Live by Request-Bee Gees (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Booklet Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer-1.33:1, not 16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 (4:36)
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	89:41
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (46:54)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Lawrence Jordan
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Bee Gees
Case	Click
RPI	$39.95	Music	Bee Gees

    This programme was recorded as a Special Edition of A & E's Live By Request, a rather unusual television show where well-known music acts are brought onto stage and play live the requests of viewers. A rather intriguing show indeed, especially when you get an act of the stature of the Bee Gees. To commemorate the release of their album This Is Where I Come In, the Bee Gees played one of their smallest concerts ever - in front of 1,000 very lucky people at the Manhattan Center in New York. Anything else special about the night? Well, it was the first full length concert that the Brothers Gibb had played since the famed One Night Only concert in Las Vegas, in 1997, and it was the first time the brothers had played New York in ten years. So, there was a degree of heightened anticipation when they took the stage here.

    With hit albums in each of the last five decades, the Bee Gees are one of the greatest trios of all time in popular music, and when you hear the range of music on offer here it is not difficult to understand why. One of the downfalls of the programme, though, is that the requests tend to concentrate on the more commercially successful songs. The other downfall is that you have to indulge some of the tendencies of Americans, when asking their requests, to really fawn over "stars", which really is at odds with the very down-to-earth nature of the three brothers. If you want to find the complete antithesis of the star syndrome then the Brothers Gibb are it.

    Whilst a completely different style of concert to One Night Only, it still demonstrates the excellence of the brothers not just as songwriters but as performers - which you would of course expect from inductees in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. It is an excellent concert, and does include some music off the newer album, but quite where it falls when compared to its illustrious predecessors is difficult to gauge. Nonetheless, fans of the Brothers Gibb will not need to hesitate to indulge in this new DVD.

Video

    This is a very respectable transfer in most respects, and one of the better efforts from a television source that I have seen recently. The only surprise is that it is presented in a Full Frame format (1.33:1) rather than the more usual widescreen format for recent television recordings. No real complaint, just a bit of a surprise, that is all. Obviously the transfer is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Apart from the obligatory odd lapse in focus, there is little wrong with the definition and detail in the transfer. Obviously with the concert being for television broadcast, the lighting is far more subdued than would ordinarily be the case and this really helps the concert no end. For once, you don't have to put up with washed out colours and detail owing to intense lighting. Shadow detail is about what you would expect for this sort of event - good without being spectacular. The whole transfer has a nice clarity to it and there is no evidence of any grain or other impediment at all.

    The colours come up very well in the transfer, with the less artificial lighting really aiding the vibrancy of the transfer. Not exactly the most flamboyant display of colours you will ever see but it is a really gorgeous looking transfer at times. There is a decent quality to the darker colours without descending into anything approaching unwatchable. Oversaturation or colour bleed is not an issue.

    There did not appear to be any MPEG artefacts in the transfer. As is typical of concert videos, there are a few film-to-video artefacts floating around, comprised solely of aliasing. The usual culprits create the problems: keyboards (such as at 11:05), guitar strings (such as at 15:15) and microphones (such as at 74:28). It should be made quite clear that these are the noticeable instances and even then they are really only partially distracting. There were no obvious film artefacts in the transfer.

    This is an RSDL format disc with the layer change coming at 46:54. As is also typical of concert videos, the layer change is fairly noticeable owing to the slight pause in the sound. This one is not too bad all things considered, as it comes just before the start of a song.

    There is once again a distinct lack of subtitles on this release. I really wish that some effort could be made to include lyric subtitles on music DVDs more consistently.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are three English audio soundtracks on the DVD, a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and a dts 5.1 track. I listened to the dts soundtrack in its entirety and only sampled the other soundtracks.

    The music and vocals came up very well in the soundtracks. There did not appear to be any audio sync issues.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack did not seem to make much use of the rear surround channels, apart from some audience ambience, but the front surround channels were pretty well used to produce a nicely balanced soundtrack. The bass channel does not really get involved in the action much, but that is of course not exactly a problem with the music of the Bee Gees. Heavy bass music it is not!

    The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is once again a bit wimpish in comparison to the 5.1 soundtracks, but the higher bit rate certainly gives the sound a lot more air and this sounds somewhat better in the comparison than most. Whilst lacking the subtlety of the 5.1 efforts, this is certainly a very listenable soundtrack.

    The dts 5.1 soundtrack is also lacking just a little in the rear surround channel department. However, this lack in the rear channels is adequately covered by the greater body the sound is afforded by the dts format. The bass channel gets a decent workout here, more than enough for the style of music anyway. Not the most dynamic soundtrack you will ever hear, but a very nice listen which is not to be sneezed at. Direct comparison with the Dolby Digital soundtrack demonstrates a clear superiority in the greater body of the sound, but little else.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    I suppose one consistent problem I have had with most music DVD releases has been the lack of a decent booklet. Well, this effort has one and its presence is well and truly noted.

Menu

    A decent menu, with some nice audio and minor animation enhancement.

Theatrical Trailer (4:36)

    Really a bit of a misnomer in that all it is is a four and a half minute primer for the programme. It really does not serve much of a purpose. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, and with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Booklet

    As suggested, a decent effort more along the lines of what we should expect in every music DVD.

    As far as we have been able to ascertain, this is similar in content to the Region 1 release.

    As a standalone music DVD, there is nothing really amiss with Bee Gees - This Is Where You Come In (or Live By Request as it says on the cover). Very good video accompanied by some very good audio makes this a worthy addition to any DVD collection in its own right. However, it still takes a back seat to One Night Only as a Bee Gees DVD and if you really have to make a choice between one or the other, I would go for the other. But, I would surely recommend that you avoid having to make the choice and ensure both are in your collection.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall