Musculoskeletal Movie Reviews

If you're not sure, DON'T. What's up with the hands? Audience looks dead. Band looks dead. Is he on a budget?! How about a couple pretty backup singers to liven things up on "50 ways", etc. etc. Just bland. I'm a casual fan, but just no punch to this show. Like a dead fish. Get Diana Krall in Paris instead. Same venue, but oh my what a difference.

When Paul Simon is "on" there's nothing like him, and I'm a big fan. I was disappointed by this DVD, however. Audio quality was sub-par...to the point where I couldn't shake a continual vibratory resonance that sounded like I was listening to a torn speaker...(I assure you, I was not). I love the African Guitar of Vincent Nguini, but I don't think this production show-cased his sound very well. I think the biggest mistake that the producers made though was to pick a concert where Paul seems to be either tired or disinterested in this venue. The whole air of this concert seemed a bit flat to me. I don't normally like to use cliches when being critical, but I couldn't help but feel that Paul kind of "phoned this one in".

Something bad happened with the video transfer. Color and contrast looks OK, but there are some issues with the resolution being reduced from some high-resolution format (or perhaps from French SECAM format?) to NTSC res. On a big screen or projected the information is simply lost giving the effect of thin lines and sharp edges 'disappearing' between the pixels. It is most visible right at the beginning when the camera does a slow zoom on the neon sign and all the jagged lines. Yuck!! Sorry, I'm a visual person and expect to get 'DVD' quality video when I buy a DVD, so this really annoyed me.

Other than that, I have to give three stars for the great music, decent audio (make sure to manually select something better in the menu than the default, PCM!). I keep finding myself putting in the disc eventhough I know I'll cringe if I look too closely at the video transfer.

Have always enjoyed Grover over the years, and was not disappointed at his performance on this dvd.
However the audio/video work was definitely not good quality. I hope someone does a re-make of this work so that one can really appreciate the skillful work put into this album by Grover and friends...

A performance in Mr. Washington's beloved Philly, a bit rough around the edges, especially while performing "Just The Two Of Us". This was a very memorable performance for fans of this wonderful artist. Accompanied by studio greats, Richard Tee, Eric Gale, Steve Gadd, Ralph McDonald, et. al., this performance lived up to all my expectations. The sound was a bit sub-par, but just watching a great reed master at work, was worth the price of admission. Definitely a keeper, as long as one's sound quality and camera work expectations are set lower than today's norm (not up to the sound and video quality of say The Eagles' When Hell Freezes Over, or Steely Dan's Two Against Nature). This performance was captured in 1981 and worth adding to one's musical DVD collection, in spite of its age. To think that Mr. Washington is now playing gigs in a "better place", capturing this performance for us mortals to view over and over again, will let his memory live on for those of us who hold him in high regard.

Eventhough, Grover Washington is no longer with us this dvd will
show why he was such a great Jazz musician, I really enjoyed this dvd and feel that others will also.

This is only for completists. If you have every Beach Boys CD, and the three other great DVD's, you can buy this. It is only 20 minutes, one concert with about 50 fans, March 1964. It is post Beatles, and all still have their greaser hairdo's. (By September of 1964 Dennis has full Beatle bangs, Al and Carl are sporting Dave Clark type bangs to the side, and Brian is kind of hanging his pompadour low.) Contray to another review, Brian does look like he's enjoying it, and this is far from his last concert. They sing great, the sound is ok, but as I've said, you have to really want to see it to pay this much for 20 minutes.

THE BEACH BOYS - THE LOST CONCERT is a nostalgic reminder of the Southern California of the 1960s, where the Pacific-washed edge of the place was populated with sun-tanned surfers and their girls, and the Beach Boys could be heard on every car radio and beach blanket transistor.

The DVD, only 22 minutes in length, has the group singing 9 of their songs, including "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Surfer Girl", "Surfin' USA", and "Shut Down". The performance on March 14, 1964 - before a live audience - was filmed by promoters to air on closed-circuit TV in theaters. The DVD seems to be a faithful reproduction of the original B&W film, though one gets the impression that the promoters were working on a limited budget. The teenage audience, the makeshift stage, and the overworked sound system suggests that the venue was a commandeered high school gym. And, as the camera pans the fans, I was left wondering, "Did we really look that geeky?" (I myself was a high school frosh at the time.)

Regardless of the unsophistication of the production, this DVD is a must see for Beach Boy fans of that long ago era when US pop-music performers could still be well-groomed, clean-cut, and heart-breakingly All-American, and their lyrics celebrated fast cars, bikini-clad girls, and catching the next monster wave.

Though I grew up in Malibu, the center of the SoCal beach culture, I was never a surfer myself. I would have been disowned by my Mom at least, to whom "surfer" conjured up visions of long-haired, lazy bums (only to be replaced in the 70s by "long-haired, drug-ridden hippies"). But, in that carefree period of my life, the sun shone, the ocean breezes swayed the palms, the waves caressed the beach off Point Dume, and the Beach Boys provided the background music. I miss those days. Truly.

If you own the "Beach Boys Concert" album, you will enjoy watching this DVD as they share the same time period - and thus - concert sets and bits between the songs.
The video is pristine and the audio is very clean. Their performance is quite good and a lot of fun. I enjoyed it because it wasn't perfect. All too often, the only clips from this time have the bands lip-sync their latest hit record.

This is the one single biggest concert of all time and finally they bring it out on dvd and they mess it up they show more of the artist that arent really known and less of the best stuff
especialy PINK FLOYDS ENTIRE CORE OF THERE PERFORMANCE LIKE WISH YOU WERE HERE SORROW AND THE BEST SONG,COMFORTABLY NUMB I THINK THEY SHOULD RE-RELEASE IT WITH MORE OF PINK FLOYD BECAUSE THATS THE BEST OF THE WHOLE SHOW WITHOUT THE ENTIRE PINK FLOYD SHOW THE DVD IS WORTHLESS AND ALSO THEY NEED TO SHOW MORE CLAPTON.PLEASE TELL THEM TO MAKE A SECOND DISK WITH MORE PERFORMANCES IT WOULD MAKE MORE MONEY AND IT WILL BE WORTH IT

This DVD is worth the money just because of Tears for Fears' "Badman's Song," "Change," Robert Plant and Jimmy Page's "Wearing and Tearing," and Pink Floyd, but it sounds [bad]! I remember watching this concert on PPV and the memory of it made me buy the DVD, but it sounded so much better on the live broadcast than in the "newly mixed 5.1" version. There are thousands of volume drops throughout the two discs, and it's just generally poorly mixed. I tried several fixes for the volume drops, including putting the 5 channels of audio into a Yamaha O1v mixing console, and it didn't help. Then I tried gates and those didn't work either. Finally, I tried a limiter, and only boosting it to +10db and leaving the gate open, I was able to "semi-fix" it.
If you're an audiophile, try just buying the CD.
P.S. Status Quo is the British equivalent of Creedence Clearwater Revival or Georgia Sattelites, and I think it's funny that the Brits also have redneck music.

As someone who was at the concert I can tell you that this video is about as good as being there. It may actually be better since between sets there were huge food fights and by the time Pink Floyd took the stage it was very cold and rainy. My only disappointment was that Genesis had chosen to include the old-timey rock and roll medley rather than one of the many great songs from their past. It was also a treat to see and hear Page and Plant's first reunion since the break up of Led Zeppelin.

All in all a great souvenir.

Unfortunately, not recorded for the benefits of a DVD/Home Theater. You can't feel the bass in the pit of your stomach, or feel the vibrations surround you. And this concert has such GREAT potential! It sounds like an average CD.

This is one of the most amazing concerts ever! Not only is the music amazing, but the players are royalty. It is a powerful example of the potential music has to speak the truth and move the soul. Somebody complained about the quality of the sound or whatever -- but I don't understand how that can even be an issue you'd want discuss in the review of such a powerful piece of musical history.

This concert is a celebration of freedom, and the music is a celebration of truth. It is a joy to watch, and even if you're not a Paul Simon fan, you probably still won't be able to keep yourself from being moved -- either figuratively or literally: my friend (who's not a big Paul fan) said she couldn't stop dancing. Miriam Makeba -- who had been in exile from her homeland for 27 years because of her political beliefs -- has an inspired presence, as does Hugh Masakela -- also a political exile. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is both a force to be reckoned with and a perfect example of gentle humility. All the "back-up" players are astounding, and Paul is as full of love and humility and sincerity as he could possibly be.

I have watched this concert a dozen times, and look forward to the next dozen. It is a rare gem that I enjoy sharing with the people in my life I love the most.

To sum it up? GET THIS CONCERT.

I had seen, and reviewed, Graceland: The African Concert in VHS format sometime ago. If there is anyone out there who hasn't seen this in DVD yet, get out there and buy it! It is an incredible experience. Paul Simon put on one of the best shows I have seen (and I've been lucky enough to see him in person more than once)...more than anything else, I think it was the "feel" of this concert that made it so special. He showed tremendous respect for the other performers, and they obviously returned the sentiment. The band, particularly Ray Phiri, could NOT have performed any better. Wonderful show.

This is by far my favorite musical, not the concert but the actual musical from the 70's. When i saw Alexis Smith the first time i fell deeply in love. Of course i was only 24 at the time.Even though this is just the concert version minus the terrible cutting and editing it's better than nothing at all. This cast was also wonderful with it's vintage and well polished cast, I gave it the four stars only because it's not as complete as the CD. After all most of the people that would buy the concert version would also have been fans of the original show itself so why not include all the production numbers.Maybe if enough people make compaints do you think they may re-do this DVD?To all those wonderful women who were in the original production,,,Hats off, to those wonderful girls.. The likes of this will never come again.

It has been noted several times that this DVD is not a recording of the famous concert at Lincoln Center, but a documentary of that concert including rehearsals and some of the concert. The concert was used as the platform to make the first full recording of this incredible score. Many may not realise that in order to preserve the show on 1 LP, the original Broadway cast recording had substantial cuts made while it was being recorded. The OBC cd's released later include only one cut song from that original cast recording. The OBC recording of Follies is a crime to be sure.

But back to the DVD. This is an interesting behind the scenes look at the mad house it took to present a full stage concert of Follies in about a week. It is interesting to watch Thomas Z. Shepherd at work here as the record producer. (An interesting comparison would be to buy the documentary of the recording of Company to see a younger Sheperd at work) There are scenes in the rehearsal halls, the terror of opening night and wonderful scenes on stage.

If you are a theater lover, this DVD is a wonderful documentary of how a show like this is put together. And there are wonderful clips of Carol Burnett singing "I'm Still Here" and Elaine Stritch singing "Broadway Baby". And who can ever resist Barbara Cook?

The packaging may be confusing for die hard theater fans. The DVD cover uses the famous David Byrd logo from the original Broadway cast and not the photograph cover from the recording. But dont let that fool you, this documentary is worthy of any serious theater lovers collection.

True...this is not "the best" documentary film ever made, although it IS pretty darned good, and part of the criticism may come because most of us who would want to see this would be just as happy with just one long uncut take of the concert on film...but we do have that on CD (thank goodness!). And what a concert it was!!! This is as near a dream cast as one could hope for. Of course there will be be endless quibbling over that opinion, and endless comparisons to the OBC...that's the glory of theatre...many opinions. But the overall arc and energy of this concert is amazing and that cannot be disputed...the CD is a classic... and one of those rare few "I wish I were there" events captured on recording. That said, the documentary does offer delight in the backstage glimpses it gives, especiallly after several (hundred? thousand?) listenings to the CD. For instance...I went into this already worshipping and adoring Barbara Cook (for me there can be no other Sally Durant), but after watching, I was really hooked onto Lee Remick too. And there were lots of discovery moments like that because of the documentary...so it did indeed, bring me someplace that the concert CD alone did not, and for that I truly value this DVD. So, perfect? No. (And franky, what is?) But it is worth watching and re-watching, especially if you are a total Follies junky, or learning to become one. How many other backstage stories can you say that of? For me, darned few...this one's a keeper. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

It's Me Again I've Looked At Some Of The Reviews About This Product And I Think The People That Say It's Not Very Good Thay Got There Views But Have Thay Looked At The Concert Right At Elvis The King Well So What He Forgot Some Of The Words In
BURNING LOVE He May Mist His Cues In Some Of The Oter Songs But So What I Mean Whats The Big Deal Right It Was Just The Rehersal Concert I Mean The Concert Is What Made Elvis Great And Aneyone Who's A Great And True Elvis Fan Will Know That Elvis Was Prahaps Very Nervus Or Even A Little Scred A I Know That If I Was Doing A Concert Infront Of The Whole World I Wood Be Nervus To And So What About The Slip Ups That He Made When He Did The Orginal Concert I Found Elvis Was More Stiff On There Than On The Rehersal And Also About The Footage I Mean Whats The Use Saying About The Footage I Don't Think For One Minit I Beleave Me Or Not And I'm Not Braging Because I Hate Aneyone Who Dos Brag But I Know Every Little Thing About Elvis Videos And DVD And All Elvis Maetereal Like Records And Casset Music Tapes And Peopole Should Be Greatfull At What Thay See And Have In There owne Hands Elvis The Alternate Aloha Concert Is The Hardest DVD OR VIDEO To Get Hold Of I Live In Britin Wales And I'm Still Trying My Best To Get Hold Of A Copey So I Know How I Would Feel If I Had Aney Copey That I Could Get Hold Of I Would Be Very Greatfull And Very Happy The Footage Don't Even Mater There Are A Lot Of Jurks Out There That Don't Apresheate What Thay Have In There Own Hands , Elvis The King For Ever , Clinton Horton Age 15

Elvis The Alternate Aloha Concert I'm Trying To Get Hold Of It But I Have Not Had Any Luk What So Ever The Last Review I Wrote Was A Big Matsake Because It Was Not The Alternate I Got Hold Of It Was The Original Video Of Elvis Aloha From Hawaii But To The Alternate Aloha Concert I Think It Was Great And I'm Still Going To Try And Get Hold Of It Because It's A Great Concert One Of The Best I've Seen . CLINTON HORTON

I Think That The Alternate Aloha Concert Is Better Than The Original Concert Because Elvis Is More Relaxed And Lose And I Think It Shuld Be Out To By In Britin I Have Just A Taped Video Of The Concert And I Think It's One Of The Best Elvis Presley Concerts Ever To Be On TV And It Should Be On TV Every Once In A Wile To Show Peopel All Over The World What Elvis Was Like On Stage Elvis Is The Greatest Singer Of All Time I Wish I Could Get Hold Of An Original Copy Of Elvis The Alternate Aloha Concert I'm A Mega Elvis Fan And I Have Everyone Of His Films And Concerts All On Original DVD And Video But This Concert I'd Do Eveything To Get Hold Of A Copy On DVD Or Even Video If Eney One Has Eney Idea On How I Can Get Hold Of A Copy Would You Be So Kind And Phone Clinton On 01443 812888 , I Would Be Most Greatfull , Elvis The Alternate Aloha Concert Is Great I Think He's Better In The Alternate Then The Original He Looks More Cool Looks More Relaxed And He Moves More He's Not Nirvus In Eneyway He Goes On To That Stage And Burns The House Down By Clinton Horton At 142 Hengoed Ave Cefin Hengoed Wales , CF82 7LF
Give A Call On 01443 812888 Or My Mobile On 07867561090.

The content was good but the LOSER recording engineer needs to get a job picking up trash!

I found myself spending way to much time on the remote volume control between tracks!

IF I wanted to hear people NOISE, I would have watched a beatles concert! BAD selection and placement of microphones...: <((

After listening to The Power of Love, it was clear that Celine was either lip syncing or singing along with a taped version of the song. Any musician can tell that the band behind Celine is not what's on the audio track: live performance does not sound exactly like "the record". The fact that you can't tell if Celine is really singing (on many songs) even makes this more disturbing. Applause is faded in and out like a laugh track on a sitcom.

I was kind of scared to watch this DVD after reading the comments posted here, but I watched it and I fell in love with Celine even more, if possible.

Personally, I didn't see anything wrong with the camera angles and quality and stuff. It seemed just fine to me!

As for the lip-syncing...I guess we can never be sure if she did or not, but I know she wouldn't unless it was absolutely necessary. And give her a break, people; she had just had her big English break, and of course they wanted the DVD to be perfect. Celine tries out all different styles of performing and music here; it was even nice to see her perform with dancers (I've never seen her do this before!).

There are five things that I must comment. One, "Refuse to Dance." It's a very odd song, but she just performs is so well...I know it's choreographed and such, but her expressions and stuff are awesome, especially at the very begining of the song. With that dress...it's just a very awe-inspiring moment.

Two, "Ce N'etait Qu'un Reve." It's the first song that she ever recorded, and her mother wrote it, and her parents are there. It's so neat to watch her perform it, clearly is really enjoying herself (as she is throughout the whole DVD), and it's fun to compare it to how she sang it when she was 12. Three, I just had to add that the duets are supurb and I think Clive Griffin is very hansome and both of the men are great singers. Four, the end of "The Colour of My Love" (song) is very touching; I'll let you see why. And five, "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You." Amazing. Wow, is just left me and everyone else who watched it breathless. I've never heard a voice like Celine's in the first place, but after that song...wow.

This DVD just proves that Celine is the best, and probably most versitale, performer out there. With her belting ballads she outdoes every other diva; she easily outdances Britney Spears and all those others; she's the best in whatever she does, and she does everything 'all the way' and with as much class as possible!

A new fan of Miss Merchant and her spellbinding voice, I find myself putting the "Natalie Merchant Live in Concert" disc in my player more than any other concert in my extensive music DVD collection. Even my husband....a die-hard SRV fan if that gives you a clue....will sneak a viewing of the FANTASTIC rendition of "These are Days" when he thinks no one is watching. The experience is magical and liberating, mysterious but oddly comforting. With the exception of a couple fairly slow and dreary ballads - this is an essential music DVD for fans of all types of music.

Natalie is a happy, joyful person beaming with life and energy as she entertains her crowd. The painful and annoying slow motions shots of her dancing and spinning can be easily overlooked by these truely awesome performances, a brilliant and beautiful performer with and amazing voice. A great show! I can't wait to actually see her live now.

Natalie's music as a solo artist has always been a thought provoking look to human condition. Most of the times it is presented in a very haunting and gloomy perspective but it is meant to be that way so that we could relate to her how she feels about certain things.

In this concert, she was able to perfectly deliver to her audience all the emotions her songs contain. I must warn you though, most of it are not in a light mood.

My favorite is her cover of Katell Keineg's "Gulf of Araby", I cried when I first heard it as it is a very powerful performance and the message it says is so real especially of the current state of the world. The song, as a piece of poetry, is already an amazing material but together with the music, it is just devastating. Everytime I listen to this song, it still gives me goosebumps.

Other songs such as "Beloved Wife", sounded better in the concert than on the CD. Her yearning voice for a loss of a beloved is just so real and haunting. It makes me feel what it is like to lose a loved one.

Ophelia, contrary to the comments of the others here, is a great choice as an opening song. A haunting and moving song about the many things that a woman could be.

These are days, is a good version but I found it dry compared to her performance in MTV unplugged.

Space Oddity is another favorite, Break Your Heart, though a good song did not live up to my expectations as a live performance. I found it dry too.

Overall, the concert is worth the watch for people who appreciates and loves life. You must be in a reflecting and open mind mood when you watch it, if you are a non-Natalie fan.

It is through performances such as this that I realized how "hit and miss" my tastes were back in High School. Then I thought RW was the greatest -- this video proves how dated (and at times ridiculous) his more audacious works are.

OK, the photo quality was pretty poor (especially the "special effects") and every one looked like they were burned out at the end of a long tour, but I was expecting to get a DVD that at least had the same sound quality as his '74 recording in London. This was far from it. It sounds like they just put a mike out in the audience. My high school concert band recordings' during the same era had better sound.

And the orchestra and chior didn't seem to be very good (but it could have just been the sound quality). Many times, they didn't seem to even be in beat with him.

It was interesting to see though. I do wish that they would have shown more of his hands on the keyboards, but this was also kept to a minimum. Well, at least I could show my daughter what an old synthesizer looked like.

I wasn't expecting much from this special DVD release (after reading some of the scathing reviews here) so when I received it in the post I put it in my DVD player squinting my eyes in anticipated disappointment.

HOWEVER, I was WELL surprised and extremely happy that I bought this DVD.

Sure it has a crappy blow-up dinosaur on stage; I'm sure that was just for a laugh anyway.

Sure the audio is not 48 Khz 24 bit DVD audio quality, but you should remember that this RARE classic performance is from 1975, filmed for television and sounds good anyway. By the way the other reviews sounded I thought that the audio would be in-audible but it's not bad.

Sure the video is not Digital quality; it's 1975 footage for goodness sake! Sometimes people are too unforgiving in light of the offering before them and just can't appreciate the fact that we have been presented not only with the opportunity to see Rick Wakeman in his Classic Best performance but also with the opportunity to view musical history in the making.

Aside from the comparisons to modern technology then, this DVD stands up to viewing as a classic performance by Rick Wakeman featuring the entire "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" album and a few extra songs from King Henry and King Arthur.

I thoroughly enjoyed it as a piece of history that I missed and I felt that I was intimately there to re-live it live as it was intended.

I thoroughly recommend this DVD for any true Rick Wakeman fan who wishes to be transported back to the raw 70's to experience or re-live the era that essentially was an experimental era from which much influence for later years originated.