Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake (Matthew Bourne) (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)Finally, Matthew Bourne's innovative production of Tchaikovsky's SWAN LAKE is available on DVD. This is not a camp send-up of the balletic war horse, but a modern, freshly imagined telling of a tale of enchantment, betrayal, disenchantment, and release. What most people already know about this production is that the swans and cygnets are performed by male dancers, that the choreography emphasizes the aggressive rather than the graceful movements in swans' repertoire, and that the story is heavily freighted with Freudian implications as it shows a young prince's efforts to break free of his mother's hold (she's part Merry Widow and part Cruella deVil). The viewer who tries to analyze plot points too carefully is heading toward frustration and confusion. (For those who just can't let it alone, there's a helpful on-screen synopsis you can jump to whenever you need it.) The best way to enjoy this production is by focusing on the choreography and the dancing itself. Adam Cooper's nameless Swan is powerful, persistent, and unapologetic. He could be the prince's alter ego, his embodied desires, the id, or just about anything else you'd want to ascribe to him. He woos son and mother with equal conviction. Besides the moments when Cooper is on stage/screen, the choreographic hightlight of this production for me was the dance of the cygnets (pas de quatre). This is a moment of levity in every production of SWAN LAKE, but more so here where the mischievous antics and curiosity of the cygnets are played for all they're worth.
The other thing worth commenting on is the quality of the filming of this live performance. I have usually been disappointed by ballets on film--presentation is often static, or feet and hands get cut out of the picture, or the camera goes in for a close-up at a point when something significant is happening in the choreography. Given the trade-offs, Adventures in Motion Pictures has done an excellent job of capturing all the key choreography while creatively managing close-ups, transitions, and montages. The colors are rich and expressive (the dance of the swans by the lake is bathed in a haunting nocturnal blue). And best of all, the film is completely free of the annoying halos and bizarre shimmerings that always seem to make their way into filmed stage productions.

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Matthew Bourne, director and choreographer of Adventures in Motion Pictures--a maverick new modern dance company based in London--brings a new twist to an old classic with this production of "Swan Lake." Taking advantage of the public's preoccupation with the ups and downs of the royal family, Bourne has set his story in the modern era and has cast all the swans--including the Odette/Odile role--as males. Boutne's creation brings great ballet to an audience it has never before reached, and for cognoscenti offers a new view of the breadth of possibilty in Tchaikovsky's well-loved score. "Swan Lake" enjoyed a sold-out run in London and a subsequent critically acclaimed and public-adored Broadway stint.

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Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (DVD-Audio Surround Sound) Review

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(More customer reviews)Often the passage of time diminishes the quality or aesthetics of a piece of art; the art (particularly music) becomes "dated." Many recordings from the Seventies--songs that were phenomenally popular--today come across as stale, corny, or contrived.
Anyone remember "You Light Up My Life"?
Such is not the case with Fleetwood Mac's masterpiece, RUMOURS. The energy, emotion, passion, and musical mastery of this album is just as compelling today as it was in 1977. On top of that, today's technology only makes listening to RUMOURS even more of a pleasurable and spellbinding experience.
For me, having been a college student when this album was released, each track from this troubled band is a wondrous trip down memory lane. Among my favorites: "Dreams"; "Don't Stop"; "Silver Springs"; "You Make Loving Fun." And "Go Your Own Way" is musical nirvana, a glimmering, golden rock 'n roll keeper.
The inner turmoil Fleetwood Mac was experiencing when RUMOURS began shattering the Billboard charts received as much publicity as the album itself. Despite the band's dysfunction--or perhaps because of it--members Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie were hitting on all musical/creative cylinders. As a result, RUMOURS is timeless, ageless, and enthusiastically recommended.
--D. Mikels

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Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours," one of the biggest-selling albums in music history, the most celebrated album from one of the most popular rock groups of all time. Now added to the album lineup is the previously unreleased studio track "Silver Springs," recorded during the "Rumours" sessions but not included on the original album due to time constraints. Songs: Second Hand News, Dreams, Never Going Back Again, Don't Stop, Go Your Own Way, Silver Springs, The Chain, You Make Loving Fun, I Don't Want to Know, Oh Daddy, Gold Dust Woman, Songbird.

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Tried and True Review

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(More customer reviews)Ever since Clay Aiken ran over, got out of his car, checked the body and drove over it in reverse singing Mack the Knife on American Idol -- I have been dying for him to do a standards set. He always had an excellent way with phrasing. And that is what separates someone from just bulldozing through a song and making it truly live and breathe. There has to be a connection that goes beyond vocal ability and also, there has to be a great band. Thankfully this CD has both, naturally. The songs are allowed to simmer and build and stray just far enough from their more well known arrangements to sound familiar but also adventurous. "Suspicious Minds" keeps its jaunty juxtaposition of rhythm vs. lyrics. And What he does to an old war horse as "Misty" is just grand, he stretches and plays with those vowels like a cat with string. "Moon River," is simply flawless, ranking up there with Raul Malo's wonderful take.
I would love to see Aiken tackle more material in this genre, his voice has grown to this lovely smokey quality that still has a killer upper register. It is more than adept at carrying the weight of these lyrical gems. It would be amazing, say about 15 or so years from now, to have a library from him that is in its infancy and be able to sit next to those that have mastered the American songbook.

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Deluxe CD/DVD edition includes bonus DVD. 2010 release from the American Idol Season 2 runner up, his fifth album overall. Tried And True features Aiken's unique covers of classic songs from the 1950s and 1960s including 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You', 'What Kind Of Fool Am I?', 'Mack The Knife', 'Unchained Melody', 'There's A Kind Of Hush' and 'Suspicious Minds'.

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Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live Review

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(More customer reviews)When Pink Floyd toured, they only performed The Wall in New York and Los Angeles. Through a ticket broker I bought two tickets that were seventh roll center on the floor. The tickets were $45 each!
I remember every nuance of the show and I still wonder if there is a video of this excellent concert lurking somewhere.
Even though the recording is excellent, it can't touch the sonic/visual bombast that the show was. To see Roger Waters just giving his emotional heart in the performance, the visuals projected on the Wall, and the sonic effects gave the performance a eerie/creepy vibe. Some audience members were actually crying at some portions. And when the wall came down in the end and the band came out spotlighted in a golden glow, it felt like a healing.
Waters and Mason elected to wear earphones. Waters was singing into a wireless microphone (a technological first) that he would stuff into his back pocket when it wasn't in use. Each band member had a supporting musician, so everyone was doubled, even Mick Mason. Plus there were supporting vocalist.
To me, The Wall touched on many layers. The show had all the themes that Waters likes to vent about, losing his father at a young age, confining English upbringing, divorce and unhappiness at seeing people acting like sheep. Waters also touches on war rallies as he withdraws into his internal mental hell.
Let me give you some of the visuals.
When the MC (Cynthia Fox from radio station KLOS) came out and did her shtick, the stage had lots of "technicians" walking around the stage and adjusting equipment. While she was talking, the technicians parted and the group was already on stage ready to go, surprise, surprise. And they cut her off in mid-sentence.
There were speakers on stage as well as the sides of the Sports Arena, just like the "Wish You Were Hear" tour. So when 'In the Flesh" started, I thought that the sound wasn't as full. Then the end came and as the band played the last long chord and the airplane came over the audience, symbolizing the death of Water's dad during the war, the side speakers and the true wrap-around sound kicked in. Quite a rush.
When the helicopter section played, on stage the lighting technicians sat on top of flying saucer that were on the stage floor. They took off into the air and lit up the band, following the musicians around the stage.
The puppets (you can see them on the Waters show at Berlin) were mind blowing. Quite a feat to control their movements, so a nod to the supporting cast/roadies that you never see or hear about.
The movies were being played on a round screen above the band. Seeing the intertwining flowers turning into monsters during sex and one snapping the head off the others to the song "Empty Spaces" was quite a wallop.
When Waters sang "One of my Turns", he was outside the under-construction wall. Next to him was a little Pink doll which he mimics as he sang. As he screamed "Oh No" and the band went into solo, he jumped back behind the wall, and the wall continues to close.
During "Don't Leave me Now, two giant puppets were on top of the wall and just glaring at Waters while he sang with all that creepy loud breathing flowing around the speakers just overpowering him. And the wall gets completed except the one brick where Waters sings "Goodbye Cruel World". I never forgot the music that was playing between "Another Brick in The Wall Part 3" and "Goodbye Cruel World" and it is so nice to hear it again after all these years. What was weird was that the band was playing behind the Wall and you could only see the top portion of the stage, with all the supporting lights and flying saucer pods doing their thing. Gave a strange visual vibe.
The second act was performed with the audience having to deal with the wall. The movie was projected on the Wall itself and was done using three interlocked projectors. It was perfection. Even though sometimes only the center projector was showing a scene, the side ones were still on and the side film was pristine, you wouldn't know that they were on.
"Nobody Home" was done with a portion of the Wall that opened up showing a hotel room with Waters reclining in a chair watching TV.
"Comfortably Numb" was a high point, with Gilmore singing and soloing from the top of the wall. You could see that he was really into it. Must have been a thrill for him to be so high up and overlooking the crowd as his guitar solo spun around the monitors.
When the MC came out again, the band was pushed onto stage in darkness on a platform on rollers. When they were illuminated, everyone was wearing the masks that are on the cover of this CD and acted like robots.
In "The Show must go on", as Waters sings 'Are there any queers in the audience", the flying saucer light technicians actually go out over the audience looking for offenders going as far as their supporting booms let them.
On the CD right before Waters introduces "Run Like Hell", you hear him let out a shout as a spacey guitar cord is hit. That is when the inflated pig breaks through the wall.
"Waiting for the Worms" of course had the hammers marching across the entire wall which made it look like the whole wall was moving. "Stop" and "The Trial" was just Waters solo in front of the wall just spilling his guts out.
Then the wall came down to the booming base notes that shook the seats. The whole audience just let out screams of relief as it came down. The musicians came out from the side of the stage as themselves with Waters leading and playing the clarinet while kicking debris out of the way. They stopped and sang "Outside the Wall", then continued the march off to the other side of the stage. During the applause, the four members of Pink Floyd came out, took a bow, and everybody went home knowing that they had witnessed something special and never to be duplicated again.


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No Description Available.Genre: Popular MusicMedia Format: Compact DiskRating: Release Date: 18-APR-2000

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