The Angels-Beyond Salvation Live (1990)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	59:28
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	John Jopson
Studio Distributor	Liberation Music	Starring	Doc Neeson Rick Brewster Brent Eccles James Morley Bob Spencer Peter Wells (guest)
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	The Angels

“am I ever going to see your face again? No way ....”

     It had been thirteen years since Rick and John Brewster, Doc Neeson, Chris Bailey and drummer Graham Bidstrup had their first album success as The Angels. The departures of Bidstrup in 1981, Bailey in 1982 (replaced by Jim Hilbun), John Brewster in 1986 and then Hilbun in 1989 saw The Angels enter 1989/90 with original members Neeson and Rick Brewster alongside Brent Eccles, Bob Spencer (ex Skyhooks) and James Morley. Although the band had reached near legendary status in Australia success in the U.S. had proved elusive. In November 1989 record label Chrysalis released the album Beyond Salvation into the U.S. market containing four new songs and re-recordings of several classics. To avoid confusion with similarly named bands in the U.S. The Angels billed themselves as The Angels From Angel City. Whereas success in the U.S. didn't eventuate the release in June 1990 of the Australian version of Beyond Salvation, containing all new tracks, was a huge success and gained the band its first number one album along with five successful singles.

    On the back of this recording success The Angels embarked on their Beyond Salvation Tour with Cheap Trick as support band. Their performance over two nights at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney in 1990 was captured on film and released in VHS format by Mushroom Records. This performance has now been made available in DVD format as a twin pack along with the Live At Narara performance of 1983.

    Leaving aside the transfer quality for the moment I'd reluctantly have to say that Doc is not quite at his manic best but he's still better than most front men you'll have the pleasure of seeing. There's lots of trademark jumping up and down and a wry smile as he fluffs the lyrics momentarily at 37:15. The band however are in top form with Spencer and Morley providing a dynamic and driving performance anchored by the solid drum beat of Eccles and the statue like Rick Brewster. The set list presented here only includes songs from the Beyond Salvation album and so may disappoint those hoping for some earlier Angels classics. Included however is a very nice performance of Rose Tattoo's Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw, with Peter Wells from Rose Tattoo lending a hand on slide guitar and Morley belting out the vocals with some aplomb.

    Overall this is a strong performance by a classic Australian band which complements, if doesn't quite match, the Live At Narara concert.

Video

    Well what can I say. The video quality is poor - presumably because of the original source. I haven't seen the VHS recording but can't believe this DVD version could be an improvement. The Live At Narara presentation was superior in almost every way.

    The aspect ratio is 1.33:1.

    Colours were bright but very smudged with excessive bleeding and lots of spotlight flare.

    The picture quality was soft with little shadow detail and noticeable grain.

    One camera did have a piece of fluff or hair in the bottom left corner however it wasn't particularly irritating due to the darkness of the image.

    Thankfully film artefacts were minimal.

    The closing credits in red font were almost unreadable due to the colour bleed and lack of sharpness.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The only audio track available is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo at 192 Kb/s and as such there was no discrete surround or subwoofer activity.

    After sampling the audio using Dolby Pro Logic surround processing I decided that the direct 2.0 source sounded better with only front speakers operating and with bass directed to the subwoofer. With the volume turned up and the subwoofer kicking the audio experience was good - if not thrilling.

    Dialogue, both spoken and sung, was clear and easy to understand.

    There are no significant audio synchronisation problems however there was a very brief audio dropout at 0:34.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu was still and without audio.

    Region 4 is your only option.

    Beyond Salvation Live would only appeal to die-hard Angels fans or those interested in maintaining a comprehensive library of Australian classic rock music. Doc Neeson seems a little flat compared to other live recordings however he and the band still manage to rock the house down. My suggestion is to hit the play button, turn the volume up, shut your eyes, and suck up some Angels rock 'n roll.

    The video quality is poor.

    The audio quality is acceptable.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall