Longform Music Releases: The Review Thread

[Reply #40 on:]

Metallica - Français Pour Une Nuit

I got this DVD from their official website seeing as it's unavailable in retail shops outside of France. It's a great concert, the venue is amazing and really gives it a special atmosphere. One could only imagine what it would be like being there. The performance is great, they give it their all and the set list is also fantastic. In particular I thought Blackened, Harvester Of Sorrow and All Nightmare Long were amazing, but the whole thing is solid...

Picture quality is sharp (I got the DVD version rather than BluRay). The directing was also very good. One minor flaw is that one of the cameras near the front seemed to blur a little every time a shot was used from that. It's only a minor flaw, but an annoyance none the less. Extras are alright, decent interviews with each band member at the venue. I would say this DVD is definitely worth picking up if you're a Metallica fan, it's a great entertaining concert...

9/10

[Reply #41 on:]

I got that.  Did you get the Mexico City one?  That one was fantastic!

Seeing as it's been a bazillion years since I posted in this thread, I should review some Music DVDs....  And I will, having got some amazing ones on Blu-Ray (concerts are what the format was made for!), including two already reviewed in this thread (both offerings by Rush).

I'll do The Big Four live in Sofia, Blu-Ray...

[Reply #42 on:]

I don't have the Mexico City one, I thought about it, but it was a toss up between that one and Français Pour Une Nuit and the venue won out for me. Doesn't the Mexico one have giant annoying TV screens beside the stage? They're good if you're there, but watching at home not so sure...

I also have The Big Four live in Sofia, but on DVD. I only got it within the last couple of weeks, not watched it yet. I'm hoping the recent American one (I think it was in California?) gets released too...

[Reply #43 on:]

They've released 4 gigs from this tour, Nimes, Mexico, Sofia and an indoor show in Copenhagen released as part of fan can 6.  Of all of those, I loved Copenhagen, and Mexico (mainly because out of 3 nights shooting there is 2 disks worth of music, about four hours). And the indoor show has the laser show.

And of The Big Four, the best set is Anthrax, even Kerry King on the awesome documentary says they killed....

[Reply #44 on:]

I'm looking forward to watching the Anthrax set, on the downside it's short and has a high covers ratio, but I just love Anthrax, I always have. Anthrax are my favourite band out of the Big Four despite their stupidity. I have that Anthrax live DVD called "Music of Mass Destruction" and it's a brilliant performance. The band is so tight, and I highly recommend it. Very underrated band, but their poor business decisions and fan treatment means it's really their own fault. I'm still waiting for "Worship Music" after over 8 years and several line-up changes!...

I love all four bands in the Big Four though, they are all awesome and I have loads of albums by all of them...

[Reply #45 on:]

Standouts in th Anthrax set, Indians into Heaven And Hell and Be All End All...  Seeing Belladonna give Only a go was pretty damn cool.

[Reply #46 on:]

The Big 4 – Live From Sofia

I’ve watched the whole thing over the last few days. There’s a lot of material to get through, but it’s no chore as it’s such a great set of performances. First up is Anthrax who are my favourite of the four bands. A short but tight set. They are such a solid unit, great performance. I just wish they had a longer set with less covers. Caught In A Mosh was a great opener, can’t go wrong with that. It was cool they played Only, but shame nothing else was played from the seventeen years since. PS, Frank Bello, why the fuck is your mouth open more than the singers? Shut your fucking mouth, you look like a total tool running about the stage with your mouth wide open all over the place. Great bass player, but no, just no...

Then it’s Megadeth, sadly it rained, but their performance was great. Dave Mustaine didn’t even have to move, he just had a presents on stage. I loved his custom Rust In Piece guitar he used for the first half of their set. The guitar solo’s were great, but not all of them had soul from that Broderick guy despite being technically brilliant. Also, the quality of the drums was noticeably lower than on Anthrax’s set, it was enough to get by but nothing exceptional. A decent set though, and I loved Holy Wars opening and closing. Dave Mustaine, you are an idiot for overdubbing your vocals though. It’s meant to be a live set; the clue is in the name. Why do you always have to fuck with everything?...

Slayer’s up next and it’s stopped raining. Another fantastic performance, and the newer songs really do come across well, probably more so then the other bands. Ferociously heavy and another top performance. Very demanding to play, but they managed well considering their age. Shame Tom Araya can no longer head bang, but his look still has it. Dave Lombardo's drums are excellent just as Charlie Benante’s were from Anthrax...

Then it’s Metallica. A reasonable if not predictable set. Straight away you notice how sloppy the drumming is from Lars compared to what went before. It’s quite shocking in places, but he still has the spirit I guess. Otherwise it’s played well, although the voice of James Hetfield is not what it used to be live anymore, it’s pretty much shot. The quality of Metallica’s classic songs is just so high though, and the guitars were great. They need to drop Nothing Else Matters though, it’s boring now, stop it right now. All Nightmare Long really fitted in well with the old stuff, but the others from Death Magnetic didn’t seem to work as well for some reason. By the way, Rob Trujillo, why the fuck do you always have to prance around the stage like a cavemen wearing sports clothes? It really grates after a while...

When all the bands got up on stage for their rendition of Am I Evil, that was a magical moment. History was made, just a shame only one of Slayer bothered to turn up. The rest of Slayer, don’t be so silly, you aren’t better than anyone else so deal with it...

Extra’s behind the scenes were good. It was nice seeing the bands hanging out together...

Picture quality was excellent, very well shot and nicely directed too. The audio is also very good on all sets. Packaging for the DVD is nice too. I recommend this to any Metal head, especially those who like Thrash Metal obviously. Classic stuff, shame about the let downs...

8/10

[Reply #47 on:]

The Big 4 – Live From Sofia
...Dave Mustaine, you are an idiot for overdubbing your vocals though. It’s meant to be a live set; the clue is in the name. Why do you always have to fuck with everything?...

8/10

I saw the pre-overdubbed version, which went out live in Cinema's (edited sets, and some of it was horribly out of sync - don't you just love that! They saved the full sets for the DVD/Blu-Ray)...  Dave's vocals were all over the place, so strained, it sounded to me like he'd blown his voice out, and was just trying to get through it.  At the beginning of Holy Wars, you can see the pain in his face... What they really need to do is what James did, which was downtune the songs to make the vocals easier.  Deth still play the songs as they were recorded, whereas Metallica's are downtuned to save James' voice.  U2 do it too....  If you're touring for a bazillion years, you have to do it.  So I'm kinda glad that he gave the vocals another pass, what they probably did, was lift the vocals from the next night, or night after on the tour when he was singing better.  It's fine to me, I can live with it.

I still say that Anthrax were the standout, and Metallica have released better performances from this tour already.  I'm with you on Rob Gorillo....  I long for Jason Newsted, I really do.

Oh, and Slayer put right the Am I Evil thing at Indio recently, when they all got up to do it.  I know that Kerry King afterwards said that he regretted it, and Tom and Jeff at least were in the photo.

What I love about the documentary is just how likeable Dave Ellefson is, just like on Megadeth's Behind The Music DVD, he's the guy taking everyone around, and joining in with the other bands.  It's great to see him back in the band, because it's not Megadeth without him.

[Reply #48 on:]

I guess that explains the Megadeth issue then, I never heard the original but if it's better I'll take your word for it. Sometimes it looked a bit out of sync, but the guitar playing was top notch at least. I agree that Dave Ellefson is a great and likeable guy. He's the sort of guy it would be nice to hang out with, very down to earth...


Prodigy – World’s On Fire

This just came out recently and it’s a great concert. I always wanted a Prodigy concert to get released officially. They released some of Brixton 97 on the Their Law DVD with various other clips, but this still feels like a first in Prodigy terms as this is a stand alone as where that was more of a bonus. It was filmed in Milton Keynes in July last year in front of 65,000 people, and even better I was one of them!...

It was cool watching it back, the performance itself can’t really be faulted, they are at the top of their game. I remember at the time being a bit disappointed that they didn’t play anything off Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, but otherwise it was great. The problem is that they cut so many tracks from the DVD. Here is the actual set list of the gig...

Intro
World's On Fire
Breathe
Omen
Colours remix
Poison + new fill
Thunder dubstep
Warrior’s Dance
Firestarter
Run With The Wolves
Weather Experience
Voodoo People
Mindfields
Omen Reprise
Invaders Must Die
Diesel Power
Smack My Bitch Up
-------------------------
Take Me To The Hospital
Everybody In The Place
No Good
Charly dubstep
Their Law
Out Of Space

Here is what’s on the DVD...

Intro  
Breathe
Omen
Colours remix
Thunder dubstep
Warrior’s Dance
Firestarter
Run With The Wolves
Weather Experience
Voodoo People
Omen Reprise
Invaders Must Die
Smack My Bitch Up
-------------------------
Take Me To The Hospital
Everybody In The Place  
Their Law
Out Of Space

As you can see that’s six tracks in total missing from the release. I, along with many other Prodigy fans are very disappointed by this. This was an opportunity to finally release a full Prodigy concert, but alas no. Maybe they only wanted people who went there to get the full experience. The most stupid thing of all though? That it’s called World’s On Fire, but they cut World’s on Fire off the release. How dumb is that?...

Luckily the best and most special track of the evening wasn’t cut; Weather Experience. When that was played, unlike at other Prodigy concerts, they had a load of green lasers beaming right across the bowl all the way to the very back. After the total chaos of what went before, everyone stopped and stared in a euphoric trance. It was totally mesmerising. Watching the DVD made my eyes watery because it was such an amazing few minutes when I experienced it at the gig, it ranks up there as one of the best moments of my life. At the actual concert the bass was so immense that my entire rib cage and internal organs were rattling as well, especially on that track. It was very special...

Back to the DVD, and another complaint I have with it is the editing. It’s enough to give you a seizure. The quick cuts are hard to keep watching for more than five minutes. I can stick with it because I love Prodigy so much, but I’d really have liked to see more of the band and less random audience close ups every few seconds. Picture quality also varies, some cameras are better quality than others...

Sound quality is top notch. Liam specially mastered it all for this release, so it was bound to be brilliant and it is. Exactly what I’d want for a live performance. There is also a CD with it so you can play it wherever you want. Had all the tracks been included from the gig then perhaps they wouldn’t have all fitted on the CD, but as it is there’s plenty of space on the CD for more tracks, which again is a shame...

The extras are not bad, over an hours worth of random video’s of Prodigy on tour, various tracks performed at various locations around the world. Worthwhile, especially the part filmed in Brazil...

Overall if you are a Prodigy fan then I recommend it, but to a casual maybe not because of my criticisms. It was a perfect gig, but the way it’s been released is far from perfect...

7/10

[Reply #49 on:]

I've seen this.  The cuts and editing are to illustrated the pure raw frenetic visceral energy of a Prodigy gig.  Which I kinda got, as I've seen them 3 times.  Cutting to close-ups of people in the crowd felt like we were being made to watch someone elses great night out (I mean, honestly, you shoulda been there!)

I'm not entirely sure whether the experience of a Prodigy gig does come across to a live DVD, because it IS something you have to experience for yourself. 

As far as the music goes, I would have preferred the full set, but that's nitpicking somewhat, and again, so much of the produced sound is pre-sequenced stuff, so the live drummer got dropped in the mix because he's playing along to a tape.  If you're there, it doesn't matter, but at home, it's just not the same.