Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film (Amazon.com Exclusive)
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DVD details
Actor: Van MorrisonDVD: Region Code 1
Format: NTSC
DVD Release Date: 2009-05-19
Studio: Listen To The Lion Films
DVD Reviews of Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film (Amazon.com Exclusive)
DVD Review: Really Digg it!
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought this and couldn't be happier. This is Morrison at his best. Expect to be amazed at the sounds of Astral Weeks.
Not 'Van the Man' w/ his commercial poppy hits that we understandably enjoy, noooooo, this is the serious jazz inspired stuff folks, and Morrison can still deliver it like back in the day. It's almost like he went back and studied the reasons for why the songs were created so that he could deliver them the right way to all of us. Normally this wouldn't work, but work it does as Morrison delivers the goods through interplay w/ a new set of good musicians and even the spontaneity this material deserves. I'm a big fan and I really digg it. Outstanding, enjoy.
DVD Review: Disappointed
Summary: 2 Stars
I had the good forture to attend both Hollywood Bowl shows On Nov.7-8,2008.
What I didnt like about this DVD is the 5.1 sound,and some of the video editing
Either I got a bad recording or my Right Front speaker doesn't work only for this DVD and this DVD only.
In 5.1 the only song that comes through on the right front is the very last song, GLORIA.
Also the video editing was very confusing.I never understood why Van wore a white shirt for
Friday and a black shirt on Saturday.But you sure can tell what songs came from what show by
watching.The sound in stereo is excellent.But I bought the DVD to hear it in 5.1.
At times the concert tries to meet what we saw live those nights.But I do remember the sound of
the 2 shows at the Hollywood Bowl.It was excellent.The visual was also excellent from our seats.
Unfortually this DVD misses on both.Having seen Van "live" 10 times I know what to expect at his shows.
These concerts were Great.Having Van being part of the production of the DVD, I expected the same.
Bill
DVD Review: Pleasant surprise
Summary: 4 Stars
Van is not a great stage presence. I must say I was impressed with his performance and what he did with this very complex material.
I would have liked to have seen and heard a few more of his hits. That's not the way this guy operates.
Good stuff.
DVD Review: Van THE MAN
Summary: 4 Stars
It was great to see VM perform this classic album.
If you're hoping to see some magic?, it is there,
though the youthfulness of the original recording
is not there, this is mature Van, with those great songs!
Loved watching the show and hearing those songs
that have stirred many a soul who have heard the original
Astral Weeks.
DVD Review: Classic Recreation of a Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
The original Astral Weeks has long been one of my favorite albums/CD's of all time. To be specific, I would say the original Astral Weeks by Van Morrison and Kind of Blue by Miles Davis are tied for number 1 in my lexicon of all time great musical recordings. When I first heard the CD of Astral Weeks at Hollywood Bowl I was thrilled that he had recaptured that magic mix of blues, jazz, spontaneity, gentle poetic musings about love and nature forty years down the road. When I saw the Astral Weeks at Hollywood Bowl the Concert Film, I was thrilled all over again to actually get to see how Van with his uncanny musicality leads a large ensemble of horns, strings, keyboards, percussion with a combination of his singing and his acoustic guitar playing. He not only picks but plays rhythm guitar in such a way that through it he explains his poetry, he leads the listener with him on his journey through the pain and joy of life and love.
Van is the Man.
Description of Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film (Amazon.com Exclusive)
Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film is an in-concert reworking of the musical legend's historic 1968 gold-certified solo album. Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film was recorded live over two nights at the Hollywood Bowl in November 2008.Van Morrison first released Astral Weeks when he was only 22.? The recording immediately became a critically-acclaimed classic and is still considered one of the greatest albums of the rock era.? The fall 2008 shows marked the first time Mr. Morrison ever performed Astral Weeks in one complete concert set. Joining him was an orchestral string section and a band composed of world-class musicians, some of whom played with Van on the original Astral Weeks sessions 40 years ago. During the first half, the artist performed a number of the timeless classics he is famous for while the second half was an awe-inspiring performance of the Astral Weeks album.? Among the songs included on the concert DVD are: "Astral Weeks/I Believe I've Transcended", "Beside You", "Slim Slow Slider/ I Start Breaking Down", "Sweet Thing","The Way Young Lovers Do", "Cyprus Avenue / You Came Walking Down", "Ballerina",? and "Madame George."?
The Astral Weeks DVD also features special bonus songs, including a live version of "Gloria"? and unprecedented behind-the-scenes footage as well as a candid conversation with the artist himself talking about the meaning behind Astral Weeks, his decision to revisit the pivotal project, and his impressions of the music business. "The Hollywood Bowl concerts gave me a welcome opportunity to perform these songs the way I originally intended them to be", says Mr. Morrison, who amazingly held only one rehearsal prior to the concerts.
To rework Astral Weeks, Mr. Morrison added his signature stretching of songs in a manner unlike any before by creating new sections of songs live on stage.
Unbeknownst to Mr. Morrison at the time he planned the Hollywood Bowl shows, the concerts coincided exactly with the 40th anniversary of the release of Astral Weeks.? He took it as a sign this project was destined to be.? Astral Weeks broke new ground with its experimental free-flowing arrangements and deeply reflective songs. Mr. Morrison's motivation to rework the music was to get back to his original signature sound: a blend of jazz, blues, classical and folk unique to Van Morrison.
"I believe I've transcended," Van Morrison sings in an extended, in-the-moment riff towards the end of the title track from his recent live album, Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Few would beg to differ, for over the course of this historic concert, Morrison seems to transcend age, time and whatever other affects turn some veteran performers into wan caricatures of their former selves better suited to halls of fame than halls of music. Now, for those who couldn't be there to go "into the music" under that star-filled Los Angeles sky, Morrison has released a concert film-his first since 1990's Van Morrison: The Concert-that documents the soulful evening measure for remarkable measure.
"It was an alchemical kind of situation," Morrison has said of the 1968 New York recording sessions that yielded the original Astral Weeks, which, although poorly promoted by Warner Brothers upon its release, now regularly places at the top of critic and reader surveys of the greatest albums of all time. Forty years later, a similar alchemy prevails as Morrison and another group of musicians-some old, some new-come together for Astral Weeks:The Concert Film. Never one to repeat himself or rest on his laurels, Morrison doesn't merely perform his classic album from cover to cover. He re-imagines it from the ground up, from a reshuffled track list and new orchestrations to a dramatically expanded "Slim Slow Slider," transformed from a plaintive, three-minute album closer into a wailing, heart-wrenching eight-minute centerpiece. Throughout, from the first pluckings of "Astral Weeks'"s pizzicato bass line to "Madame George'"s stirring invocation to "get on the train," Morrison stands center stage, singing, grunting, speaking in tongues, strumming his guitar and blowing his harmonica with such passion and vigor that it really is as though he is playing these songs for the very first time. To be born again, indeed.
"For me, it's about going back to the source," Morrison has said, and thanks to Astral Weeks: The Concert Film audiences can take that journey with him-back to the beginnings of an extraordinary five-decade solo career that has produced more than 30 albums, hundreds of songs and a worldwide popularity that continues to grow with each passing year. Thirty-five years after setting the gold standard for live recordings with the seminal It's Too Late To Stop Now, with Astral Weeks: The Concert Film Van Morrison once again surpasses himself.? --Scott Foundas
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