The Moody Blues

Hall Of Fame - Live From The Royal Albert Hall

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio Menu Animation
Rating
Year Released	?
Running Time	80:34
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (53:38)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region	2,4	Director	Andy Harcot
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision Australia	Starring	Justin Heyward John Lodge Graeme Edge Ray Thomas
Case	?	Starring	Justin Heyward John Lodge Graeme Edge Ray Thomas
RPI	$39.95	Music	The Moody Blues

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English (Dolby Digital 5.0, 448 Kb/s) English (Dolby Digital 2.0, 256 Kb/s) English (DTS 5.0, ? Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	?	Smoking	No
Subtitles	None	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles	None	Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

More years ago than I care to remember, The Moody Blues played the Perth Entertainment Centre and being something of a fan, I dragged my sister along to see them play. Not knowing quite what to expect from a bunch of middle-aged guys who have been pilloried by some for their form of "art rock" or "pretentious rock", I was knocked out by what I saw. They just wandered out on stage and played for two solid hours - just pure music, no frills. Minimal stage lighting, no pyrotechnics, no smoke machines pumping away, just a bunch of guys on stage doing what they love - playing music. It was one of the greatest live concerts that I have ever attended, and it also demonstrated above all else that the music is everything - and their music will be long remembered I feel. So much of a fan of the band have I been that my very first taste of the DTS experience at home was on a DTS CD of none other than The Moody Blues (their great album of 1972 The Seventh Sojourn to be precise). So, when the opportunity to review this DVD came up, I jumped at the chance - any time I get the chance to see one of the great bands of British rock and roll, I grab it. Others can pillory them all they like, but The Moody Blues have made some classic music over the years (some of the very best is included here) that still sounds as fresh today as it did thirty years ago. The timeless quality of their music is amply demonstrated by the fact that the audience at this particular gig (alas, the details of which, as far as date is concerned, are missing) comprise everyone from oldies (well, older than me anyway) through to young kids.

The selection of songs from this regrettably too short concert are:

Overture
Tuesday Afternoon
English Sunset
Words You Say
The Story In Your Eyes
I Know You're Out There Somewhere
Haunted
Your Wildest Dreams
Isn't Life Strange
I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock and Roll Band)
Nights In White Satin
Legend Of A Mind
Question
Ride My See Saw

These constitute a fair smattering of some of their absolute classics with a few newer songs thrown in for good measure. As ever, the highlights are Isn't Life Strange (an anthem if ever there was one), Your Wildest Dreams and I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock and Roll Band). However, there is nothing here less than great in my view and certainly the audience had a ball. The whole show is a pretty good demonstration as to why this bunch of very middle-aged "arty" rockers can still deliver the goods better than just about any current rock and roll act. Thirty years on, and the music still is miles better than the dross coming out today.

If you are a fan of The Moody Blues then this is an absolutely essential purchase, and there is little in the way of technical deficiencies to detract from the pleasure to be had. If you have a passing interest in the band, or just want to check out some classic rock from a classic band, then you cannot do much better than this effort.

Transfer Quality

Video

Like so many concert video recordings, there are inherent faults that really cannot be overcome. These usually involve lapses in focus from the camerawork or problems dealing with the intense stage lighting, and so it is here that there are problems with focus at times, and certainly some bad problems handling the intense blue stage stage lighting, but these are indeed inherent faults in the source material and from a technical point of view, this transfer is a virtually flawless transfer of that material.

The transfer is presented Full Frame, and is not 16x9 enhanced.

Apart from the odd lapse in the source material, this is a wonderfully sharp and detailed transfer that if anything is too detailed! The stage design involved the placement of perspex screens in front of the orchestra and drums that quite noticeably reflect lighting effects in an off-putting manner. It took a little while to get used to it, but it certainly is the result of the transfer being too detailed. Shadow detail is generally very good, with even the darkest corners of the Royal Albert Hall being nicely brought to life. This is a wonderfully clear transfer that does not appear to have any problems at all with grain. Low level noise is also not an issue in the transfer.

The colours here come up wonderfully well and the whole transfer has a gorgeous vibrancy to it that really reminds me in a lot of ways of the quality of Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells II & III . The main problem here is the intense blue stage lighting which at times causes horrendous flare problems. This is consistent throughout the transfer, and is almost certainly an inherent fault in the source material and not a transfer problem. The transfer generally has a very nice saturation to the colours otherwise and the only issue is the odd lapse from a couple of angles under intense stage lighting. I doubt that we could expect any better than this from the source material available.

The only significant MPEG artefact in the transfer is a couple of instances of loss of resolution in fast pan shots from the steadicam shots in front of the stage and the flying boom camera over the audience. I am almost tempted to suggest that the bulk of the problem is again not a transfer issue but a source material issue. There is not much of a problem with film-to-video artefacts here, with only some exceedingly minor and inconsequential aliasing on a few short occasions that are barely noticeable at all. There was no problem with film artefacts.

This is an RSDL formatted disc with the layer change coming at 53:38. Like many concert DVDs, there is little opportunity for a natural break in the video and therefore the layer change ends up being just a little noticeable. This one is, even though it is pretty well placed, simply because audience noise briefly ceases during the change. It is not disruptive to the flow of the show, though.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-to-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

There are three soundtracks on this DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, an English Dolby Digital 5.0 soundtrack and an English DTS 5.0 soundtrack. Rather stupidly, I listened to the DTS soundtrack whilst sampling both Dolby Digital soundtracks afterward. When will I remember to listen to the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack first? By failing to do so, the 2.0 soundtrack really sounds pretty dead, but I am sure that that is only a reaction to a couple of fine 5.0 soundtracks.

Overall, there is not much of a problem with the vocals, which come up very well in the soundtrack and are easy to understand. The only concern I have is that the balance of the DTS soundtrack has the lead vocals mixed just a little too forward in the mix to sound really natural. There did not seem to be any problem with audio sync in the transfer.

I have to confess to being a little reticent going into the review knowing that there were only 5.0 soundtracks on offer. Just how much difference would the lack of the bass channel make? I have to say that whilst the lack of the bass channel is at times a little obvious, in general I did not miss it too much at all and the more ethereal rock style of The Moodies music probably suits the 5.0 format quite well. The DTS 5.0 soundtrack is quite wonderful, with a really nice surround presence that makes you feel that you are sitting in the middle of the hall about a third of the way back from the stage. There are lots of nice reflected style sounds out of the surround channels that really encompass you quite nicely. This is not quite so noticeable on the Dolby Digital 5.0 soundtrack, which is just a little less dynamic in the surround channels, but overall is still a fine soundtrack. Both the 5.0 soundtracks can be cranked up a little higher than normal thanks to the lack of the bass channel and are totally devoid of any blemishes as far as I could ascertain. The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack comes over quite dead and lifeless in comparison to the two 5.0 efforts, but that really is a reaction to the 5.0 efforts and not a reflection of the quality of the 2.0 soundtrack. A brief sample of the 2.0 after a decent break away from the 5.0 soundtracks indicates that it is not too bad an effort at all, being reasonably clear and reasonably open. However, it still seemed to be lacking a bit of bite to the sound.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

No, you cannot do this! A classic band responsible for a whole bunch of classic songs and they get absolutely nothing in the way of extras? No discography, no interview material, not even a lyrics subtitle option, nothing at all? A crying shame indeed.

R4 vs R1

As far as I can ascertain, this has not yet been released in Region 1 - it is due around the same time as the Region 4 release. When it does get a release though, I doubt that the package will be substantially different to this one.

Summary

A very decent concert indeed from The Moody Blues, on what is a virtually a flawless transfer of the source material. However, the lack of anything that could really be considered an extra seriously hampers the presentation - although it has to be said that this is a pre-production test sample and the final release may include a booklet as well. My real complaint though is the fact that this is about one hundred minutes too short! I really wish that this went on for a lot longer. I would recommend this effort to all. I am not able to identify the year of release for the original show as I cannot read the copyright message at the end of the credits.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display	Sony Trinitron Wega 80cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder	Built in
Amplification	Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers	Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL