A Tribute to Lieber & Stoller (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	119:20
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (77:43)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Mike Mansfield
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Jerry Lieber Mike Stoller
Case	Click
RPI	$39.95	Music	Jerry Lieber Mike Stoller

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/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	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, The credits appear during the last song

    A Tribute To Leiber and Stoller? Now just who are these two people that are so famous that they get a concert and DVD released in tribute to them? Well, even if you have never heard of these two guys, I can guarantee that you have heard at least one of their songs and possibly several dozen. I must admit that I did know who Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller were before I volunteered to review this title, as I seem to remember seeing a segment on 60 Minutes a few years ago about them and the sheer number of songs that they have written over the years. They are famous for penning hits for Elvis Presley, The Searchers, The Coasters, and many other big name artists during the 50s, 60s and 70s, including even The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Chances are that every second song on the radio during the late 50s and early 60s was a Lieber and Stoller composition. I remember mostly that they wrote the big hit Stand By Me recorded originally by Ben E. King and later by John Lennon. Other songs that the duo were responsible for include; Jailhouse Rock, Hound Dog, On Broadway, Love Potion Number 9, Don't, Under The Boardwalk, Searchin', Yakety Yak, Loving You, and Kansas City.

    This concert was held on June 29, 2001 at the Hammersmith Apollo theatre in London as a tribute to the music of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. A selection of artists from current British pop stars to some older and far more famous names put in appearances. Unfortunately, unless you have a fair knowledge or appreciation of some of the newer and lesser known British pop stars, many of the performers will have you scratching your head as to just who the heck they are. Names like Magnets, Jonathan Wilkes, Victoria Owen, Jelayiu, and Mark Lamaar had me wondering. There are some bigger names in the industry rolled out as well with performers such as Chris Rea, Leo Sayer, Steve Harley, Elkie Brooks, Paul Carrack, Dave Gilmour (Pink Floyd), and the crooning Welshman Tom Jones. Big names they may have been, but I found that most of the performances just didn't achieve any lofty heights in terms of passion or exuberance. Many of them seemed merely to be going through the motions and wanted to get off stage as soon as they could. Dave Gilmour seemed particularly bored and even Tom Jones, who can normally inspire even the most shy female into lobbing their underwear on stage, barely managed a ripple. It is really just a lacklustre performance all round and the response from the audience reinforces that. They are very quiet and anchored firmly to their seats with little interaction at all taking place.

    Despite the average quality of the performance there are a staggering 29 songs performed in this tribute concert that runs for near-on two hours. The following songs are performed;

Video

    While the content might not inspire too much enthusiasm, the video quality does. There really is not a lot to talk about, as this is one fine transfer and a pleasing visual experience. We get a nice widescreen presentation in an aspect of 1.78:1. Thankfully it is also 16x9 enhanced.

    What looks like High Definition video gives us a very finely detailed and sharp transfer with no edge enhancement. There are no issues with shadow detail and grain is non-existent. There is also no low level noise.

    Blacks are deep and solid, with no hint of grey. Other colours are very nicely rendered with no hint of oversaturation or bleeding. The lighting rig used is quite understated and as such never pushes the colour boundary to the point where problems may occur. The performers are always visible in clear bright light and their skin tones are perfectly natural.

    I saw no MPEG artefacts. Video artefacts of any sort were also absent.

    There are no subtitles - sorry.

    The disc is dual layered with RSDL formatting. The layer change occurs quite late at 77:43, right as Sally Kellerman is about to start her song Is That All There Is? It is a very well placed layer change and barely perceptible.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Two audio tracks are offered here. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is joined by an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. This is not the greatest 5.1 track I have heard, as at times the levels of the lyrics are quite disturbing. They were a bit uneven at times, with some obvious mixing faults on several of the songs that saw the first couple of lines a bit muddled and lost amongst the instruments. I was really quite disappointed with it.

    I guess all the music had one thing in common. It was written by Lieber and Stoller! A wide selection of their material is showcased and played by quite a large band that contains several backing singers and a horn section. While the lyrics had their problems, the music was definitely superior in quality, though it did lack a certain something that gave me the impression that the musicians were just going about the motions and weren't really 'into it' so to speak.

    There was only a little surround use throughout, with only some of the suitably unenthusiastic audience sounds emanating from them.
   
    The subwoofer saw only a little work to support some of the tracks.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    None, Nil, Zip - I would have thought that with the huge repertoire of work and the sheer length of time that these guys have been in the industry that we might have got one little extra on their work, but alas, there is nothing.

    This disc is the same the world over. The local Region 4 product is the preferred option on price and superior PAL formatting.

    This was somewhat disappointing in terms of the actual performance. Many of the acts were completely foreign to me and many of the other big names seemed not really all that bothered that they were even there. The audience doesn't really seem into the performance either and is remarkably quiet for much of the show.

    The video quality is excellent, with a widescreen 16x9 enhanced presentation that is almost perfect.

    The audio is somewhat lacking and has a couple of mixing problems. It is not up to the standard of a modern 5.1 surround soundtrack.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall