Customer Reviews

Paris Concert [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I watched this DVD straight after I had finished watching the Lee Ritenour Overtime DVD. How much better can it get when you can watch such great performances on a big screen with a great sound system without leaving your lounge room?

I have been a huge fan of Larry Carlton's since he played on Steely Dan's early albums and have collected most of his solo work on vinyl and CD from that time. I had only heard a few of Steve Lukather's solo performances but knew from the rave reviews that he was a virtuoso. But for me I bought the DVD just for Larry's performance - and I wasn't disappointed. Mainly because Larry chose to play tunes and improvised like he used to in the early days. It became abundantly clear how much Larry has influenced his younger co-performer, yet Luke played in his own way complementing Larry beautifully.

The opening track was a brilliant rendition of "The Pump", a Tony Hymas/Simon Phillips tune that is on Jeff Beck's "There and Back" album. As such it brought back nostalgic memories of another great guitarist which were then reinforced when they played a few bars of Steely Dan's "Josie" towards the end.

Larry Carlton plays the blues the way a jazz musician thinks, with a tone that is so pure. I am so glad he used his ES 335 for most of the show because that defines his sound. I have another DVD from the New Morning in Paris featuring Robben Ford who must definitely have been inspired by Larry as their tones and blues phrasing are very similar. However Larry is able to take it to another level without being flashy. His chord melody work on "It was only Yesterday" is reminiscent of the late Joe Pass and Lenny Breau - rich in harmonics and chordal harmony.

Steve Lukather's performance was much harder to define. He hunkers over his guitar and grips the neck like a power chording heavy metallist which belies the beautiful melodies that he plays with both power and subtlety. The tones and effects he wrings from his Signature Ernie Ball MusicMan guitar highlight the influences of Jeff Beck (soaring whammy bar harmonics), Buddy Guy, (5+ step bends on his rendition of "Red House") and Steve Vai (squawking, talking, pinched notes and whammy effects), just to name a few. He is the complete package!!

The support muso's were also very good, especially Chris Kent on bass, who along with the others got a chance to show his chops on a couple of tunes. (Stanley Clarke, Jaco and Louis Jordan have lot to answer for!)

The concert was great and by itself more than worth the outlay, but again the additional features provided more than icing on the cake. Larry talked about his early influences (BB King and Joe Pass) and talked a little about how he thinks about improvising and why it sounds like he might have rehearsed it but he hasn't.

Similarly Luke talks about his influences primarily the Beatles and then the Steely Dan connection. As a guitar player it is a wonderful insight and a great learning tool to listen to how these great players got started. Overwhelmingly what comes through is that both of these players love music, their guitars and each other.

Steve Lukather and others are more than capable of taking over the guitar emeritus mantle and legacy left by the older guys like Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour.

Agree totally with the reviews which claim excellent playing. But, when, oh when will producers try and at least act like music lovers as opposed to trying tio impress with every damn angle they can find? On this particular dvd one is actually treated to viewing the back of some members of the audience's head; then of cousre we must not forget that all of us absolutely love seeing guitar players from the rear, behind their arms, the drummer from ground zero postion, from behind his drum kit, etc, etc. The day a producer locates a decent wide-angle camera and tries to position himself in the centre of the audience in a slightly raised vantage point and helps us view the show as if we were sitting in the centre, taking in as much of the four, five or six members at once the happier I will be. I am not really interested to watch the audience either when Steve or Larry are in the middle of a solo. Get real guys!!

First of all, let me say that I am a big fan of both, Larry and Steve. I have a number of concerts from both guitarists on DVD/Video. That's why I went for this one , because I thought that it would be an AWESOME experience, hearing these two guys together. Unfortunately for me, it turned out to be a bit of a let-down. One could almost say, too much of a good thing overdone.

After the first tune, "Pump", Steve's incessant shredding and and noodling became annoying. For most of the time, it was like 'Every Man For himself', however Larry being the gentleman that he is, appeared to be almost restrained, letting Steve do his over-indulgent trip. But when it was Larry's turn, he always played brilliantly throughout, his solos well structured, great use of dynamics and technique always in the right places, never over-done. Larry showed (maybe not intentionally) that he's got class, while still being able to 'Rock Your Socks Off' with tons of chops to boot.

Jimi's song, "Red House" is probably the most abused Jam tune and I've not yet heard one guitar player do it justice. It's like, 'yeah put in a Hendrix tune and shred it to bits'. C'mon guys, if you must do this song, have a listen to at least ONE of the many versions done by Jimi before you even contemplate playing it. Then ask yourself, 'can I get that feeling, that intensity across as convincingly?'

In all fairness, the rest of the band are holding things together in spite of it all. There's some nice keyboard playing, plus solid back-up from the Bass player and Drummer. I mean, it's not a bad sounding DVD, in fact the sound is excellent, it's just a matter of mis-match in guitar players in this instance anyway. Steve should know better, he's been around long enough and he's done some fantastic work. But this is not one of his finest moments. If you want to hear him play really well, get the "Steve Lukather & Los Lobotomys In Concert". It is truly awesome and Steve is really in his element, playing great guitar, singing really well and his cover of a Jimi song (Freedom) is superb!

I rated this performance higher than I feel it deserves simply because I like the players, though not in this setting. Larry and Rit would have been a much better combination. By the way, if you want to hear some Really powerful guitar playing, with lots of energy, feeling and chops (but minus the pointless shredding), check out Joe Bonamassa!

I've had all his other videos and a couple of bootlegs. I wanted to like Larry. He is a great guitarist, but his written material always seemed a bit schmaltz-e. Like 1 degree towards Barry Manilow which is 1 degree too much. Also the lackys he had with him on past videos didn't help matters either. Finally!!! This DVD is phenominal. Lukather brings the cutting edge with out altering Carlton whom he obviously admires. The rest of the band makes it cook just right. I've never seen Carlton compositions sound so good. Good keyboards, drums and bass too. Not just a bunch of subserviant studio guys with no charachter. They rock and do whatever needs to be done. This video cooks and ""ALL"" the musicians shine. The music is formost and not just a man. This is music. A bunch of equals with good material. That is how it's done.

I'm not sure what DVD the rest of the reviewers got, but this particular one does NOT have Steve Lukather on it anywhere!! Larry Carlton doesn't have much of the spotlight either so if you're really looking for a DVD that showcases him, this is a bad choice. The other performers are average at best and the vocals are really poor on most songs. Don't waste your money on this one!!

This Blu-Ray bears no resemblance whatsoever to another Blu-Ray featuring Steve Lukather and Larry Carlton that is the subject of most of the reviews here. That is very misleading. I cannot understand why Amazon does not make an effort to straighten that out. Under no circumstances should this Blu-Ray have received a four star rating. If you check the DVD reviews you will see that it only got 1 1/2 stars. Still too high in my opinion but closer to the mark. If it were not for the confusion between the two products I would never have purchased this.

I bought this Blu-Ray because it was supposed to feature Larry Carlton. He plays on two songs. The rest of the concert is performed by some French guys who think they can play the blues. They can't! Typical of the French ego they have two master guitarists on stage, Larry Carlton and Robben Ford, who are barely allowed to get a lick in! Pathetic! Don't waste your money!

First of all I have to say that the reviews showed in this page led me erroneously to buy this blu-ray, just to found that there was no Steve Lukather anywhere. There are 11 reviews from a different concert (Larry Carlton-Steve Lukather) and only one for the real one. Please correct it as soon as possible so nobody will make a mistake like mine.

In fact I found a bunch of Parisian friends playing blues without any soul,accompanied (I don't understand why) by Larry Carlton or Robben Ford in some songs.

And when I say a bunch I do it literally, because there are always too many people on the stage (sometimes 5, 6 or 7 guitars) just to play blues heard thousand of times by other more talented artists, here without any interest. Most of the times you can not distinguish who is playing what.

The concert is pretty boring. I don't want to say that they don't know how to play blues, but they do it mechanically, and even the solos by Larry Carlton and Robben Ford are uninspired, maybe by the rare atmosphere of the concert.

As a blu-ray, the picture quality is not either outstanding, so please spend your money in other blu-rays more interesting than this.

First, I am a huge, long time fan of Carlton and Ford, going back to my many LP's by both artist as well as CD's and DVD's when available. This product should not bear their names. It is totally about the poor French house band that can't hold a candle to 3/4's of the VFW bands playing any weekend. No passion, no skills, no joy and they won't even let Carlton and Ford take a solo on their own songs. While Carlton and Ford smile and vamp along waiting through the drudgery for a break to try and instill something into the song, it never comes, and if it does, the break is a single ride, no chance to build something from the ashes. It was heartbreaking to watch these pro's defer to these French "want to be's". I felt very violated to be spending this much on this title. Amazon or someone should stop this ripoff. Carlton and Ford can't be in on this, or I'd be disappointed with their management for the sellout. Stop the rip off, bring us a real Larry Carlton, Robbin Ford concert in Paris, because this is not a concert, and it is not about either artist at any level. If you love poorly played, the thrill is gone, obscure French house bands, in a tiny little venue, with a drunk 3 in the morning crowd, playing over some absolutely awesome guitar greats, then this is for you.

Hey, I'm an old guitar player (61) and I really enjoyed both Carlton and Lukather jammin' their hearts out. I can see that they were both having a good time and were very loose--to say the least. THey come from different sides of the guitar world but, boy they both can play. I've been a Carlton fan for decades and this is the first time I have seen Luke play--yep I dig it. They both play from the heart and have a world of chops--that and a great band to support you, what else would you want? They give each other space to burn, and there's mutual respect here, no trying to "one up". Very enjoyable watching two world class players smokin' and having a lot of fun. To me this is another learning experience and I probably watched it 15 times the first week that I had it. I've been playing for almost 50 years and still love this stuff!

What do you get when you pair up two of LA's hottest session guitar veterans? The Carlton-Lukather Paris Concert of course!

Larry Carlton made his name in the LA session scene. For me, it was his amazing contribution on records by Steely Dan and The Crusaders, not to mention his amazing solo albums that had me hooked.

A generation after Carlton, Steve Lukather's catalog of session work is perhaps even more immense. No one plays with such controlled abandon as Mr Lukather!

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