Music DVD info, some of which I posted over on the film board by request. Includes new Blind Faith (PAL), Trower, etc.

Rocky Road

From Classic Rock to Progessive to hip hop to today's hot new tunes!

Note: This list has been shuffled and expanded somewhat from my earlier recommendations over on the Film Asylum page.
Blind Faith - (standard academy 4:3 aspect ratio & only available on DVD in PAL format, but will probably be available domestically sometime in the near future for those who don't own region free players); this release has certain expected limitations due to the age of the film, but visually it's MUCH better than expected and sound-wise it's even better than I'd hoped. Clapton is very laid back here, and while the pro-shot multi-camera presentation captures too much off-stage "color" (stoned freaks dancing around, folks walking to and fro, flower children & the British chapter of Hells Angels, boats in the lake, etc.) of a relatively short set, the music more than makes up for it. This is a GREAT film for anyone's classic rock collection; highly recommended!
Robin Trower - Live at Rockpalast (WS/anamorphic), recorded last year as a celebration of his (60th?) birthday, this is well recorded and a supurb performance of old and new Trower material. Some of this material is so tight that you might mistake it for coming off of a studio recorded album. I'm not even a huge Trower fan, but this is pretty amazing stuff, well recorded and imaculately performed; highly recommended.
Rush - R30 (WS/anamorphic) & Rush in Rio (WS, but standard LBX; debatable sound mix choices as the group was trying to recreate the audience listening experience with varying degrees of success, but a great performance nonetheless, with supurb Working Man encore). Call Rush in Rio a guilty pleasure given all the criticism it received as a result of Geddy Lee's mastering to reflect the enthusiastic crowd noises; I love the performance of Working Man here more than R30's reggae rhythm "outro" performance of the same song as part of the encore. Rio is recommended, but with a caveat for the mastering and LBX format (after being promised as a 16:9 release originally). OTOH, R30 must be given a higher recommendation because of it's exceptional anamorphic WS recording, sound and overall performance
Procol Harum - Live at Union Chapel (WS/anamorphic with excellent audio too!), reflects most of their hits and more recent recordings, including the rarely played extended version of Whiter Shade of Pale and stand-out performances of Simple Sister and Salty Dog. This release gets my highest recommendation for it's 16:9 presentation, intimate filming, sound, song selection; if you like Procol Harum, you NEED this DVD.
Joe Bonamassa - Live at Rockpalast (WS/anamorphic); absolutely stunning live blues/rock performance from one of the best blues guitarists around, in the tradition of prime Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn accented by phenomenal recording. He's only 28, but you'd never know it from his stage presence, diverse technique and experienced playing. In my estimation, this is about as close to a FLAWLESS recording as one can come. About the only thing that anyone might find fault with is the one hour length, and that's because the performance is SO good that you'll be wishing it was at least twice that long. The music and visuals are extremely well recorded and each of the guitar's sound signatures and techniques employed a cleanly defined. Just listen to Joe's Les Paul on New Day Yesterday and Had to Cry Today; it's absolutely KILLER. My highest recommendation for this release.
Jimi Hendrix - Blue Wild Angel (academy 4:3 aspect ratio), for a 1970 filmed concert this reconstruction looks and sounds phenomenal; this is far from his greatest performance, but it still shows off his awesome skills and the reconstruction/restoration pulls together edited footage that brings the earlier releases of this performance up several notches, IMO. Stand-out performances of Red House, a lengthy albeit problem-plagued Machine Gun and the only known filmed version of Dolly Dagger a song that had been truncated in an earlier incarnation of the film and is now complete with all verses and solo breaks. Even though this isn't a WS/anamorphic release, BWA has obviously been transfered from a good 35mm negative, cleaned-up and fully restored for optimum 4:3 Academy presentation; it's stunningly beautiful even though it's far from his best performances. Due to it's rarity and generally fine albeit uneven performance, highly recommended, especially to Hendrix fans.
Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Live at the Fillmore (WS/anamorphic); one of the new breed of blues masters making inroads to a younger hipper audience. Not as hook laden or dramatic a performer as some of the older school blues masters, but this is excellent nonetheless. This guy may be a bit too laid back for some hard rockers and too urban for blues purists, but Todd Mohr a very talented guitarist and his band-mates are very tight performers and musically proficient. My only caveats are that his style seems a bit repetitive and unmemorable in places and some of his songs are almost syrapy (Sister Sweetly, Bittersweet). This performance is very well filmed for 16:9 presentation and is recommended to new-age blues fans and older rock and blues enthusiasts who may be curious about the current urban blues scene.
Cheers,
AuPh

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Topic - Music DVD info, some of which I posted over on the film board by request. Includes new Blind Faith (PAL), Trower, etc. - Audiophilander 00:31:47 04/21/06 (0)

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