Albert
Collins & The Icebreakers: Live At Rockpalast - Dortmund 1980
(Eagle DVD/2 CD Set)/Bound
For Glory (1976/United
Artists/MGM/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/Der
Freischultz/Von Weber
(2015/Christian Thielemann/C Major/Unitel Classica)/Jardi
Tancat (1987 aka The
Closed Garden/Nacho Duato
& The Nederlands Dans Theater/ArtHaus)/Kirov
Classics
(1991/ArtHaus w/CD)/La
Fille Mal Gardee/Ashton
(2015/aka Wayward
Daughter/Royal
Ballet/Opus Arte)/Rain/Steve
Reich (2014/Bel Air/all
Naxos Blu-rays)
Picture:
C+/B/B-/C+/C+/B/B- Sound: B-/C+/B/C+/B (CD: B-)/B/B+ Extras:
C-/C+/C/C-/C+/C+/C- Main Programs: B-/B/B-/B-/B/B-/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Bound
For Glory
Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is
limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last
from the links below.
Here's
a wide-ranging selection of new music titles that range from blues to
classical, ballet and folk through an epic biopic...
Albert
Collins & The Icebreakers: Live At Rockpalast - Dortmund 1980
is the fourth and now the oldest of the releases by the Blues legend
that we have seen on DVD, though we had hoped maybe a Blu-ray would
have arrived by now. Still, this runs at 92 minutes and I easily the
longest of the quartet. Many of the songs are by Collins, but longer
was not necessarily better than the previous releases here unless you
are a diehard fan of Collins himself. This also includes 2 CDs of
the video performance that are slightly less dynamic sounding than
the DVD, making this the largest of the four, so if you want to try
out his work on home video and have plenty to take in, this is your
release.
The
color video is shot well enough, holding up into the HD age to still
enjoy, but those who might not be used to standard definition might
want to lower expectations a bit as they would for an old videotaped
1970s TV sitcom or variety show. All in all, a solid release that
will not disappoint its intended audience.
For
more Collins, try this 1992 Montreux
DVD release from Eagle that also includes links to two Ohne
Filter
shows, one of which features The Icebreakers from 1985...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6601/Albert+Collins+%E2%80%93+Live+At+Montreux+1
Hal
Ashby's Bound
For Glory
(1976) is an epic biopic about the life of groundbreaking folk singer
Woody Guthrie (played so well here by the late, great David
Carradine) from him humble beginnings, his family life, tolerating
(and surviving) poverty & sand storms until the songs he wants to
sing start becoming censored by moneymen who like his voice and see
the cash cow he could be, but in Depression America are trying to
suppress unions and any uprising. HE is not aware of what a Union is
or much of anything else, but his experiences show him what is really
going on and he gets a new sense of morality out of the injustice.
The
148 minutes film covers his story up to the point he is about to
break loose on his own as more than just another commercial music
talent, is a road trip movie through the poverty of that America in a
way hardly any other film of the subject has ever been able to pull
off thanks to the underrated talents of Ashby and is a film that
would be very hard to make today if at all, especially then released
by a major studio the way United Artists backed and issued this one.
The
period is brought to life in uncanny palpabiiity and we also see
Guthrie's character flaws, but a consistent script, solid directing,
amazing cinematography and an incredible supporting cast that also
includes Melinda Dillon, Ronny Cox, Randy Quaid, Gail Strictland,
Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Mary Kay Place, Wendy Schaal, Brion James, James Hong,
an uncredited Bernie Kopell and M. Emmet Walsh.
Twilight
Time has issued the film in this Limited Edition Blu-ray that is
worth getting, especially if you like the music, because there is
plenty in it. Some things are not noted, like Guthrie writing ''This
Land Is Your Land''
because he felt Irving Berlin's ''God
Bless America''
was problematic, but the film could only go on so long. A note
however on the isolated music score, which you can read about
technically below. Only the non-digetic music, or the music the
characters cannot hear and is not taking place in their world and
space, but the audience can hear is on the isolated track. So if you
get the disc and find music is not there, that's the split and why.
Carl
Maria Von Weber's Der
Freischultz
(2015) has no less than the amazing Christian Thielemann bringing the
supernatural opera tale of class, royalty and wishful legacies to
life with implications as relevant now as when it was first written
by 1821. At 149 minutes, it is long, but never boring for long,
involving and if you can really get into it, involving. I had times
where I throughout there were lulls that could have been shortened or
changed without affecting the integrity of the original work, but the
cast (headed by Adrian Erod, Albert Dohmen & Sara Jakubiak) with
the Dresden Staatskapelle is a grade-A production al the way and
worth checking into if you are interested.
Jardi
Tancat
(1987 aka The
Closed Garden)
runs only 58 minutes, but combines the title ballet by Nacho Duato &
The Nederlands Dans Theater with a documentary look at Duato himself.
Jiri Kylian hired him in 1981 and he was winning awards by 1984,
which is among the many things the makers try to cram into the
too-short program. Of course, it deserves a sequel and/or expansion
to show us where his amazing dance and creating talents got him, but
it holds up as a time capsule of the art form surviving against
movements against the arts (and not just in the U.S.) and shows a man
whose work comes out of the love of the artform.
Kirov
Classics
(1991) is simply a 155 minutes compilation of 7 performances from the
legendary Kirov Ballet that includes Chopiniana,
Perrushka, Barber's Adagio, Le Corsaire, The Fairy Doll, Markitenka
and Paquita.
There is a reason they have the reputation they do and this long,
solid crash course of their work is worthy of the name. Of course,
they are older non-HD recordings, but those really interested will
have no problem as the performances are that good.
Frederick
Ashton's La
Fille Mal Gardee
(2015/aka Wayward
Daughter)
has another great crew, The Royal Ballet in yet another top rate
recent production with Natalia Osipova and Steven McRae conducted by
Barry Wordsworth and music by Ferdinand Herold. Originally performed
in 1960, this can be a bit surreal like a fairy tale book and was
often grouped with ballet versions of classics in that genre like
Ashton's own Cinderella
has a young woman in love with a local young man, but her mother
wants 'bigger things' for her, so possible disaster is not far away
for them all.
There
are a few down moments in its 100 minutes, but this is otherwise
fine, even if it might not necessarily be everyone's cup of tea. The
humor is a plus.
Finally,
we have Steve Reich's Rain
(2014) with choreography by Anne Teresa Die Keersmaeker is a modern
free-style ballet from the man who helped make them possible in our
time. Running 74 minutes, this is much more engaging than expected
and delivers as much impact as much longer ballet programs as good as
they can be. The dancers are up tot he task, moving around like you
will rarely see anywhere else, but expressing well-developed, thought
out moves that synergize to make statements and convey ideas and
emotions. Definitely a standout, this is one of thew few newer HD
recordings of such work (many have been 1.33 X 1 1080i upscales Naxos
has issued over the last few years) and that brings the work home
even better. This is well lit and shot too, so catch it if this is
your kind of ballet.
The
1.33 X 1 image on the Collins
DVD and as well as 1.33 X 1 images upscaled into 1080i 1.78 X 1
presentations on the Kirov
and Tancat
Blu-rays all come from analog color videotape sources that are not
bad, but have some minor issues with analog videotape flaws including
some video noise, video banding, anomalies, cross color, and
staircasing. As a result, they all look about even despite the
upgrade efforts for the classical releases. This is about as good as
any of them will look, though I should add that Tancat
started on 16mm film and was finished at the time on analog
videotape, so it is a second-generation copy (like so many TV
productions at the time) to begin with. Like Star
Trek: The Next Generation
and The
X-Files,
now both on Blu-ray after serious reworked upgrades, Tancat
is among the many filmed programs that deserve all-film-to-HD
transfers... especially with Ultra HD Blu-rays now a reality.
Fille
is here in
a 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image presentation, leaving
Freischultz
and Rain
at 1080i 1.78 X 1 HD, also all looking as good as they are going to.
Fille actually is the most stable of all the classical presentation
here, so progressive scan shooting helped in this case with very
little motion blur.
That
leaves the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Glory
in a solid new transfer that shows the amazing, often remarkable work
of the late, great Director of Photography Haskell Wexler, A.S.C.,
recreating the period with shocking accuracy from the beauty of the
land to the poverty dirt and dust the poor were forced to live in.
it is also the kind of work that the best HD around could not create
the same way, showing once again the power of celluloid film.
As
for sound, all outright music releases have PCM 2.0 Stereo, but
Tancat
only has this kind of soundtrack and is on the weak side being a
documentary, tied in last place sonically by the DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix on Glory
that was recorded well enough for its time, but whose sonics have not
aged too well. This becomes more apparent when you hear how good the
isolated stereo music score is recorded, with the difference being so
much that a stereo upgrade could not have been done sadly.
Kirov
also only has PCM 2.0
Stereo, but manages to sound better, followed by the DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Freischultz
and 5.0 mix on Fille,
but the surprise sonic champ is the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mix on Rain,
with superior sonic quality that impresses throughout and fans will
love to have around as demo material. Nice!
Extras
for all seven releases include booklets on the respective releases
including informative text with Rain
and Glory
offering illustrations and Glory
adding another solid Julie Kirgo essay, plus that disc adds an
Isolated Music Score in Stereo and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Collins
and Kirov
have CDs if you want to count them, while Fille
adds a Cast Gallery, Introduction and Darcey
Bussell in conversation with Lesley Collier on this work.
To
order the Bound
For Glory
limited edition Blu-ray, buy it and other exclusives while supplies
last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
