Amy
(2015/A24/Lionsgate Blu-ray)/Jaco
(2015/MVD Visual Blu-ray set)/The
Jam: About The Young Idea
(2015/Eagle Blu-ray/DVD Set)/Sinatra:
All Or Nothing At All
(2015/Eagle Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
B-/B-/B- & C+/B- Sound: B-/B-/B- & C+/B Extras:
B-/B-/B-/C Main Programs: B/B/B/B+
Here
is a remarkable new group of music releases on Blu-ray everyone
should see...
Asif
Kapadia's Amy
(2015) tells the amazing rise and sad fall of the amazing vocalist
Amy Winehouse, an uncompromisingly Blues-oriented singer who managed
to single-handedly revive the genre with her amazing voice and for
far to brief a time become one o the top female vocalists in the
world. We see more video footage than expected since many around her
had consumer camcorders and her father insisted on taping everything
later on not knowing how we would loose her too soon.
Unfortunately,
addiction was not far away and in addition to a mixed family life and
eventually toxic relationship with the lead singer of a major
alternative British Rock Band of the time, all of her commercial
success and accolades would eventually come crashing down as more
drinking and drug usage would slowly chip away at her talent and her
personal health. Sad also is how the media embraced her, than (as
the 128 minutes shows us) shows the industry start to turn on her a
bit instead of reaching out to help her. She did have support among
her family and friends, but it simply was not enough and by the time
the self-abuse did damage beyond the point of no return, her days
were sadly numbered.
The
last big glory moments are her Back
To Black
album produced by Mark Ronson and her Tony Bennett duet (he handles
her adjustment issues with the recording session brilliantly, as
usual for the legendary singer) which gave some hope that maybe she
could break free from her private nightmare, get well again and make
more music while finding peace of mind and personal happiness. The
opposite happened and this documentary does a great job of showing us
the story behind the scenes of her public life. In the end, the
significance of the loss is enough to leave anyone speechless.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds Deleted Scenes,
a feature length audio commentary track by Director Kapadia, Editor
Chris King & Producer James Gay-Rees,Teaser Trailer, Original
Theatrical Trailer, a Making Of featurette, Unseen Performances and
Interviews with Yasiin Bey, Mark Ronson, Salaam Remi and Jools
Holland.
Paul
Marchand & Stephen Kijak's Jaco
(2015) is the incredibly untold story of one of the greatest, most
important and most influential musicians of all time, bassist Jaco
Pastorius, a young man who loved music and found it when family life
was uneven (to say the least) and found a new way to play bass that
no one ever had before. Slowly being discovered and playing whatever
shows he could, a meeting with a key member of Blood, Sweat and Tears
led to solo recordings, a solid streak of work with the underrated
Jazz band Weather Report and more. However, he was having problems,
issues he did not initially know about and though he found happiness
often, he died at an early age after an incident that should not have
cost him his life.
I
had seen Jaco himself in action before and knew some of his music,
even if I could not identify it, but this intense 110 minutes
includes a great wealth of footage, some rare music and images,
private materials and a bunch of new interviews with the likes of
Flea, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, Geddy
Lee, Wayne Shorter, Bootsy Collins, Meshell Ndegeocello, Mike Stern
and Producer Robert Trujillo. This is one of the most important
music releases of the last few years in great company with the other
gems here. This is very much worth going out of your way for.
The
only extra is 100 minutes on the bonus Blu-ray of Outtakes, Anecdotes
& Stories from 35+ interview sources worth your time, making a
great companion with the documentary.
Bob
Smeaton's The
Jam: About The Young Idea
(2015) is a grand new documentary about one of Britain's greatest
bands, up there with The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones,
The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Blur, Pink Floyd, Yes, The Zombies, The Clash
and so many others (including a few New Wave acts like Human League)
we could name. However, The Jam somehow remain underrated, as
relevant as ever and never totally got their due. This might be part
of their appeal to fans, but they also were the last major Mod band
(soon going/adding Punk and New Wave) and it is arguable they remain
the most underrated band in U.K. history. Without necessarily
trying, this 130 minutes of non-stop amazing music history makes that
case very clearly showing how the trio came together and became an
inarguable force that thrived in the face of the Thatcher Era (likely
only accelerating their rise), ironically known best in the U.S. for
''Strange Town'' and '''Absolute Beginners'' among the early video
played on an MTV that was just starting out (Universal music issued a
great DVD set of their videos, et al, a few years ago that deserves a
Blu-ray upgrade).
So
if you are interested in great music and want to know more about The
Jam, this is an excellent place to start.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated paper pullout on the band with
informative text and the bonus 1980 Rockpalast
TV concert DVD, while the Blu-ray adds Additional Interviews, live
performances of ''It's Too Bad'' & ''Saturday's Kids'' from The
Rainbow in London, December 1979 and ''The Modern World'' & ''The
Eton Rifles'' at The Ritz in New York City, May 1981.
Alex
Gibney's Sinatra:
All Or Nothing At All
(2015) at first might make one wonder if there is anything else to
say on one of the most important, successful and influential singers
of all time, who also happened to be a political activist and actor,
but thanks to Gibney and the Sinatra Family opening up with a brutal
new honesty, this two-part documentary mini-series is one of the best
releases on the man, his life and his art ever made. Sure, it is
going to miss some things, but the combination of familiar footage,
rare footage, stills and quotes and comments by those who knew him
best makes for a very compelling 259 minutes that never becomes
boring at all.
The
big surprise here is that the family is willing to discuss the
mobsters Sinatra knew and how he interacted with them, a sticking
point that put Scorsese's Sinatra feature film on hold, so I cannot
imagine what he could say or do that is so bad that is any worse than
anything they are admitting here. However, that is a small part of
the amazing story of his rise, fall, rise and battles for perfection
and quality. I liked the sonic quality of the music as well, as the
family's estate made sure the best copies are used here, sounding
warm and enhancing the storytelling. This is definitely worth your
time and was as surprising as it was impressive. Only a die-hard
Sinatra scholar will not be impressed.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text, while the Blu-ray adds a section of reminiscences
on Sinatra of video footage and stills accompanied by comments from
Robert Wagner & Jill St. John, Jerry Weintraub, Emil Davis,
Quincy Jones, Jerry Lewis and Mia Farrow.
All
the releases offer 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfers that mix new HD-recorded interviews with stills and older
video and film footage that can show the age of the materials used,
but all four programs look really fine throughout. Sure, the older
tape sources might have analog
videotape flaws including video noise, video banding, telecine
flicker, tape scratching, cross color, faded color and tape damage,
but that is the way they survived. The 1.33 X 1 PAL videotaped image
on the Jam
DVD show is as good as it is going to get for its age and the format.
As
for sound, all the Blu-rays have good DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mixes that include audio that can be rough and even
monophonic, but play back as well as can be expected. Jaco
is incorrectly listed as only having inferior, lossy Dolby Digital
5.1 sound, but it is DTS MA as well. The
Jam
DVD has lossy DTS 5.1 and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes that try to
expand the sound, but the recording shows its age more than expected,
though I like the DTS a bit more and a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 option
is here, but the weakest of all.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
