Music For Montserrat  (Eagle Rock/DTS)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: D     Concert: B-

 

 

In a holdover event that felt more like the 1980s, various big names from the music industry (especially British in this case), gathered on September 15^th, 1997 for another charity concert.  Music For Montserrat brings together some heavyweights to raise emergency funds to help out the volcanic haven that suddenly became active after hundreds of years.  This was unexpected, especially since many of the performers had actually recorded music there.

 

Lasting nearly two hours and in front of a huge audience that included the Queen of England, the great producer Sir George Martin does the opening introduction, which leads to the following performances:

 

1)     Take Me Home – Phil Collins

2)     Hot, Hot, Hot - Arrow

3)     Blue Suede Shoes – Carl Perkins

4)     Volcano – Jimmy Buffett

5)     Brothers In Arms – Mark Knopfler

6)     Money For Nothing – Mark Knopfler with Eric Clapton & Sting

7)     Message In A Bottle - Sting

8)     Magic - Sting

9)     Your Song – Elton John

10)  Live Like Horses – Elton John

11)  Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me – Elton John

12)  Broken Hearted - Eric Clapton

13)  Layla – Eric Clapton with Mark Knopfler

14)  Same Old Blues – Eric Clapton with Mark Knopfler and Phil Collins

15)  Yesterday – Paul McCartney

16)  Golden Slumbers – Paul McCartney with Collins, Knopfler, Clapton, et al

17)  Hey Jude – Paul McCartney with all stars returning

18)  Kansas City – Paul McCartney with all stars returning

 

That is an inarguably strong line up and many of the songs performed are classics and standards.  However, sometimes, the songs just do not work.  Elton John’s voice is not bad in its second era, but I never liked the slower Layla and as much as I like McCartney, these are not his best vocal performances in his set.  For Rock music, the concert overall is a tad stuffy, which is not Rock at its best.  Though still good for what it is, it also marks a decline in the Rock that the genre has yet to recover from.  In some way, it is even saying goodbye to the old school era of the British Invasion, though this hardly represents all the talent from that era.

 

As for the performance of the DVD, the full frame video image is fair, considering the PAL video shoot and from the time it was produced.  The sound mix has been upgraded from the first DVD release with DTS 5.1 on top of retaining its Dolby Digital 5.1 mix.  This fairs a bit better than the older version, but not by much, as the concert was not conceived with multi-channel in mind.  There are no extras, but still to this date, a portion of the proceeds still go to Montserrat years later.  Plus, you never know when that volcano will get crazy again.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo