Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words & Music (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	89:40
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Kevin Spacey Dave Matthews Stone Temple Pilots Alanis Morissette Moby Sean Lennon Yoko Ono Cyndi Lauper Rufus Wainwright Marc Anthony Shelby Lynne Lou Reed Craig David
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	John Lennon

"Life is what happens to you, while you're busy making other plans."

    So sang John Lennon in the song Beautiful Boy, which was a touching tribute to his son Sean. While this song is not featured in this concert, it is my favourite line from all of John Lennon's many classics and seemed like a good place to start this review of what is quite a touching concert. Sean Lennon does make an appearance in the show and sings a couple of his old man's tunes, so there is some connection.

    This show was originally conceived as a tribute to John Lennon and his music. English by birth, but a resident of New York City at the time of his tragic death in 1980, John Lennon's music and lyrics have touched many people for their simplicity yet unique ability to tackle some pretty complex issues. Songs such as Imagine, Give Peace A Chance, and Revolution are simple in structure and delivery, but speak volumes about the world we live in. The master songwriter and hugely influential musician was certainly a life cut way too short. This event was recorded at Radio City Music Hall in New York on 2 October 2001, just three weeks after the tragic events of September 11. As a result, the show was re-conceived as a dedication to the city of New York and its people. The sombre mood that obviously still hung around the city is reflected in many of the songs and the speeches from the various guests.

    Now I'm often left feeling mixed emotions when watching one of these tribute style concerts. It's a bit like when your mother-in-law drives off a cliff in your brand new Jaguar. With such a diverse range of talent on offer, you just know someone is going to pull out a blinder and perform one of these songs probably better than the original. On the other hand, you can pretty much guarantee that someone is also going to absolutely murder an old classic, and possibly ruin the song for all eternity. This tribute show is no different to most and sees both events occur.

    Hosted by Kevin Spacey (who amazingly belts out a very good version of Mind Games, I kid you not), there are 17 songs performed over the 90 minute show. In between the songs we are treated to footage of John Lennon in various poses and places, mingled with interview snippets from the great man as he muses about life, love, peace, war, and death in only the way he could. We also get to hear from several special guest stars such as Kevin Bacon, Dustin Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, and Ben Stiller as they introduce some of the acts.

    On the good side with excellent renditions of the classics are Dave Matthews with a superb acoustic rendition of In My Life which is probably the highlight of the show. Also deserving praise are the Stone Temple Pilots with a solid if perhaps a little generic version of Revolution. Moby and Rufus Wainright join Sean Lennon for a touching Across the Universe, while Sean goes solo for an emotional rendition of Julia.  Rounding out the reasonable covers are Cyndi Lauper with a slightly different take on Strawberry Fields Forever and as mentioned Kevin Spacey with Mind Games.

    On the bad side (for me at least - it's also personal opinion really), was an awfully over-sung Imagine from Yolanda Adams. For me, this is one of the greatest songs of all time and should be pretty much treated like a national anthem. Just sing it as it was recorded and don't try to put your own slant on what is really one of the simplest songs ever written. I also didn't think much of Alanis Morissette's take on Dear Prudence, though I guess it's the sort of song that suited her vocal capacity. The less said about Marc Anthony's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and Craig David's awful Come Together the better, while the gong for worst performance would have to be Lou Reed's warble on the sublime Jealous Guy. Lennon's version of this exquisite song was great while the Brian Ferry and Roxy Music version was superb. This one from someone of Reed's calibre is absolute garbage.

    The full track listing for the 90 minute show is:

Video

    All up this is a fairly decent transfer with basically no faults.

    It is presented in an aspect of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The image is of a consistent clarity and sharpness throughout. There is no trace of edge enhancement. Shadow detail is exemplary at all times. Grain is minimal and there is no low level noise.

    With the lighting being quite conservative, the colours are well rendered with no apparent problems. Skin tones are natural.

    There are no MPEG artefacts. The transfer is also clean of any video artefacts.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a single layered disc so there is no layer change with which to contend.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are a choice of three audio tracks; two Dolby Digital tracks in 5.1 and 2.0 variants, and also a dts 5.1 track. I listened to both 5.1 tracks and merely verified the presence of the Dolby Digital 2.0 track. There is really little difference between the Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts tracks. Both offer a wide and enveloping sound presence from the front channels with decent bass response, but little rear channel use. The dts track is perhaps a little fuller and resonating in its delivery.

    Dialogue is handled well as are all the vocal efforts, which really do shine on both 5.1 soundtracks. There are no audio sync problems.

    There is virtually no surround channel use.
   
    The subwoofer is pleasantly integrated into the overall soundtrack and draws little attention to itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu Audio

    Aside from main menu audio, there are no extras on this disc.

    The Region 1 disc is identical to ours. Have to favour the local product here.

    This would have to be one of the better tribute style concerts that I have seen. The majority of performers tackle the classic tunes of John Lennon with dignity, passion and emotion. There are a couple of duds, as is to be expected, but there are also a couple of gems. The gloom and emotion connected with the September 11 attacks in New York add a sombre but relevant air of respect to the evening.

    The video quality is excellent and without fault.

    The audio is excellent and while not top-shelf, the inclusion of a dts soundtrack is always an added bonus.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall