As a record buyer it is very easy to succumb to “remaster fatigue”. I don’t know how many times, like a slavish dog, I’ve dribbled to buy the latest edition of my favourite record. In this case, there was very little stopping me buying this album. The reason was that this remaster featured two discs: one a standard remastered CD and a second DVD-Audio version of the classic album remixed in 5.1 surround sound.
Queen was the first band I ever got into. I think it was because throughout my childhood my breakfast times were marked by listening to Radio 1 and it seemed like every morning I heard “Seven Seas of Rhye”, “Killer Queen”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”, “Bicycle Race”, etc. And so I was almost preprogrammed to like the band. Probably the greatest rock compilation “Queen – Greatest Hits” is technically my first album (if you discount John Williams’ score to “Close Encounters/Star Wars/ET” that I purchased on the Music for Pleasure label or the “Russ Abbott Madhouse” cassette that my nan bought me for Xmas). When I was dying of pneumonia at 13 years old (it was Christmas 1984 – I remember it well as the news was full of Rick Allen losing an arm and a few years later I bought the abysmal Def Leppard album “Hysteria” out of misplaced solidarity), I had two albums with me to get me through the experience of having my lungs drained and being put on the cancer ward to watch geriatric men die in their sleep. The two records were “Queen – Greatest Hits” and “The Works”, which I played in rotation on my old mono tape recorder. It wasn’t until the following Christmas that I received “A Night at the Opera” and “A Day at the Races” as my Xmas present. I must have worn those cassettes out. Anyway, I digress…
Now I am not the biggest fan of surround sound albums. I think that rock music is probably best heard in stereo and many surround sound mixes that I’ve heard have been very busy, concentrating on guitars or sound FX whizzing past your ears and generally being as distracting as an errant wasp trying to land in your pint of cider. Not so with this album. A Night at the Opera is probably the pinnacle of Queen’s studio experiments and the producers of this DVD-A have done a very tasteful job of using the 5.1 speakers. The wall of overdubbed vocals that are synonymous with Queen are put behind you and allow the listener to concentrate on the instruments. For me, this worked really well as it was like listening to a new album.
OK – sometimes guitars do fly all over the place, but if you are familiar with the record, tracks like “Death on Two Legs”, “The Prophet Song” and “Good Company” lend themselves to audio trickery greatly. The DVD itself doesn’t just rely on clever audio, as each song is accompanied by a visual presentation made up of band performances, photos taken from the time and old black and white Pathe footage. It works really well and it is like watching a video album, even though it has been constructed around the music at a later date. I greatly enjoyed the visuals and allowed for repeated viewings/listenings.
The DVD-Audio disc also features interviews with the band about the making of the album. It’s a bit like the extras on a movie DVD and the band provide a commentary to each track. Again, this is extra value added to an old album and you learn a lot about the record too.
The packaging has been expanded from the original album and my only complaint is the awful plastic slipcase that surrounds the digipak. It fits so tightly that it can be difficult to slide on or off (insert suitable double entendre here) and if you have no fingernails like me, it can be a frustrating time just getting the set out of its packaging.
For the £10.99 I paid for this, I think for once, it was money well spent and I recommend it to any Queen fan wishing to revisit the past – it’ll also make a nice stocking filler for the Queen fan in your life.
Category: Reviews
I am a big Mike Oldfield fan, but I’ve often had issues with some of his live DVDs. HIs more recent performances available on the Tubular Bells II/III double-header to me seem very forced and almost robotic as if he was playing to a click-track and leave me feeling underwhelmed. So you can imagine my surprise when I loaded this new double DVD set into my player and sat back to enjoy the ride.
What you have here is a classic performance taken from 1979 at the Wembley Conference Centre and it is absolutely brilliant. The concert features a full rendition of the “Incantations” album and a funked up take on Tubular Bells on the second DVD – if you already have the album “Exposed” you are basically getting the visuals to go with this great album.
While I am not a great fan of “Incantations”, I am absolutely spellbound by the performance by Maddy Prior as she sings the “Hiawatha” section by Longfellow and this is repeated on this DVD. She does an absolutely amazing job with it and I dare anyone not to be left open-mouthed…WOW! There’s lots of energy on this disc from the singers and performers and a level of playfulness that you don’t often get from Mike Oldfield.
The really great thing about this disc is that you can switch angles and concentrate on performers as the concert goes on – this is what the DVD format was invented for. My only complaint is that the audio is presented in bog-standard stereo and while this is very clean and acceptable, it would have been nice if the authors of this disc had created a 5.1 Dolby mix and added some ambience to the rear speakers – but I am probably asking too much.
If you love “Incantations”, if you really dig Oldfield from this period of his career, then this is an absolute must-have. If you like his later, more mechanical performances, you might see this release as quaint and as a thing of its time. I however think this is musical magic and Oldfield should get back to this route of organic music making.
But the best part of the disc is at the beginning when the classical performers drafted in by Oldfield to augment his band complain of not having any music to play to and having to play by memory. They are actually in awe of the rock players who can memories this stuff!
Now it struck me that I’ve seen most of the King Crimson alumni playing live now (with the exception of Boz Burrell, Gordon Haskell and some of the lesser known contributors) and this concert was to be the first time I’d see Greg Lake performing. I’d never bothered with his 90s stint with ELP, so when this concert was announced I thought I’d give it a go, not really knowing what to expect.
What I got for my money was a lightning fast gallop through Lake’s back catalogue featuring material from King Crimson, ELP and his own solo career. Unlike some of the KC singers out there, Lake still has managed to retain his vocal prowess and it is a big old voice he has there, very impressive. The band was very tight too, though the guitarist Florian Opahle (who looked so young that he might have had to have gotten a note from his mum to appear with Lake) while accomplished, was prone to hard rock widdling and posing. His addition of “wah-wah” guitar to “In the Court of the Crimson King” actually made me laugh out loud…and this was the opening song. Even so, the performances were good and the music intact. Some of the songs didn’t do much for me as I am not a follower of Lake’s solo career and the band’s attempt at “Pictures at an Exhibition” seemed to descend into mush, but it was worth it for the more up-tempo tracks such as “Paper Blood”, “Fanfare for the Common Man” and “Touch and Go”. I was upset that “Still You Turn Me On” wasn’t featured, but we got a decent represenation of “From the Beginning” instead.
I didn’t expect the music to touch me in anyway, but about halfway through “Lucky Man” I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck beginning to stand on end. The music was working. And it was a double punch when they followed up this great performance with an absolutely knock-out version of “21st Century Schizoid Man” – I was mightily impressed with the tightness of the performance, the drummer held it together very well and the syncopated stop/start sections were simply brilliant. Yes – I’d got my ticket’s worth!
To finish off, while some of the songs weren’t exactly to my taste and some of the arrangements were just a little bit too “balls out rock” for my liking, it was a very enjoyable evening and I am glad that we got the chance to see Mr Lake doing his thing. As I said to The Missus in the car on the journey home: “It’s prog, Jim, but not as we know it”.
We’ve been lucky enough to visit Las Vegas a couple of times and whilst we were there The Blue Man Group were playing at the Luxor hotel where we were staying. I was always a bit reluctant to pay the expensive ticket prices and so I vowed to catch the group when they came to London. So when the tickets went on sale for the Blue Man Group at the New London Theatre, I got in fast, buying tickets for the opening night.
On the way there, I joked about not being selected by the Blue Men for one of their stunts. “I hope that they don’t stick that camera down my throat,” said I. Fateful words those… So before the concert, we found a snug little pub called The Sun on Drury Lane for a couple of quick drinks. It was a traditional styled pub and I quite enjoyed the general ambience. I joked to The Missus about selling our tickets and remaining in the pub for a good old drink.
Inside the theatre, I was considering buying some merchandise and planned to buy a couple of BMG CDs as I often buy stuff at gigs, but my ardour was cooled when I saw that they were selling both BMG CDs for £17.50 each and the DVD was £22.50. I might be dumb, but I am not that dumb. Instead we went inside and took to our seat. We were seated in the fourth row and had to wear protective blue overalls to protect us from any leakages or splashes from the stage. I was like wearing a large polythene condom over your head and after ten minutes I was glad that I had decided to wear a T-shirt to the event as I the smock contained my bodyheat causing my potatoes to boil over rather rapidly, if you know what I mean.
“Hey, I’ve always looked like a complete dick, so this is no problem…”
The show started and if you haven’t been to the BMG group or unfamiliar with the concept, it can be described simply as “performance art”. But don’t be scared, it’s not that bad. The Blue Men are three mute blue men who indulge in a little bit of mime, pull visual gags and love audience participation all to the sound of a tribal soundtrack that was written by the BMG (though performed live by a houseband). While I thought some of the humour was OK-ish, I really enjoyed the musical segments where the group used their homemade instruments – the Drumbone is made out of industrial pipe and sounds like nothing on earth. The percussion is superb and it was good to see a Chapman Stick being used by one of the band members.
During the audience participation sections, the BMG descend into the audience and pick unwilling volunteers to help them. Yes, I was chosen for the “throat cam” section of the show. Before the show, my ESP was telling me that I was probably going to be chosen and me and The Missus discussed it as we walked over Waterloo Bridge. When the BMG grabbed me, I played along, flipping out my lizard-like tongue to reveal a mint I had been sucking…I think that made the audience laugh…then they stuck the camera in my mouth and that was it really. I would have loved to have seen the footage, but my vision was obscured by the group. No matter. I had made a little bit of history: I was the throat-cam victim of the opening night of the BMG in London. I think that’s kinda cool. (Sad git, ain’t I?)
Me and the Missus really enjoyed the show and lasting 1 hour 50 minutes the BMG don’t outstay their welcome. I can’t see the average British theatre-going audience “getting this” because it is too much fun for the West End. There were quite a few empty seats on the opening night and I would hate to see the run end early because there’s a lot of hard work involved in the show. If you’ve not see the BMG and want to experience an evening of fun, cool music and luminous bog-roll, I recommend you book a ticket. It’s the first show where I felt the artistes were playing to the whole theatre.
Evidence that I was touched by blue hands. Does this make me an honorary, if slightly out of shape, Blue Man?
This album has been a long time coming, but Kate Bush has delivered a double CD that really is a game of two halves. The first CD called “A Sea of Honey” opens with the current single “King of the Mountain” which sounds very much like a Kate Bush track of old. From then on, the album takes a very different, more personal turn with Bush dumping the overblown production she’s used on previous albums and using a more intimate approach. “Pi” is a song of numbers which lays down some music themes that reappear on side two, “Bertie” is a song that only a mother could write for a son and the lyrically-ambigious “Mrs Bartloizzi” makes you wonder if this is a murder scene or someone just in the throes of domestic bliss? The next two songs “How to be Invisible” and “Joanni” aren’t as strong and didn’t have any real effect on me. The last track on the first CD “A Coral Room” concerns Bush’s mother’s death and I found it particularly moving when she started to mention the little brown jug. (My own late grandmother had a little brown just that was passed down and used to mention that same song too).
The second CD “A Sky of Honey” is a completely different beast and I found it a much more enjoyable journey. It is a concept piece dealing with the passage of time on a mid-summer’s afternoon as day turns to dusk to night and back to dawn again. Combine this with characters such as the Painter (played and sung by Rolf Harris – it was nice to hear him on this project) and a panoply of bird chorus and you have a sound painting of a time and space. Hearing Kate attempt to mimick the bird songs is a highlight and stand out track “Somewhere in Between” should be the next single. This CD is a full of warmth and humanity and was written by someone who obviously had the time to study a summer afternoon with depth. I love it.
The two CDs are very different, but I don’t think they would have worked without each other. They are two sides of the same coin and, for example, I don’t think that “A Sky of Honey” would have worked so well if it had been released on its own. I think this is a truly great record, full of soul and warmth, and is well worth falling in love with.
This is an interesting double DVD set because it contains a concert that never happened. How so? Well Peter Gabriel last year performed a number of concerts that left behind all the theatrics of his previous tour and he’s assembled the footage here. So we have performances from a number of different venues edited together to create psuedo-concert. The first disc contains this performance and features songs such as “Digging in the Dirt”, “Red Rain” and the obligatory “Sledgehammer”. It’s interesting to see PG perform without bouncing around the stage in his Zorb or his other theatrical devices and it does make for some fascinating viewing. However, if you’ve bought either of Gabriel’s other live DVDs there are a number of tracks that are constantly repeated. But of course, packages like this are aimed at the superfan, so no complaints.
The picture quality is excellent and the 5.1 DTS sound absolutely superb, putting you right in the middle of the audience. Despite the material being gathered from different concerts, you don’t really notice the join. Bonuses on this disc includes another chance to see “In Your Eyes” being performed and “No Self Control” from the POV video (which was released in the 1990s and has been long out of print) with an excellent 5.1 Dolby soundtrack. This bodes well for the future and maybe POV will soon be getting a proper DVD release?
The second disc is an odd affair as it features the same setlist from the first disc (though I think the performances are different) and is intercut with Peter Gabriel and his touring musicians ruminating over the clips about subjects such as touring, their dreams and other stuff. I found this disc absolutely infuriating as it didn’t seem to know if it was a documentary or a concert film, with both types of footage vying for the viewer’s attention. I’d have liked to have seen a straight documentary in the style of Anna Gabriel’s “Growing Up on Tour” DVD (which is great, but a little short BTW). The best thing about this disc is the extras as you get three tracks taken from a studio performance of UP tracks performed for journalists at the Real World Studio back in 2002 and two tracks from the Jools Holland TV show.
Overall, it is a great package if you don’t own any PG DVDs, but some might find the repitition of tracks a little too much and the lack of the theatrical set-pieces a little dull. I enjoyed it though. Mind you, I am a big PG fan.
(You can get this disc from CD WOW for £12.99 – some shops have been charging £19.99 for it – so you have been warned)
If you play Phil Manzanera’s previous album “6PM”, then this one follows approximately “50 Minutes Later”. Yes, I thought it was clever too. I really enjoyed last year’s “6PM” a lot. In fact, it was my favourite album of 2004 and is still in rotation at Chez Lock. When I heard that there was going to be a follow-up, I was both overjoyed and apprehensive. How would Mr M follow-up such a strong release?
Well I had needn’t worry because “50 Minutes Later” is almost a direction continuation of the “6PM” vibe. Opening track “Revolution” echoes “Green Spiky Cactus” (and the bassline also apes the INXS hit “Need You Tonight”) and “Technicolour UFO” has a hook that sticks – it also name checks all those characters from the 24-hour Technicolour Dream hippy extravaganza. Mind you, PM had me hooked with the lyric “There’s Kevin Ayers sitting in the corner, singing from the bottom of a well”. Oh yeah. The first two tracks are great, plenty of crunchy guitars and are upbeat rocking numbers.
The rest of the album then takes a more mellow vibe. “That’s All I Know” is a reflective acoustic-driven song, the vocal work on “Desaparacido” immediately reminded me of Steve Hackett and the song itself has a great chorus. “One Step” again is a reflective piece, full of doubt and questions, and “Swimming” sums it all up with the line “Let’s not waste this precious life, as time keeps slipping away”. It’s an album of reflection, of adulthood, of regret and of new resolutions. It’s a very positive record. The album then gets darker (naturally) with “Bible Black” which is heavy and brooding and magnificent at the end. “Till the End of the Line” resolves the various themes of the album. The two instrumental tracks “50 Minutos Mas Tarde”, which features Robert Wyatt and sounds very jazzy and experimental for PM, and “Dusza” break up the vocal songs and are quite different from Manzanera’s usual instrumenal pieces, with no burning electric guitar solos.
As an album, it’s very good and a very different journey from “6PM”. Whereas that album has a confident swagger and plenty of guitar for us boys, this follow-up is far more mature affair and sees Manzanera writing some of his best lyrics of his career. My only criticism is the utterly pointless Eno remix of “Bible Black”, which is, in my honest opinion, a big steaming crock of shit. It spoils a good album.
(And keep your ears out for the hidden track that comes after “Till the End of the Line”)
Recommended listening.