Dokken-Live from the Sun (2000) (NTSC)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Animation Music Video-Unplugged (2 - Walk Away, Will The Sun Rise) Interviews-Cast Gallery-Original art by Don Dokken Gallery-Photo-Dokken in Concert Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	75:18 (Case: 96)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Thomas M., II Strickfaden
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Don Dokken Mick Brown Jeff Pilson Reb Beach
Case	Click
RPI	$34.95	Music	Dokken

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Spanish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In stark contrast to the aforementioned semi-acoustic performance, what we have here is quite another thing altogether. No sitting down in a reflective and serious mood but instead this is full-flight, full-tilt hell-for-leather rock and roll!  But, while we have the band going all-out in the familiar arena setting (this time at the Sun Theatre (hence the title) in Anaheim, California), there is a little bit missing. The largest bit missing is of course the departure in 1997 of guitarist George Lynch. Once again, the vast creative and personal differences between George Lynch and Don Dokken have came to the surface and this time it looks as if George has called it quits for good. In his place is new recruit Reb Beach who had served his apprenticeship in popular late 80s band Winger. Does he work in his new band? Yes and no. I know it's a cop-out answer, but the question works at two levels. Does Reb Beach work in a pure rock band? The answer to that is a definite yes. After playing in various bands through the years, Reb has the experience to rock it with the best of them with competent and energetic guitar work as evidenced on this disc. Does he work as the lead guitarist in Dokken? Quite simply, no. And this is not his fault. No matter how good a guitarist can be, for this band there can be no other guitarist other than George Lynch. This is an admittedly retrospective opinion as this reviewer sees the band's main contributions as coming from the mid 80s rather than their later work. Reb Beach actually comments on the whole comparison aspect during the interview section of the disc where he describes how he got the gig as guitarist for Dokken by telling Don that "I don't do George Lynch". After seeing a myriad of George photocopies, Don saw this as a refreshing change and went for Reb. As founder of the band, this was ultimately Don's choice and we have the result here on disc.

    Recorded at the Sun Theatre in April, 1999, this is a fast paced pure rock experience with the band still in fairly good form despite the years. There is a fair bit of new material presented along with all the old standby favourites (with the exception of Just Got Lucky, which for some reason, is sadly missing). The musicianship is still there with with all the band performing well. Some of the harmonies don't ring as true as they do on their other live video recording Dokken: One Live Night, but this could be due to the live concert constraints which would be far more demanding than the sit-down style of the One Live Night concert. This is very evident on the track It's Not Love, which is this reviewer's favourite.

    The style of this concert varies from just being a purely filmed concert and instead attempts to be a veritable smorgasbord of visual styles and techniques. While this works as a bit of colour and movement for a filmed concert that you may put on and treat as background music, the barrage of visual tricks used on this title which include multiple split screen (with footage that could have been better used with the seldom-used multiple angle feature) and double exposure featuring lots of clouds and drops of water, can become a bit tiresome and distracting if all you want to do is sit down and watch. One very interesting visual feature was the use of the original music video (picture in picture style) for the song In My Dreams with the concert as the main image and the video clip in a smaller window throughout most of the song. A neat look into the past and this reviewer would like to have seen more original video clips. With this title becoming available, the only area left untouched is the release of the band's original music videos. This is a title that this reviewer would like to see in the future.

    It's only been a few years since this concert, but even so, the band's line up continues to change. Gone now is bassist Jeff Pilson who has gone on to work with George Lynch on a project called Underground Moon. Also newish guitarist Reb Beach has also called it quits. Now, all that remains of the original band are Don Dokken and drummer "Wild" Mick Brown. The band is its newest form continues to play and record as Dokken. This is an evolution that is driven by Don Dokken in his continuing struggle to keep his dream alive, however, one can't help but think that what we have here (and after) is but a shadow of its former self. A very talented and energetic shadow, but a shadow none the less.

Video

    While this disc presents an image far superior to the one shown on Dokken's other live video Dokken: One Live Night, this is far from a flawless disc with a few image problems to be seen.

    This disc is presented in its original video aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (full frame) and as would be expected there is no 16x9 enhancement.

    Considering this concert was shot on video tape in a darkened venue with an abnormal amount of coloured lights (completely normal for a rock concert), the level of sharpness visible is quite good. With this concert taking place in a darkened arena, shadow detail is almost expected to be lacking and that it is. This is no real fault as there is a finite ability of videotape to capture some image depth in very low light and at times only a sea of black is visible with little detail in the unlit areas of a scene. With the constant black and solid colour areas of the image on screen, low level noise is sometimes a problem as can be seen at 1:57 with a fair amount of chroma noise visible.

    Colour use is quite limited in the confines of the live concert arena with many solid colour schemes used during the show. Still, with the staging limitations taken into consideration, the use of colour with this title is fairly reasonable with the image bold and vibrant as seemingly required by the show's producers and directors. The interview portions of this title also feature a reasonable display of colour with the only limitations due to the source tape.

    MPEG artefacts are kept at bay on this title with no major issues of note. There are a couple of video artefacts visible during this feature with the fairly common aliasing seen at 31:37. There is also what looks to be a digital tape tracking error which can be seen at 55:38 and 59:34 where a portion of the image will hang for just a fraction of a second while the rest of the image carries on as normal. This is a fairly minor artefact, but this reviewer did notice it and it is there.

    The only subtitles seen on this title are during the interview portion of the title with Spanish subtitles being available.

    This title is formatted as a single layer and as such, a layer change is not an issue.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are 2 audio tracks available on this DVD; Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded.

    The dialogue quality, on both the concert portion of the disc and also the interviews is quite good with the sung and spoken word very understandable (age dependent on the concert material). While the Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded mix is listenable, the 5.1 mix is far superior and would have to be your sole choice if your equipment allows access to it.

    Audio sync is practically flawless on this title with no major faults detected.

    The music style is in the vein of pure rock (aka Heavy Metal) with almost all genres covered from hair (glam) metal, speed metal and anthem rock to ballad rock, although Dokken brings all of these styles into a much more cohesive sound than indicated by just a range of categories. These guys have been at this for a fair while and the sound is far from two dimensional, no matter how much time has affected the band.

    The surround channels contributed the the overall concert sound and feel captured on this disc. The rears give the performance an accurate "live" feel while never attracting attention to themselves unduly.

    The subwoofer also performs its supporting role in backing up the musical happenings on stage. There is much heavy bass to be heard, but it is never overpowering or distracting and backs up the other channels well.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

• Play All
• Song Selection
• Special Features
• The Gallery

    The Special Features Menu offers us the following features:

• Audio Setup
• Subtitles (Interviews Only)
• Bonus Unplugged
• Band Interviews
• Web Links

• Dolby Digital Enhanced Stereo
• 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround

    The Subtitles menu offers:  Spanish On or Spanish Off. These subtitles are offered on the Band Interviews only. This menu is static and silent.

    The Bonus Unplugged Menu offers us with two songs presented in a fully acoustic performance. These are:

Walk Away 4:57

Will the Sun Rise 4:21

    The Bonus Unplugged Menu is static and silent.

Band Interviews  12:52

    The Web Links Menu offers the viewer access to the band's site and also the site of the band's record label CMC International Records. These are:

• dokken.net
• www.rockuniverse.com/cmc/

• Art Gallery
• Photo Gallery

    The Photo Gallery feature offers some still images from the band in concert. There are 12 images on offer and are presented in the same right of screen format as the Art Gallery content. Both these Art Gallery presentations are static and silent.

    The video is adequate with a reasonable image on offer within the limitations (and it is a limitation) of the NTSC format.

    The audio is fairly good and presents a realistic "Live" feel as would be expected with a concert video.

    The extras, while not overabundant are reasonable with some interesting interviews with the band and a bit of art work from the band's creator and frontman Don Dokken.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall