Nine Inch Nails Live - Beside You in Time (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Beside You in Time" is a live DVD compiling performances from the 2005-06 "With Teeth" arena shows. The performances showcase the current visceral Nine Inch Nails lineup, mostly focusing on the energy of the band members rather than effects and stage theatrics - this is a contrast from the "And All that Could have Been" DVD that chronicled 2001's Fragility tour. The addition of Aaron North on guitar and Josh Freese on drums make this the most immediately gratifying NIN lineup ever, i.e. most of the sounds that you hear are actually being generated by the five men on stage. North in particular puts on a one-man show of hyperactive fury while never losing his touch with the guitar duties. The DVD presentation purposefully adds very little to the performance, opting to let the intensity speak for itself. It's a very worthwhile chronicle of a Nine Inch Nails tour that was both familiar and also subtly unique.
PERFORMANCE - 5 stars
Reznor's voice immediately stands out as much improved over the Fragility tour; his newfound sobriety suits the performances very well. He holds sway over the crowd on both high-energy classics like "Wish" and "Gave Up" as well as heart-rending ballads such as "Hurt" and "Right Where It Belongs".
The backing band is arguably the strongest to ever bear the Nine Inch Nails name, primarily due to the addition of Aaron North on guitar. North struts, jumps, flails and kicks while never losing a single note of his licks. Jeordie White manages to finally make the bass line heard in a NIN live show, something that his predecessors never could do. Alessandro Cortini is a bit of a step down from Charlie Clouser; he quietly manages the samples and sequences while sometimes letting entire synth lines go unheard ("Only"). Josh Freese plays drums like he'd recorded the studio tracks himself, even though he was a mid-tour replacement. He displays a comfortable confidence with the material that allows him to put his own mark on the show with some unique fills.
The setlist is a great mix of new and old tracks, and even the oft-played ones get new treatment. For instance, "Closer" is mashed up with "The Only Time" to great effect. The middle portion of the show performed behind a projection curtain is mesmerizing; the visuals add a real haunting relevance to "Eraser" and "Right Where It Belongs" in particular. The complete setlist is:
01. love is not enough
02. you know what you are?
03. terrible lie
04. the line begins to blur
05. march of the pigs
06. something i can never have
07. closer
08. burn
09. gave up
10. eraser *
11. right where it belongs *
12. beside you in time *
13. with teeth
14. wish
15. only
16. the big come down
17. hurt
18. the hand that feeds
19. head like a hole
* includes options for alternate angle viewing
VIDEO - 5 stars
A word of caution - the picture is 5 stars provided that you take the time to use the "video optimizer" special feature. Otherwise, it will likely alternate between looking too dark and too washed out. Once set up for your TV's settings, the result is startlingly real, even in the standard-definition DVD format.
As was the case with "And All that Could have Been", there was an emphasis on cameras not interfering with the actualy shows. So, there aren't a whole lot of close-ups to enjoy. But overall, the camera work is solid in a documentary style.
One minor gripe is that each song is titled on-screen, which seems unnecessary for most fans and makes the production look a bit "made for TV".
AUDIO - 5 stars
The disc offers both a 5.1 and a DTS mix. Both sound very good, with fine separation. The mix of the performance itself is terrific, often distinguishing each performer's contribution to the sound even in the most chaotic passages ("You Know What You Are?").
EXTRAS - 4 stars
There are several tracks from the 2006 Summer amphitheatre tour, including ones that were specific to that leg, e.g. "Somewhat Damaged" and "Non-Entity". These performances were obviously relegated to the "Special Features" section because of the stage layout of that outdoor tour: the band performs sections of the show behind a metal fence/curtain that lights up. The effect is like a projected curtain from a distance, but shot from the close-up cameras, it simply looks like the band is obscured by scaffolding. The songs provided are:
01. somewhat damaged
02. closer
03. help me i am in hell
04. non-entity
05. only
The real treat here is the tour rehearsal footage. There are three tracks ("Love is Not Enough", "Every Day is Exactly the Same", and the elusive "The Collector") performed by the band in a warehouse in the round and the resulting footage is great. It looks to be the same setup used for the video for "The Hand That Feeds", including the final chapter of Jerome Dillon on drums.
Finally, the videos for "The Hand that Feeds" and "Only" (a clever piece by David Fincher) are included as well.
CONCLUSION
This is a must-have for any Nine Inch Nails fan. It's also a great introduction to the band for anyone interested in their future direction. The "With Teeth" material is perfectly suited to this lineup and the resulting show is definitely worthy of being chronicled. The picture and sound are very good and the extras just add more substance to the complete package.

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LIVE: BESIDE YOU IN TIME122 minutes total running time, 24 songs from the LIVE:With Teeth 2006Tour, including: "The Hand That Feeds" "Only""Closer" "Head Like A Hole" "Hurt" "Wish" "Terrible Lie" "March Of Pigs" Additional features include 3 tracks live from rehearsals, music videos for"The Hand That Feeds" and "Only." Plus still gallery and body of work. Presented in 16x9 anamorphic widescreen DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 surroundsound

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Mojo (Blu-ray Audio w/ Bonus Download) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Heartbreakers have evolved distinctly throughout their 30+ years of recording together. Listening to their catalog from the beginning to the present, one travels from an era of short, punchy garage-rock tunes in the 1970s, to the laid-back pop hits of the Jeff Lynne era, to their current period of meditative rock planted firmly in the band's primordial roots.
It's a natural progression, what with Petty's lament of modern music with the Last DJ in 2002, his efforts to keep '60s and '70s-era classic rock alive through his Buried Treasure radio show, the success of last year's Live Anthology, and a rapidly decentralizing music industry that's no longer ruled by the gatekeepers of Top 40 radio. It almost seems that Mojo just... had to be.
If Mudcrutch was Petty's country album, Mojo is his foray into blues recording (sprinkled with a little psychedelia and reggae to taste). Like Mudcrutch, Mojo is freewheeling, high-energy, and upbeat, and prone to a little jam session here and there -- which would have been unthinkable in the days of the neatly-trimmed Full Moon Fever or Into the Great Wide Open. Without a single bad song in the mix, Mojo is a cohesive album you can listen to from beginning to end.
Personally, I am digging latter-day Tom Petty. The band is as good as they've ever been, and each member seems to have increasing freedom to showcase their immense instrumental talents and unrivaled ability to complement one another. Mike Campbell's guitar is on fire through the whole album, and Scott Thurston breaks out of his shell with fine blues harmonica on several tracks.
As a departure from the past musical stylings that made the band successful, Mojo will certainly raise some eyebrows and not be to everyone's liking. Frankly, I think that's a good thing. These guys aren't trained monkeys paid to crank out the same songs over and over again. They're world-class musicians, and they deserve the chance to breathe a little. Play on, boys.

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Some time in the last few years Tom Petty And the Heartbreakers took a left turn. Maybe it was when Petty woke up in the night with the idea of reuniting his first band, Mudcrutch, to cut the album they never got a chance to make back in the early 70's. Maybe it was when the Heartbreakers assembled the mammoth multi-disc 'The Live Anthology,' which detailed thirty years of concerts. Maybe it was when they gave all their home movies, outtakes and live footage to director Peter Bogdanovich to create the Grammy-winning four-hour career documentary 'Runnin Down A Dream.' There have been side projects and experiments since the band last went into the studio to cut a new Tom Petty And the Heartbreakers album. With 'MOJO,' they have taken their recent freedom and experimentation to heart. They have gone off the reservation and all signs indicate they aren't coming back.The first thing that hits you about 'MOJO' is that the spirit of the Mudcrutch sessions has carried on with the Heartbreakers. This is the sound of a band playing together in a room not a studio - facing each other, all singing and playing at the same time. The music is alive, with no overdubs or studio trickery. What you hear is what they created on the spot at that time.Tom Petty says, 'With this album, I want to show other people what I hear with the band. 'MOJO' is where the band lives when it's playing for itself.'As for the songs, 'MOJO' showcases a wide variety of American music from rock 'n' roll to country and both electric and acoustic blues. And then there are the images in Petty's lyrics which slip in on the melodies and set up a home in your head: The barefoot girl in the high grass chewing on a stick of sugar cane, the run-in with the law that begins when a carload of buddies decide to party with the motel maids, and the hilariously audacious idea of opening an album with an electric blues rocker about Thomas Jefferson's love affair with Sally Hemings. Petty would probably chuck a rock at anyone who called him a poet, but he sure is a southern writer of humor and sensitivity.'MOJO' has juice and guts but it also has some sweet balladry for the slow dancers and even a wacked-out reggae number that is unlike anything that the Heartbreakers have done before. It's the kind of album nobody's supposed to be able to make anymore. It got here just in time.PRODUCER'S NOTE:ABOUT THIS HIGH RESOLUTION BLU-RAY AUDIO DISCThis disc contains all 15 tracks from 'Mojo' in high-resolution 48K 24 bit PCM stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound. It is an audio-only disc, with basic navigation and song information displayed on screen.The 48K 24 bit audio on this disc has 256 times more resolution than a CD, providing greater detail and reproducing the music's full dynamic range, from the softest to the loudest sounds. To achievefull dynamic range it's necessary to master with less overall level, sothis disc might not sound as 'loud' as a standard CD or film soundtrack.To compensate for this, turn up the volume!The screensaver switches song information to non-static imagesof the cover art 30 seconds after each song begins.Thanks for caring enough to invest in high quality sound. With this disc you are now able to hear at home what we hear in the studio. The Blu-Ray audio package also includes a code to download the album in one of three formats: 320kbs Mp3, Apple Lossless, or FLAC.

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AC/DC: Live At Donington (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)Absolutely Best at the Highest possible Volume on a Surround sound system.
AC/DC Deliver for the fans, and they deliver consistently.
I doubt very much that the DVD is Overdubbed, since the Sound is the Same as Every other AC/DC Release. But even if it is overdubbed, WHAT THE HELL...
This is a Great Show, and the Goods are delivered.
Angus Plays brilliantly, and works the crowd superbly. As for the alleged disparity between what you see and what you hear... Angus is 5"2, so his playing of the Gibson SG he uses is deceptive, it looks one way when physically he is producing the sound by what his body does and his left hand technique. Hard to explain, but what you see is not always what you hear.
The other thing that I thought any Movie viewer would know, is that In Making a Concert Film, a Second , third, or whatever, camera is used for "Inserts", and this is matched as best as can be done... which does not always work; this does not mean that the Track is overdubbed, merely that the Line editor, and the Final Edit did not match.
Anyway, this is Superb.
Get NO BULL: LIVE IN MADRID, and The DVD of AC/DC Live in Munich... Extremely Brilliant !!!!!!!!
This is a real Step up from the Original VHS Release.

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When AC/DC came crashing through the gates of Castle Donington in August if 1991, they were headlining their third "Monsters Of Rock" festival at the fabled venue. They proceeded to assault the massive audience with a two hour set chock-full of their greatest hits, and an over the top visual spectacle that included firing cannons, the hells bell and giant inflatable Rosie. Filmed in 35mm Panavision with 26 cameras (including a helicopter) and newly remastered for Blu-ray Disc, AC/DC Live At Donington is one of the greatest live concert documents of all time. Blu-ray Disc Track Listing: 1. Thunderstruck 2. Shoot To Thrill 3. Back in Black 4. Fire Your Guns 5. Jailbreak 6. The Jack 7. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap 8. Moneytalks 9. Hells Bells 10. High Voltage 11. Whole Lotta Rosie 12. You Shook Me All Night Long 13. T.NT 14. Let There Be Rock 15. Highway To Hell 16. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) Special Features: Iso-cam versions of select songs for each band member Audio commentary from Angus and Malcolm Young In Concert and full catalog interactive discography Video/Audio: Brand new 35mm film transfer to High Definition for Blu-ray PCM (uncompressed) Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound (48 kHz/24bit) Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kps)

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