Fleetwood Mac-Rumours (DVD-Audio) (2001) (NTSC) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Music |
Booklet Menu Audio Audio Commentary-The Making Of Rumours (12) DVD Credits Notes Gallery-Photo |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
Running Time | 44:27 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Programme | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | None Given |
Studio
Distributor |
Warner Vision |
Starring |
Mick Fleetwood John McVie Christine McVie Lindsay Buckingham Stevie Nicks |
Case | DVD-Audio Jewel | ||
RPI | $32.95 | Music |
Lindsay Buckingham Christine McVie Stevie Nicks |
Video (NTSC) | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English MLP 96/24 5.1 English MLP 96/24 2.0 |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 480i (NTSC) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
In 1977 the Nicks/Buckingham/McVie/McVie/Fleetwood version of Fleetwood Mac released a magnificent album: Rumours. The process of making this album was fraught with upheavals in the personal lives of the band, as documented in the Classic Albums documentary — I won't go into any of that here. I pre-ordered Rumours after being very impressed by the previous album, and probably annoyed a few people by playing it over and over. I wore out that copy, and four years later, after getting a job, I bought the Nautilus Superdisc version of the album — still vinyl, but very high quality vinyl. Then, a few years later again, I bought the album again, this time on CD. I would hate to try to compute the number of times I have played that CD.
Few albums get the recognition this one has. Other albums have achieved similar sales performance (not many, though!). More telling was the release in 1998 of the album Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. This album contained the same songs as Rumours, but every track was performed by a different group (or artist), and we are not talking about cover bands, either: Dreams is performed by The Corrs and Don't Stop by Elton John, for example.
In 2002 I finally took the plunge into DVD-Audio. One of the very first DVD-Audio discs I bought was Rumours. I was quite curious to see what difference there would be, and an album I knew as well as Rumours would be a good test. I was rather impressed — I listened to the whole album twice in the first sitting, going through the 5.1 mix first, then the stereo. For quite a while I was using this as my only DVD-Audio demo disc (I have a couple of others as well now).
1. Second Hand News 2. Dreams 3. Never Going Back Again 4. Don't Stop 5. Go Your Own Way 6. Silver Springs | 7. The Chain 8. You Make Loving Fun 9. I Don't Want To Know 10. Oh Daddy 11. Gold Dust Woman 12. Songbird |
There is no motion video on this disc, at all. There are some animated transitions, but they are sequences of stills. All that displays as the music plays are still images in NTSC.
When playing in DVD-Video mode there is a single static image per track.
When playing in DVD-Audio mode there are several static images per track. They are mostly photos of the members of the group (and some of the other people involved), but some of the shots have interesting bits of trivia overlaid, usually relating to the song that's playing. The lyrics to the songs are not provided — you probably know them anyway, but if you don't, they are provided in the booklet tucked into the front of the jewel case.
The sound is provided three ways, as is common on DVD-Audio discs: 5.1 format 96/24 MLP DVD-Audio, 2.0 (stereo) 96/24 MLP DVD-Audio, and 5.1 Dolby Digital (448 kbps) DVD-Video. I listened to the entire 5.1 DVD-Audio soundtrack again (it runs 44:27), then compared selected tracks with the stereo DVD-Audio, the DVD-Video, and CD versions.
The album was remixed into 5.1 by Ken Caillat, who was one of the two engineers on the original album — I guess he has to rate as being familiar with the content. He did an excellent job both times. There are some notes in amongst the trivia on the DVD-Audio version that mention small changes he made in the process of re-mixing. Let me comment track by track:
The changes to the content are mostly subtle — unless you've listened to the CD recently you're unlikely to pick them up. The big changes are from the simple stereo image to a much more complex five speaker space.
In general, the backing vocals have been moved to the rear, while keeping the lead vocals in the centre channel. This envelops the listener when backing vocals are used. A friend of mine didn't like this effect — he preferred the simpler stereo model, I suspect because it was more familiar, feeling more like a concert. I like this approach because it feels more intimate and more involving.
Instruments are spread around the soundstage, with a consistent image within each song. John McVie's bass is not easy to localise, but I had the feeling it was usually a little left of centre, close to the front. Mick Fleetwood's drums were sometimes spread (an odd image, but it works), often with the snare placed somewhat to the rear and right. Other instruments vary from track to track. In Songbird, the acoustic guitar is placed to the rear, with the piano and vocals strongly frontal — perfectly appropriate.
The DVD-Video track is quite similar to the 5.1 DVD-Audio one, with only a slight feeling of reduced clarity and slightly less dynamic range — it's a very impressive effort, considering that it's using 448kbps, versus the 8Mbps used by the 5.1 DVD-Audio track. Even if you only have a DVD-Video player today, you're getting an excellent recording.
The stereo DVD-Audio track is an excellent rendering of the original stereo mix, as far as I can tell. The big difference in content between this track and the CD is the inclusion of Silver Springs. This track was previously only available as a B-side to Go Your Own Way on a 45rpm vinyl single.
The CD sounded a little thin and lacking in definition when compared to the DVD-Audio. I've listened to this CD a lot, and now I find myself wondering when it will be possible to get DVD-Audio in more portable forms (walkman, car audio...).
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Audio Sync | |
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Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
This disc has an extra I have not seen on any other DVD-Audio disc. I think it is fabulous, and I hope other artists follow suit.
The menu is static and silent in DVD-Audio mode; it has music playing behind it in DVD-Video mode. Essentially the same menu is available in both modes.
An audio commentary on a DVD-Audio disc? Yup! Entitled The Making of Rumours, this offers the same tracks as the album, but each track is a commentary on the song, over some instrumental content. For most songs, the instrumental content is much the same as the finished song, but that's not the case for all. For The Chain, we're treated to the original instrumental — the music that nearly caused the song to be thrown out. For Gold Dust Woman we get a taste of Stevie Nicks' original demo tape of the song before the instrumental section. This is very cool stuff. The commentary includes contributions from all the members of the group, though not all comment on every song. There are some gaps in the commentary, but that's no problem — they give us a chance to listen to the audio. The audio is 48/24, rather than 96/24, but that's not a problem because we're listening to this for the commentary content, rather than pure high fidelity.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This disc is the same in all regions.
A magnificent album given renewed interest in the DVD-Audio format.
The audio quality is excellent in all formats provided.
The extra is impressive.
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Extras | |
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Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-S733A, using Component output |
Display | Sony VPH-G70 CRT Projector, QuadScan Elite scaler (Tripler), ScreenTechnics 110. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Denon AVC-A1SE |
Speakers | Front Left, Centre, Right: Krix Euphonix; Rears: Krix KDX-M; Subwoofer: Krix Seismix 5 |