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Video Reviews
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Believe it or not, I'm a child of the 60s and
70s who never really knew much about 'The Band'. I had heard of them
and I knew that 'The Last Waltz' was some film they appeared in...but that
was it. I couldn't really name any of their tunes. At the end of
2003 I began seeing 'The Last Waltz' in video stores again. I finally
decided to take the plunge and buy the DVD and finally discover who these
cats were. Well, ladies and gentleman, I'm glad I did.
This movie has everything...excellent music (hey it turns out I did know a
few of their songs after all), excellent sound and film production (hey, it
should...Martin Scorcese produced it), and more famous musical guests than
you can shake a stick at (how's Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison,
Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Muddy Waters, Ron
Wood, Dr. John and Ringo Starr grab you. I highly recommend this video to
anyone that likes rock, folk, country, and blues music. It's all in
there baby!
This Video is available at CDNow.com
and Amazon.com
Click here to visit 'The Band'
website
Images Copyright 2003 The Band |
Click above image for larger view
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Quiet Riot holds the record for having the first Heavy Metal album to
ever hit Platinum. The year...1983. The album...'Metal
Health'. If you're a fan and you missed the band's tour last year
don't despair. QR has just released a performance DVD with all their
hits included. The audio quality is pretty darn good too. I
also got a kick out of the bonus material...home videos of the band
clowning around in different locations...studio, video shoot, on vacation.
There are quite a few of them. One shows Frankie accidentally
breaking the head on a Bonham owned snare drum. Yikes! I
should also mention that QR Drummer Frankie Banali is one of the best rock
drummers on the planet. Our recent 'Top 5 Ludwig Endorsers in the
Past 50 Years' poll placed Frankie at number 10. I strongly recommend
all head-bangers to check this DVD out. This video is available from
CDNow.com and
Amazon.com
Click here to visit the
official Frankie Banali website Vistalite fans should
also know that Frankie plays his yellow Ludwig Vistalite kit for all
of the songs on the DVD. Images Copyright 2004 Red Samurai Music/Frankie Banali |
Click above image for a larger view |
I reached a point in my life the past couple years where I decided that I
needed to see certain musical acts at least once because they would
probably not be touring for much longer. So when I heard that Rush
was touring in 2003 I didn't hesitate to get tickets. The venue was
Montage Mountain, PA...close to where I live. A ski resort in winter
turned concert venue when fair weather arrives. I mention this only
because my excitement over seeing Rush was thrown a cold wet blanket when
I heard the sound system at this place. It was bad...very bad.
After the intermission we tried to find someplace at this venue that
sounded good. There was a lawn area but the mix was even worse there
with a pronounced echo that made enjoying this great music impossible.
We endured the muddy garbled mix as long as we could but eventually left
early...very disheartened. We knew it wasn't the bands fault that
the venue's sound system was under-powered for this level of music...but
it left me wondering what we had missed. Was the band as good as
they had been. Did they still 'have it'. So when 'Rush in Rio' hit
the video stores I didn't have to think twice before buying it. I
was immediately pleased to see that they had included 29 of their best
songs. The song list was a good mix between the old classics (Tom
Sawyer Limelight...even 2112) and the latest cuts from Vapor Trails (good
tuneage too...Check out Ghost Rider). I popped the disk in,
navigated the menu to 'Start Concert' and hit 'Enter'. I swear that
the hair on the back of my neck stood up during the powerful synth intro
to none other than 'Tom Sawyer'. The Rio crowd went crazy. The
did everything but rip their clothes. I saw one lady raising her
praying hands towards the heavens. This happens to have been the
first time Rush has appeared in Rio despite a huge fan base. One of
the coolest moments on the DVD was watching 60,000 fans jumping up
and down in time to 'XYZ'. Simply amazing. The song really
cooks too.
In a nutshell, this DVD is a must have for any Rush/Peart fan.
The best Rush tunes are included, the mix is very good though not
perfect. Geddy's vocals are a little low though this is nitpicking.
It kicks ass compared to what we heard on Montage Mountain. I found
out later while watching the bonus material film, 'The Boys in Brazil'
that due to technical difficulties they didn't have time to do a sound
check before hitting the stage. In that case, the mix is
incredible. The bonus DVD disk also includes multiple camera angles
for 3 songs...Neal's drum solo being one of them.
I should also mention that the video quality is excellent. The
filming was done with 20 or more cameras so you get to view things from
every conceivable angle. Very professionally done.
This video is available from
CDNow.com and
Amazon.com
Click here to visit the official Rush
Website. They'll be touring in 2004 also so make sure you see
them....just not at Montage Mountain unless they've upgraded their sound.
Images Copyright Rush 2003 |
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