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Category:    Home > Reviews > Music > Pop > Rock > Concert > Australian TV > Counterculture > Biography > Progressive Rock > Rock Opera > Bandstand Presents: The Bee Gees 1963 - 1966, Little Pattie 1965 - 1968, The De Kroo Brothers 1960 - 1963 + John Farnham 1968 - 1970, Olivia Newton-John 1968/Easybeats: Easy Come, Easy Go w/Rolling St

Bandstand Presents: The Bee Gees 1963 - 1966, Little Pattie 1965 - 1968, The De Kroo Brothers 1960 - 1963 + John Farnham 1968 - 1970, Olivia Newton-John 1968/Easybeats: Easy Come, Easy Go w/Rolling Stones In Oz 1966: What's On The Flipside?/Herman's Hermits: Live In Australia 1966 (Umbrella Region Free PAL Import DVDs)/Midnight Special 11-DVD Box Set (1972 - 1979/Time Life/StarVista)/Roger Waters: The Wall (2014/Universal Blu-ray Set)


Picture: C/C/C/C/C+/B- Sound: C/C/C+/C/C+/B Extras: D/D/C+/D/B+/B Main Programs: B-/B-/C+/C/B+/B



PLEASE NOTE: The Bandstand Import DVDs are now only available from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment in Australia, can only play on Blu-ray players that can handle the PAL DVD format, are Region Free and can be ordered from the link below.



Here are our latest music titles for you to know about....



More archival music releases have arrived from Umbrella and include Bandstand Presents: The Bee Gees 1963 - 1966, Little Pattie 1965 - 1968, The De Kroo Brothers 1960 - 1963 + John Farnham 1968 - 1970, Olivia Newton-John 1968, all three of which continue the long line of releases from this historical music show we have covered many times, including in this review of titles from the series...


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13213/Bandstand+Live+In+Australia:+Peter,+Paul+&+Ma


Grouped compilations from the series in a new way, the Bee Gees disc only has so much of them, so expect more from the other (lesser known outside of Australia) acts than them, but it is a good collection that will be a revelation to those only used to the vocal group since the late 1960s to their Disco peak. John Farnham has more time on the disc he shares with a pre-breakout Olivia Newton-John, but her moments are interesting as she was just going solo and she was just being herself. That authenticity shows here All clips here have been on previous year-by-year volumes.


Peter Clifton, best known for the Led Zeppelin film The Song Remains The Same (reviewed elsewhere on this site) long before directed both Easybeats: Easy Come, Easy Go and The Rolling Stones In Oz 1966 (a bonus feature!) contained on this disc that alone makes it a curio, but don't look for surrealism here. Both are good outright concerts that show both bands in their early prime from the What's On The Flipside? series. Together, they last only 81 minutes, but they are worth seeing, but of course, Stones fans will want the disc and care less about who is directing it.


Finally we have Herman's Hermits: Live In Australia 1966 is a 25-minutes show that as an Australian TV special that we've seen in bits and pieces (in most cases) on the Bandstand DVDs before, but its nice to have the show in one piece, though it should have been included in the 1969 Live DVD Umbrella issued as there was likely room for it. Fans will; like it and they are in fine form here with hits like ''Can You Hear My Heartbeat?'' and ''Jezebel'' plus ''I'm Into Something Good'' and ''Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter'' among others. You can also get more Hermits in the NTSC DVD format at this link...


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9732/The+British+Invasion+5+DVD+Box+Set+(Dusty+Sp


Unless you count the Stones concert on the Easybeats disc as an extra like we do, none of the se DVDs have any extras, which has been the case with most of the releases in this series.



Now to revisit the great U.S. music series Midnight Special (1972 - 1979) which we've reviewed smaller sets of as follows...


3-DVD set with bonus Comedy DVD

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13509/Lost+Songs:+The+Basement+Tapes+Continued+(2


6-DVD set of additional performances

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13022/The+Buddy+Holly+Story+(1978/Sony/Columbia/Tw


This new box set brings those all together (130 full-length songs), then adds a new double DVD set of extras with interviews with musicians (some of which appear on the other sets in parts) on the one DVD and seven making-of/behind the scenes featurettes on the show on DVD #2. This all includes Frankie Valli, The O'Jays, Thelma Huston, KC from the Sunshine Band, Todd Rundgren, Neil Sedaka, Thelma Houston and frankly, more people who can never be interviewed enough. This is now the most complete collection of the show and is extremely recommended for serious music fans.



Last but not least is Sean Evans' Roger Waters: The Wall (2014), a new program Waters co-directed that shows him behind the scenes of the show, his life, in reflection and recreating the Pink Floyd classic as a solo artist without really missing a beat. I should add that the crowds are so great, they help make it even better. This runs long to the point that only true fans will be able to enjoy it long-term, but the actual content of the Rock Opera is as relevant as ever and all involved know it.


Therefore, fans will make connections non-fans will often make, so being a fan (or especially a big fan) increases the impact. Add the state if the art sound as it is the first concert release in the U.S. in Dolby Atmos 11.1 sound (though Metallica: Through The Never (2013) was issued that way in an overseas Blu-ray release) following the 1980 Wall film as a sonic groundbreaker. It was the first ever music film of any kind in Dolby 5.1 (delivered on 70mm blow-up prints only). Thus, this is also a slid demo discs for all kinds of reasons.


Extras include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices,while the Blu-rays add over 80 minutes of bonus material including a full HD version of Waters' Facebook Films, Live At The O2 performances of ''Comfortably Numb'' and ''Outside The Wall'' with 'special appearances' by David Gilmour on both and Nick Mason on the latter. Guess this will do until a new upgraded Blu-ray transfer of the 1980 Wall feature film arrives. For more Waters, try these links...


Ca Ira (2005 Opera on Super Audio CD)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9141/Roger+Waters+%E2%80%93+Ca+Ira+(2005/Opera


Whatever Happened To Pink Floyd?: The Strange Case Of Waters & Gilmour documentary DVD

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10898/Heart+%E2%80%93+Night+At+Sky+Church+(201


...plus our usual Floyd content.




The 1.33 X 1 black and white image on all the Umbrella DVDs are from often rough film (35mm and likely also 16mm) materials as the previous Bandstand and similar music DVD releases have, but we get some good shots just the same. The full color 1.33 X 1 image across all the Midnight DVDs repeat the decent quality of the previously issued DVDs, all of which are included here. The newer interviews are not as NTSC rough as the classic footage, but they are not so much better, yet all are very watchable.


So the visual champ is easily the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Wall, but there more than a few rough spots (slight motion blur, fake black and white) that works against the program. Otherwise, it is easily the visual champ here as expected.


As for sound, all the DVDs are here in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono with the Umbrella DVDs a bit rough and a bit brittle throughout as was the case in previous releases from those series, but of the newer materials, Eastbeats has the best sound (maybe of any of the 1960s music DVDs we have covered from Umbrella) holding up just that much better and equalling the repeat performance of the Midnight performances we previously covered.


That leaves Wall in Dolby Atmos 11.1, but we can only access the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless mix which really shines in the concert footage, but is laidback when Waters is on the road or being interviewed. PCM 2.0 Stereo is also included, but it is not as good.



To order any or all of the Umbrella import DVDs among other great releases, go to this link:


http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/



- Nicholas Sheffo


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