Beth Hart – Live At Paradiso

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C     Concert: B-

 

 

Beth Hart is a Rock singer/musician in an interesting predicament.  She loves to rock out and has much energy and talent; yet, she is trapped by settling for second best to her full potential.  Ironically, she may not realize this, but this is what this critic got when watching Beth Hart – Live At Paradiso.  This concert was taped in May 2004 and has its moments, but it was often like watching Tina Turner being held back by some material that was not helping her solo career in the 1970s when she deserved the comeback that arrived later.

 

Hart is very blunt about her thoughts and views, which when compared to her songs, make them sound restrictive.  She is onto something, but is not quite there yet.  That in itself makes watching this particular concert more interesting than usual.  The songs performed here are:

 

1)     Hiding Under Water

2)     Delicious Surprise

3)     Guilty

4)     Leave The Light On

5)     Lifts You Up

6)     Broken & Ugly

7)     Get Your **** Together

8)     Immortal

9)     Lay Your Hands On Me

10)  Monkey Back

11)  Am I The One?

12)  Mama

13)  L.A. Song

14)  World Without You

15)  Whole Lotta Love

 

This is not to say that her originals are not blunt and to the point, but there seems to be some odd distance between the songs and her talks with the audience.  They are not on the same frequency, but this is happening because she has talent and the focus is off, something you would not see from most new “artists” the labels are prepackaging.  Though not the best or worst concert we have seen lately, it is worth a look, just to see what you make of this quirk.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 image is limited a bit and has nothing special about the way it is shot.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix fares better, though DTS would have made the show even odder still, but clearer.  The combination brings home what has been pointed out and that she has more life than most of her contemporaries.  Extras include a 35-minutes-long behind the scenes program that is good, yet does not shed light on the music enough.  She shows yet another side of herself, which someone needs to pursue in another documentary.  A bonus performance, I Don’t Need No Doctor, is also here in Dolby 2.0 Stereo only.  If you want to see a merging talent few have yet to hear of, pick up Beth Hart – Live At Paradiso, because something very for real is happening here and I am glad I saw it.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo