The Pixies-Acoustic: Live in Newport (2006)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Rehearsal Documentary Gallery-Photo Trailer-Pixies - Live at the Paradise in Boston
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	78:42 (Case: 101)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (60:17)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Michael B Borofsky
Studio Distributor	Eagle Eye Media Rajon Vision	Starring	The Pixies
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	The Pixies

    In 1965 Bob Dylan shocked folk music fans as he plugged in and went electric for the first time at the Newport Folk Festival. The legend of this performance has grown over the years into an enigma of pop culture history. Forty years later, in 2005, the folk world had their belated revenge on the world of rock as The Pixies went acoustic for the first time!

    OK. It's not exactly a seminal moment in the history rock, but it is a great one.

    Since their self-proclaimed selling out in 2004, The Pixies have toured extensively and found countless ways to cash in on the success they built through years of inactivity. Their appearance at the Newport Folk Festival was one of the best conceived yet for fans. The set consists of a wide range of songs and each is re-imagined for the acoustic set. The effect varies from song to song, but in most cases the result is combination of familiar and fresh.

    The performance is reasonably laid back, more so than you would normally expect of a Pixies show and progressively more so as the set progresses and the band settles in to the unfamiliar territory they are treading in. When things get going, the band turn in some memorably different versions of fan favourites such as the normally very electric Vamos the usually raucous Ed is Dead, as well as typically laid back versions of Monkey Gone to Heaven and Here Comes Your Man.

Video

    The video is generally very good.

    The video is presented in a 1.62:1 aspect ratio and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The image is quite sharp and there is a good depth of field that, while not terribly artistic, keeps most of the stage clearly visible throughout. There are no issues with grain or low level noise.

    Colours are very natural and even throughout. This concert was filmed during the day under direct (and surprisingly even) sunlight and the footage has not been noticeable treated, so the colours in the image are very natural.

    No MPEG Artefacts are noticeable throughout the performance. Film artefacts are occasionally noticeable and a few are quite large and a little distracting (for exaple, at 45:15), but this is mainly because the picture is generally quite clear.

    This is an RSDL disc and the layer break occurs at 60:17, in between songs (just before Caribou).

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Three audio tracks are available, Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kbps), Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kbps) and DTS (768Kbps).

    The audio/visual sync is very good.

    All three audio tracks are excellent quality for the type of track they are, there are no noticeable pops or dropouts and the dynamic range of each is excellent. The DTS track in particular is a wonderful thing to behold, music of this calibre and clarity is one of the best reasons you could invest in a DTS system. Fans and audiophiles will not be disappointed.

    The surround channels are cleverly used for the 5.1 tracks. The music is distributed well across all the channels and the crowd noise is largely pressed to the surround channels. This gives a more authentic live feel - band out front, audience behind.

    The LFE track does a good job of picking up the bottom end drum and bass and presenting it clearly. Anyone that owns a subwoofer with a clear and distinct dynamic range will appreciate the bottom end on this title.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    As well as a modest package of extras on the disc, this package comes with a three page fold-out booklet with pictures and an introduction from Matt Ashare, the music editor of the Boston Phoenix.

Main Menu Introduction, Main Menu Audio & Animation

    A fairly standard menu animation with the acoustic version of Wave of Mutilation playing in the background.

Rehearsal Documentary (21:34)

    This fly-on-the-wall documentary is pulled together from snippets of the band in a rehearsal studio working out what they can do with certain songs and snippets of them trying out their acoustic versions at a "dress rehearsal" gig shortly before the Newport show. It is interesting following the development process of a number of these tunes into what finally ended up on the acoustic show. Some tunes almost found themselves treading into freeform acoustic jazz territory before being reined back into concise songs.

    The video and audio in this doco are both quite good. It mostly appears to have been recorded digitally, but that is perfectly adequate for this sort of extra.

Gallery-Photo (4:00)

    A four minute montage of photos related to the show. The montage is done nicely and pans the camera around the photos to give this extra a little more life, but this is really little more than a screensaver.

Trailer

    A trailer for the companion DVD release The Pixies - Live at the Paradise in Boston, a more conventional club show, is provided.

    The Region 1 version of this release is identical to the local release, except for the usual NTSC/PAL difference.

    A great acoustic show from a seminal band. Casual fans would probably do better to pick up The Pixies - Live at the Paradise in Boston, but no fan will be disappointed with this release.

    The video quality is good.

    The sound quality is excellent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall