The Legends of Rock 'n' Roll Live (1989)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1989
Running Time	58:50 (Case: 60)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Tim Ryan
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	James Brown Bo Diddley Ray Charles Little Richard Jerry Lee Lewis Fats Domino B.B. King
Case	Click
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

    The line-up is very impressive, boasting many of the famous names of Rock and Roll from the 1950s and 60s: Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, James Brown, BB King, Bo Diddley and Fats Domino. Unfortunately though, the concert is nothing to set the world on fire. I would have much preferred to watch 60 minutes of excerpts from concerts of the day, showing these legends in their prime and in their context, rather than a 1989 tour of fat, aging, old men, embarrassingly way past it now but still trying to relive their glory days just one last time.

    It's interesting enough viewing I suppose once you get past the cringe factor, and they all certainly try hard and still have the talent, if not the energy to make it any more than a mediocre concert. To boost the "vibe" of the event, it would appear that the promoters have booked a 'rent-a-crowd' for the audience, as curiously the audience is very young and enthusiastic. What can be said then is that both performers and crowd appear to be having a good time. So, without further ado, "let the good times roll!..."

Video

    The resolution of the image is fine. There are a couple of scenes which appear to lack a bit in background detail, however this is often the case with concert footage owing to the smoke and other effects used, so I don't think this is a criticism of the video transfer as such.

    There are no distracting film artefacts or film to video artefacts, and no aliasing noticeable, so it's quite a clear watch.

    A couple of quick comments to make: The first thing to note is that the DVD launches straight into the concert, so if you happen to want the menu (and the only reason you would want it is to turn on the "subtitles" or to select a song/chapter directly), then you need to press the menu button. Secondly, in respect to the subtitles - note that the main menu gives you the choice of playing the feature "with track subtitle information". These are not subtitles as such, but simply some basic lines of information which flash up for a few seconds at the beginning of each song, giving you interesting data about who wrote each song and when it was first released as a single.

    The disc is single layered.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
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Film Artefacts
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Audio

    The mix is fine - not much bass, but hey, there wasn't much bass used in these old songs. Audio sync is fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

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