Brian
May & Kerry Ellis: The Candlelight Concerts - Live At Montreux
2013 (2013/Eagle
Blu-ray)/Elton John:
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: 40th
Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition
(1974/Universal Music DVD/CD Set)/The
Punk Singer (2013/MPI/IFC
DVD)/Suzanne Vega:
Solitude Standing Live
(2013/MVD DVD)
Picture:
B-/C+/C+/C Sound: B (CD: B-)/C+ (CDs: B)/C+/C+ Extras:
C/B+/C+/C Main Programs: C+/A+/B/B-
Here
are new releases involving some legendary acts...
Brian
May & Kerry Ellis: The Candlelight Concerts - Live At Montreux
2013
(2013) has the guitarist from Queen with a new singer covering
several Queen classics as well as the likes of Something
(The Beatles), Dust
In The Wind
(Kansas), John Barry's Theme
From Born
Free,
Marvin Hamlisch's Theme
From The
Way We Were
(Barbra Streisand) and the classic standard I
(Who Have Nothing) (best
performed by Shirley Bassey). Presented here on Blu-ray and CD, the
show is good, but mixed because I was not always impressed with the
arrangements or performances of some o these classics. Miss Ellis
is talented, but she does not always seem in her element or at least
the material does not always become hers.
There
are those who will enjoy the change of pace aspect of the show, but
it did not stay with me. However, you might want to check this one
out for yourself. Extras include an illustrated book on the show
with tech information inside the case, while the Blu-ray adds a
featurette Nothing
Really Has Changed.
Ten
years ago, we celebrated 30 years of one of the greatest double
albums ever made. Now, in a work that like Tommy
and The
White Album
keeps aging strongly, we have Elton
John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: 40th
Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition
(1974) in a big box set that includes 4 CDs and a DVD. The CDs
include the following tracks:
Disc:
1
1.
Funeral For A Friend
2.
Love Lies Bleeding
3.
Candle In The Wind
4.
Bennie And The Jets
5.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
6.
This Song Has No Title
7.
Grey Seal
8.
Jamaica Jerk Off
9.
I've Seen that Movie Too
10.
Sweet Painted Lady
11.
The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (1909-34)
12.
Dirty Little Girl
13.
All the Girls Love Alice
14.
Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n' Roll)
15.
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
16.
Roy Rogers
17.
Social Disease
18.
Harmony
Disc:
2 (covers & outtakes)
1.
Candle In The Wind (Ed Sheeran)
2.
Bennie and the Jets (Miguel)
3.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Hunter Hayes)
4.
Grey Seal (The Band Perry)
5.
Sweet Painted Lady (John Grant)
6.
All The Girls Love Alice (Emili Sande)
7.
Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock And Roll) (Imelda May)
8.
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (Fall Out Boy)
9.
Harmony (Zac Brown Band)
10.
Grey Seal (piano demo) (Elton John)
11.
Grey Seal (1970 Original) (Elton John)
12.
Jack Rabbit (Elton John)
13.
Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady) (Elton John)
14.
Screw You (Young Man Blues) (Elton John)
15.
Candle In The Wind (Acoustic) (Elton John)
16.
Step Into Christmas (Elton John)
17.
Ho Ho Ho (Who'd Be A Turkey At Christmas?) (Elton John)
18.
Philadelphia Freedom (Elton John)
19.
Pinball Wizard (Elton John)
Disc:
3
1.
Funeral For A Friend (Live at Hammersmith)
2.
Love Lies Bleeding (Live at Hammersmith)
3.
Candle In The Wind (Live at Hammersmith)
4.
Hercules (Live at Hammersmith)
5.
Rocket Man (Live at Hammersmith)
6.
Bennie And The Jets (Live at Hammersmith)
7.
Daniel (Live at Hammersmith)
8.
This Song Has No Title (Live at Hammersmith)
9.
Honky Cat (Live at Hammersmith)
Disc:
4
1.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Live at Hammersmith)
2.
The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (Live at Hammersmith)
3.
Elderberry Wine (Live at Hammersmith)
4.
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Live at Hammersmith)
5.
I've Seen That Movie Too (Live at Hammersmith)
6.
All The Girls Love Alice (Live at Hammersmith)
7.
Crocodile Rock (Live at Hammersmith)
8.
Your Song (Live at Hammersmith)
9.
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (Live at Hammersmith)
On
the original 30th Anniversary Set,
the two albums were on two separate discs so the 5.1 mixes in
ultra-high fidelity Super Audio CD needed the room, though we only
get regular CD tracks on a single CD here. You can read more about
that release at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/566/Elton+John+-+Goodbye+Yellow+Brick+Road+SACD
While
that only had 4 of the bonus tracks included here, the 5.1 mixes were
stunning like the rest of the 5.1 Elton John SA-CD releases. The
remakes are new and you see the final CDs have 18 tracks from a
remarkable Hammersmith show from the time of the album that would be
a strong separate release on its own. To top things off, we get a
new book and a DVD with a long Bryan Forbes documentary he filmed to
promote the album entitled Elton John & Bernie Taupin Say
Goodbye To Norma Jean & Other Things that is a must-see for
all serious music fans. Often sampled for other programs and running
a few seconds shy of 45 minutes and here in a letterboxed 1.66 X 1
presentation from what looks like an older video master. The set has
no 5.1 version of the album, but the SA-CD set is still available.
This set is worth getting for all the new bonus goodies and is a
special set that is as giftable as it is highly collectible. A
masterwork deserves to be treated this well I wish more albums were.
Fortunately, Universal Music has done justice to Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road
and this makes it one of the best box sets of the year.
Sini
Anderson's The
Punk Singer
(2013) is a strong documentary partly about the rise of the Grrrlll
Group Rock Music movement (no small 'I' in Girl there) spearheaded by
a wave of groups in the face of the woman-hating 1980s and 1990s in
U.S. politics, but the main architect turned out to be Kathleen
Hanna, the lead singer and co-founder of the great band Bikini Kill
whose biography this also is. This highly under-documented, great
moment in American music history is dealt with greatly here and at
the center, Hanna standing up for what she believes in against
long-standing stereotypes that were being revived again.
Showing
how things have changed in the U.S. for the worst, Hanna, her
bandmates and other like bands get vilified, lied about, attacked and
bashed by people who should know better and the usual crowd of the
ignorant. However, she sticks in there until (despite personal
triumphs) she cannot perform anymore or even appear publicly due to
unexpected health issues, but that never changes where she is coming
from or keeps her down. He influence is more major as an artist,
which she is constantly expanding her horizons in being, from her
early days to a pre-Nirvana Kurt Cobain (inspiring his biggest hit)
to making at least some of the success of many new bands and other
music acts possible.
Anyone
who loves good, important music and wants to see what is really going
on in the U.S. that the media conveniently ignores should make this a
must see, but Anderson does such a great job in compiling and making
this film that it could be a breakthrough for her too.
A
few featurettes, trailer and Deleted Scenes are the nice extras.
Of
course, there are many great, groundbreaking women in music,
including Rock music before Hanna and they can be just as bold,
groundbreaking and remarkable. Suzanne
Vega: Solitude Standing Live
(2013) shows another artist of Hanna's calibre still a extremely
talented force in music still writing amazing songs. From a woman
who tackled AIDS (99.9
F)
and woman abuse (Luka)
in hits that did not compromise, Vega remains as awesome as she is
fearless in this new concert release that includes hits from her
biggest album from Rome in 2013.
It
includes some other songs (17 in all) and you get great classics like
In Liverpool,
Caramel
and her most immortal hit, Tom's
Diner.
She is so great with an audience, is one of our great storytellers
and would love to see her have another huge hit. Until then, we have
this decent show that is recommended and shows one of the most
underrated singer/songwriters around.
The
only extra is a photo section an interview with Vega by Valerie
Piccolo, but you can enjoy more of Vega's great work by trying out
these links:
Live
At Montreux 2004
DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4337/Suzanne+Vega+%E2%80%93+Live+At+Montreux
Retrospective:
The Videos Of Suzanne Vega
DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2848/Retrospective+-+The+Videos+Of+Suzanne+Vega
The
1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on May
is the best performer here, in part because it is the only Blu-ray
and in part because the image is stable and has nice color quality.
The letterboxed 1.66 X 1 on the Elton
film is from an older video master, but I color-consistent, looking
like a 16mm shoot, but this one deserves a restoration and at least
2K transfer. That
leaves the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Punk
and Vega,
the former of which looks good considering the condition of the older
clips used, while the latter is sadly a little too plagued with minor
softness, aliasing errors and motion blur. Color is good there too,
though.
Sound
is almost the same story with the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mix on May
offering a solid sound field, as does its alternate PCM 2.0 Stereo
tracks, but the CD version's PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo mix is a little
weaker and more compressed, but that is not a problem for the CD
tracks on all four Elton
CDs. No., they are no match for the SA-CD/DSD versions of the older
Anniversary
set, but sound fine and are solid for the old CD format. The lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the Elton DVD documentary has some harmonic
distortion, but sounds good for its age otherwise.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Punk and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo on Vega are the equal of the Elton DVD with
good, if not always consistent sound. Punk has its monophonic
moments and Vega is a little light for what should have been a
DTS 5.1 presentation.
-
Nicholas Sheffo