Lightning in a Bottle (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Introduction Dolby Digital Trailer Interviews-Crew-Antoine Fuqua (Director) Bonus Track-5
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	105:27 (Case: 109)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Antoine Fuqua
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Aerosmith Gregg Allman James Blood Ulmer Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown Ruth Brown Solomon Burke Natalie Cole Shemekia Copeland Bill Cosby Robert Cray Chuck D. Dr. John Honeyboy Edwards
Case	?
RPI	$14.95	Music	Steve Jordan

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, Watch right to the end...

    As a big fan of blues music for many years, I was very keen to see and review this recently made documentary/concert film. It was directed by Antoine Fuqua and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. It was filmed mostly at Radio City Music Hall in 2004. The occasion was a celebration concert for the 100th anniversary of the blues as a musical form. The show is mostly concert footage recorded on the night interspersed with some vintage footage of blues stars, contemporary interviews with performers on the show and some old news style footage of the deep south. These are mostly between songs but sometimes they annoyingly interrupt the music, but this is a minor gripe considering the very impressive quality of the line-up and performances.

    The approach taken was to have modern performers do songs which represent the long history of the blues, mostly in a similar style to the original recordings, with some exceptions. Some of these deviations worked and others did not. The tracks and performers are as follows:

1. Buddy Guy - First Time I Met The Blues - Plays over the credits
2. Angelique Kidjo - Zelie - An African influenced chant representing the basically African origins of blues. Nice opening
3. Mavis Staples - See That My Grave is Kept Clean - Originally by Blind Lemon Jefferson
4. David 'Honeyboy' Edwards - Gamblin' Man - Classy acoustic blues
5. Keb Mo & Danny Kortchmar - Love In Vain - Originally by Robert Johnson
6. Odetta - Jim Crow Blues - Fiery version of the Leadbelly tune
7. Natalie Cole - St Louis Blues - Cover of the W C Handy tune
8. James Blood Ulmer & Alison Krauss - Sittin' On Top of the World - Includes footage of Son House. Interesting take on the Mississippi Sheiks song.
9. Ruth Brown - Mama (He Treats Your Daughter Mean) - Recorded in rehearsal
10. Ruth Brown, Mavis Staples, Natalie Cole & Bill Cosby - Men are like Streetcars - Very nice trio version of the song but I really don't understand what Bill Cosby's role was supposed to be.
11. Buddy Guy - Can't Be Satisfied - Excellent version of the Muddy Waters tune featuring some stunning guitar work. One of the highlights of the show.
12. india.arie - Strange Fruit - Stunning version of the Billie Holiday tune.
13. Macy Gray - Hound Dog - Excellent version of the Big Mama Thornton tune
14. Larry Johnson - Hear the Angels Singing
15. John Fogerty - Midnight Special - Rocking version of Leadbelly classic
16. Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown - Okie Dokie Swamp 
17. Bonnie Raitt - Coming Home - Elmore James number featuring some nice slide guitar from Bonnie.
18. Steve Tyler / Joe Perry - I'm A King Bee - Top version of the Slim Harpo tune.
19. Hubert Sumlin w/ David Johansen - Killin' Floor - Some stunning guitar from Howlin' Wolf's original guitarist on this very good number
20. Shemekia Copeland - In rehearsal
21. Shemekia Copeland and Robert Cray - I Pity The Fool - Young lady with a big voice and Robert Cray carry off this Bobby Bland classic.
22. Neville Brothers - Big Chief - Fitting version of the Professor Longhair mardi-gras hit.
23. Solomon Burke - Turn on Your Love Light & Down in the Valley - Great performances from the master of soul
24. Buddy Guy - Red House - Another excellent track from Buddy with Vernon Reid
25. Buddy Guy, Vernon Reid and Angelique Kidjo - Voodoo Chile - Frankly, a fairly rubbish version of this classic, not helped by an ordinary mix.
26. Chuck D & Fine Arts Militia - Boom Boom - A hip-hop version of John Lee Hooker including anti-Bush invective. Give me a break...
27. B B King - Sweet Sixteen - After a couple of ordinary tracks the arrival of a Blues master brings the show back on track.
28. B B King, Robert Cray & Bonnie Raitt - Paying the Cost to be the Boss - The finale which is unfortunately spoilt by having interviews and the credits run over it.

    This is generally a wonderful concert with just a couple of missteps towards the end. The first 50 minutes of so are excellent and most of the rest very good indeed. Even the backing band includes great names like Levon Helm (The Band), Jim Horn, Dr John, Keb Mo, Ivan Neville & Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds). The lighting excellently evokes the atmosphere of a small club rather than a huge auditorium. Highly recommended for any fan of the blues or quality music in general.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was very good. There was some light grain visible on dark backgrounds, which was slightly heavier sometimes, but never intrusive.

    The colour was wonderful, rich and solid throughout.

    The only noticeable artefact was a little aliasing, mostly on guitar strings, and some mild shimmer on pans.

    There are subtitles or captions in English. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read and the captions included black backgrounds but were otherwise the same.

    The layer change occurs at 61:43 and was not noticeable.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is excellent.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s. The sound is excellent, very detailed and with great separation between the instruments.

    Lyrics were clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The surround speakers were very well used adding ambience to the music and crowd noises, really making you feel like you are there.

    The subwoofer was nicely integrated and added bass to the excellent music.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu included an intro, music, and the ability to select scenes and subtitles.

Interview with Director - Antoine Fuqua (7:55)

    A reasonably interesting interview with the film's director where he discusses the idea behind the show, the lighting choices, the various performers and his experience and highlights from the concert. Presented 4x3.

Bonus Tracks

    Some excellent bonus tracks not included in the film are in this section. They are NOT 16x9 enhanced however the sound is 5.1. Included are:

• Steve Tyler & Joe Perry - Stop Messin' Around (3:07) - Excellent track.
• Gregg Allman & Warren Haynes - The Sky is Crying (5:06) - Another quality track from these two alumni of The Allman Brothers Band.
• Mos Def - Minnesota Blues (5:16) - Decent but an understandable omission.
• Buddy Guy - First Time I Met the Blues (4:17) - When too much Buddy Guy is barely enough.
• Chris Thomas King - Revelation (4:28) - Modern take on the blues including a DJ.

    The Region 1 release is essentially the same. Draw

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    The disc has some worthwhile extras, especially the bonus tracks.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall