. The musical director for the concert was The Band's original record producer, John Simon. The event was filmed by director Martin Scorsese and made into a documentary of the same title, released in 1978. Jonathan Taplin, who was The Band's tour manager from 1969 to 1972 and later produced Scorsese's film Mean Streets, suggested that Scorsese would be the ideal director for the project and introduced Robbie Robertson and Scorsese. Taplin served as executive producer. The film features concert performances, intermittent song renditions shot on a studio soundstage, and interviews by Scorsese with members of The Band. Personnel The Band Rick Danko Levon Helm Garth Hudson Richard Manuel Robbie Robertson Guests Ronnie Hawkins Bob Dylan Paul Butterfield Bobby Charles Eric Clapton Neil Diamond Dr. John Joni Mitchell Van Morrison Ringo Starr Muddy Waters Ronnie Wood Neil Young There is also a small backing orchestra. Tracklist Here is the actual set list for the entire concert. It had 42 songs and 3 encores. The movie starts with the last encore “Baby Don’t You Do It” as the first song. Just to mess things up, I’m going to review the songs shown in the movie in their original concert order. Most of the tracks with just the band occur at the beginning of the concert, but are sprinkled throughout the film. Version Control This was originally shown in theaters and has been released in VHS, DVD, and bluray formats. I have a DVD, but the bluray is significantly better; it has better video and a 5.1 soundtrack. It can also be streamed from Amazon Prime with subscription, which is what I’m going to review; the video is better than my DVD, so I figure it is the bluray version. There is also a 4CD/1 bluray 40th Anniversary edition that was released in 2016; the CDs contain the audio for the entire concert. It’s out of print and pricey. The Concert The track numbers given for each song are from my DVD. There is documentary intertwined with performance on individual tracks, so you can’t easily skip over all the documentary. “Up on Cripple Creek” (Track 4) Just The Band, Levon Helm with lead vocals. Robertson and Danko backing. This was the first song of the concert. “The Shape I’m In” (Track 5) Just The Band, Richard Manuel lead, Helm, Robertson and Danko backing. “It Makes No Difference” (Track 7) Just The Band, Danko is lead, Hudson plays sax. “Ophelia” (Track 27) The Band with some backing horns from the orchestra. Helm is lead. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (track 14) The Band with horns. Helm is lead, Danko and Robertson backing. “Stage Fright” (Track 11) Just The Band, Danko is lead. “Who Do You Love” (Track 6) Bo Diddley cover with Ronnie Hawkins as guest. Hawkins is lead vocalist, Danko and Hudson backing. Robertson with flaming guitar solos. I'm kind of partial to this one: “Such a Night” (Track 9) Cover of Dr. John song with Dr. John. Dr. John on piano and vocal lead, Robertson and Danko backing. “Mystery Train” (Track 20) Little Junior’s Blue Flames cover with Paul Butterfield. Butterfield on lead and harmonica, Robertson and Danko backing. “Mannish Boy” (Track 22) Muddy Waters cover with Muddy Waters. Muddy lead vocals. There’s only one cameraman working this song, so all you see is Muddy. “Further on Up the Road” Bobby Bland cover with Eric Clapton. Clapton with lead guitar and vocal. “Helpless” (Track 10) CSNY song with Neil Young. Neil Young on harmonica, acoustic guitar, and lead vocals. Robertson and Danko backing. Joni Mitchell is backing too from somewhere in the back. Let's use the clip here: “Coyote” (Track 18) Joni Mitchell cover with Joni Mitchell. Mitchell on acoustic guitar and lead vocals. “Dry Your Eyes” (Track 16) Neil Diamond cover with Neil Diamond. Diamond on acoustic guitar and lead vocals. “Caravan” (Track 29) Van Morrison cover with Van Morrison. Morrison with lead vocals, Danko and Robertson backing. Lots of horns. “Genetic Method” (Track 26) A Garth Hudson vignette. “Evangeline” (Track 25) With Emmy Lou Harris. Danko and Harris lead vocals. Harris and Robertson with acoustic guitar. Danko on violin, Manuel on Drums, Helm with electric banjo, Hudson with accordian. “The Weight” (Track 13) With the Staple singers. Levon Helm lead, Staples, Danko coleads and backing. Manuel and Robertson with backing vocals, latter with double necked guitar. “Forever Young” (Track 31) Bob Dylan cover with Bob Dylan. Dylan with guitar and lead vocal, Robertson with lead guitar. “Baby Let Me Follow You Down” (Track 32) Eric Von Schmidt cover with Bob Dylan. Dylan with guitar and lead vocal, Robertson with lead guitar. “I Shall Be Released” (Track 33) With Diamond, Dr. John, Dylan, Hawkins, Mitchell, Morrison, Ringo Starr, Ron Wood, Young. Dylan is still lead vocalist, Starr is on drums, Wood on guitar, everyone else backing. “Baby Don’t Do It” (Track 1) The Band walks out on stage for the last time by themselves. They are going to do one more song, and this Marvin Gaye cover is it. Levon Helm with lead vocals. Robertson and Danko backing. “The Last Waltz Theme” This is shown at the end of the movie, but it is recorded in studio; it’s not part of the concert. Also heard at the beginning of the movie. _________ It’s a great show, but I’d probably rather have it without the documentary interludes. The surround mix has lots of reverb and crowd noise in the rear. Lead vocals are prominently in center; documentary dialog is also in center. The bluray is significantly better than the DVD. The video isn’t quite as clear as modern HD recordings, but it’s still a step up from normal DVD quality. The audio is DTS HD instead of Dolby Digital. Music – 3 Sound quality – 2 (DVD), 3 (Bluray) Video presentation – 3 Video quality – 2 (DVD), 3 (Bluray) Surround – 2
I really enjoyed the movie, it is nice to watch it all go down, but as with you, I prefer the concert not to be interrupted... it loses its flow. I ended up getting the dvd-audio, and we will go through it in the surround thread at some point, and I prefered that because it has more of the songs on there. Van Morrison Tura Lura Lura is sensational, and as much as I love Caravan, if I was editing out a song for Van, it would have been the other way around. All the performers are very good, and we get to see some folks recorded well at the top of their game, which is always nice.
Fish Tales Video Collection by Marillion Curated by RiskyLogic This is another exercise in box/book set scavenging. With the recent addition of A Script for a Jester’s Tear in book form, we have three out of the four Fish era albums in that format. Among the extras included on the bluray are promo videos made when the albums were first released. Fugazi isn’t out yet, but we can still fill those in with YouTube, so let’s not wait. Personnel During the Fish era, Marillion were Fish – vocals Steve Rothery – guitars) Pete Trewavas – bass Mark Kelly – keyboards Mick Pointer – drums, percussion (Script only) Ian Mosley – drums (Fugazi and later) The Videos These are all in 4:3 video format and have a stereo soundtrack. The sound quality on the discs is excellent. From A Script For a Jester’s Tear “He Knows You Know” Fish has problems, and when all is said and done, this is the best video: “Garden Party” There’s a garden party going on. Fish and the boys are doing their best to disrupt it. “Market Square Heroes” (Single included as bonus in later album editions) Concert performance with the camera mainly on Fish. He has more face paint than usual. From Fugazi “Assassing” Fish is wearing a headband, an old DOS computer screen is flashing data, plus there’s a girl. The video quality here is terrible, presumably a future book will do better “Punch & Judy” I’m not sure this is an official video, but the video quality and video itself are great. It’s got two sinister puppets and a guinea pig. From Misplaced Childhood “Kayleigh” Fish and Kayleigh are on opposite sides of a fence. The cover boy can lip sync too. Studio performance video of the entire band. (3/3) “Lavender” Features Mark Kelly on Piano. Fish is wearing the red jacket in this one. Rothery has a double-neck guitar. “Heart of Lothien” Fish is hitchhiking, or trying to. He finally gets ride, and then they’re all playing at a pub. The bar owner seems a little cranky. “Lady Nina” (Single included as bonus in later editions) Studio performance video again. Nina is tending bar, and Fish likes her – but it seems to be a one night stand. From Clutching at Straws “Incommunicado” Fish has a plaid jacket, and they are playing in a small venue. “Sugar Mice” Fish is on the outs with his family. The band rises up from the bar to help him cope. “Warm Wet Circles” Both indoor and outdoor concert footage. _____ If any of these ever appeared on MTV, it was after I stopped watching - I only discovered Marillion a few years ago. It’s nice to see the band members as they were when these albums were released. Fish has significantly less hair in the “Clutching” videos that he did in the “Script” videos. The A Script of a Jester’s Tear bluray has some concert video that it well worth another entry. I’ll get to that later. Music – 3 Sound quality – 3 Video presentation – 1 to 2 Video quality – 2 Surround – 1
I am hoping Script is good, we'll be looking at it tomorrow. Perhaps link the vid to it, if it seems feasible
Woodstock is my favorite movie (the original 184-minute version; I think it's criminal that the original version has never been released on DVD). What I want to point out is that that clip of "Soul Sacrifice" on Vimeo has been altered from what is in the movie. In the movie, the song was shortened by a couple minutes or so. That Vimeo clip takes the audio of the complete version, and repeats part of the video to compensate. So when you see things that are out of sync, it's not like that in Stan's edit in the real movie. For the misguided people who don't like the split screen sequences, there is a rare 184-minute version that only shows one image throughout the whole movie. I saw it in 1989, projected from 16mm film. Also, one of the guys in Sha Na Na was younger than Mike Shrieve.
