Frank Sinatra-Concert for the Americas (1982)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1982
Running Time	86:00
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Walter C Miller
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Frank Sinatra
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Various

    The Concert for the Americas is a wonderful Sinatra concert DVD, featuring 'The Chairman of the Board' performing live in an outdoor auditorium in the Dominican Republic.

    As I wrote in an earlier review, "Frank Sinatra needs no introduction. Since the 1940s he has been consistently one of the biggest selling and most critically acclaimed recording and performing stars in popular music; an Academy Award winning actor and movie star; and a 20th Century cultural icon. Sinatra's life and work speak for itself."

    The Concert for the Americas was recorded in 1982, and Sinatra is confident and oozes all the swagger and pizzazz that one would expect from Sinatra at his best as a senior performer. Sinatra slips into some of his best loved tunes like comfortable shoes, and effortlessly delivers standard after standard in his easy, swinging style.

    Some of the best known Sinatra song-writers' work is on display here, including Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin, George Harrison, Sammy Cahn, and Rodgers and Hart. The songs are beautifully orchestrated, and full of attitude, swing, and punch. Arrangers include the legendary Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti and Quincy Jones. Highlights for me included Sinatra's performance of Something, The Lady is a Tramp, and My Kind of Town. There are also featured performances by the great Tony Mattola on guitar, and the astounding Buddy Rich on drums. Rich performs with a kinetic and rhythmic energy that puts most other drummers to shame. I usually find the 'drum solo' to be the most dull part of any concert, but I replayed Rich's Jet Song performance seven times post-reviewing.

Video

    Any transfer is limited by the source material, and here it is early 1980s videotape. The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame.

    The image is fairly soft throughout. For example, consider the soft and hazy image at 31:35. The shadow detail is acceptable for an outdoor concert with rather harsh lighting conditions..

    The colour is a little drab and orange, but again one must consider the age of the source material.

    Despite the softness of the image, MPEG artefacts appear in the form of mild pixelization throughout. There were also a few moments which were a little too 'blocky', such as at 41:39.

    Film-to-video and film artefacts were never a major problem.

    All the subtitles promised on the packaging were present. While the non-English subtitles only appear during the spoken passages, the English subtitles also display the song lyrics during Frank's performance. The English subtitles were accurate.

    This is a single-layered disc which is acceptable considering the length of the material.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one audio track on this DVD, an English PCM track adapted from the original mono source. While there were a number of audio clicks, pops and drop-outs throughout, overall the quality of the audio was acceptable considering its age, and mono source.

    The dialogue quality and the audio sync were fine.

    In regards to the music, as I noted earlier, some of the great Sinatra song-writers and arrangers have their work beautifully performed here.

    As a PCM track, the surround speakers and subwoofer are not called upon during this DVD.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    This DVD contains few extras.

Menu

    The DVD auto-plays on loading, but there is a menu if you select it. It is static and without audio.

Trailer

    This four minute and nineteen second trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame, with an English PCM track. It advertises the series of Sinatra DVDs that Warner Vision are releasing, as opposed to this DVD in particular. I assume that this trailer appears on all of the series' DVDs.

Catalogue

    Purely text-based, this extra lists the tracks on Warner Vision's ten Sinatra DVDs. Again I assume that this extra appears on all of the series' DVDs.

    There is limited information, but from what I can tell, the R1 versions of this series of Sinatra DVDs only differs from the R4 counterparts in the designs of their slicks, and in the NTSC/PAL transfer. Thus, I easily favour our version based on its availability, and most importantly, its superior PAL image.

    Warner Vision have released a series of Sinatra DVDs. Each captures a different Sinatra performance over the many years. As for this title, there were many standing ovations by the audience during this concert DVD, and all of them were well-deserved. Any serious Sinatra fan should consider adding this to their collection.

    The video quality is acceptable considering the age of the source material.

    The audio quality is also acceptable, considering the age of the mono, source material

    The extras are really not worth mentioning.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall