Marty Balin – Live At The Boston Esplanade, June
14, 2008 (MVD Visual DVD)
Picture: C-
Sound: C Extras: C Concert: C+
As a member of Jefferson Airplane, Marty Balin ran with
the band until 1971, then returned by the mid-1970s when they reinvented
themselves as Jefferson Starship. In
this, Balin proved to be a more prominent singer/songwriter creating most of
their major hits in this period including Runaway,
Count On Me and Miracles. All were ballads
that were Adult Contemporary friendly and songs that still retained a Rock backbone. Solo by 1981, he added Hearts, a hit single every bit as savvy as anything he made with
them and better than anything out of their awful Starship era he luckily
skipped.
Marty Balin – Live
At The Boston Esplanade, June 14, 2008 has Balin giving a decent if short concert where you can
still tell it is his voice, losing only
a little of its smoothness. In addition,
he is there to play with his band and they deliver long versions of the hits
above plus a five other hits including a few Airplane classics. I was hoping for some surprises, but was not
totally disappointed and Balin shows he knows his audience, has his showmanship
and can deliver the classics he made work so well. If you like his hits, you’ll want to see this
one.
The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is much softer throughout
than I would have liked. We get some
good close shots, but the vast majority of shots are long shots and they are
just too flat and muddy. Color is also
an issue. The Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes are also underwhelming, with the 5.1 barely playing
better. Extras include a long interview
with Balin that offers bonus performances throughout.
- Nicholas Sheffo
