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