The Chieftains-Water from the Well (2001)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Paddy Maloney Featurette-Rocky Road To Dublin Featurette-Santiago Featurette-Photo Montage DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	87:30 (Case: 110)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Maurice Linnane
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Derek Bell Kevin Conneff Martin Fay Sean Keane Matt Malloy Patrick Moloney Van Morrison Steve Cooney
Case	Click
RPI	?	Music	Patrick Moloney Van Morrison

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Auto Pan & Scan Encoded	English Dolby Digital 5.0 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Why do the Uilleann pipes have bellows and not a bag? So the ever-innovative Irish musician can play tin whistle and accompany himself on pipes of course! Long before the likes of Clannad, Enya and more latterly The Corrs graced the billboards, the Chieftains were introducing the uninitiated to the delights and complexities of traditional Irish music. Formed in 1963 by founder and band leader Paddy Maloney, the band has released more than 35 albums and 4 soundtracks for films, picking up 6 Grammies along the way. This first DVD release of Chieftains' music, The Chieftains Live Over Ireland, features 10 of the 17 tracks from their last album Water From The Well released in 2000. The album represents a return to their grassroots Celtic music after two decades, during which time the fashionable and the famous vied to make guest appearances with the band.

    The featured songs are integrated into a scenic ramble across Ireland visiting influential sites and people along the way and finding time to stop for a pint or two of Guinness and a musical get-together at flautist Matt Molloy's pub in Westport, Co. Mayo. The present band line-up (unchanged since 1978) are Paddy Moloney on Uilleann pipes, tin whistle and accordion, Derek Bell on harps, harpsichord, piano and tiompan, Sean Keane and Martin Fay on fiddle, Kevin Conneff on bodhran and vocals and not least Matt Molloy on flute. Plenty of musical variety is on offer with solo performances by band members or playing together or with visiting artists. Two tracks that stand out for me are the Chieftains playing with the very gypsy-looking Steve Cooney's accompaniment on Flamenco acoustic guitar in The Galician Set and the assembled company of the Belfast Harp Orchestra where no less than 10 comely Irish maidens (and Derek Bell) pluck their Irish harps in synchrony along with the Chieftains. Van 'The Man' Morrison has a long association with the band (in and out of the pub) and provides lead vocals and guitar on 'The Star of The County Down'.

    The DVD is nicely authored so that those who just wish to listen to the music, unfettered by anecdote and commentary, can select individual tracks or 'play all', whilst those who wish to partake in the visual feast of Irish countryside can select to play the whole feature with or without commentary from Patrick Maloney. A helpful map in between tracks charts the journey and shows where the lesser-known venues, such as Ardara or Hollywood, Co. Wicklow, are located across the Irish vista. A word of caution here - just like Irish music, this DVD deserves careful listening to, as the more you seek, the more you find!  So, put up your feet with a bottle of Bushmills within easy reach, set up the gear for surround sound and sit back and enjoy.

Video

    The overall quality of the video is good as befits the beautiful Irish coastal and country scenery portrayed.

    Contrary to the full-frame 1.33:1 transfer advertised on the back cover of the DVD, the transfer is in fact 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Shot on video, the transfer lacks some of the sharpness that is offered by film. Nevertheless, shadow detail in the few low-lit scenes is good and there is no level noise.

    Outdoor colours are vivid and accurate whilst the frequent indoor footage was often shot in low-light conditions with a resultant characteristic yellow tungsten lighting tinge, especially in some of the pub interior shots.

    Posterization is seen throughout the feature on background shots such as the blue wall at 19:20 or the bridge or building walls at 31:27. Mild aliasing is evident throughout, for example at 49:47 on the hill outlines, but this is not intrusive. There are no film artefacts.

    There are no subtitles.

    The disc is a single layered DVD-5 and hence has no layer change point.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    This is a well recorded and excellently authored audio presentation.

   There were two audio tracks on this DVD, the default Dolby Digital 5.0 mix and a Dolby Digital stereo mix with commentary by Paddy Maloney.

    Dialogue was mostly very clear throughout although there are a few instances where a particularly thick Irish brogue was a little difficult to decipher - my problem, not theirs! Audio synch was fine for most of the feature but there was a noticeable disparity between instrument fingering and sound in the opening feature, where solo spots were filmed of  band members playing accompanied by the music of the band playing as a whole.

    The music on this disc is very much of traditional Irish origin although reference is also made to the similarities of this music to traditional music in the Gallician area of Spain which was originally settled with Celts.

    The surround channels are well utilised in scenic shots to provide atmospheric wind and surf effects and are excellently mixed in musical numbers to provide the ambience and echo of many of the high-echo indoor locations. In instances where there are many musicians playing in a limited confine, such as at Matt Molloy's pub, they provide a truly 3-dimensional and intimate portrayal of the soundstage with a strong and realistic sense of 'being there'.

    The subwoofer is neither used nor needed in these recordings.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    Static 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced title menu with selections nicely featured on a roadway signpost allowing selection of track or scene selection menus. Backed by stereo Dolby Digital 2.0 music.

Extended voice-over by Paddy Maloney

    Commentary by the band leader and founder with many interesting background facts and anecdotes.

Rocky Road to Dublin Set

    5:43 medley of numbers (with a few bars of tribute to Mick Jagger! - or did he plagiarise Irish music for the opening of Satisfaction?) played in the church on top of Wicklow Mountain. 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced video with 2 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack.

Santiago video clips

    7:10 feature of the Celtic music of Gallicia, Spain and its integration into their album Santiago (2000) also featuring guest artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Steve Cooney and Los Lobos. The sound grabs of the music are too limited to be of much value. The video is presented at 1.33:1, not 16x9 enhanced - doubters of the benefits of 16x9 enhancement look no further. The soundtrack is also in stereo Dolby Digital 2.0.

Photo montage

    4:59 of interesting stills in black and white and colour of the band's history - check out those sideburns!

Other Umbrella Products

    Slicks of the DVDs for Chet Baker, Nina Simone, John Lee Hooker and Marianne Faithful from Umbrella.

Booklet

    The cover slick has an interesting eulogy from Joe Jackson as well as relevant titles and credits

    Perusal of reviews of the Region 1 and 2 versions indicate that the content is identical to our R4 version.

    I found this to be a charming and well produced introduction to the Chieftains and traditional Irish music.

    The video quality is excellent and it is gratifying to see the trouble taken to present it in widescreen with 16x9 enhancement.

    The audio quality is also excellent and the surround mix considerably enhances the listening experience.

    The extras are of interest and of good quality. Maybe a discography could have been included. Overall, this is an excellent DVD and recommended to anyone who wishes to experience the music without the glamour and hype of some of the more popular exponents of the genre.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall