Emmylou Harris-Producer's Cut (DVD-Audio) (2002) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Booklet Lyrics Gallery-Photo Interviews-Cast & Crew-with Emmylou Harris and Brian Ahern Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	56:33
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Brian Ahern
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Emmylou Harris
Case	DVD-Audio Jewel
RPI	$32.95	Music	Various

    This is a somewhat interesting title, and hopefully a sign of things to come. It is a Greatest Hits Collection, but available exclusively as a DVD-Audio title and not released on CD. Apparently (according to the interview with Brian Ahern in the extra featurette) the songs have been "specially selected" based on their "surroundability" potential - and Brian tested them out by playing them on an old Technics receiver with a fake surround mode first to gauge their potential).

    Emmylou Harris is a singer with a career spanning over 20 years and over 25 albums. Although mainly a country singer, her songs have spanned various genres including pop, folk and even alternative. She was born in 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama but grew up near Washington, D.C.

    This is a retrospective collection featuring 13 songs taken from seven of Emmylou's first eight albums for Reprise Records, plus a rare, previously unreleased duet with Johnny Cash, Old Rugged Cross, originally taken from the Roses In The Snow recording sessions. Apparently the songs were specially chosen by Emmylou and producer Brian Ahern to be remixed and showcased in multi-channel surround.

    Most of the songs in this collection are probably a little bit too country and not enough rock and roll for my tastes, but they are quite pleasant to listen to nevertheless. Fans of Emmylou will no doubt enjoy hearing these sounds in multi-channel.

    Besides the Johnny Cash duet, the collection also features collaborations with Waylon Jennings, Sharon & Cheryl White, and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues features harmonisation from Trio fellow singers Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt.

Video

    Like most of the Warner DVD-Audio discs released to date, the video content on this disc is in full frame NTSC. Each song is accompanied by musician credits, a set of photos and lyrics.

    This is a single sided dual layered disc. All the DVD-Video content is contained on Layer 1, so I was unable to determine where the layer transition was.

Audio

    The DVD-Audio content consists of the following tracks:

• English MLP 96/24 5.1
• English MLP 96/24 2.0

    This is a disc authored to the newer DVD Audio 1.1 specifications, so you can switch between the two tracks "on the fly" using the Audio button on your player (as opposed to fiddling with Groups). In addition, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is also available as Group 3.

    The DVD-Video content consists of the following tracks:

• English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
• English dts 5.1 (1536Kb/s)

    Interestingly, both Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts 5.1 are authored as separate streams within Title 1, and Dolby Digital 2.0 is authored in a separate title (Title 3).

    The MLP 2.0 track sounds reasonably decent, as long as you play it without referencing the MLP 5.1 track. In comparison to the MLP 5.1 track, however, it sounds hopelessly dull and lifeless. Presumably the MLP 2.0 is directly sourced from the final stereo mix used for release on CD (but hopefully before downsampling as opposed to upsampled from 44.1/16).

    The MLP 5.1 track sounds like it has been completely remixed from the original multi-tracks and is like a breath of fresh air. In fact, it was hard for me to imagine these songs being recorded in the 1970s - they sound like they were taped in the studio yesterday! Dynamics and clarity were excellent, as well as instrument and voice definition.

    This is a fairly enveloping mix, with Emmylou's vocals sounding a bit disembodied although still front focused. I felt as if her voice was surrounding me rather than coming from a precise point in front of me.

    The centre channel appeared to be a "fill" channel in between the two front speakers and I did not notice any significant material directed towards it.

    The rear channels are used to extend the soundstage. It is not used as aggressively as some other titles I have listened to, and nor does it sound 'gimmicky', but occasionally I could hear specific instruments being directed towards the rears - including a banjo, a harmonica, background vocals and guitars.

    The subwoofer appears to be only lightly used to support the low frequencies in the music.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 track also sounds quite pleasant, but is slightly harsher than the MLP 5.1 audio track and doesn't have as much "bite". The dts 5.1 audio track sounds very good, almost as good as the MLP 5.1 audio track. The Dolby Digital 2.0 track is a poor imitation of the MLP 2.0 track.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Apart from the usual things like photo galleries and lyrics, we get a fairly long featurette.

Menu

    Static and full frame.

Booklet

    This is a 16-page colour booklet. Surprisingly, there is a rather lengthy essay describing each song penned by Parke Puterbaugh, as well as a track listing, colour/B&W photos, musician and production credits.

Lyrics

    These are selectable as pages in the DVD-Audio content whilst a song is playing, and as a separate set of submenus in the DVD-Video section of the disc.

Gallery-Photo

    These are selectable as pages in the DVD-Audio content whilst a song is playing, and as a separate set of submenus in the DVD-Video section of the disc. I counted over 40 stills.

Interviews-Cast & Crew-with Emmylou Harris and Brian Ahern (27:26)

    Interestingly, there are two audio tracks for this Group (2) - Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0. The video is a mixture of full frame and 1.78:1 letterboxed.

    The interviews are shot in a lounge room, in the studio and on stage. We also get close-ups of album art, music and lyric sheets, and recording annotations.

    The following topics are covered:

• Production Philosophy - Brian Ahern discusses production concepts behind Emmylou's early albums
• The Enactron Truck - the mobile studio used to record the albums
• Surroundability - Brian describes how certain tracks were chosen for this collection
• Songs - Highlights and backgrounds of the songs Boulder to Birmingham, Too Far Gone, Leavin' Louisiana in the Broad Daylight, Pancho and Lefty, Spanish Johnny, Beneath Still Waters, Sorrow In The Wind, Last Cheater's Waltz, Old Rugged Cross with commentary by Brian, Donivan Cowart, and Emmylou Harris.

Credits

    This is a set of three stills.

    This disc appears to be identically featured across all regions.

    This is a collection of songs from country singer Emmylou Harris's early albums, specially selected to be remixed into surround sound for this DVD-Audio only release.

    The multi-channel mix is stunning, the stereo tracks somewhat ordinary.

    Extras include a half-an-hour featurette.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall