The
Best Of Bandstand 1966, Volume Eight
+ 1967 - '68, Volume Nine
(Umbrella Region Free PAL Import DVD Sets)/Frank
Zappa 1969 - 1973: Freak Jazz, Movie Madness and Another Mothers
(2014/Chrome Dreams/MVD DVD)/Genesis:
Sum Of The Parts
(2014/Eagle Blu-ray)/Trace
Adkins: Live Country!
(2014/Eagle DVD)
Picture:
C/C/C+/B-/C+ Sound: C/C/C+/B-/B- Extras: D/D/C/C+/C+ Main
Programs: B-/C+/B/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Bandstand
Import DVD Sets are now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia, can only play on DVD players that can
handle the PAL DVD and can be ordered from the links below.
Here's
the latest music releases you ought to know about...
We
continue to cover as many of the Australian Bandstand releases
as we can get our hands on, this time covering The
Best Of Bandstand 1966, Volume Eight
+ 1967 - '68, Volume Nine
import DVD sets from Umbrella. By the years as compared to earlier
volumes in the compilation version of the DVD releases, you can see
there is some backtracking, but we get some name artists with the
ones only known Down Under. Volume
Eight includes Peter,
Paul & Mary from 1966 in a show separate from the 1967 DVD
reviewed elsewhere on this site, Helen Reddy does a way-too-laid-back
version of the theme from the Michael Caine film The
Liquidator (Shirley
Bassey recorded the hit original featured in the film), plus the
classic I Only Have Eyes
For You and Call
Me. Wayne Fontana
does a few songs including his hit Game
Of Love. We also have
Don Lane before his hit TV talk show.
Volume
Nine offers Roger
Whittaker (who is also interviewed by host Brian Henderson), Johnnie
Ray (made popular again as referenced in Dexy's Midnight Runner's hit
Come On Eileen)
who is part of an Overseas Artists compilation episode that also has
performances by Liza Minnelli, Julie Rogers, The Shadows and Roy
Orbison. These are always amusing, have rare moments and the artists
you will not know unless you are from Australia and New Zealand will
entertain you or make you laugh unintentionally depending on the
performance, song and what they do. These are fun sets, but I wonder
how many more they can come up with. We'll see.
There
are sadly no extras, but here are links to our coverage of earlier
compilation volumes and note this does not even cover singles devoted
to name stars:
V.
1 1960 + V. 2 1963
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12361/The+Best+Of+Bandstand,+Volume+One:+1960
V.
3 1965 - 66 + V. 4 1967 - 70
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12569/Brian+Henderson's+Bandstand:+Live+At+The+Cap
Frank
Zappa 1969 - 1973: Freak Jazz, Movie Madness and Another Mothers
(2014) continues the great series of Chrome Dreams/MVD DVD
documentaries on Zappa that includes the beginning of his career, as
well as the advent of his record labels that he remarkably got
distributed by major label Warner Bros. Records at the time. This
continuation run 2.5 hours and shows his revivals of The Mothers Of
Invention, his collaboration with director Tony Palmer to make the
surreal, free style feature film 200
Motels (which was
actually shot on early PAL analog color videotape, then released in
theaters in dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor prints (shot at
Pinewood Studios) in a counterculture comedy project gone a bit awry,
his personal life, his trouble with critics who thought he had gone
off of the deep end, touring and other developments that were simply
not sustainable at the rate he was going. Add the great new
interviews with great archival footage and original music and you
have another must-see show.
Contributor
text info and a bonus featurette are the extras.
John
Edginton's Genesis: Sum Of
The Parts (2014) attempts
to tell the long story of how one of the earlier progressive rock
bands found success, especially when they changed to a less
challenging pop/rock trio in 118 minutes. That is not enough time to
cover everything and when the solo projects of the various members
are addressed, some get lost in the shuffle. It is sad to see just
as a new transition and era is to begin, the band looses the member
its needs the most, though it is great to see how Steve Hackett made
the band better than he gets credit for when Peter Gabriel left.
The
program is split into the Gabriel and Collins era, with the Collins
section going on longer, showing the music's ability to challenge
decline severely and how they lost their Progressive Rock roots when
Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (or Cozy Powell for an album) did
not in the same period, though that is never discussed. Worth seeing
for the new interviews and classic footage, plenty of original
material is licensed and it is worth a look, even if you are sick of
Collins and/or felt the band sold out when they became a trio.
Extras
include an informative, illustrated booklet with an essay and bonus
interviews on the Blu-ray disc itself.
Trace
Adkins: Live Country!
(2014) is a solid concert for fans or those to be introduced to the
highly successful Country solo artist, but if you are not a fan, the
nearly 2 hours here might be more than you will want or take in.
Still, this is professionally shot, Adkins and the band are giving it
their all and you get 20 songs including what are supposed to be his
biggest hits up to this recording. Still, this is for fans only at
best.
Extras
include an informative, illustrated booklet with an essay and bonus
interviews on the Blu-ray disc itself.
The
1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Genesis
would normally be the outright picture winner here, but we have more
than our share of rough footage from the band's early days and later
music videos could look better. Therefore, the
HD-shot, anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Trace
can almost compete despite some softness, yet some color bleeding
undermines it. The 1.33 X 1 image on Zappa
follows with usually good footage, but some of it also is rough
coming from the same era as early Genesis footage. That leaves the
1.33 X 1 black and white image on the Bandstand
sets showing the age of the materials used, kinescoped or on
analog tape, as was the case in the many previous releases from the
series.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Genesis
is well mixed and presented, though other audio can be rough, this is
still better than PCM 2.0 Stereo track also offered, while Trace
gets basic a DTS 5.1 mix that can definitely compete. Zappa
has lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that has some expected monophonic
sound, but holds its own, but the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the
Bandstand
discs can sound a little rough and even brittle in places.
To
order either of the
Umbrella import DVD sets, go to these links:
BEST
OF BANDSTAND VOLUME 8
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/p-3993-best-of-bandstand-volume-8-1966.aspx
BEST
OF BANDSTAND VOLUME 9
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/p-3994-best-of-bandstand-volume-9-1967-1968.aspx
-
Nicholas Sheffo