BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Music	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1997	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	86:07 Minutes	Other Extras	None
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	1,2,3,4,5,6	Director	Egbert Van Hess
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Joe Cocker Jack Bruno Gene Black Warren McRae Steve Grove Ken Stange Maxine Sharpe Stacey Campbell Mark Alexander
Case	Amaray
RRP	$39.95	Music	Joe Cocker

• Could You Be Loved
• Feelin' Alright
• Have A Little Faith In Me
• Up Where We Belong
• You Can Leave Your Hat On
• When The Night Comes
• N'Oubliez Jamais
• Summer In The City
• You Are So Beautiful
• Into The Mystic
• Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
• Delta Lady
• The Letter
• Unchain My Heart
• With A Little Help From My Friends
• Across From Midnight
• Cry Me A River

Video

    The transfer is amazingly sharp, so much so that one can make out the way light shines from the sweat under Joe Cocker's neck. However, this is tempered by the fact that shadow detail is generally quite average, with little or no discernible detail in the darker portions of the transfer. Although this is evident throughout the transfer, a particularly interesting example is at 29:58, where the edges of Joe Cocker's black shirt are all but impossible to discern from the black background around him. On a positive note, however, this obviously makes life a lot easier for the compression. No low-level noise could be seen in the darker portions of the picture, which is also a plus considering how generally dark the transfer is.

    When the stage lighting isn't flooding in, the colour saturation is quite accurate and realistic, with flesh tones and costumes coming up quite accurately in the final image. Lens flare, however, is a significant problem with this transfer, although the problem seems to be more with the stage lighting simply being too bright. Often, a stage light can be seen throwing rays of colour into the picture that become somewhat distracting. When red stage lights are visible in the picture, the flare seems to have a faint degree of undersaturation in them, as if they were deliberately toned down in the editing process.

    MPEG artefacts were not noticed during the concert, which is certainly one reason to be thankful for the low lighting. Given how active the overall picture is, the potential for MPEG artefacts is certainly much greater than what was reached here. Aliasing is plentiful, but extremely minor overall with its restriction to the stage props, which only shimmer very faintly. Considering how many shots there are of musical instruments on this DVD, the aliasing is remarkably well controlled. Film artefacts are generally non-existent, although the occasional white spot became apparent from time to time.

Audio

    The music was well-mixed, with all the instruments having plenty of space to breathe within the sound field, and the vocals are easy to understand at all times. At least, Joe Cocker's vocals were easy to understand at all times. The backing vocals were, by comparison, quite dull and lifeless, being well and truly recessed at times when they should have been as lively in the mix as the rest of the band. This, however, is not the fault of the audio transfer, as it is pretty difficult to screw up the vocal tracks on Up Where We Belong unless the secondary vocals were poorly performed in the first place.

    The music on this DVD is a fairly comprehensive representation of the Joe Cocker songs that have been played on the radio or released as singles, but there are no obscure album-only songs here as far as I can tell. The best songs on this DVD are those that don't make any use of backing vocals, as I cannot stress enough how badly these backing vocals clash with the primary vocals. It could not be more obvious during With A Little Help From My Friends that the women entrusted with the backing vocals haven't heard the original recordings of the songs. Their inherent lack of subtlety is quite damaging to the songs at times, which is a real pity considering how much potential there is in these songs.

    The surround presence on this DVD is nothing special, and can be described as the result of having the music mixed into the rears at a lower volume. Obviously, the separation into six speakers helps considerably by giving the instruments room to breathe, but there seems to be no immersive qualities in the surround field at all. Not that this is necessarily bad in and of itself, but it is a tad disappointing. Another disappointing aspect is the recessed and quiet feel of the overall soundtrack, which does not suit the style of the music at all. In any case, the subwoofer had a wonderful time supporting the bass, but there weren't that many other sounds in the mix to give it more to do.

Menu

    The video quality is very dark overall, but very good.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall