Steve Earle – Live At Montreux 2005 (DTS DVD)

 

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

 

 

Country Music has been hijacked by The Extreme Right.  You can deny it all you want, but between its rollback to overly-processed Country sounding like bad 1970s Pop/Rock and the witchhunt against The Dixie Chicks that backfired on some of their critics, real Country has been stifled.  No outlaw performers like Willie Nelson and nothing organic about either the South or in the Music.  No roots, no folk, no point of view, unless it is angry rantings or pseudo-nationalist BS, save a few artists.  One of the furthest to the Left with something to say is Steve Earle and if you have not heard of him or much from him, you know just how true the opening statement is.

 

The songs include:

 

1)     Jerusalem

2)     What’s A Simple Man To Do?

3)     The Devil’s Right Hand

4)     Warrior

5)     Rich Man’s War

6)     South Nashville Blues

7)     CCKMP

8)     Dixieland

9)     Ellis Unit One

10)  Condi Condi

11)  The Mountain

12)  The Revolution Starts Now

13)  Copperhead Road

14)  Christmas In Washington

 

 

Only Neil Young has been as bold lately in going after the second Bush Administration and like all the greatest Country music, is a living record of what is going on in this time period and the kind of unhappiness that entitles people to be angry with what is happening with everything from the economy, to the lies to lost lives every day for the worst possible reasons.  In time, this may turn out to be more of a classic performance than anyone could ever imagine.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a little soft and with much Video Black is a little weaker than expected.  However, the shooting is not bad and neither are the colors.  The PCM 2.0 16bit/48kHz Stereo is good and a little richer than the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, but the DTS 5.1 mix is the best.  The clarity and articulation are typical of the concerts Eagle has been issuing for years now on DVD, though it helps that this was so recent.  There are no extras except a brief essay inside a paper foldout inside the DVD1 case offering more on Earle, but Earle’s work says it all, making this one of the strongest Montreux DVDs Eagle Eye has issued to date.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo