Incubus – Look Alive (Sony/Epic Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B+     Extras: D     Film: C+

 

 

Incubus began as an Alternative Rock band in 1991 and may be survivors, but have had mixed success after an early peak.  By 2004, they were in a lawsuit with their home label of Sony and the album that resulted in the settlement was felt by some to be the point where they took a turn for the poorer, as this review for A Crow Left Of The Murder… shows:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1439/Incubus+-+A+Crow+Left

 

 

We also reviewed the previous Blu-ray/CD set, Alive At Red Rocks 2004:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7991/Incubus+–+Alive+At+Red+Rocks

 

 

 

So here we are four years later and the band is still at their same home label.  Have things become better or worse?  Look Alive is a new concert showing the band more recently and is actually the second to appear on Blu-ray.  Tracks include:

 

1)     Rogues

2)     Quicksand

3)     A Kiss To Sent Us Off

4)     Anna Molly

5)     Redefine

6)     Pistola

7)     Love Hurts

8)     Paper Shoes

9)     Megalomaniac

10)  Nebula

11)  Earth To Bella, Part One

12)  Sick Sad Little World

13)  Oil & Water

14)  Dig

15)  Punch Drunk

16)  Aquaeous Transmission

17)  Look Alive

 

 

Well the band plays professionally and has consideration for the audience, yet this concert did only so much for me, with the music and the performances uneven and nothing too memorable.  The biggest culprit was a lack of great energy you expect from such a concert and it is just not here.  It is not as if they are bored or do not care, but lost on some other plain that never adds up.  They can play, but that is not sufficient in making a good concert, so this is a fans-only affair.

 

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 image looks like a 1080i shoot with detail issues, flat Video Black and an image made to purposely look like it is constantly out of focus or off center or off kilter, or…  Whatever the intent, it was a big mistake and if it was to make the viewer feel they were intoxicated, it wears thin very quickly.  The sound comes in Dolby TrueHD 48/16 5.1 and PCM 48/16 5.1 mixes, as well as a lesser Dolby Digital 640 kbps 5.1 mix, but the first two are the highlight of the disc, with some rich surrounds and a very good recording of the concert overall.  Some have reported the mix sounding like it is leaning to the left, but it was not so awkward as to be an issue.  If anything, it seems like the mixers wanted it to be loud in a noisy sense.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo