John Denver-The WILDLife Concert (1995) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Discography Biographies-Cast Notes-Fan Club Information; (About) Wildlife Conservation Society
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	112:37
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (58:03)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Jeb Brien
Studio Distributor	Sony Music	Starring	John Denver
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$24.95	Music	John Denver

    My respect for John Denver grew while I was watching this DVD and researching for this review. I discovered that John Denver had two failed marriages, that he had been arrested twice for drink driving and that he had admitted to smoking marijuana. Rather than be put off by these things, my respect for him grew because he was nothing more than an ordinary bloke with an extraordinary talent and drive. Denver was very passionate about the preservation of flora and fauna as well as helping those less fortunate than himself. He co-founded many conservation and charity groups such as The Windstar Land Conservancy, The Hunger Project and Plant It 2000.

    John Denver was born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr on the 13th December 1943 to Henry John Sr, an Air Force Pilot and Erma. As his father was in the armed forces, Denver lived in many places while he was growing up, which no doubt sparked his love of  travel and the country. In 1952 his Grandmother gave him a guitar and thus began his interest in music. Denver left college to pursue a career in music and ended up in Los Angeles where he discovered folk music. Convinced by others that his name was an obstacle to fame, John changed his surname to Denver and the rest is history.

   John Denver-The WILDlife Concert was arranged by Denver and recorded over a two day period in 1995. The performance was filmed so that it could be released for sale with the proceeds going to The Wildlife Conservation Society to aid them in their work throughout the world.

    Only two short years before his tragic death in a plane crash, we are fortunate to see Denver in fine form. He and his talented band seem very relaxed performing before a small and enthusiastic audience. Right from the first song, Eagles and Horses, I knew that I was in for a real treat. Denver is one of those genuine talents that can really, really sing. His voice has real strength, warmth and total clarity. Even though I didn't know the words to many of the songs, I could still easily hear the lyrics - such was his clarity. I'd rate this DVD as one the hidden gems that Michael recently wrote about in his review of  Kenny Loggins-Outside From The Redwoods.

    This DVD contains 24 tracks of Denver's best plus short interviews in which he discusses his love of the wilderness, some of the experiences that motivated him to write his songs, personal anecdotes and some pitches for The Wildlife Conservation Society.

Video

    The transfer is not 16x9 enhanced and is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    The transfer on offer here is of high quality, but cannot overcome the problems associated with being full frame NTSC video. The sharpness of this transfer is excellent with a great deal of detail visible apart from one minor sequence at 38:38-38:40 where the camera operator momentarily loses focus. Shadow detail is very good as is the black level.

    Colour saturation is excellent, with skin tones lovely and pure. The backdrop for the concert changes colour throughout. At times it is a lovely blue and then changes to strong reds, oranges and yellows. Despite these strong colours, colour bleeding was not a problem.

    There was some pixelization in the opening sequence which has footage of wild horses running through a canyon. This was obviously stock footage of lower quality and the fault was not repeated during the actual performance. I also noticed some cross-colouration problems, particularly with John Denver's guitar strings (69:49-69:52) and his guitar strap (16:08-16:13) but this fault was minor and easily ignored. The biggest problem with this transfer, however, was aliasing. It occurred frequently, especially in areas of the background. Whilst relatively minor, it could not be overlooked. The director seems to be a big fan of slow camera pans which only exaggerated this problem. Some examples of aliasing can be seen at 12:18-12:22, 37:38-37:52 and again at 38:00-38:10.

    This is an RSDL disc with the layer change occurring at 58:03 during a fade-to-black. Unfortunately, the fade occurs while John Denver is still talking and the word "world" is truncated by the change. If only they'd waited a poofteenth of a second longer!

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    When I first played this disc, my receiver decided that it could decode the LPCM as a surround track and dutifully pumped audio to all channels. It sounded dreadful, like the old mono am radio in my 21 year old car! I quickly switched to stereo mode and all was forgiven. This is a very good mix that is lovely and clear with a full sound stage and excellent separation. Quality all the way.

    Dialogue during the interview segments was always clear, as were the vocals. There were no audio sync problems that I could detect.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is really wonderful. A very wide front soundstage is created, with John Denver's vocals spread right across the front channels. Individual instruments are each placed within this wide front soundstage, and sometimes move as the camera pans to feature that particular performer. The rear channels are used as reverb which helps draw the sound out and away from the front somewhat. This is a more realistic technique for mixing a live performance as it more closely matches what you actually experience at a good concert venue.

    Audience noise is nicely handled in this mix. Applause is mixed in both the front and rear channels which immerses you in the concert experience without sounding phoney. This is such a good mix and such an excellent concert that after the song Amazon I, too, felt compelled to clap.

    The subwoofer supported the music beautifully. The bass was smooth and clear without being overpowering.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The video quality is quite good although aliasing often occurs in the background.

    The audio quality is superb.

    Extras? Well there are some.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall