From a Whisper to a Scream: The Living History of Irish Music (2000) (NTSC) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Documentary |
Booklet Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-On Traditional Irish Music Featurette-On Earliest Musical Memories Discography Web Links DVD Credits |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2000 | ||
Running Time | 155:18 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (85:16) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | David Heffernan |
Studio
Distributor |
Warner Vision |
Starring | None Given |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | $49.95 | Music | Various |
Video (NTSC) | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 480i (NTSC) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | Unknown | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes, mostly in archival footage. |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes, interviews continue through credits. |
The documentary is a series of three episodes, presented sequentially on this DVD. It traces the evolution of popular music in Ireland from the days of the "show-band" (a kind of music theatre where Irish bands recycled American music for local audiences) in the late fifties to the modern surge of hugely successful sugar-coated pop. It is interesting to see the reaction of older, more traditional musicians to the new wave of Irish manufactured pop that includes acts such as Boyzone, Westlife, B*Witched and Samantha Mumba. It is obvious that many who were brought up on "real" performance hold little or no respect for the new acts, but it is not surprising that it is the members of super-band U2 that are most enthusiastic about a musical style that they are obviously not fans of themselves. As Bono relates, he went to see Garbage, a "punk-rock band" one night, then The Corrs the next day, and "The Corrs were louder - how did this happen?".
It is appropriate that the man many consider to be the greatest Irish performer of all time, and according to Jim Sheridan (director of In the Name of the Father) "maybe the best ever, anywhere", Van Morrison has two segments dedicated to him, almost book-ending the series. In between it is a fascinating look at how Irish culture, and traditional Irish music, has influenced (or not) the popular acts to emerge from Ireland.
My one problem with the presentation is that the three episodes are presented back-to-back in the one feature. Not only does this make one two and a half hour feature, but the chapter stops listed in the included booklet are numbered from one for each episode, whilst they simply continue counting in the feature. The end result is that Chapter 3 of Episode 3 is actually Chapter 19. It would have been considerably more convenient had Warner Vision either put the actual chapter numbers in the booklet, or separated each episode into its own feature.
While From A Whisper To A Scream is very interesting, it certainly is not compelling enough to watch over and over again, and so may appeal more as a rental title than for ownership. Certainly though, if you have any interest in musical history in general, or Irish music in particular, this series is a must-see. It doesn't hurt either that there is interview footage featuring the Corr sisters.
This appears to be another made-for-UK DTV program, and as such is presented in the widescreen TV ratio of 1.78:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.
The sharpness is variable thanks mostly to the huge variation in source material. All of the modern TV footage is extremely sharp, being some of the sharpest material I have seen on DVD. Where necessary, the new interview footage also shows a very nice level of shadow detail. This comes out in some of the interview situations that have been interestingly lit. Much of the archival footage is of a very poor quality, especially the footage of the show-bands that dates back to the 1950s. This footage shows considerably less shadow detail than the new interviews, and much of it is quite blurry, but that is to be expected, especially as much of the footage would have been taken from old video sources. None of the poor quality video detracts from the presentation, and in fact it tends to aid it somewhat, as the older footage actually looks old, as archival footage should. There is no low-level noise present in this transfer.
Colour is quite good in both older and newer footage, with highlights coming across well. Unfortunately, the only blemish is the interview footage with members of The Corrs, late in the third episode. The problem appears to be an over-abundance of lighting, especially light from a window behind the subject of the interview, with the picture being almost painful to look at, and the colours seeming somewhat bleached and a little washed-out.
MPEG artefacts were rare, with only some light posterization occurring on the wall behind Van Morrison. There were also a few instances of aliasing, with the most noticeable coming on Paul Brady's guitar strings at 113:10, but these were few and far between. The modern interview footage contained no film artefacts at all, while some of the archival footage was riddled with them. As with the sharpness, this is really to be expected from the archival footage, and adds somewhat to its charm, more than distracting from it.
This disc contains no subtitles at all.
This is an RSDL formatted disc with the layer change occurring during Chapter 15 at 85:16. The change is placed on a fade-to-black, and while it would have been better placed at the end of an episode, it is relatively unobtrusive in its present location.
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There is only one audio track on this DVD, being English stereo Dolby Digital 2.0. It is not surround encoded.
Dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times (unless you generally have a problem understanding thick Irish accents). Unfortunately, this is where the newer interview footage falls down. There is a high-pitched "whine" sound present under most of the interviews. In general, this is not at a significant level and can be ignored. Unfortunately however, it is a particular problem during segments involving U2's Edge, and later in the series it becomes more prevalent. The worst examples are during the Edge's dialogue at 13:00 and Niall Stokes' dialogue at 104:40, both occurrences being extremely distracting. Archival footage was generally accompanied with less clear dialogue, but was always still easy enough to understand.
Audio sync was never a problem for the new interview sequences. Some of the older performance footage was somewhat out, but this would have been source-related, and most likely due to bands miming the performances for videos and "live" performances on TV shows.
The music is provided by all the bands being covered in the documentary, and provides a wonderful ride through the changing styles and fashions of Irish music over the last fifty years. There were many occasions where I recognised a song that I never knew was of Irish origin.
Being a solely stereo soundtrack, and a documentary, there was no use of the surround channels at all. The front soundstage reflected the music being played, and was often quite aggressive, giving a nice sense of movement. There were also occasions where interview dialogue would be routed through the centre while music would come from only the left or right speaker.
The subwoofer was not used at all.
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Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using S-Video output |
Display | RCA 80cm. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS787, THX Select |
Speakers | All matching Vifa Drivers: centre 2x6.5" + 1" tweeter (d'appolito); fronts and rears 6.5" + 1" tweeter; centre rear 5" + 1" tweeter; sub 10" (150WRMS) |