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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Cranberries-Beneath the Skin: Live in Paris (2001)

The Cranberries-Beneath the Skin: Live in Paris (2001)

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Released 19-Feb-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Music Menu Animation & Audio
Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Featurette-Band Part 1
Featurette-Band Part 2
Featurette-Technicians
Music Video-Saving Grace
Music Video-Not Hollywood
Music Video-MTV Unplugged-Yesterday's Gone
Music Video-How
Gallery-Photo-3
Music Video-Animal Instinct
Music Video-Promises
Music Video-Just My Imagination
Notes-Song Lyrics
Notes-Equipment
Notes-Instruments
Featurette-"BTH" Morphing Album Cover
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 84:33
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Maurice Linnane
Studio
Distributor

Warner Vision
Starring Dolores O'Riordan
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $249.95 Music The Cranberries


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles French
German
Italian
Swedish
Norwegian
Spanish
Portuguese
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The Cranberries, another popular Irish rock outfit, have been in the game now for 10 years. Starting much like my first garage band did up in Brisbane, they initially decided who was going to play what, and then bought the instruments and learnt how to use them. As teenagers they only wrote and played original songs because, as they say in one of the documentaries, they couldn't figure out how to play songs written by others artists. This may have helped to develop the unique style that sets them apart from their contemporaries in the rock/grunge crossover stakes, although the distinctive vocal delivery of singer Dolores O'Riordan is the band's real trademark. A string of hit singles in the mid-1990s culminated in their biggest success ‘Zombie’, which my band actually covered...with variable results. Seeing the song performed here for 20,000 delirious Parisians raised goose-pimples across my skin.

    Filmed in France a few years ago, this concert is well directed, with excellent coverage of all four musicians in a variety of close-ups and long shots. Sweeping crowd shots are used judiciously and the stage decoration is captured faithfully by the widescreen compositions. Although the sound and video quality are below par, The Cranberries Live in Paris is an essential purchase for any follower of this down-to-Earth rock quartet. Of course, seeing Kiss at the Tennis Centre in Melbourne last week reminded me that nothing beats the real thing.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Track Listing

1. Promises
2. Animal Instinct
3. Loud and Clear
4. Ode To My Family
5. The Icicle Melts
6. Linger
7. Wanted
8. Salvation
9. Desperate Andy
10. Go Your Own Way
11. Pretty
12. When You're Gone
13. I Can't Be With You
14. Waltzing Back
15. Free To Decide
16. Zombie
17. Ridiculous Thoughts
18. Dying In The Sun
19. You And Me
20. Just My Imagination
21. Delilah
22. Dreams

Transfer Quality

Video

    Framed at 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced, the picture quality of this concert video is quite acceptable apart from the occasional blizzards of video noise that ruin the image.

    Sharpness is reasonably good throughout. Glimpses of the huge crowd are handy for determining picture detail, since you have a carpet of ever-smaller human details leading off into the distance. On freeze frame it was possible to discern enthusiastic individuals seated deep into the arena. Subjects close by were well-rendered, exhibiting many clothing, instrument, and skin features. Shadow detail was average and there was no excessive edge enhancement. Blacks were fine except for a mist of grey video noise that appears every now and then. While the image was pleasing, I felt that the analogue video media used to capture this concert limited the amount of apparent detail available in the end product.

    Colours showed an appropriately gaudy level of saturation without too much bleed; pure reds were chalky at times, perhaps due to my TV's comb filter. I ended up dabbing the chroma setting down to a more suitable level. Skin tones looked natural, though lacking the solidity you get from film or a better video source. Again, the use of video source materials have undermined an otherwise decent, if saccharine, colour rendering.

    Video noise: have I mentioned yet that there is a hell of a lot of it? Well, there is. Sometimes it looked like it was snowing on stage. No white flecks or compression glitches appear in the image. It's a real tragedy that this transfer suffers from so much video noise. It's not distracting once you accept its presence and pretend you are watching VHS or an ABC broadcast, which is rather sad. Otherwise this would have been an excellent visual presentation.

    Since I did not notice a layer change I assume this disc is Dual Layered, with the layers dividing the concert footage from the extras.

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

Audio

    Thankfully, the 448Kb/s Dolby Digital 5.1 audio soundtrack makes amends for the video fuzz, although it falls short of delivering a concert sound that complements the band's studio sound on CD. The bland Dolby Digital 2.0 track, which I only sampled a few songs from, was mixed lower than the far superior discrete channel track. Hence it is as about as useful as a bandage on a corpse, unless you have a Pro-Logic system. My guess is that the 5.1 track will sound better down-converted than the native 2.0 track. This is something I never tried.

    Dolores O'Riordan's vocals came through beautifully, with no distortion or sync problems.

    The instrumentation was arranged in the traditional manner, with the drum kit and guitars distributed left to right across the front soundstage. While acceptable, the separation was below what Dolby Digital is capable of. Bass kicks and bass guitar notes sounded weighty enough to be enjoyed, but I would have preferred more punch and tightness in there -- one imagines that the resulting sound was meant to approximate the audio characteristics of a live recording.

    Rear channel activity was reserved for crowd cheers and realistic reverberations filling the stadium. Although I have heard better, this soundtrack does a reasonable job at recreating the live concert experience. Having said that, a properly mixed and mastered DTS track would blow this one out of the water. Compared to CDs released by the Cranberries, the DVD audio fidelity was not good enough to enjoy for it's own merits. The difference is glaringly obvious when one plays any of the three Cranberries video clips thoughtfully included as supplements.

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

Extras

Menus

    Who's responsible? Storm Thorgorson, that's who. These menus are the most annoying I have ever used. Each screen layout is preceded by a short four-way kaleidoscopic animation and dumb little sounds. The selection icons are very difficult to navigate since some get triggered as soon as the indicator highlights them and others don't. Extremely tedious -- avoid navigating or reviewing this DVD if you've had a bad day at the office.

Sound Tests

    An odd feature of this oddly designed DVD is a sound test cycle featuring pink noise and spoken speaker identification (left, left, right, right, etc.). Pointers for balancing the levels with a sound meter are also included. Each test cannot be skipped or terminated once begun.

Documentaries (x 3)

    These are two monologue pieces with the band members running to 11:20 (Part 1) and 6:25 (Part 2). The musicians are refreshingly unpretentious as they recall their early days, which brands and types of instruments they play, and the experience of playing live in front of an audience.

    A third documentary piece called "Le Crew", clocking in at 13:17, allows the roadies to talk about what they do to deliver the live act. The names of those shown on video are Harold Danker, Russell Burton, Joe Herlihy, Murt Murphy, and Declan Hogan, who is a bit of a character.

    All segments are 16x9 enhanced (sourced from video) with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

Music Videos (x 3)

    The three videos are Animal Instinct (4:57, 4x3 transfer, letterboxed to 2.35:1), Promises (4:35, full frame), and Just My Imagination (3:50, full frame). All songs are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. All videos boasted video quality that was noticeably better than the concert footage, although the front sound stage was narrow and tight except on Just My Imagination, where it was more open and breezy.

Live Tracks (x 4)

    Also included are four live tracks: Saving Grace (1999, 3:16, letterboxed to 1.85:1, boxy sound), Not Hollywood (1996, 5:15, full frame, terrific video quality), and Yesterday's Gone (MTV, 1995, 4:13, full frame, soft video, good sound), and How (1993, 2:54, full frame, raw video and audio quality).

Still Galleries (x 3)

    The stills are grouped into band photos (35), backstage snap shots (30), and crew photos (20). There's nothing here that warrants much attention.

Notes and Stuff

    Buried within some very trying sub-menus are track listings, song lyrics, extensive equipment and instrument inventories, and an animated version of the "BTH" album cover.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Cranberries-Beneath the Skin-Live In Paris has been released in Region 1 with identical extras and comparable video and audio specifications. It also suffers from the same menu design and lacks English subtitles for lyrics. The PAL version released in Region 4 is the choice edition since it boasts more video resolution.

Summary

    There is a much here to tempt fans of The Cranberries. This is an obvious attempt to exploit the DVD format and that alone is worth commending. The shortcomings of the menu system, video quality, and audio fidelity are forgivable when the package is taken as a whole. But, a reauthored edition with a remastered video transfer, crisper sound, and English subtitles would be most welcome.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Rod Williams (Suss out my biography if you dare)
Wednesday, April 18, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-737, using Component output
DisplayLoewe Ergo (81cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderDenon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital decoder.
AmplificationArcam AV50 5 x 50W amplifier
SpeakersFront: ALR/Jordan Entry 5M, Centre: ALR/Jordan 4M, Rear: ALR/Jordan Entry 2M, Subwoofer: B&W ASW-1000 (active)

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