
Elvis
Costello: King Of America & Other Realms
(1986/6-CD Set*)/Fabulous
Thunderbirds Live In Houston
(2006/MVD/Cleopatra Blu-ray)/Joker:
Folie A Deux 4K
(2024/DC Comics/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)/Sweethearts
(1938/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/The
Tragically Hip: Up To Here
(1989/Blu-ray/3-CD Set/*both Universal Music)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: X/B-/X/B/C+ Sound:
B/C+/A-/B-/B+ & B (CDs) Extras: B/D/C+/B-/B- Main
Programs: B-/C+/C+/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Sweethearts
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for a very, very diverse set of new music releases...
Elvis
Costello: King Of America & Other Realms
(1986) is the tenth studio album by the New Wave star who expanded
into every music genre around and one of the most musically literate
musicians around, he can play it as well as he can go deep into its
history. A tribute to Allen Toussaint and the music of New Orleans,
et al, it is one of his most acoustic releases ever and an artistic
comeback after his 1984 album Goodbye
Cruel World
was highly disliked by fans and non-fans alike. Still not a huge
commercial hit, it is one of his most ambitious works and this
ambitious 6-CD set offers the following:
DISC
1 - KING OF AMERICA (2024 REMASTER)
1.
Brilliant Mistake
2.
Lovable
3.
Our Little Angel
4.
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
5.
Glitter Gulch
6.
Indoor Fireworks
7.
Little Palaces
8.
I'll Wear It Proudly
9.
American Without Tears
10.
Eisenhower Blues
11.
Poisoned Rose
12.
The Big Light
13.
Jack Of All Parades
14.
Suit Of Lights
15.
Sleep Of The Just
DISC
2 - LE ROI SANS SABOTS
Demos,
Outtakes & Other Realms
1.
The People's Limousine - The Coward Brothers
2.
Next Time Round *
3.
Deportee *
4.
Brilliant Mistake (First Draft) *
5.
Suffering Face
6.
Poisoned Rose
7.
Jack Of All Parades
8.
Sleep Of The Just *
9.
Blue Chair *
10.
I Hope You're Happy Now
11.
I'll Wear It Proudly
12.
Indoor Fireworks
13.
Having It All
14.
Shoes Without Heels *
15.
King Of Confidence
16.
They'll Never Take Her Love From Me - The Coward Brothers
17.
American Without Tears No. 2 (Twilight Version)
DISC
3 - KINGS OF AMERICA LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Royal
Albert Hall 27th January 1987
1.
The Big Light *
2.
Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line *
3.
Our Little Angel *
4.
It Tears Me Up *
5.
I'll Wear It Proudly *
6.
Lovable *
7.
Riverboat *
8.
Sally Sue Brown/36-22-36 *
9.
American Without Tears *
10.
Brilliant Mistake *
11.
What Would I Do Without You *
12.
Your Mind Is On Vacation /Your Funeral, My Trial *
13.
Pouring Water On A Drowning Man *
14.
Payday *
15.
That's How You Got Killed Before *
16.
Sleep Of The Just *
17.
True Love Ways *
DISC
4 - IL PRINCIPE DI NEW ORLEANS E LE MARCHESE DEL MISSISSIPPI
1.
There's A Story In Your Voice with Lucinda Williams
2.
Country Darkness
3.
The Delivery Man
4.
Nothing Clings Like Ivy
5.
Heart Shaped Bruise with Emmylou Harris (Live At The Hi-Tone,
Memphis) **
6.
Bedlam (Live At Montreal Jazz) **
7.
Either Side Of The Same Town
8.
Wonder Woman
9.
In Another Room
10.
The Monkey * - Rehearsal with Dave Bartholomew & The Dirty Dozen
Brass Band
11.
Monkey To Man
12.
Deep Dark Truthful Mirror
13.
Clown Strike (Live At Montreal Jazz) **
14.
Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?
15.
The River In Reverse
16.
''The
Greatest Love''
from the HBO TV series Treme *
17.
Ascension Day
DISC
5 - EL PRINCIPE DEL PURGATORIO
1.
Stations Of The Cross
2.
Quick Like A Flash (Previously Unreleased) *
3.
Sulphur To Sugarcane
4.
Red Cotton
5.
Lost On The River #12
6.
A Slow Drag With Josephine
7.
I Felt The Chill
8.
Complicated Shadows (Cashbox Version)
9.
She's Pulling Out The Pin
10.
Condemned Man (Demo) *
11.
Hidden Shame
12.
Red Wicked Wine with Dr. Ralph Stanley
13.
The Scarlet Tide with Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David
Rawlings (Live at the Grand Ole Opry) *
14.
One Bell Ringing
15.
Bullets For The New Born King
16.
All These Strangers
17.
For More Tears (Demo) *
18.
You Hung The Moon
DISC
6 - DER HERZOG DES RAMPENLICHT
1.
Stella Hurt
2.
Mr. Feathers
3.
Under Lime
4.
Jimmie Standing In The Rain
5.
Down Among The Wines And Spirits
6.
Dr. Watson, I Presume
7.
Church Underground (Demo) *
8.
A Voice In The Dark
9.
April 5th with Rosanne Cash & Kris Kristofferson
10.
Indoor Fireworks (Memphis Magnetic Version) *
11.
That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving with Larkin Poe *
12.
Brilliant Mistake/Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (Cape Fear Version) *
13.
That Day Is Done with The Fairfield Four
*
previously unreleased
**
first-ever audio release
Besides
some interesting, even unexpected duets and variations, this was his
last major hit album of any kind with former label Columbia Records
and last hit album of any kind for a good while. Of course, hr has
survived and endured while the reputation of this album has only
increased over the years, thus this big deluxe expansion of it. Its
not the album I would start with if I were recommending his work to a
newcomer, but King
Of America
is a one-tome kind of album that shows a special side of the artists
we'll never see again and that is more than enough to celebrate its
release.
We
are counting the many bonus tracks and 57-page booklet as the extras
and there are plenty. Even if this is not always your kind of music,
it is remarkable work and an expansion worthy of the artist and his
music. For more on Costello, go to these links for his TV series
Spectacle:
Season
One
DVD (with links to his Music Videos DVD, Live Blu-ray and Deluxe
Edition CD Set of My
Aim Is True)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9239/Spectacle+-+Elvis+Costello+with%E2%80%A6+-+S
Season
Two
Blu-ray/DVD Set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16528/Spectacle:+Elvis+Costello+with%E2%80%A6+%E2
The
Fabulous Thunderbirds Live In Houston
(2006) is actually the first time we have ever covered any release
from the Country Rock band whose title song to their big hit album
Tuff
Enuff
(1986) was a huge worldwide hit going Top Ten in the U.S., we have
this new concert release taped twenty years after that peak and they
are in fine form. The show is sadly only an hour long, but the
tracks include...
1.
Slow Down
2. Postman
3. Rock With Me
4. Got To Get Out
5.
Painted On
6. Two Time Fool
7. Wait On Time
8. Wrap It Up
9.
Pretty Baby
10. Tuff Enuff
11. Marked Deck
Of
course, Wrap
It Up
was also a big hit, more so on Rock radio, et al, but they were good
at what they did, what they played and its nice to have a little more
of them to show that they were far from a mere one-hit wonder. We'll
be curious if more releases turn up with the band.
There
are no extras.
Todd
Phillips' Joker:
Folie A Deux 4K
(2024) is the big budget, unexpected sequel to the first hit Joker
film from 2019 which was a surprise critical success as well. The
first film juggled the DC character's history (this Arthur Fleck
variation is played by Joaquin Phoenix) with some of Martin
Scorsese's most urban films. This sequel continues that, but this
time, they retain only some of that Scorsese flavor and go for,
unexpectedly, The Hollywood Movie Musical.
Opening
with a tribute and dark satire (the most R-rated ever) of a Warner
Bros' Looney
Tunes/Merrie
Melodies
animated short, the title character's split personality is
immediately addressed and then we show up in the real world where he
is in prison and all is not so colorful and happy. Too ill to stand
trial for multiple murders, he is in prison as some officials would
like to get him well enough to stand trial. As we watch, we realize
his split personality has him existing in the real world and a
fantasy world that is a hybrid of said cartoons (Warner cartoons play
on the analog color TVs here as much as they do in Kubrick's The
Shining,
a partial influence on the film as well) with musicals, especially
ones in Technicolor or very distinct, vibrant color.
That
means we get three looks in the film, Technicolor, decolored and
somewhere in between (with slight variants) and to top things off,
Harley Quinn shows up as 'Lee' and is played by the most dangerous,
cutting edge female vocalist in all of music today, Lady Gaga who is
great here singing, acting and dancing. A perfect match for any
Joker, she makes for a nice counterpoint to him and a bright light in
the film, but she is not here enough and the screenplay has issues.
The
music shows up (as operetta or musical) as either big production
numbers that impress, small ones or simple, deconstructive vocal
performances, along with a few actual hit songs in the digesis of the
film's real world. All are covers and remakes, covering several
decades, some showing up more than once, select posters from classic
movie musicals show up at the beginning of the film, the prisoners
take a break from the analog cartoon fest to see a film print of The
Bandwagon
with Fred Astaire and an early walk on the prison grounds in the rain
has Fleck reliving the French cinema classic The
Umbrellas Of Cherbourg.
The
music and musical literacy of the film is not in doubt. The
Bandwagon
as not only the peak of the original classical Hollywood Musical
(celebrating, while deconstructing and mocking even then as it
peaked) and is the original source of the hit That's
Entertainment,
which became a hit trilogy of documentaries MGM issued, with the
first one actually getting a Best Picture nomination. We even get a
sly, dark, violent send-up of The
Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
as part of the film's critique of media violence. So what does it
all mean?
Well,
the film is trying to bash the media for encouraging and normalizing
violence, but we've seen that many times before. It is also dealing
with musical numbers as psychotic outbursts as Scorsese' partly did
in his brilliant 1977 epic New
York, New York,
which was also the point of the two British TV musicals by Dennis
Potter that were hit TV mini-series that also became feature films:
Pennies
From Heaven
(1978, later a 1981 MGM film directed by Herbert Ross with Steve
Martin, Bernadette Peters and Christoper Walken that remains amazing)
and The
Singing Detective
(1986, later a 2003 film by director Keith Gordon with mixed results)
so this film has that going for it.
The
results? Well, that's where the film got into big commercial trouble
and more than a little critical trouble as the screenplay starts up
so many interesting things, it is impossible for the film to have
time to finish any of them. There is even irony (Harry Lawtey's
solid performance as the District Attorney prosecuting Fleck is the
man who himself will later become the mixed-up split personality
villain, Two Face: Harvey Dent) as the film moves along. Its great
for huge fans of the DC characters or Musicals, a dead genre where
only one in ever few dozen or so films have worked since the 1960s
(!!!) but otherwise, the film, lands up saying only things it knows
it is saying, though any audiences will get some of it and it becomes
lie a bunch of sentences that have subjects and few predicates.
Another
plus for the film, however, is its supporting cast that includes
Catherine Keener, Brendan Gleeson, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan (another
sly casting touch) and many new faces we will very likely be seeing
more of in the near future. At least the film is a sincere attempt
to say, show and do something different, also a counterpoint to all
the mostly bad super villain films (especially the horrid, horrific
Black
Adam,
also from DC) saying it is not good to make villains heroes, but that
message is too late in the game for the genre, et al, and has also
been said plenty of times before.
The
result is an interesting failure that is certain to have some kind of
cult status eventually, though what kind remains to be seen and for
all the big budget money spent, does not seem like the absolute,
total, bizarre waste that several epic films in the genre (both
DC/Warner and Marvel/Disney have produced too many of them recently)
that we have suddenly seen in the last few years.
The
only other issue is the lame repetition of people smoking non-stop
throughout the film like nothing we've seen in any Hollywood film
since the early 1970s or 1960s or 1950s. Since this was not hit, I
doubt we'll see a third film, but one would be hard to imagine
because the smoking is so highly toxic here, any character who
survived this film at the end would be dead of lung cancer by any
proposed next one!
Extras
include Digital
Movie Code, while the disc adds:
For
more on the first Joker
film, check out our 4K coverage at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15640/Acceleration+(2019/Cinedigm+Blu-ray)/Battle+Of
Now
for a much more successful musical. W.S. Van Dyke's Sweethearts
(1938) reunites the highly successful journeyman director with one of
the most successful singing duos in cinema history: Nelson Eddy and
Jeanette MacDonald. They were so big and big stars at the #1 movie
studio of the time, MGM, that the studio made this film their first
major film shot in the now-legendary three-strip Technicolor process.
The result is a very good film that holds up better than you would
think, looks great, has the duo's semi-operatic singing in great form
and a great supporting cast that includes Ray Bolger, Frank Morgan,
Mischa Auer, Florence Rice, Herman Bing, Reginald Gardner, Fay
Holden, Lucille Watson, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart and
uncredited turns by Jim Farley, James Flavin, Bess Flowers and Philip
Loeb.
An
elaborate backstage musical based on Victor Herbert's operetta, the
duo plays a Broadway couple (married for six years) accepting an
offer to go Hollywood and go to Hollywood, which should be easy and
just build on their already amazing success. However, their stage
bosses try to ruin things and all kinds of mayhem ensues. Most of
what is here works well, this is smartly done, the great novelist
Dorothy Parker co-wrote the screenplay with severals others and the
result was an award-winning hit for MGM. Warner Archive's new
Blu-ray restoration runs form impressive to stunning, leaning towards
the latter. It will make you want to see all the duos films!
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer, audio-only original
prerecording session material, excerpt from the Technicolor short
subject Pirate
Party On Catalina Island,
3/25/46 radio version of the film on the Screen Actors Theater series
and two classic animated shorts: Count
On Me
and Love
And Curses.
Last
but not least is the first full-length LP from a major Canadian band
that did not have the huge success they could and should have had in
the states. The
Tragically Hip: Up To Here
(1989) followed five years of hard work and a self-titled EP that did
reasonably well, well enough for them to get to this release. Led by
the late singer/songwriter Gord Downie, the four singles that did
very well in their homeland and got some Alternate Rock Radio airplay
in the U.S., et al, were Blow
At High Dough,
New
Orleans Is Sinking,
38
Years Old
and Boots
Or Hearts.
They
would continue for 13 more albums until 2007 and with a slight
Country Rock sound, though it is not like the U.S. Version of said
(sub)genre, it is strange they did not become at least a one-hot
wonder in the States and or simply have a crossover hit (major MCA
was their label) on the outright Country chart at a time when that
genre sounded too much like older, dated Pop/Rock. Still, a
significant band with significant enough success and a serious
following, you can see why they would finally be getting the deluxe
treatment here, including an ultra high resolution Blu-ray Audio that
shows how good they were.
The
discs and their content that we get include:
Disc
1: Up
To Here
(2024 remaster of the original album)
Blow
At High Dough
I'll
Believe In You (Or I'll Be Leaving You Tonight)
New
Orleans Is Sinking
38
Years Old
She
Didn't Know
Boots
Or Hearts
Everytime
You Go
When
The Weight Comes Down
Trickle
Down
Another
Midnight
and
Opiated
Disc
2: Live At The Misty Moon + Previously Unreleased Studio Tracks
Crack
My Spine Like A Whip
(Live At The Misty Moon)
She
Didn't Know
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Highway
Girl
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Just
As Well
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Boots
Or Hearts
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Trickle
Down
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Get
Back Again
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Three
Pistols
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Fight
(Live At The Misty Moon)
38
Years Old
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Blow
At High Dough
(Live At The Misty Moon)
I'll
Believe In You (Or I'll Be Leaving You Tonight)
(Live At The Misty Moon)
New
Orleans Is Sinking
(Live At The Misty Moon)
On
The Verge
(Live At The Misty Moon)
She's
Got What It Takes
Get
Back Again
Rain,
Hearts And Fire
and
Wait
So Long
Disc
3: How We Got Here - The 1988 Demos
Hailstone
Hands Of God
(1988 Demo)
When
The Weight Comes Down
(1988 Demo)
I'll
Believe In You (Or I'll Be Leaving You Tonight)
(1988 Demo)
New
Orleans Is Sinking
(1988 Demo)
Rain,
Hearts And Fire
(1988 Demo)
She
Didn't Know
(1988 Demo)
Blow
At High Dough
(1988 Demo)
Boots
Or Hearts
(1988 Demo)
Everytime
You Go
(1988 Demo)
and
Just
Another Midnight
(1988 Demo)
Disc
4: Dolby Atmos Blu-ray Audio with four sound choices...
Blow
At High Dough
I'll
Believe In You (Or I'll Be Leaving You Tonight)
New
Orleans Is Sinking
38
Years Old
She
Didn't Know
Boots
Or Hearts
Everytime
You Go
When
The Weight Comes Down
Trickle
Down
Another
Midnight
Opiated
She's
Got What It Takes
Get
Back Again
Rain,
Hearts And Fire
and
Wait
So Long
*The
Blu-ray also includes the full 1-hour concert film of the Misty Moon
show. The tracklisting of the show on the video is:
Crack
My Spine Like A Whip
(Live At The Misty Moon)
She
Didn't Know
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Highway
Girl
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Just
As Well
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Boots
Or Hearts
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Trickle
Down
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Get
Back Again
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Three
Pistols
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Fight
(Live At The Misty Moon)
38
Years Old
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Blow
At High Dough
(Live At The Misty Moon)
I'll
Believe In You (Or I'll Be Leaving You Tonight)
(Live At The Misty Moon)
New
Orleans Is Sinking
(Live At The Misty Moon)
and
On The
Verge
(Live At The Misty Moon)
Extras
in a solid
clamshell case include a nicely illustrated 12-page booklet (with
song lyrics on each track) on the band and album with all those extra
tracks and the video clips. Its a great intro to the band in their
early years and fans will be very, very happy too. Also, Canadian
music talent deserves much more deluxe treatment all around and this
is a step forward in that.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, various ratioed,
Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High
Definition image on Joker
is wide ranging from degraded analog video images to near-Technicolor
live action sequences and the animated cartoon at the beginning of
the film. Nice to see the Ultra HD shoot push the color. The
lossless Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems)
ranges form purposely degraded mono and stereo to using all of its
tracks very well for musical numbers and action sequences.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Thunderbirds
can show the age of the materials used, but looks like later, regular
HD at best and has some good color, while we get two soundtracks.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is a little better than the poorer, lossy Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo, but once again, we get another cleopatra title
that should have at least had fuller PCM digital sound. Still, it is
well recorded enough, but a little bit of a sonic disappointment
unnecessarily so. A 2001 DVD-Audio with DTS on the band live also
had some complaints about its sonics, but along with the very best
CDs and vinyl out there, remains the best sonic representation of the
band to date.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Sweethearts
can show the age of the materials used a bit as expected, but this is
far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film on home
video, does a great job of reproducing the
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor look of the film and the DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix has been restored very well
and thoroughly for its age. The film will never sound better and
only a real Technicolor print in really fine shape could ever compete
with the restoration on this disc.
The
1080p digital High Definition images on Tragically
Hip
are older and upscaled for the most part, but are just fine for what
they are, looking as good as can be expected. The Blu-ray comes with
four soundtracks. The lossless Dolby
Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) and PCM 2.0
Stereo are fine, but I was disappointed by the DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 and 7.1 lossless mixes that do not exactly work as well as
they could have. I do not know why they are off, but they are.
The
PCM 2.0 Stereo on that set's CDs and the Elvis
Costello
CDs are fine and sound as good as they could possibly hope to in the
older format.
To
order
the
Warner Archive
Sweethearts
Blu-ray,
go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo