Bob
Marley: Easy Skanking Boston '78
(Universal Music Blu-ray)/Guided
By Voices: The Electrifying Conclusion
(2004/MVD Visual DVD)/Traitors
(2013 w/original 2011 short/Film Movement DVD)
Picture:
B-/C/C+ Sound: B-/C+/C+ Extras: D/C-/C Main Programs: C+
Here
are some of the latest music releases we have thought you should know
about...
Bob
Marley: Easy Skanking Boston '78
on Blu-ray features a rarely seen or heard concert, at least part of
it, that runs around 50 minutes long and is now arriving with a bonus
CD for fans to enjoy that was not included in the upgraded Legacy
set Universal Music recently issued. There is much animation and
some stills filling in for the filmed footage, but fans will likely
settle for this as Doors fans have for similar concert releases.
However, non-fans may find the animation and still repetitive, though
the style is typical of the counterculture approach of some
Rockumentaries of the time. The show was shot on 16mm film and
though not perfect, I cannot imagine this looking much better than it
does here, proving yet again how good 16mm can look in HD and how
much better than on old DVDs.
There
are no extras.
Originally
issued by the now-defunct-but-great Plexifilm label, Guided
By Voices: The Electrifying Conclusion
(2004) is the four-hour final document of the cult rock band reissued
by MVD Visual that is a bit of a run-on, but has to be to be thorough
in capturing the final moments of a band that never made it big, but
had longevity and enough of a following to justify such a release.
Like LCD Soundsystem, it is a shame how some band's only get the
exposure they deserve when they fold, but that is how the music
business is unfortunately these days which is why the music you get
is far from the best it could be. Of course, this is raw in language
and themes as expected, but will remind old school music fans how
they used to have to get this kind of think on the 'blue market' on
Beta, VHS and DVD back in the day at record shows. Definitely worth
a look, but get ready for an endurance viewing.
Extras
include a Live at The Antenna, Memphis, TN - Jan. 14th, 1994 set of
clips where the band performs 'Break Even', 'Some Drilling Implied',
'Cruise' & 'White Whale', Footage of Bob Pollard recording demos
for Half Smiles of the Decomposed: 'Girls of Wild Strawberries' &
'Window of My World' and (possibly in some copies) a booklet that
includes Liner Notes by WFMU-NJ Radio DJ Tom Scharpling and doubles
as a fold-out poster of the original set list from the show.
Last
but not least, we have a dramatic film from Morocco from
actor/director Sean Gullette entitled Traitors
(2013), based on his own short film about a young woman named Malika
(Chaimae Ben Acha) who is part of an all-female punk band named
Traitors who want more int life than the secondary position a muslim
world offers, but this also leads her and some of her friends into
other territory involving deadly drug deals and the film becomes a
character study and deconstruction of said society.
Some
of this is sadly obvious and predictable, but the actors, little seen
locales and Guilette's helming (he co-wrote and starred in Darren
Aranofsky's breakthrough film Pi) keep this more interesting
than several such films in what is amounting to a cycle of films
asking how women in the early 21st Century can exist in an
explicitly oppressive world when the rest of the world is changing
permanently. This is worth checking out.
Extras
include Gullette's original half-hour version of this film that is
very interesting in its similarities and is also well-directed, plus
Behind-The-Scenes footage and trailers for other Film Movement
releases.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1/1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Marley can show the age of the materials used, but the
animation has the superior image quality overall, but it comes in
both aspect ratios while the concert is only 1.33 X 1. That makes it
hard to tell or know how much of it reflects the original version of
this film if any.
The
1.33 X 1 on Voices is often on the rough side as expected and
is as trying as anything on the disc, but I doubt it could look much
better, while the anamorphically
enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Traitors
can have its softness, but also has a consistent style that would
likely benefit from a Blu-ray release.
As
for sound, the PCM 2.0 16/48 Stereo on Marley
is the best sound here, though it can sometimes feel a little limited
and restricted, especially as compared to the PCM 2.0 96/24 Stereo of
his hits on the Blu-ray for the reissue of his Legacy collection,
which was so impressive that the lossless DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD 5.1
remixes paled in comparison by not sounding like true multi-channel
music. This live presentation is also a bit better than the 5.1
attempts and fans should be pleased enough as I don't expect this
sound to sound any better.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Voices
fares better than its image, but location audio and other flaws
affect the presentation, yet the lossy Dolby Digital Arabic, French &
English 5.1 on Traitors
goes between quiet moments and a decently-used soundfield throughout.
It would likely benefit from a lossless presentation to some extent.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
