Matthews, Dave

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall [Blu-ray]

Socialites in the Hamptons paid up to $15,000 for the privilege of seeing this duo in action just a few weeks before the release of Live at Radio City Music Hall. Not that it was any easier to get tickets to the April 22, 2007, concert in New York that produced this recording, available on CD or DVD with high-definition 5.1 surround sound and an additional 46-minute film of backstage footage. The acoustic set features the veteran musicians performing for nearly two-and-a-half hours--and you get the feeling they could have easily kept going. Reynolds gets his solo turn on "Betrayal" and "You Are My Sanity," but it's a chatty Matthews who seems to be relishing the occasion more, stripping down some of his band's most popular songs ("Lie in Our Graves," "Two Step") while giving the fans a sneak peek at a couple of its new ones ("Eh Hee," "Cornbread"). The guy's even thrown in a few covers for kicks, including Neil Young's "Down by the River" and Daniel Lanois' "The Maker." In terms of audio quality and packaging, it marks a vast improvement over the pair's first release, 1999's Live at Luther College. And the best part is that it doesn't cost more than a yacht. --Aidin Vaziri

In April 2007, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds embarked on a 3-city theatre tour, culminating with a performance in the intimate confines of Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Due to the smaller sized venues and extremely limited number of dates, tickets were practically impossible to get, making this new 2 disc Blu-ray set all the more desirable to the huge Dave Matthews Band fanbase. LIVE AT RADIO CITY marks the first time in almost ten years that Dave and Tim have released an album. Their last album was the wildly successful, multi-platinum LIVE AT LUTHER COLLEGE. This is the first-ever Blu-ray Disc released by the duo. LIVE AT RADIO CITY features over 2 1/2 hours of music, capturing all 26 songs of Dave and Tim's performance. The performance includes numerous songs that have never been recorded by the two, including Crush, Grace Is Gone, Don t Drink The Water, Gravedigger and many more.

Video/Audio
9-camera, HiDef shoot
Full 1080P24 HD resolution
16:9 Wide screen format
PCM Stereo Sound (48kHz/24bit)
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound (96kHz/24bit)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (640 kbps)

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall

Dave Matthews Band - The Central Park Concert

Live at Piedmont Park

No Description Available.
Genre: Music Video - Pop/Rock
Rating: NR
Release Date: 11-DEC-2007
Media Type: DVD

Supernatural Live

Like the hit album that inspires its name, Supernatural Live brings journeyman guitarist Carlos Santana back into the mainstream by surrounding him with younger superstars eager to bask in his formidable musical presence. Resuscitating stardom through sheer proximity can translate to forced pairings or superfluous music making, but credit Santana himself with minimizing such missteps. A fusion artist before the term was coined, the erstwhile Mexican street musician long ago extended his technical reach and broadened his stylistic palette by hungrily assimilating different styles of music. Accordingly, he shifts gears easily, whether soloing behind Dave Matthews, trading lines with legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter, or spicing up a hip-hop excursion with Lauryn Hill.

Santana justifiably taps into the late '90s' breakout for Latin pop, hardly surprising in light of his early identification with Latin-rock via his 1968 recording debut. His early reworking of Tito Puente's classic "Oye Como Va" thus pops up as the set closer, while the concert kicks off with a frenetic, horn-powered "(Da Le) Yaleo," given added spectacle by a swaying corps of lissome female dancers in feathered headgear. Elsewhere, the guitarist hosts a procession of the stars that added their marquee value to the Supernatural album, including Rob Thomas (the massive hit, "Smooth," here performed as a medley with "Dame Tu Amor") and Everlast. But a duet with label colleague Sarah McLachlan on "Angel" yields the concert's only anticlimax--on a ballad built from spare piano and a poignant lyric, Santana's innate taste leaves him little to contribute beyond a delicate tracery of classical guitar.

Production values are excellent, with crisp camera work and sound mixing. A special remote camera, mounted on the neck of Santana's guitar, presents his intricate fretwork in nifty close-ups that are wisely held to just a few songs. --Sam Sutherland

The Rolling Stones - Bridges to Babylon

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: ROLLING STONES
Title: BRIDGES TO BABYLON
Street Release Date: 06/28/2005
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Like any good brand, the Rolling Stones know to preserve the formula even when updating the package, and this long-form concert video underscores that market strategy. As with each of their tours since the early '80s, the quartet, augmented by a discreet auxiliary of backup musicians, gives the fans new eye candy while dishing up a familiar set list spiked with Mick Jagger's lip-smacking vocals and Keith Richards's signature guitar riffs. The visual twists are at once spectacular and conservative: a cyclopean main stage design with massive pillars (presumably the Babylonian connection), a vast oval video screen (shades of Big Brother), and a hydraulic bridge enabling a midconcert sortie into the audience, with the Stones playing a more stripped-down, intimate set on a small satellite stage.

That huge physical setting doubtless made the live shows eye-filling rock spectacles, but the video crew necessarily accepts the limitations of the small screen, focusing more on close-ups of the band, rapid cuts, and racing, hand-held tracking shots to convey excitement while keeping the viewer close to the action. The evening's repertoire sticks to the band's most familiar hits, and if the Glimmer Twins occasionally slip their masks to let the routine show, the real wonder is how effectively they keep the playing focused. During the first half of the program, the band's newest songs (especially "Saint of Me" and "Out of Control") elicit conspicuously higher energy from the band, if not the audience. But just as the show seems doomed to a certain anomie, the escape onto the smaller, no-frills stage pumps up players and crowd alike, particularly when they launch into "Like a Rolling Stone," a cover that winds up sounding like a great idea too long deferred. --Sam Sutherland

Dave Matthews Band - Listener Supported

The turn of the millennium may have been marked by a confluence of over-the-top white rap-rockers, teeny pop pinups, and other musical cartoons, but the Dave Matthews Band continues to buck such trends while drawing a fiercely loyal audience. This first-rate concert, produced for public television, works both as concert souvenir for the faithful and a useful introduction to the DMB's formidable musicianship. Whether or not you relish the songs and singing of the eponymous, transplanted South African at center stage, it's hard to knock the collective power of this supple troupe, which effectively swirls jazz, folk, and world music through Matthews's bluesy pop songs.

The 2-hour show features 18 songs, spanning both familiar Matthews originals ("Crash Into Me," "Too Much") and a few choice covers ("Long Black Veil," "All Along the Watchtower"). With reeds and electric violin to spice up the instrumental attack, and a strong backing chorus to sweeten Matthews's own craggy voice, the DMB doesn't need to rely on theatricality; their sense of drama lies more in extended jams that can expose the material's limitations but stoke ardent fans' cheers. The direction and editing are smooth and fluid, and excellent audio recording and mixing are consistent with the group's growing shelf of live albums. Clearly, for the Matthews Band and its fans, the playing's the thing, and they play generously and well throughout. --Sam Sutherland

Dave Matthews Band - The Videos 1994-2001

The music of the Dave Matthews Band may speak for itself, but there's a whole lot else to talk about on this 12-song video anthology. Of course, there are the songs themselves and their uniformly eye-catching, effects-laden videos, ranging from 1995's "What Would You Say" (title notwithstanding, there's nothing here from '94) to 2001's "The Space Between." But it's the extras that make this DVD package special. You can view Matthews's lyrics onscreen while the video plays; you can listen to the comments of the various directors, an option normally found on feature film DVDs; and there's even 15 minutes of "behind the scenes" footage of the videos in production. Add to that a menu that lists each clip's premiere date, running time, and album of origin, and The Videos: 1994-2001 is a classy, complete item both for Matthews fans and for music video aficionados in general. --Sam Graham

Representing what is, in a sense, a collection of the band's greatest hits from their four RCA studio albums, The Videos 1994-2001 features all of the songs and videos that have established DMB as core artists on MTV, VH1, and MTV2. Starting with the first video, "What Would You Say," and running all the way through the current hit "The Space Between," The Videos 1994-2001 provides the chance to experience all of the band's 12 videos with the superior audio and visual quality that only DVD can offer. Also included are three "Behind-the-Scenes" short films that document the production of "Don't Drink The Water," "Stay (Wasting Time)," and "I Did It." Songs: What Would You Say, Ants Marching, Satellite, Too Much, So Much to Say, Crash Into Me, Tripping Billies, Don't Drink the Water, Stay (Wasting Time), Crush, I Did It, The Space Between.

Dave Matthews Band - Live at Folsom Field Boulder Colorado

Wetlands Preserved

Wetlands was one of the hottest venues for underground music in New York City. Until 2001 this ex-Chinese restaurant just south of the Holland Tunnel hosted the latest up-and-coming artists in every musical genre. But it was more than a typical rock and roll joint. This insightful and entertaining documentary tracks the history of the first-ever activist nightclub, a place that was as devoted to environmental and political issues as it was to partying and great music. Featuring interviews with and concert footage of artists like Dave Matthews Band, Warren Hayes (Allman Brothers Band), Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Phish and Blues Traveler.