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Eagles: Farewell Tour I - Live from Melbourne (HD DVD)
Rhino // Unrated // November 14, 2006 // Region 0
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Dvdempire]
Although I have to admit that my feelings for the Eagles are a little closer to Jeffrey Lebowski's, there's no denying that the band gives their fans their money's worth. This HD DVD, recorded in Melbourne as part of their smirkingly-titled 'Farewell Tour I', clocks in just shy of three hours.
"Live from Melbourne"'s twenty-nine songs were spread across two discs when it was released on DVD in 2005, but the concert has been condensed to a single disc in high-def. The sprawling setlist encompasses pretty much everything the Eagles put out collectively as well as each band member's solo projects. The newer songs are expectedly clunky, particularly Joe Walsh's ode to sobriety, "One Day at a Time", and "Hole in the World". Inspired by the events of 9/11, "Hole in the World" may have been penned in 2001, but at least in concert, its canned percussion and overreliance on five-part harmonies sound more like a fourteen year old Boyz II Men b-side. The concert features a lot of solo material, and as uneven as some of these songs are, many of 'em are peppier and upbeat, offsetting some of the slower, more somber songs from the Eagles' catalog. The band has a strong presence on stage, and although some of Joe Walsh's antics fall flat, the rotating vocal duties, continually swapping out instruments, the full horn section and battalion of other backup vocalists and musicians, and a great sense of humor ("This goes out to my first wife, Plaintiff") contribute to a solid show.
Video: This Eagles HD DVD inspired some extremely enthusiastic comments on the usual home theater message boards, but it looked surprisingly ordinary to my eyes. I've watched scores of concerts in high-def on cable as well as a fair number on HD DVD, and I usually don't have the least bit of trouble distinguishing between the two. "Live from Melbourne" comes a lot closer to what I'm used to seeing on channels like HDNet, not popping off the screen the way the other two concert releases from Rhino have. There's never any doubt that this is a high-definition release, but it's not as startlingly crisp or richly detailed as any of the other concerts I've seen on the format over the past few months. I'm sure fans of the band will be pleased with the way this concert looks on HD DVD, but it's nothing particularly impressive.
However, I do have to give Rhino credit for squeezing an uncompressed soundtrack and right at three hours of high-definition material on a single disc without any glaring compression flaws. Even flashes from the audience's cameras and strobing lights don't result in any artifacting.
Audio: As with the other HD DVDs in this opening salvo from Rhino, this Eagles concert offers audio in DTS 5.1 as well as an uncompressed stereo LPCM track. Switching back and forth between the two, the stereo audio has a somewhat fuller presence despite the silence in the rear channels. I kind of like hearing the roar of the crowd on concert releases, but the audience is dialed down here, and as much punch as the synths and kick drum have, there isn't much heft to Timothy Schmit's bass guitar. Some of the instrumentation, particularly the violin and some of the horns, occasionally gets buried in the mix as the guitars and vocals attract most of the track's attention. Like the visual end of the disc, the audio is perfectly fine but doesn't rank near the top of what the format has to offer.
An impressive selection of subtitles are also available to those who need them.
There's a pause after the tail end of "You Belong to the City". I'm not sure if it's a layer change or something else entirely, but it's one of just a couple of titles where I've spotted this sort of hiccup and have been able to consistently reproduce it.
Supplements: The only extra is a set of brief comments from the band, running around eleven minutes in total, but it's presented in full high-definition. The HD DVD includes a set of liner notes as well as a cover insert that takes advantage of the case's transparency.
Other Reviews: Holly E. Ordway posted a lengthier write-up of the concert when it was first released on DVD.
"Live from Melbourne"'s twenty-nine songs were spread across two discs when it was released on DVD in 2005, but the concert has been condensed to a single disc in high-def. The sprawling setlist encompasses pretty much everything the Eagles put out collectively as well as each band member's solo projects. The newer songs are expectedly clunky, particularly Joe Walsh's ode to sobriety, "One Day at a Time", and "Hole in the World". Inspired by the events of 9/11, "Hole in the World" may have been penned in 2001, but at least in concert, its canned percussion and overreliance on five-part harmonies sound more like a fourteen year old Boyz II Men b-side. The concert features a lot of solo material, and as uneven as some of these songs are, many of 'em are peppier and upbeat, offsetting some of the slower, more somber songs from the Eagles' catalog. The band has a strong presence on stage, and although some of Joe Walsh's antics fall flat, the rotating vocal duties, continually swapping out instruments, the full horn section and battalion of other backup vocalists and musicians, and a great sense of humor ("This goes out to my first wife, Plaintiff") contribute to a solid show.
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Video: This Eagles HD DVD inspired some extremely enthusiastic comments on the usual home theater message boards, but it looked surprisingly ordinary to my eyes. I've watched scores of concerts in high-def on cable as well as a fair number on HD DVD, and I usually don't have the least bit of trouble distinguishing between the two. "Live from Melbourne" comes a lot closer to what I'm used to seeing on channels like HDNet, not popping off the screen the way the other two concert releases from Rhino have. There's never any doubt that this is a high-definition release, but it's not as startlingly crisp or richly detailed as any of the other concerts I've seen on the format over the past few months. I'm sure fans of the band will be pleased with the way this concert looks on HD DVD, but it's nothing particularly impressive.
However, I do have to give Rhino credit for squeezing an uncompressed soundtrack and right at three hours of high-definition material on a single disc without any glaring compression flaws. Even flashes from the audience's cameras and strobing lights don't result in any artifacting.
Audio: As with the other HD DVDs in this opening salvo from Rhino, this Eagles concert offers audio in DTS 5.1 as well as an uncompressed stereo LPCM track. Switching back and forth between the two, the stereo audio has a somewhat fuller presence despite the silence in the rear channels. I kind of like hearing the roar of the crowd on concert releases, but the audience is dialed down here, and as much punch as the synths and kick drum have, there isn't much heft to Timothy Schmit's bass guitar. Some of the instrumentation, particularly the violin and some of the horns, occasionally gets buried in the mix as the guitars and vocals attract most of the track's attention. Like the visual end of the disc, the audio is perfectly fine but doesn't rank near the top of what the format has to offer.
An impressive selection of subtitles are also available to those who need them.
There's a pause after the tail end of "You Belong to the City". I'm not sure if it's a layer change or something else entirely, but it's one of just a couple of titles where I've spotted this sort of hiccup and have been able to consistently reproduce it.
Supplements: The only extra is a set of brief comments from the band, running around eleven minutes in total, but it's presented in full high-definition. The HD DVD includes a set of liner notes as well as a cover insert that takes advantage of the case's transparency.
Other Reviews: Holly E. Ordway posted a lengthier write-up of the concert when it was first released on DVD.
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