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Showing posts with label review. Show all posts

Happy Holidays With Bing & Frank Review

Happy Holidays With Bing and Frank
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Happy Holidays With Bing & Frank ReviewAnother packaging of Sinatra's 1950's television footage, once again by Hart Sharp Video, the producers who earlier this year brought us "Sinatra: The Classic Duets." Again, the show itself is under 30 minutes with the remaining 60 minutes allocated to interviews with Nancy, Tina, and other friends and associates familiar with the circumstances of the original show.
As usual, the producers are particularly unhelpful about providing documentation, but by perusing the video contents, it can be determined that the show is from 1957, which should have been "a very good year" for Old Blue. Unfortunately, this is definitely not a performance for making the case that Sinatra was the "Entertainer of the Century." He looks rather tired and stiff, and the voice, at least by Sinatra standards, sounds rough, lifeless and "played out." By contrast, Bing lights up the screen, radiating warmth, looking far more composed than the host, and singing flawlessly.
At these prices (under the cost of many CD's), this is a worthwhile pick-up for the Sinatra-Crosby collector. In fact, it rates above the earlier "Classic Duets" release because of print quality (a stunning clarity, even if the colors are often "wrong"), the extended sequencing (as opposed to stitching together bits and pieces from different Sinatra shows), and the extemporaneous, often surprising, remarks of the Sinatra daughters at a Q&A event following the initial screening of this restored footage. (At one point, in explaining Frank's troubles with TV ratings, Nancy says, "Dad didn't do well on television." Tina responds, "He had to fail somewhere.")
Bottom line: Don't even consider this if you don't already have "The Sinatra Christmas Album" or "A Jolly Christmas." And if it's Sinatra television footage you crave, be sure to pick up first the 1967 special with Frank, Ella, and Jobim. As for the Sinatra family members who, I understand, are largely responsible for this release: how do you explain going to such lengths to restore and mass-market this sort of footage while letting a Sinatra "concept" album like "All Alone," a project worthy of Sinatra's name in every respect, fall into oblivion?Happy Holidays With Bing & Frank OverviewItem Name: Happy Holidays With Bing & Frank; Studio:Arts Alliance Amer

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Nirvana: Unplugged In New York (2007) Review

Nirvana: Unplugged In New York (2007)
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Nirvana: Unplugged In New York (2007) ReviewThanks to the legal hijinks that dragged on long after Kurt Cobain's death, anything Nirvana-related was put on hold. After the legal resolution a couple of years ago, a 3-cd set of unreleased recordings saw the light of day (With The Lights Out), not to mention the obligatory "best of" (Nirvana). Now finally comes the somewhat legendary "MTV Unplugged" show. This set still draws some mixed reactions, even if most fans agree it's brilliant. Taped just months before Cobain's suicide, it's both startingly raw and disturbingly planned, with the band playing amongst candles and flowers (stargazer lilies, to be precise)--more than a few people noted it seemed like a funeral, and indeed that's the way Cobain intended it. Other details that stand out include the fact that while most of the band sit propped on wooden stools, Cobain sits in what appears to be a standard swiveling office chair ("I have very bad posture," indeed!) and the presence of ex-Germ (and future Foo Fighter) Pat Smear, who backs Cobain up as a second guitarist. Anyway, for all its emblamatic status, "Unplugged" also gave a somewhat false impression of the band, and Cobain in particular. Instead of the decidedly plugged in punk the band was known for, Cobain was transformed into a pained-looking, cardigan sweater wearing ghost warbling about how Jesus didn't want him for a sunbeam. Another MTV broadcast, taped just a few months before "Unplugged" the suitably-named "Live and Loud" show, could restore the balance somewhat, but of course it hasn't been officially released on DVD yet. Nevertheless, "Unplugged" retains an almost atavistic hold on the viewer, and is still one of the most intense musical performances ever broadcast on television.
Instead of a basic acoustic run-through of their hits, the band used the opportunity to put a new spin on some of their album tracks. The songs "Polly" and "Dumb" were pretty much unplugged before, but in the context of this show became brillianty-etched character studies. The main character, however, was always Cobain, and his songs constant references to death and alienation became all the more chilling here. "Unplugged" is, therefore, something of an audiovisual suicide note. No suicide note has been as exhilerating as this one, though. If you never believed in the concept of catharsis, this might chance your mind.
The band also used the show to highlight some of their own favorite music, and five of the songs here are covers, all of them given new life by their inclusion here. David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" now seems like Cobain speaking from his grave, even if he wasn't dead yet. The tradional ballad "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" was performed by one of Cobain's favorite bands, The Vaselines, but this version was both tribute and personal statement. Three songs from Meat Puppets II, with Chris and Kurt Kirkwood from that band joining in, also seemed handpicked for their metaphorical content, most notably the damnation-themed "Lake of Fire."
What makes this DVD more than just a keepsake is the fact that the entire performance, complete with between song banter and mistakes, are included, as well as the original broadcast version. The uncut "Unplugged" also has 14 songs, compared with the broadcast version's 12. Of course, all the songs can be found on the CD version (MTV Unplugged in New York), but now it's available in full 5.1 glory (and done remarkably well, I might add). The long version also includes a very brief, abortive version of "Sweet Home Alabama," done as "the Brothers Meat" (as Cobain says) were setting up. While the retrospective documentary also included here is disapointinly light on information, it does include a short clip of Sonic Youth's Lee Renaldo, who was at the taping. So while this is pretty much essential for fans, even the curious will want to check this out. Hopefully, some of Nirvana's electric performances will be released soon, but this is still a unique performance that easily transcends the era when it was done.Nirvana: Unplugged In New York (2007) OverviewWhile the album of the same name made its first appearance in 1994, and went on to become Nirvana's second best selling CD of all time, nearly 15 years have passed since that memorable initial broadcast. Now, fans will finally get the chance to see the release of the entire, unedited performance...with neverbefore- seen footage...on DVD...and in Dolby Stereo and 5.1 Surround sound. Mixed in surround sound by legendary surround mixing engineer Elliot Scheiner, this DVD allows fans to experience this performance like never before, completely unedited including the two songs not originally broadcasted ("Something In The Way" and "Oh Me" ), and with the best sound ever available (to anyone not in the studio for the original taping.) For the purists, also included on this DVD is the original 44 min broadcast version of the show, plus never-before-seen REHEARSAL performances. As an extra bonus to the DVD, a 14-minute interview segment called Bare Witness produced by MTV focuses on the recollections of those who experienced this magical moment in music history, those who produced it and interviews with the band from the day of the taping.

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