Customer Reviews

April Wine-Live in London

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

....the producers had not insisted on adding "special effects" to the concert footage. And, is it too much to ask to have the band member interviews and other addtional footage inserted IN BETWEEN THE LIVE SONGS AND NOT DURING THE SONGS! This IS a great performance by one of my favorite 70s rock bands. But the "enhancements" by the producers are a distraction and that's too bad.

"I like To Rock" but just "Between You and Me" fans of this great Canadian rock band will be completely disappointed with this DVD release. It's evident that no amount of restoration or effort went into cleaning up this 1981 concert filmed at London's legendary Hammersmith Odeon from Cherry Red Records. I have waited years for an official "April Wine" concert release and after viewing this DVD it appears the wait will continue. I can't believe that the studio didn't use the original masters from this show and spend some money on cleaning it up for this release. One look at the disc packaging and disc artwork you'd think this was a major effort put out by Cherry Red Records but that's where it stops.

The picture is barely viewable on a 37" LCD television and the simulated 5.1 surround sound could have been much better. The poor camera editing, strobe effects and between song interviews completely take away everything good from this show. I can't find any formal acknowledgement from the band members that they actually had anything to do with this so called official DVD release from Cherry Red Records anywhere. The band is still incredible, the 15 song set list is equally as impressive but everything else about this concert DVD has left this "April Wine" fan extremely disappointed.

DVD Menu
April Wine: I Like to Rock - Live in London 1981
-Play Programme
-Track Selection
-Other Releases

Song List
1 Big City Girls
2.Crash and Burn
3.Telling Me Lies
4.Future Tense
5.Ladies Man
6.Crossfire
7.Gypsy Queen
8.Between You and Me
9.Bad Toys
10.One More Time
11.21st Century Schizoid Man
12.Roller
13.I Like To Rock
14.All Over Town
15.I Want To Rock

I get what the naysayers are all complaining about here, but forget all that crap, this is an absolutely spectacular show by one of the top rock bands in the world late 70's/early 80's. I've watched this show many times as it was one of my very first music video purchases way back then (on Beta no less!), so the audio/video quality is pretty much the same to me, but with no tape hiss and no tracking issues. April Wine's music of this period was for me one of the defining elements of the term "melodic hard rock". So look beyond the fact that Cherry Red did not upgrade this at all in its transfer to DVD, and just the enjoy 65 minutes of one great hard rock show.

I bought this on VHS back in 1984, it rocked then, it rocks even harder on DVD. Extended guitar solos on Ladies Man, Sign of the Gypsy Queen are awesome - 3 guitars going crazy. Myles Goodwyn is a great front man.

Here's the kicker. If you are a drummer, this is a must have DVD. Jerry Mercier is unbelievable. His drum solo during I like to Rock, is as good as it gets. Very original, he is in the same league as a Tommy Aldridge,which is unbelievable.

This whole concert just rocks with good tunes. Each one you go, oh yeah, i remember that from the radio. If you like "Rock and Roll Guitars", and "like to Rock" like I do, then this is for you.

This is a great show from a legendary band. The quality is as good as expected from a video of this vintage. If you're a fan of April Wine get this DVD!

This is a DVD of an April Wine concert at the Hammersmith Odeon venue in, I believe, January of 1981. The concert itself--that is, the playing and singing--is good, and the sound is adequate ir a bit better, particularly considering the vintage of the source material.

Thankfully there aren't a lot of crowd shots; it's about the April Wine performance, not the audience, unlike a lot of other concert videos.

There are a couple of factors that reduced my enjoyment: the cheesy electronic video effects cluttering up the image and the silly "interview" footage wherein the band members act like buffoons whilst riding around London before the concert in and on a retired double-decker red bus. That in itself wouldn't be so bad except for the videomakers' ill-advised decision to favor this asininity over actual performance footage, which causes us, the video's audience, to miss parts of the actual concert.

I was on the fence about whether to give this thing 3 or 4 stars. I gave it the benefit of the doubt. (I did like the concert.)

This is a typical (but great) concert from 28+ years ago.
The "wavey" videography is a little distracting, but April Wine
sounds great and the track list couldn't get much better.
Overall, 4 stars out of 5.

This is April Wine at their peak and at their best! One of the best rock groups in the 70's and 80's. This concert is in support of their Nature of the Beast album. It was held at Hammersmith London in Jan 27, 1981. Considering the year of the concert, you'll appreciate that the sound and picture quality of the dvd is very good. The dvd is region free = 0, released in 2008.

This is the best line-up of the Canadian rocker April Wine. Myles Goodwyn - lead vocals and guitars, Brian Greenway - guitars (vocals on "21st century schizoid man" only). Gary Moffet - Guitars, Steve Lang - bass and Jerry Mercer on drums (he did solo in "I like to rock"). So you'll see 4 guitarist here (3 lead and rhythm guitars + 1 bass + 1 drums).

I wish bands these days can make music like this!

All songs performed were great;

1. Big city girls 2. Crash and burn 3. Tellin me lies 4. Future tense 5. Ladies man 6. Caught in the crossfire 7. Sign of the gypsy queen 8. Just between you and me 9. Bad boys 10. One more time 11. 21st century schizoid man 12. Roller 13. I like to rock 14. All over town 15. I want to rock

After buying the dvd, insert it to your player, turn off the lights and turn-up the volume of your player real loud!

Finally a concert dvd of April Wine. Yes it's true, it could have been cleaned up a bit. My only other problem with it is the attempt to make it look good with all the stop frames & etc.. Leave it alone and just show the concert without all the fancy camera work. April Wine just rocks, so let them rock. It's hard to believe this is the only dvd available of this great band. Never had the chance to see them live so I'll take this one.

This concert reminded me of my high school junior year. Me and my buddie wore out Harder/Faster and Nature of the Beast cassettes. I finally caught them live in Salina Kansas in 1995 and was so happy to catch them live. They put on a awesome show.

This video is a great live show for it's time, if you can get past the special effects. The audio is about par for the age of the video (1981)
It was a must have for my collection. Glad I got it.