Grace-Around The World Deluxe Edition (CD/DVD+DVD Documentary Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley) Review

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(More customer reviews)OK, I just bought the deluxe "Grace Around The World" by Jeff Buckley, of course put together by Jeff's Estate (his mom Mary Guibert really), and it's basically good value for yer money, plus it has essential ingredients which make it not exactly a cheap cash-in by Mary but a treasure trove of stuff for Jeff's legion of admirers, new and longtime alike.
Just read the review of the single disc compilation "So Real", and I could understand why people would be frustrated and confused, but I found it to be an ideal introduction for newbies, and it plays as a cool "greatest hits", as an album, so I have no problem with it.
This package "Grace Around The World" will make lots of people happy. It's a 3-disc set, 2 DVDs and 1 CD. DVD 1 has footage of live performances of every "Grace" song performed around the world, mostly all unreleased commercially, plus lots of rare TV appearances on shows like MTV's 120 Minutes, as bonus footage, 2 hours long total. The CD is sort of unnecessary, as it consists of the first 12 performances from the first DVD...I guess to play in your car, on yer stereo and put on yer iPod and computer. The 2nd DVD is the reason to pick up this package...it's the documentary film "Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley", 1 hour long, and screened at different festivals worldwide & won all sorts of awards...the concept is pretty cool, made for no money and by first-time filmmakers, it's about the power behind his musical legacy, about his legion of fans...NOT a biography about Jeff...definitely different. I think I saw a screening of it at the Knitting Factory in NYC, during a tribute get-together set up by his mom, a year or so after his death...which did hit me hard when I heard about it on the radio in 1997...nobody but a small cult of fans had heard of Jeff at the time, and when I heard that announced, I was like HUH??!!?? Jeff died??!!?? What the...??? I've been a huge admirer from the beginning and saw Jeff do an instore appearance/performance at NYC's downtown Tower Records in 1995...I still remember it like it was yesterday...met Jeff afterwards and he was spaced out but really cool and happy to have met me, appreciative too...likewise.
Anyhoo, this package...it's like a DVD boxset, packaged not unlike Tom Petty's 4-disc "Runnin' Down A Dream" BestBuy package. The DVDs come out in a double gatefold enclosure, with a 24-page booklet inside, well-written notes and lots of pics...even an epilogue as to what his bandmates are currently working on and with...outside the gatefold is a large, double-sided poster...one side is the French Grace tour poster...with the full black & white band photo, and the other side is the Australian tour poster with a different band pic...I would NOT hang this sucker up, unless you buy 2 boxsets and frame each poster, representing each side...otherwise, not recommended.
There's also a laminated envelope with the title of this box and logo in silver print on the front of the envelope, sealed with a clear round sticker...inside is more memorabilia...a replica of his Sydney flight boarding pass, a backstage laminate, a small replica of a Columbia press release of his Grace tour, dated June 10, 1994, and 4 nice black & white postcards...pretty cool, all.
All in all, a nice package for the longtime fan...hardcore ones might have this stuff already, but probably on shoddy-sounding & looking bootleg videos...nice to have it in a pretty package for a good value. Mary put her heart into this thing...I met her at that Knitting Factory shindig, and she was quite nice and appreciative to me as I came to the event and I support Jeff's music and art...if people are not happy with this thing, oh well, I am...can't please everybody I guess...just know that it comes across that her heart is in the right place...I believe Jeff would be happy with this package, I really do.
Jeff Buckley, RIP.

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Nearly fifteen years ago, the world was introduced to a young singer/songwriter from New York named Jeff Buckley. His debut album Grace became one of the most acclaimed and influential albums of his generation. To promote the album, Jeff and his band embarked a seemingly un-ending tour - taking them all over the globe from 1994 to 1996. Because the album had no "hit single", Jeff was constantly tinkering with his setlists - both on stage and on TV. He therefore performed almost every track from Grace at least once in his many appearances on local broadcasts around the globe. Now, for the fi rst time, the very best of those performances have been tracked down and compiled into the definitive audio/visual document of the Grace world tour.Limited Deluxe Edition also includes a 24-page booklet, 2-sided fold-out poster, three photo print postcards, and a backstage laminate. Limited Deluxe Edition also includes a 24-page booklet, 2-sided fold-out poster, three photo print postcards, and a backstage laminate. DVD: AMAZING GRACE: JEFF BUCKLEY This hour-long independent documentary investigates the power behind Jeff Buckley's musical legacy and finds revelation at its heart--the fans. The film includes rare performances, exclusive video footage and interviews with all four Jeff Buckley Band members, friends, family and colleagues, as well as artists (composer, painter, dancer and singers) who pay tribute to how Jeff inspired them. Produced and directed by first-time filmmakers, the documentary screened at 25 film festivals worldwide (Seattle International Film Festival, Cinequest, CMJ, etc.) and won four awards, including best music documentary and best film.

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Slash (2CD/DVD) Review

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(More customer reviews)Having to buy an album that you already own, stinks. However, this bonus disc is incredible. In my opinion, the bonus tracks are as good as the album. The track Slash plays with Alice Cooper is my favorite track on this two disc set. Also the new version of Paradise City with Fergie and Cypress Hill, rules. Slash put out a masterpiece with this collection. I paid about thirty bucks for this c.d. and feel that I got a great deal! You need the bonus disc. I listen to it as much as the album.
I am sorry to report that the bonus dvd is not that great. It needs more footage of Slash playing live. But please don't let this review make you decide if you will purchase the deluxe edition or not. If you don't own this edition you are missing out.
Thank you Slash for putting out such an outstanding product! I got to see him at the Hollywood House of Blues walk out and guest with the Joe Perry Project. Seeing Slash jam with Mr. Perry was one of the greatest nights of my life. My two favorite guitarists on stage together was magical.

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The ideafor SLASH Deluxe Edition came about from Slash himself as a way to takefans on a journey of the start-to-fi nish process of making his fi rst solo album.Comprised of everything from the earliest demos conceptualizing his albumall the way through to live video footage from the album release secretshow performance at the famed Roxy, this Deluxe Edition features newcontent any fan wouldwant to experience.

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Telephantasm: Review

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(More customer reviews)I was really looking forward to getting this collection, 3 coloured vinyls mastered by Bob Ludwig and a DVD with all the videos on it as well as lithographs, a 7" vinyl of Black Rain also coloured and 2 CD's. The package is very well done, doesn't feel cheap at all. Everything fits nicely together and the vinyl is in a separate side of the box set to the CD's, DVD's and booklets, as it should be. So...where does it go wrong? From the first notes of the first LP or CD you're in for a big disappointment. Another release gets ruined with overzealous dynamic range compression.
Now I wasn't too concerned about how the CD's were going to turn out, I got this first and foremost for the vinyl and secondly for the DVD of the videos. Due to low sales numbers and the methodology in which vinyl records are created, vinyl editions of recent albums have seen better mastering than their CD counterparts. Don't get all defensive and launch into a CD vs. vinyl debate, because this isn't about that. What I'm saying is, the vinyl releases of new albums from Alice in Chains, Dave Matthews Band and others have received less dynamic range compression and less tools that result in dimished dynamics of the master that is to be used to create the vinyl, resulting in a more dynamic performance, one closer to what the producer was hearing in the studio one would hope.
This isn't the case with Telephantasm, the vinyl is as poorly mastered as the CD is, perhaps even worse. The sibilance does not hold up well in Cornell's high notes and Cameron's cymbals and hi-hat, it sizzles into obscurity. There is little in the way of dynamics, everything sounds like your typical 2010 CD. This is very disappointing given that there are supposed to only be 5,000 copies of this. The loudness war sucks wholeheartedly, but with top bands usually only moving between 12,000~25,000 copies of their records per year the vinyl usually escapes as the idiots in A&R at the labels and those musicians who don't know any better usually don't care about the vinyl, it's not getting into enough people's hands, therefore the mastering engineer can master with dynamics intact like most of them want to.
I compared Outshined and Rusty Cage from SIDE THREE of the coloured vinyl with my 2003 German (EU) pressing of Badmotorfinger, man what a MASSIVE difference, the sonics and dynamics of the recording are wonderful on the 2003 edition, which can still be found on the Amazon Germany website, ASIN B000057UWZ.
If you want to order one of the two copies left, just follow through the buttons, you don't need to read German to navigate, it's all the same set-up as Amazon Canada or US. I highly recommend this pressing at 24 Euros, even though you'll have to pony up 14 Euros for shipping to North America it's still worth it to get the best sounding version of Badmotorfinger I've ever heard, although if you don't spin vinyl be content with the original CD, it's also very good.
I was hoping with Bob Ludwig's name attached that the CD's might be okay, but should have know the label and project team probably said "no, we need this to be loud like other bands albums are these days, or kids won't like it" - which is TOTAL BLOODY NONSENSE. You can see a comparison between the Badmotorfinger CD and the Telephantasm CD in a post I made at the Steve Hoffman forums by googling "Soundgarden outshined telephantasm vs badmotorfinger dynamic comparison" and click on the first link that says "New release sounds like crap" and check out post #20.
The 2010 tracks are clearly boosted, well outside the scope of CD's limits resulting in brickwalling and/or limiting to prevent a massive amount of clipping. Dynamics are suffering, what a shame. It's nowhere near as bad as Death Magnetic, but it's still poor.
I will say that the CD actually sounds better than the vinyl to my ears, or maybe it's just that the vinyl sounds so poor compared to the 2003 EU pressing of Badmotorfinger that I don't even remember how bad the CD sounds.
Now maybe there is one saving grace for this package...the DVD. Nope, it suffers too. The audio isn't as bad as the CD and vinyl from a dynamic perspective, but the bitrate afforded the DVD's audio track is poor. They've gone with 2.0 Dolby Digital only at a bitrate of a little over 200 Kbps. No effort was made to visit the studio and create a 5.1 mix, they didn't even add a 2.0 PCM uncompressed stereo mix which would have been much more palatable. I'd love it if they'd included a Blu-ray of all the videos, but really the source material is probably video in most cases and the Blu-ray would only allow for less compression...but a high resolution 24-bit audio track wouldn't have gone amiss. Anyway, that's neither here nor there, it's nice to see some of these videos and remember watching the Buzz Bin on MTV in 1991 seeing Outshined...but the lack of fidelity in choosing only a Dolby 2.0 mix takes away from it. Had they used the full 448 Kbps allowed on DVD for Dolby it would have been a much more enjoyable sonic experience.
Overall I can only give this collection 2 stars. It's well put together and definitely great for collectors, but the sonic misadventures that afflict the DVD, the 3LP's and the 2CD's are just not welcome in my house, I'm probably returning mine to Amazon.


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Soundgarden will release their first collection of music since 1996 in the form of Telephantasm on September 28th in the US and September 27th internationally.This multi-label, career-spanning retrospective album includes beloved band hits, deep back catalogue cuts and a never-before-heard unreleased track entitled "Black Rain," taken from the Badmotorfinger recording sessions. Telephantasm marks the first time ever a collection of its kind has been collated in one place. The Limited Deluxe Edition of Telephantasm includes a double-disc with 12 additional tracks, 5 of which are previously unreleased, and Soundgarden's first-ever DVD, featuring 20 videos, 13 of which have never been released.

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