Real music fans know you can buy all the compact discs in the world, but for musical nirvana, you have to see your favorite artists live.
Unfortunately, concertgoers often face long lines at ticket windows, agents buried on phones and prohibitive prices.
If none of this sounds like fun, try spending far less time and money on bad concert seats and rent or buy a DVD featuring your favorite band. With today’s surround sound systems, you’ll get sonic concert realism, not to mention the best seat in the house. Here is an eclectic collection of titles available to get you started, with a lot more on the way.
– “Gimme Some Truth” (Capitol, $25) offers viewers a first-time, behind-the-scenes look at the recording of John Lennon’s second post-Beatles offering, the classic “Imagine” album. It has a documentary/home movie flavor, often segueing in and out of recording sessions in the studio to romps in the backyard with Lennon’s wife, Yoko.
During one sequence, Lennon is swearing while recording harmonies with producer Phil Spector because the engineer can’t find the right take. The following sequence finds Lennon in his bathrobe, flashing for the camera – go figure.
The disc offers two soundtracks for 5.1 digital Dolby surround and regular stereo, an album discography with audio samples, and an interview with the Lennons discussing changes in pop music, sex and culture among youth as the world entered the 1970s.
– “Art Garfunkel Across America” (Hybrid, $25) finds the curly-haired member of the ’60s pop/folk duo singing solo versions of Simon and Garfunkel classics like “Sounds of Silence,” “Scarborough Fair” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” plus his own hits “Bright Eyes” and “All I Know.”
Another track, “Crying in My Sleep,” is a duet with James Taylor, who Garfunkel says helps him “tune up his voice” before performing. As the disc begins, viewers learn that, in 1984, Garfunkel set off on foot alone to cross America. The trip was divided into 40 segments and wasn’t completed until the fall of 1996.
The concert is performed live in the Registry Hall on Ellis Island in New York, where Garfunkel’s ancestors (and much of America) “fanned out.” A highlight is Garfunkel’s son singing with his dad on “The 59th Street Bridge Song.” Garfunkel’s band is exemplary, as is the disc’s sound.
– Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Live at Wolf Trap” (Columbia Music Video, $25) will remind viewers of the old LP days: Its 20 tracks are divided between two sides, not two discs. Side one features hits like “Passionate Kisses,” “I Feel Lucky” and “That’s the Way Love Goes” with Shawn Colvin. Flip the disc in your DVD player and you get “Stones in the Road” with Joan Baez and the women’s protest anthem of the ’90s, “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her.”
The concert footage is well done but some of the sonic punch and ambience is lost because it was recorded outdoors. Disc extras are minimal, offering only the usual discography, artist interview and instant access to songs. No booklet with photos or credits is included, either. The performances, however, are first rate. A good rental disc.
– Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” (Columbia Music Video, $32) has been hailed by Sony’s vice president of new technologies, Mark Ghuneim, as possibly the label’s best disc. It’s no hyperbole.
This bombastic, no-holds-barred version is a high-definition transfer of the original film, complete with unreleased footage, two new documentaries on the making of “The Wall” and interviews with Pink Floyd, plus new interactive menus offering everything but the kitchen sink. You can access songs, lyrics, subtitles and photo stills, plus view music videos, promos and the original theater trailer.
A special technical menu option helps you set up your sound system and then test your speakers for maximum playback. Many of the film’s scenes are rather disturbing, but Floyd’s concept album soundtrack is ear candy for fans of art rock.
– New Age music fans will welcome George Winston’s “Seasons in Concert” (Windham Hill, $25), a new home version of the PBS special with 25 minutes of additional concert footage. The pianist’s fingers will remind you of a tarantula, but the disc is terrific.
Winston begins the program saying, “Every song I’ve ever heard that’s stayed in me reminds me of a season.” Not surprisingly, his concert features a seasonal cycle of solo piano “images” designed to take listeners from spring and summer through autumn and winter. The pristine, all-digital video and sound reveal why the DVD format is deemed state of the art.
The photography, long a hallmark of Windham Hill album covers, includes scenes covering everything from waterfalls and thunderstorms to sunsets and rainbows. “Life is the film,” Winston says. “I’m just providing the soundtrack.”
Interactive menus include audio setup for surround sound 5.1 or stereo, a discography promo and access to songs according to their seasonal theme.
– Aging eclectic rocker Neil Young’s “Silver and Gold” (left) (Warner Bros., $25) is a companion piece to the recently released CD of the same name. This is a no-frills disc: push play and you get 14 straightforward solo tracks of Neil flanked by six folk guitars, banjo, piano and a pipe organ. He looks a bit grizzled with his dated lamb chop sideburns and graying eyebrows, but he delivers sincere efforts on much of the “Silver and Gold” CD material, plus a few surprises.
A couple of tracks Young brought to the new CSN&Y album appear, such as “Looking Forward” and “Slowpoke,” the title tune from the movie “Philadelphia,” and Young classics like “Long May You Run” from the Stills-Young Band days and “Harvest Moon” – the title track to Young’s last million-selling record. The concert drags a bit because there’s no band to lend energy to the performances, and instead of talking to the crowd between songs, Young sips ale and dips his harmonica in a blue plastic glass of water.
– Donna Summer’s “Live & More Encore!” (Epic/Sony, $25) is a greatest hits disc from the VH1 cable program that adds four tracks not included on the original CD. Tunes the disco-diva cranks out include “Bad Girls” and “Last Dance” with Tina Arena, who has more than enough vocal punch to replace Barbra Streisand, who sang on the original duet. Disc extras include instant chapter access, biography, discography, complete lyrics and two versions of the video track “I Will Go With You.” Bubbly and bright, the disc not only provides a retrospective on Summer’s career, it also testifies to the legacy of disco music, which always has been long on energy and rhythm, and the perfect antidote to a bummer day.
