Chicago Live In Concert (2008)/Michael
McDonald: A Tribute To Motown + Live (2008/Soundstage/Image Blu-ray Singles)/Rejoice & Shout (2011/Magnolia DVD)/Steve Winwood Live In Concert (2003/Soundstage/Image Blu-ray)/Live At The US Festival 1983: Willie Nelson + Waylon Jennings (Shout! Factory DVD singles)
Picture: B-/B-/C/B-/C/C+ Sound: B/B/C+/B/C+/C+ Extras: D/D/C/C/D/C+ Concerts/Documentary: B-
Here
comes another set of music programs you might want to catch, including two with
significant upgrades.
The three
Blu-ray concerts here are all from the popular Soundstage program and we have covered two of them on DVD
before. The first of those two is Chicago Live In Concert (2008), which
we looked at a while ago at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1519/Chicago+In+Concert+(Soundstage)
I thought
this was a good, but not great concert and it is not the only Blu-ray they have
on the market (another is with Earth, Wind & Fire reviewed elsewhere on
this site) but both have the newer version of the band. Then we get a show from the same period with Michael McDonald in which he is joined
by two of his Doobie Brothers bandmates as well as Valerie Simpson and the late
Nick Ashford. You can read more about it
at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2273/Michael+McDonald+In+Concert+(Soun
In this case,
it is offered with a second, lesser A
Tribute To Motown concert which represents the flattest part of any part of
McDonald’s career. Even when you compare
his Motown covers from that show to the one from Soundstage, there is a
difference. The backstage extra segments
are not on either Blu-ray reissue, nor are their any text or “Meet The Band” segments from the those
DVDs.
Fortunately,
the 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on both are not only
an improvement from the DVDs, but finally show the proper aspect ratio! The older DVDs cut the frame of the
respective Soundstage shows into a
1.33 X 1 square, but these Blu-rays look much better just by showing us the
widescreen TV frame intended. They are
older HD tapings, but with that said, detail and other minor issues exist, but
you do get plenty of fine images with nice color-range and shots that deliver
just how live the performances are. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes also far surpass the lossy Dolby
Digital 5.1 mixes and you even get PCM 2.0 Stereo tracks that are warmer than
the Dolby from those old DVDs. I was
impressed.
Don
McGlynn’s Rejoice & Shout (2011)
is an interesting documentary on the rise of the Gospel Music genre in the 20th
Century and how it started in the church, moved on to unexpected commercial
success within that community, then became the powerfully politicized music of
The Civil Rights Movement and then, the Counterculture movement in general to
the point that Gospel songs with no secular intent whatsoever suddenly became
hit songs!
Many of
the key persons in the business, especially the singers, are interviewed,
joined by a few scholars and even the great smokie Robinson shows up to top off
the interviews nicely. I thought it was
a good documentary, but it fell short at times, skipping some of the history
and some interesting additional developments as the final edit seems as
interested in preaching to the audience versus staying journalistic and telling
more of the story.
The best
example is about the legendary Dixie Hummingbirds, who had some of that early
commercial success. We even get the
unique history of the music out of Philadelphia where they and so many key acts
come from, but we do not hear the story about how the group backed up some big
singers (Olivia Newton-John, Paul Simon, Helen Reddy) on some of their famous
hits and just how much more mainstream (especially pre-Rap) the genre
became. I just hope these choices were
not politically motivated.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is unfortunately softer throughout despite being a new
shoot and even the interesting vintage film and video footage is affected in
odd ways. I think we even see kinescopes
at a few points. The Dolby Digital 5.1
mix can only do so much with talking and so much music that is monophonic for
the most part and a PCM 2.0 Stereo track additionally included might have
helped. Extras include a trailer and
additional interviews that help.
The third
and final Soundstage Blu-ray that is new to us is Steve Winwood Live In Concert (2003) which features the former
Traffic/Spencer Davis Group lead singer towards the end of his big solo run
performing songs like Glad, Bully, Freedom Rider, Dear Mr.
Fantasy, Empty Pages (eight songs
altogether) and three bonus songs: Rainmaker,
Different Light and Walking On. At its worse, he just had to sing Back In The High Life Again, one of the
most overplayed songs of all time.
However, he gives a good concert that is for fans, but will impress some
who are not.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is equal to the Chicago
and McDonald Blu-rays, showing that
someone at Soundstage had some good
HD shooting standards. The DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is also as well recorded and impressive with a
solid music soundfield that has a warm live feel like the others. Hope we see more Soundstage Blu-rays from
Image Entertainment soon as they are bound to be popular with true music fans.
Finally
we have two DVD singles from two Country Music legends, taped on the same day
(6/4/83 was billed as “Country Day”) at an event that is not talked about much
but was launched as if it was the next Woodstock. Live
At The US
Festival 1983 has the main performances from Willie Nelson and Waylon
Jennings hitting their later stride in shows that are pretty good, even if
you are not a fan of them or their music.
Both sing 24 songs each with Nelson performing Crazy, Always On My Mind,
All Of Me, Stardust, On The Road Again
and Help Me Make It Through The Night,
while Jennings sings his Good Ol’ Boys
theme from the original Dukes of Hazard,
Amanda, Clyde, Mental Revenge, Honky Tonk Heroes, Rainy Day Woman, Jack-A-Diamonds
and Storms Never Last with Jessi
Colter.
Though
both were taped the same day in old analog NTSC videotape, the Nelson concert is weaker than the Jennings
concert throughout, both running over an hour each. Who knows why, but that’s the case. Both are also here in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
that shows its age, but is not bad overall.
The only extra is a brief interview with Jennings
on his DVD before he goes on stage.
For more
on Nelson, start with this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9030/The+Willie+Nelson+Special+with+speci
- Nicholas Sheffo
