George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic-Live at Montreux 2004 (2004)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Bonus Track-Bernie Worrell Keyboard Solo Bonus Track-Lili Haydn Violin Solo Bonus Track-Maggot Brain Bonus Track-US Custom Coast Guard Dope Dog Bonus Track-Maggot Brain (Reprise) Bonus Track-Them Changes Booklet
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	105:50 (Case: 137)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (41:20)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Eagle Eye Media Rajon Vision	Starring	George Clinton
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	George Clinton

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

'To the window, to the walls, 'til the sweat runs down my balls'

    George Clinton & Parliament / Funkadelic are one of the greatest groups from one of my favourite genres, funk. During the late 1960s and 1970s they ruled the funk world with their crazy live shows, amazing recordings and incredible musicianship. Their shows involved as many as 40 performers on stage including musicians, dancers, singers and more and revolve around the idea of the Mothership which brought the funk to earth. They were weird, funny, dirty and d*** funky. Some of the musicians who were early members of the groups came straight from James Brown's band such as Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley. Between them and George Clinton they took the funk created by James Brown and shot it into space. The reason for the Parliament/Funkadelic name is that George Clinton started out in a doo wop group called The Parliaments in the 50's but later lost the rights to the name. He then started up Funkadelic and when he regained rights to the other name, he decided to sign both bands to different labels. Parliament was more horn driven funk, and Funkadelic more guitar driven. These days he uses them as a double barrelled name.

    Anyway, this show was recorded much more recently in 2004 at the Montreux Jazz Festival and all of the names I mentioned above (with the exception of Clinton) are no longer with the group. In fact very few long standing members are still with the band excepting Bernie Worrell (keyboards) and Michael 'Kidd Funkadelic' Hampton (Guitar). I can only assume that the band in its heyday was truly a sight to behold, and this show is certainly entertaining and features lots of talented performers, but I would say, not up to that standard. I felt that this show was a bit patchy with some great funk tunes such as Bop Gun, Flashlight and Up For The Downstroke but also some other songs sung by backing singers which were nothing special. This was especially true of two raps by Clinton's granddaughter called Something Stank and Hard as Steel. I was also disappointed that some of my favourite Funkadelic songs were not performed such as One Nation Under a Groove and Who Says a Funk band can't play Rock'n'Roll? It should also be noted that despite the E rating, this disc contains language and concepts about sex and drugs that would probably not be suitable for young children.

    The playing was generally of a very high standard, especially the guitar playing of 'Kidd Funkadelic', although the cameramen seemed to be going out of their way not to show the guitarists while soloing. All of the songs really ran into each other, and as you would expect with Parliament/Funkadelic the show was really one long jam which became a bit loose and over the top sometimes. There were many players on stage and some guests including Michael Franti and Montreux's creator, Claude Nobs, on harmonica. The concert runs for nearly 2 and a half hours when you take into account the extra tracks included as bonus features.

    Fans of the bands would certainly enjoy seeing them live as there are not too many recordings available on video. For those who have not heard their music, get yourself a copy of One Nation Under a Groove by Funkadelic on CD - it is a certifiable classic.

Video

    The video quality is excellent. It was recorded in high definition.

    The concert is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is most likely the original aspect ratio. The bitrate is very high throughout.

    The picture was very clear and sharp with no evidence of low level noise.

    The colour was excellent showing all the colourful costumes with great vividness.

    There were no obvious artefacts.

    There are no subtitles.

    The layer change occurs at 41:20 and caused a significant pause.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is very good but not quite excellent.

    This DVD contains three audio options, a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and a DTS 5.1 track encoded at 768 Kb/s. My preference was for the DTS track due to its greater presence and enhanced bass, however the Dolby Digital 5.1 track was also very good. The 2.0 track seemed very thin by comparison. Although the sound here is certainly very good I though that the sound overall seemed a little flat compared to the best surround sound concerts I have heard.

    There were a few feedback issues during the show and at 18:28 someone seemed to bump into a mike or something because there was a small dropout, although this was obviously a concert recording issue rather than DVD transfer issue.

    The surround speakers added atmosphere and some crowd noise.

    The subwoofer added significant bass especially on the DTS track.

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 songs and audio.

Booklet

    A booklet is included with photos, an essay on the band and a copy of the festival poster for 2004.

Bonus Songs (33:16)

    An extra half an hour of songs are included which seem to be the first half hour of the show as the main program starts when the band are in full flight. These songs are in some ways a warm up with the first track featuring only Bernie Worrell, the second only him and the violinist and the third, them and "Kidd Funkadelic'. It makes sense to me to chop these off the main program but they are also a worthy addition to the package. The tracks included are:

1. Bernie Worrell keyboard solo (4:17)
2. Lili Haydn violin solo (2:26)
3. Maggot Brain (9:49)
4. US Custom Coast Guard Dope Dog (3:03) Mostly spoken word rap by Clinton about Drug Dogs being high.
5. Maggot Brain (7:09) Reprise
6. Them Changes (6:30) Funky Jam

    The only difference between this and the US release is the PAL/NTSC formatting.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is very good.

    Half and hour of bonus tracks plus a booklet are the extras..

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall