Mick Vs. Keith: The Strange Case Of Jagger &
Richards (MVD DVDs)/Miles Davis Live At Montreux 1991 w/Quincy
Jones & The Gil Evans Orchestra (Eagle Blu-ray)/Mike Oldfield: Tubular Beats (Tubular
Bells remix album/Eagle CD)/Pink:
Still On Fire (MVD DVD)/Queen: Live
At Wembley Stadium – 25th Anniversary Edition (Eagle DVDs)/Rolling Stones: Under Review: 1975 – 1983:
The Ronnie Wood Years. Pt. 1 (MVD DVD)/Michael
Schenker: Temple Of Rock (2011/Inakustik/MVD Blu-ray)
Picture: C+/B-/X/C+/C+/C+/B- Sound: C+/B+/B/C+/B-/C+/B Extras: C/B-/X/C-/B-/C-/C+ Main Programs: B-/B-/B-/C+/B/B/B-
Now for a
new round of music titles you should know about.
We start
with Mick Vs. Keith: The Strange Case Of
Jagger & Richards, which is a pairing of two underseen titles by Music
Video Distributors from the Chrome Dreams series MVD had been issuing for
years. We covered both DVDs before which
are really good, for more than just Stones fans and are as follows with links
to our coverage:
Keith Richards Under Review
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9134/Under+Review+series:+Mott+The+Hoo
The Roaring 20s: Mick Jagger’s
Glory Years
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11075/Neil+Young%E2%80%99s+Music+Box
Still
sold separately, they make a good set and I would definitely recommend both,
but I liked The Rolling Stones: Under
Review: 1975 – 1983: The Ronnie Wood Years. Pt. 1 from the same producers
even better, showing how the band moved on from making four of the greatest
Rock albums ever to adopting, surviving and melding with new trends against
more than a few odds. Some of their most
underrated work was made at this time, from singles to albums to film and video
work, but it eventually made them a touring act and this shows the end of their
run of recording great records.
While
British Punk Rockers saw them as old establishment Rock, New York Punks loved
them and the fact that Jagger was hanging there influenced his work and allowed
the band to add that genre to their blend of music making. It gets more interesting when they take on
Disco, which gives them hits, but also bad reviews, some mixed results and some
of the oddest recordings they ever cut even as compared to trying out
Psychedelic music.
In the
end, it shows just how much talent and greatness they had because this period
also offered some of the most honest, rawest, most memorable music they ever
made and is as key to their legacy as a band as any period they ever had. The makers did a great job of capturing this
time and that makes it valuable even beyond the band because it shows us the
music industry and music arts in the end of their last golden period.
A brief
clip called Sugar Blue about the band
and their oldest influence is the only extra.
Miles Davis Live At Montreux 1991
w/Quincy Jones & The Gil Evans Orchestra is one of two Blu-rays here and features the final
appearance by Davis of his many at Montreux and is
a solid 12-track set that shows Davis
in rich form, a great band that can really play and Jones terrific as
usual. I just wish it were longer, but
they have a great crowd and it is additionally great it was captured in early
HD. Their take of Summertime is a nice extrapolation of the oft played classic while
I was less familiar with most of the music.
There is
much energy here and this is a tribute to Evans, who passed in 1988, making
this a very special show indeed. This is
one definitely worth going out of your way for and audiophiles will not be
disappointed either.
Extras
include an interviews piece including festival founder Claude Nobs (who
introduces the show with Jones after introducing him), Monty Alexander, Helen
Merrill, Betty Carter, Charlie Haden, Gil Goldstein, Stanley Clarke, Jean Luc
Ponty, Al Di Meola and Michael Petrucciaani.
Next up
is one of our rare CD reviews, Mike
Oldfield: Tubular Beats, a remix album by German producer Torsten “York”
Stenzel of Oldfield’s breakthrough album Tubular
Bells, which was Virgin Records’ first major release and whose title song
was made instantly famous by the blockbuster success of William Friedkin’s
supernatural blockbuster The Exorcist
(1972, reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site). I am not a fan of such projects, but this one
made me curious and I have to say it is not bad, though not everything
works. The Track Listing is as follows:
1. Let There Be Light (York
Remix)
2. Far Above The Clouds (York
Remix)
3. Ommadawn (Mike Oldfield & York
Remix)
4. Guilty (Mike Oldfield & York Remix)
5. Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield & York
Remix)
6. To France (York & Steve Brian Radio Mix)
7. Northstar (Mike Oldfield & York
Remix)
8. Moonlight Shadow (York & Steve Brian Radio Mix)
9. Guilty (York & Mike’s Electrofunk Remix)
10. Tubular Bells 2 (Mike Oldfield & York Remix)
+ 11. Never Too Far (new song, with Tarja Turunen)
I think
of the results (at least the first 10 tracks) as an interesting variant at
best, but I still like the original recording more. Oldfield has even rerecorded the album and
done other things with it before, so this is nothing new, just the most radical
departure he has allowed to date. A
curio worth a listen, it is not bad overall.
Pink: Still On Fire is a DVD set that includes a very
basic compilation of various interviews she has conducted over the years on one
DVD, while the other is a Chrome Dreams look at her albums, singles and career,
but with some newer faces ands not the kind of depth the company is known
for. Her music and the career are
interesting and it does surprise me she is not better known, but she is also a
survivor of an industry that has a higher sense of disposability of their product
than ever, which is helping no one. For
those trying to find out more about her than what is on a few webpages, this is
good set, if not great, as there is more to say and her career is far from
over. We’ll almost forgive her for her Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
appearance.
Queen: Live At Wembley Stadium –
25th Anniversary Edition is a DVD set of the two shows the band held in 1986, not
totally knowing they would be among the last before lead singer Freddie Mercury
would succumb to his AIDS infection. You
would not know it here as he is in top form, energetic, healthy and singing
with great range, depth and his usual superior phrasing. It is also further evidence that the band is
one of the great Rock bands of all time despite their critics and despite the
overlap between shows, give it their all and do not disappoint. This is a multiple videotaping that holds up
well and is definitely worth seeing, holding up as well as the many other great
(and recent) Queen video releases.
Extras
include The Final Tour featurette, The Wembley Weekend featurette and
Rehearsal footage that is some of the last work of Mercury that was ever saved,
while an illustrated booklet with a little text title Queen: A Magic Show is included in the double DVD case.
Finally
we have Michael Schenker: Temple Of Rock
(2011), the latest high quality show by the one-time UFO and Scorpions member
playing as well as ever and joined by some equally strong musicians performing
Hard Rock and Heavy Metal in the main concert from Tilburg and a shorter bonus
show from the appropriately named High Voltage Festival. It is more of the same from the previous
shows we have covered, but that is a good thing here and some of the only music
in these genres from anyone I remember and even like.
Inakustik
has kept up their high standards of presentation and this is as fine an example
of Schenker’s work as they have issued to date, so those interested outside of
fans should check this one out. Extras
include a nicely illustrated booklet on the shows including some informative
text, while the Blu-ray adds a Before The
Show featurette and Soundcheck clip.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Schenker should be the best performer on the list being a new
recording and all, but it tends to be a bit darker than it should be to the
point we get crushed Video Black and depth issues, so the 1080i 1.78 X 1
digital High Definition image on Davis
recorded 22 years ago can compete despite flaws of its own from its age and the
usual issues with early interlacing.
They are the visual champs here just the same.
The 1.33
X 1 image on the Keith, Jagger, Stones, Pink and Queen DVDs tie for second place, having
their share of analog video flaws, aged archive video and film footage where
applicable and are as good as they are going to get for being compilation
documentaries and in the case of the Queen
shows, older analog concert videotapings.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Davis
is easily the sonic champ here, well recorded for its time, having finer range and
detail, plus simply being so smooth throughout.
The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Schenker and PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo sound on the Tubular CD tie for second place as
having excellent sonics, though Schenker
can be a little harsh and limited at times.
The original Tubular Bells
was issued on an SA-CD (Super Audio CD, see more about them elsewhere on this
site) in a now out-of-print edition with a DSD 4.0 mix that was the original
quadraphonic release of the album upon its original issue. It sounded great and it is those high quality
tracks that these remixes are definitely based off of. Too bad this is not an SA-CD too.
The Queen shows have regular DTS 5.1 mixes
and are good for their age, but show sonic limits form recording on location at
the time and PCM 2.0 Stereo mixes are also included sounding almost as
good. The rest of the DVDs offer lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with the occasional monophonic moments and distortion
in some of the audio in the documentaries, but they are as good as they are
going to sound, so all the releases here play about as well as expected with
some pleasant surprises.
- Nicholas Sheffo
