Anyone watched the new DVD yet?

J.O'B.

I haven't seen it in toto, but here is a link to a clip of DSTD from the DVD.

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/09 ... lyon-2013/

It is a good audio recording, but visually IMHO it suffers from TOO MUCH EDITING and JUMP-CUTTING. This appears to be a malady that affects many recent concert DVDs and is not unique to BF (I found the DVD of the Roxy 2001 concert to be essentially unwatchable because of the editing - and Scorsese's Stones Concert doc released a few years ago was also unwatchable because the camera kept moving around incessantly for no good reason.

When it comes to concert DVDs less is more. Let the audience focus in on the key performers and get a sense of what they are doing.

Here's a Bowie TV clip from the 70s that demonstrates how visually powerful a single extended shot can be. No editing necessary. Just show the performance...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmaCxeXpvds

Less is more.

I've just watched it through, with a nice glass of single malt, and it is quite simply superb. A great set list covering all parts of the great man's career, the band and BF on absolutely top form, and done full justice by an excellent recording. Brought back happy memories of the Kew Gardens show I attended (though this if anything even better I think). I can't recommend it highly enough.

I watched 'The Making Of Olympia' last night and it has loads of stuff on it that wasn't on the version available with the album at the time of its release. So if you haven't watched it off the Lyon DVD thinking you have seen it before then have a wee look at it.

J.O'B.

Hipsters & Fellow Dilettantes,

I have to concur with the great India, our hero's latest DVD release is well worth our wonga. I too watched it whilst enjoying my drug of choice, a very large 15 year old Talisker and it made for a great night in.

The packaging is quite sumptuous. I loved the book. The introduction by Monsieur Bracewell is well done. Normally I find him a little wordy but this time he managed to control himself and I particularly liked his brilliant opening description of our hero; "In his work you hear a vocal and lyrical brilliance that merges the intensity of Lou Reed, the poise of Sinatra and the charisma of Serge Gainsbourg. But then there is something extra — a verve and performance so ultra-modern that it continually breaks new ground." Tres bien fait - I couldn't have put it better myself!

The Lyon show itself was superb and there are two things I really like about concert DVDs. Firstly, they serve as a great memento. Mrs.Windswept and I saw "Olympia" in Vienna and have fond memories. Secondly, although every self respecting Ferryista will know all these tracks like the back of their hand, I always come away with a different appreciation. In this case, I have a new found love for "Alphaville" — what a great song. And my slavish adoration for "Reason Or Rhyme" has reached new heights.

The performances were faultless and Geordie's Favourite Son was on top form but the set visuals added a whole frisson that turned every song into a movie. Absolutely spine tingling!

Sartorially, not everything is perfect. Jeremy Meeham looked like he bought his suit in a '80s car boot sale and Neil needs to loose those glasses — rock & roll they are not ! But these are small things when we have les girls!

I also liked the accompanying CD. It saved my son having to work his magic and it certainly helped me get through today's gym session albeit by the time I got to 'Hold On I'm Coming' - I wasn't!

Bravo a tous et félicitations,

Windswept.

Glad JO'B pointed out the differences in the making of olympia film, still annoying reading the book that the album dates are wrong, lst and iym 1975 tbsb in 1977 and mamouna in 1995, a lot of the book seems to be culled from the olympia tour programme which also had the same inaccuracies. I might be being a bit picky but the number of times these errors creep in on official product is becoming irksome considering BF's attention to detail.

Nice to see I have some soul mates out there. "Reason or Rhyme" is the national anthem of my little kingdom. "Alphaville" comes out better live than on the original cd.
This years Christmas will take place on Nov 4th. Please, don`t remove anything from the set list - but reintroduce "Chain Reaction"!

[quote="wrighta"], still annoying reading the book that the album dates are wrong, lst and iym 1975 tbsb in 1977 and mamouna in 1995, a lot of the book seems to be culled from the olympia tour programme which also had the same inaccuracies. quote]

I noticed this too and wished they had been sorted for the DVD.

J.O'B.

There's a great review of this in Rolling Stone, copied here for your convenience:

A beautifully packaged, inspired performance by Bryan Ferry in France in 2011—which in its deluxe version features both a hardbound book and accompanying audio CD—Live In Lyon is about as good a career retrospective as we might hope for. Encompassing his work with Roxy Music and the early and later solo material that would follow, every single note is marvelously, spotlessly played—his bands have, as a rule been consistently near-perfect—and Ferry himself, now 67, has lost none of his famously distinctive voice. This career-reaching setlist allows us to hear the consistency in Ferry’s material from Roxy’s pre-Manifesto days through his own recent Olympia set, which was in its way a quiet career landmark. Fans of that album will be happy to watch the bonus Making Of Olympia documentary included here as well; guests include David Gilmour, Nile Rodgers, Dave Stewart, among others, and add an element of humanity to Ferry’s otherwise starkly precise sonic architecture, to which, oddly--as his own song has it--you can dance.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... z2g1qFXLjP

It's interesting that Rolling Stone gave such a rave review, because historically RS was never a big BF fan.

But something seems askew when the reviewer claims that BF "has lost none of his famously distinctive voice." Really? You can like the Live at Lyon concert/dvd and be a big BF fan, but you're in denial if you think BF's voice hasn't diminished in recent years. He has found ways to accommodate the changes, but his voice is nowhere near as strong as it was during the Roxy 2001 tour...