B.B. King – Live At Montreux 1993 (Eagle Blu-ray)
Picture: B Sound: B
Extras: C Concert: B-
After so many appearances on other concerts with other
artists, it is funny to finally get a B.B. King concert disc (or any kind of
program) with the legend front and center, but that is what his Live At Montreux 1993 concert
delivers. The songs performed are:
1) Fanfare
2) Six Pack
3) Two I Shoot Blues
4) Let The Good Times Roll
5) When It All Comes Down (I’ll Still Be Around)
6) Chains Of Love
7) Caldonia
8) All Over Again
9) Since I Met You Baby
10) Playing With
My Friends
11) Ain’t Nobody
Home
12) Why I Sing
The Blues
13) Blues Man
14) Rock Me Baby
15) Please
Accept My Love
16) The Thrill
Is Gone
After seeing and hearing more Blues music in recent years
than I could have imagined encountering in my entire life, one thing that
struck me was how King could be so good doing the Blues (besides being its King
and a huge innovator) when so many newer artists who do the same material drag
it out and make it boring. How? Because King is an originator, has more
talent, is more sincere and the result is both more energy and
authenticity. That distinction is more
than enough to make this one of the best Blues Blu-rays we will see for years
to come, even though I though the song selection was limited.
The 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is not
bad for its age, but shows the usual detail limits one would associate with an
older HD shoot, though color and even depth can look good in some shots and
this has aged better than other similar HD shoots. The DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless mix is
also decent for its age, but it still has limits from the time of recording,
yet this DTS seems to bring out about all that is ever going to come out of
this recording. A PCM 2.0 Stereo and Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix are also offered, but they are not as engaging. Extras include three tracks from his 2006
appearance and if you compare them to the main concert, they look and sound
marginally better, plus a paper slip with the band line-up and brief essay on
King.
- Nicholas Sheffo
