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Category:    Home > Reviews > Documentary > Musicals > Pop Culture > Jewish > Stage > Drama > Afro-Cuban > Jazz > New Wave > Pop > New Roman > Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy (2012/Acorn/Athena DVD Set)/Cuba: Island Of Music/Dizzy Gillespie: In Redondo (1986/MVD DVDs)/Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark/OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & M

Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy (2012/Acorn/Athena DVD Set)/Cuba: Island Of Music/Dizzy Gillespie: In Redondo (1986/MVD DVDs)/Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark/OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More (2007)/The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane (2013/Eagle Blu-rays)/Tribute To Ron Asheton (2013/MVD Visual DVD)

 

Picture: C+/C/C/B-/B-/C+     Sound: C+/C/C/B+/B-/C+     Extras: B/D/D/C/B-/C+     Main Programs: B/B-/B-/B-/B/B-

 

 

Here is our latest selection of music releases…

 

 

Michael Kantor’s Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy is a terrific look at the rise of Broadway as an art form, societal force and international resource, with its roots in the Jewish Theater that was once an all Jewish affair in old New York City as Jewish immigrants arrived and made it a home of their own.  David Hyde Pierce opens up with a song from Monty Python’s Spamalot that points out the reality that the foundation for the Great white Way is Jewish even when the audiences were not aware of this and even with anti-Semitism then and now.

 

The excellent program is pretty thorough about the history, roots and tells us about all the people, giant names in the music and performance business that made it all possible, including groundbreaking, influential and unforgettable works that remain classics and are still with us today.  I also enjoyed the insightful interviews, how some of the shows landed up as films, the many controversies over the years and how vital Broadway still is to this day, even if it has become more commercial than some would like it to be.  This is a must-see program worth going out of your way for.

 

Extras include a 16-page illustrated booklet on Jewish Broadway that goes great with the documentary, while the disc adds text on narrator Joel Grey and we get a bonus DVD with 3 hours of mostly extended interviews and some stage performances.

 

 

Weinerworld issued a pair of basic DVD music programs a little while ago in Cuba: Island Of Music and Dizzy Gillespie: In Redondo and they are both shows you will enjoy despite the rough playback performance if you like Jazz and Afro-Cuban music.  They are good shows that deserve to be on DVD, but I wish they were longer as well.  There are no extras on either DVD, but fans will enjoy them enough and they are good for music reference.

 

 

We originally reviewed Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark/OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More (2007) on DVD a while ago at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6971/Orchestral+Manoeuvres+In+The+Dark

 

While the show only stayed with me so much, it is not bad, holds up well and reminds us how good a band they are.  The performance of the Blu-ray is impressive, but more on that below.

 

Extras repeat the two bonus songs and interviews originally on the DVD, plus the same full color booklet sized down for Blu-ray.

 

 

Brett Morgen’s The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane (2013) is an interesting interview documentary that combines brand-new audio-only interviews with the band members with dozens of classic clips of the band.  It is an approach that works here, showing the band in their longtime glory yet again and is as solid as any entry on the list.  They still have much to say and relay about their careers and never gold back, which is a plus.  The band has so much out on video of themselves, but there is no glut in sight, surprisingly because they make sure every release has many things good to offer.

 

You don’t have to be a fan to enjoy this either because it is that good.

 

Extras include an illustrated booklet on the documentary including informative text, an on camera interview with Director Morgen and bonus classic concert clips including three songs from the 1964 NEM Poll Winners Concert, two songs from the 1965 NEM Poll Winners Concert, two songs Live In Germany 1965 and two songs from a 1964 appearance on The Arthur Haynes Show.

 

 

Finally we have a Tribute To Ron Asheton (2013) of The Stooges who is no longer with us, but a reunion show was held to raise funds for his foundation and the MC of the whole event is Henry Rollins, who performs and is the first of many fans and friends interviewed for this solid documentary concert work that celebrates the man, his music, his contributions to the Rock genre and his vital part of being in The StoogeseH

.  Non-fans can learn plenty about this vital band and music history in the process, but I also enjoyed the sense of Americana that was being celebrated.

 

It is underrated, but then so is the band, still possibly too subversive for the mainstream and all involved love to keep it that way.  It is a real heart and soul work worth your time and the new concert is not by a bored legacy act by any stretch of the imagination.

Extras include an 8-page illustrated booklet on the documentary including informative text, clip of the opening act for the tribute concert by Space Age Toasters and bonus interview footage with Henry Rollins, Ken Haas, Jim Jarmusch and Deniz Tek.

 

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Legacy and Asheton are good presentations, but ones with their own flaws and limits.  Legacy has a mix of old and new film and video footage that includes analog video and newly shot HD clips with new interviews, while Asheton is sometimes plagued with motion blur and a lack of detail and depth that hold it back for what is mostly a stage concert with interviews.

 

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Stones Blu-ray can show the age of the materials used and is also a mix of old and new film and video footage that includes some nice footage and rough footage that I have seen better elsewhere.  Along with the 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on the OMD Blu-ray, which is a nice upgrade from the older DVD with better color, detail and depth, they are the best visual presentations as expected.

 

The poorest presentations are the rough 1.33 X 1 analog video shows on Cuba and Gillespie, which are lucky they survived and could use some more work.  They are also likely second generation, but we get some digital blocking, aliasing errors and other NTSC decoding issues.

 

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes in the Blu-rays are the best on the list, but different.  The Stones disc is a mix of everything from monophonic sound to simple stereo to multi-channel music, concerts and studio recordings.  The OMD mix is the big surprise here, having sounded good on DVD in regular DTS, it is a stunning mix in DTS lossless here with exceptional dynamic range throughout and offering some serious demo music in the process.  Very well recorded and mixed, the band has never sounded better hardly ever.  The PCM 2.0 Stereo alternative tracks on OMD and lossy Dolby Digital on the Stones discs are passable, but no match for the DTS in either case.

 

The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 sound on Cuba and Gillespie are barely stereo if that and the poorest presentations here, though fans will forgive the rough audio.  I bet they are second-generation too and should have been PCM presentations.  The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Asheton fairs better with some nice clarity and when the concert footage kicks in, some relative richness.  That leaves the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on Legacy as much a mix of old and new footage as anything on the list, but the older videotaped analog footage is limited and the audio that goes monophonic is too.  The 5.1 is a nice idea, but it is rarely realized as more than stereo.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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