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DVD : Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up - Live [HD DVD] |
- Great concert disc for fans of Methenythe music is so engaging and dynamic that it held my attention throughout. Not everyone will be pleased -- some music fans will find the lack of melodic structure a turn off, and it does take a bit of patience to enjoy the performance in the way Metheny intends. Jazz junkies will also have a hit-or-miss relationship with 'The Way Up: Live' because it stretches conventional jazz to the near-breaking point. Improvisation is merely the fuel behind something more organic and evolutionary -- although I'm not sure I enjoyed where this evolution took me. Metheny fans, particuarly those who loved the original album, will be right at home as the band continues along down the pathway they've been traveling since the mid-eighties. Metheny makes his way through a variety of guitars throughout the performance and really seems to sink deep into the music. The musicians are all engaging, with the only major downside (for those already enjoying the music) coming from the fact that the concert isn't visually striking. Band members are usually flooded by one tone of light that occasionally shifts color and there isn't much to keep an audience interested if they're not completely sold on the band's sound.
I can't wrap my head around why concert discs like this one avoid uncompressed 5.1 surround tracks that have the soundfield ambiance of a Dolby mix and the pitch-perfect clarity of a Master Audio track. As it stands, the concert atmosphere is best reproduced by the Dolby 5.1 mix and the song quality is best preserved in the front-heavy stereo mix. I found myself flipping back and forth in an attempt to fake it, but only grew frustrated and distracted.
All in all, 'Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up Live' is a great concert disc for fans of Metheny, jazz fusion, or progressive instrumental music. For the uninitiated, it's an intriguing performance that will at least give you something to think about.
Rating:
- Anything less than 5 stars is nonsense.Mere words can't describe the dazzling musical odyssey that is this DVD. I'd like to know what planet these guys are from. I may want to visit some day.
Rating:
- Overproduction ruins it for meI have to say I'm really surprised that nobody else has complained about this but I felt the camera cuts were OBNOXIOUSLY frequent to the point that I honestly can't watch the dvd. It sounds ridiculous but I actually recorded the audio into my computer so I can just listen to the concert. The camera cuts to a different performer an average of once every bar through the entire concert and it is common as the intensity picks up for the camera to cut as frequently as every beat. We have to be talking thousands of cuts over the length of the performance. Do we need this? I think the average jazz fan has a longer attention span than most; why do producers always feel the need to "inject" excitement into live music dvd's when the good performers (like these guys) can do that themselves?
Speaking of the performance-as you would expect and as seemingly agreed upon by everyone else, the musicianship and performances are outstanding. Nothing left to be desired there. I really enjoy listening to the CD I made of it!
Rating:
- Metheny's Musical Magic!Once again, Pat Metheny and his amazing bandmates prove that they are the greatest group of today and possibly, ever. If performances like this one are put in a time capsule or launched on the Voyager,future generations or other life-forms may think we had SOME good things about us. Buy this.
Rating:
- A great performanceIf your looking a visual experience than unless your a musician your probably going to be disappointed. This is an audio experience. These guys play and that's all they do. But the playing is an experience. The This Way Up CD is a masterpiece and to see that it can be played live is a real treat. Sound wise I have to use Dolby Digtal 5.1 II since I have an older receiver (No HDMI) so I using the optical output from a PS3 and it sounds great. The 5.1 mix is also very good. Honestly I bought the DVD so I could get a 5.1 mix of This Way Up. But the live performance is an improvement over the CD.
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