Loggins & Messina – Sitting In Again At The Santa Barbara Bowl
(DVD + CD versions)
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: B- Main Concert: B-
Though Kenny Loggins is best know these days as a solo
artist and for making some of the most bizarre music for hit motion pictures
ever composed, he was originally a part of the hit duo Loggins &
Messina. Formed in 1970, their hits ran
from 1972 – 1975. He and Jim Messina
had six hit albums and off the bat, Your Mama Don’t Dance was a huge Top
5 hit single. A couple of smaller hits
followed, but the albums were even stringer sellers among fans. Now, 30 years later, the duo has reunited
for Sittin’ In Again At The Santa Barbara, a new concert album on CD
with much more to offer on DVD.
With no animosity obvious, the concert shows they still
have just about all their capacities in tact from their peak decades ago,
though those following Loggins enduring solo career know he had not gone
away. The songs are as follows, with
the CD-only tracks marked by an*:
1) Watching
The River Run*
2) House At
Pooh Corner*
3) Sailin’
The Wind
4) Long
Tail Cat
5) Listen
To A Country Song/Holiday Hotel*
6) Changes*
7) Back To
Georgia*
8) Trilogy:
Lovin’ Me, Make A Woman Feel Wanted, Peace Of Mind*
9) Your
Mama Don’t Dance*
10) A Love Song*
11) Thinking Of You
12) Kind Woman
13) Be Free
14) Same Old Wine*
15) Growin’
16) You Need A Man
17) Vahevala*
18) Angry Eyes*
19) Nobody But You*
20) Danny’s Song* (later
a hit for Anne Murray)
The CD has a slightly different order for the tracks it
retains. The incentive is to get the
DVD, but both are made available separately for fans and those who want one of
the car (or like vehicle) and the other for home theaters. They still have it for the most part, it
just depends on if you like their music.
This is well performed in any case and those who like Loggins from his
solo work or miss the duo will not be disappointed. Others might enjoy it as a change of pace.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 image has a
little more depth and detail than usual from a digital High Definition-shot concert,
but the DTS mix and PCM tracks (on both the DVD and CD) are good. However, the DTS is only slightly better
than the 16Bit PCM tracks in either case.
Extras include booklets in both formats and the DVD has six bonus
performances from a 1973 performance on the TV show The Midnight Special
with Wolfman Jack. Those songs are:
1) My Music
2) Danny’s
Song
3) Your
Mama Don’t Dance
4) You Need
A Man
5) Coming
To You
6) Sailin’
The Wind
A comparison of the duo at their peak then to the work now
is interesting. No, they do not have
the energy they used to, but the talent remains. Sittin’ In Again At The Santa Barbara is a reunion that
works.
- Nicholas Sheffo