Paul McCartney In Red Square

 

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

 

 

Paul McCartney is so underrated at this point, yet is constantly getting criticized for changing course after his days in The Beatles.  His solo work and years with his band Wings took him into a new creative Pop direction with plenty of memorable hit songs.  He has not let up since or abandoned his Beatles years.  This was especially true when he finally visited the country his music and art changed for the better for good, Russia.  Paul McCartney In Red Square captures his visit and concert from May 24, 2003 that brought him back full circle to the early battles of his work for the individual over the state.

 

Though we hear about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and C.I.A.-backed, Osama Bin Laden-run Taliban helped bring down the former Soviet Union, that was only the end.  It was The Beatles and their official banning in the 1960s that made them the nemesis of the Communist Empire for over a quarter-century, a constant that sent many people to jail or worse.  When Conservatives (and especially Neo-Conservatives) try to give sole credit (instead of the more accurate partial credit for his careful (and carefully advised) negotiating) to Ronald Reagan for bringing down the U.S.S.R., I always say, “Yea, he was the fifth Beatle!” with irony.  Without The Beatles, the winds of change necessary in the first place for the fall would have never occurred.

 

That is why watching this program is all the more amazing.  Instead of just a concert with a few breaks on the side, McCartney gets to visit the very land he would have never been welcomed and worse in its former post-Stalinist peak.  He gets to walk around, move freely and indulge himself with a profound sense of joy as he meets people from all walks of life (all the way up to former KGB agent and current President Vladimir Putin) as older landmarks of the country prior to the Russian Revolution even outlast that nightmare scourge.  The resulting transformation that began with his work is as if a message was sent decades ago and finally an answer is received.  Now Sir Paul McCartney, it is one of the crowning achievements of his long career to finally visit, as if his conquering of music worldwide was finally complete.

 

The DVD has 20 extra minutes of footage and the concert has McCartney at his usual high level of showmanship, performing the following:

 

It’s Getting Better

Band On The Run

Can’t Buy Me Love

Two Of Us

I Saw Her Standing There

We Can Work It Out

I’ve Just Seen A Face

Live & Let Die

Someone’s Knocking At The Door

Fool On The Hill

Every Little Thing

Birthday

Maybe I’m Amazed

Back In The U.S.S.R.

Calico Skies

Hey Jude

She’s Leaving Home

Yesterday

Let It Be

Back In the U.S.S.R. (reprise)

 

 

Hardly anyone in the world can boast a song list like that, and that is only a small sampling of what he has to pull from.  The joy in performing has never stopped for him and as soon as he gets up on stage, it is as if nothing has changed since 1964, yet here is a mature, brilliant artist and musician so in his element that he can do no wrong wherever he takes his audience.  This time, it is a very special audience and the promise of his music is realized in a profound way whose ramifications are still not totally grasped.  It may just be the most underrated music concert event in recent years.

 

The full frame 1.33 X 1 image throughout looks fine for what it is, though I admit I wanted this to be 16 X 9 and anamorphically enhanced.  However, this is clean and clear from its original source material.  This is shot nicely, from the stage footage to McCartney on location.  The sound is here in Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby 5.1 and (for the first time in A&E Video history) DTS 5.1, but the 5.1 mixes are a bit awkward.  Both have a bass emphasis that is a bit overdone.  Even with the subwoofer off, either 5.1 mix just has the bass tipping over too much.  The Dolby 2.0 mix has Pro Logic surrounds and sounds the most natural, as it is obvious this was not thoroughly conceived as a multi-channel sound release.  Those sound options and issues extend to the bonus St. Petersburg concert, which is also terrific, offering the following tracks:

 

Jet

Got To Get You Into My Life

Flaming Pie

Let Me Roll It

Drive My Car

Penny Lane

Get Back

Back In the U.S.S.R.

I’ve Got A Feeling

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band/The End

Helter Skelter

 

Note the different playlist.  There are also two featurettes, Behind The Curtain: Memories From Red Square and The History Channel’s 10-minutes-long Russia & The Beatles: A Brief Journey, stills, interactive guide and booklet.  Despite some issues with the sound, Paul McCartney In Red Square stands out among the many titles with McCartney on DVD that have been issued outside of his Beatles materials, and that is many.  Now on DVD, everyone who loves music and understands the implications of what happened here can finally catch up with it.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo