Customer Reviews

Son Volt: 6 String Belief

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

 

 

Son Volt is one of the best bands on the planet, and on the live stage, they are *the* best. This DVD does a wonderful job capturing the intensity of Son Volt's live shows, sparked by Farrar's signature stop-and-start sonic explosions. This really is a great collection of songs that span all of Farrar's work. My only complaint about this DVD is the format of the interview with Farrar included on the DVD's "Bonus Features" section. The interview has quite a bit of interesting info about Jay, Son Volt, and Uncle Tupelo, but it is delivered by flashing a question on the screen and then cutting to Farrar responding to the ghost who asked him. Makes for a very odd and rigid presentation of the information. Also, on a more minor note, there is an error in the track listing whereby if you select the song "Drown" it takes you not to the beginning of that song but to the middle of the previous song, "Medication." Still, for the chance to see and hear Son Volt live with such a great picture and sound quality, this DVD is worth every penny.

The Tracks:

1)Who
2)Bandages & Scars
3)6 String Belief
4)Atmosphere
5)Gramaphone
6)Back into Your World
7)Joe Citizen Blues
8)Medicine Hat
9)Ipecac
10)Damn Shame
11)Feel Free
12)Barstow
13)Loose String
14)Choas Streams
15)Live Free
16)Clear Day Thunder
17)Picking Up The Signal
18)Jet pilot
19)Endless War
20)Route
21)Straightface
22)Caryatid Easy
23)Driving The View
24)Medication
25)Drown
26)Afterglow 61
27)World Waits for You
28)Tear Stained Eye
29)Windfall
30)Armagideon Time
31)Chickamauga

31 tracks folks. 11 bucks.

Well Shot, EXCELLENT SOUND, great crowd and venue.

Dolby Digital 5.1, PCM Stereo

Chris Frame on Guitar instead of Brad Rice. All of the other players are from Okemah.

And yes, I really live in Chickamauga:)

I love Son Volt & have all their albums. I enjoyed their Austin City Limits DVD so much that I was really looking forward to this one. The great songs are all here, and the performances are rock-solid. But I have two major complaints. While the performance appears to have been shot in HD (large "HDnet" logos are visible on the cameras), this DVD is in letterboxed 480p. Why? Also, while the sound quality is mostly excellent with great clarity, the bass on the 5.1 mix is almost non-existent. Despite these technical flaws, this is a very enjoyable concert DVD, a must for any Son Volt fan.

I had the pleasure of attending this show at The Orange Peel in Asheville and I must say Son Volt is one of the best bands I've ever seen live. I know HDNet filmed this show and later aired it so I'm hoping there will be a way to purchase this show on Blu Ray. I'd love to have it on hi def.

Trust me, this is a must buy. Jay Farrar coupled with the back beat beasts (Dave Bryson and Andrew Duplantis) is top notch. These guys are freaking tight!!!

I hope to see these guys a few more times live. They rock.

If you are a Jay Farrar/Son Volt fan this is a must own. Even if you are just a fan of good rock and roll music this is the dvd for you. The Volt rocks out on every song spanning their entire catalog.

Son Volt does not disappoint in this 2 hour DVD. I somewhat agree with the previous reviewer - HD Net showed part of this show and it was in High Def. But if you are a fan of Son Volt, especially the newest album, and/or Jay Farrar's solo work, this DVD is worth the price. The sound is incredible, and there are 31, count them, 31 songs spanning from his Uncle Tupelo days up through the entire new album being featured.

Other than the picture issue, the only other drawbacks are variety of the material. The acoustic songs are few and far between, but the new band, especially with the 2 guitar approach, rocks. Could have also used more than one Uncle Tup song. But all in all a great DVD and a nice compliment to the Austin City Limit DVD.

From the opening "Who" to the closing and rousing "Chickamauga," Jay Farrar and Son Volt are as potent and pwerful as Neil Young with Crazy Horse at their very best. With disarming directness and simplicity, Farrar crafts subtle and sophisticated tales like Young with a view from the Midwest, much as Young's vision is infused part Canadian Prairie and part western dessert. Farrar has a unique voice that passionately deals with alienation, the loss of love, the political illwill and its deleterious effects on the common man in ways that only Neil and his cohorts ever dealt with as compellingly.

The show is a small theatre, and thus, there is an intimacy to the recording and the video that is always lost in bigger venues. Unlike Young, Farrar seems more in control of where and how his music is presented, where there are times throughout Neil's career you just wonder.....

Anyway, short of "Anodyne," there is almost any song you could want from his catalogue. And the band is spot on with every lick, fill, exploration in which they all engage. As wryly self-effacing as Neil, Farrar early on advises the crowd they are filming, so if they don't get it right, they'll have to do it all over.

"6 String Belief" is a great title for the DVD: certainly Farrar's love for his craft pours out from his Gibson acoustic and Gretsch black with a crunch and conviction almost any artist would give their eye-teeth for. The 5.1 mix makes all this wonderful music even more "present" wherever you are. This is absolutely brilliant in every respect and there is an intriguing interview with Farrar as bonus material. But he says it all with his music.

Perhaps one day, Farrar and Young will collaborate. Farrar is Young's heir in every best sense: the writing, the vocals, the playing - there is such an unaffected honesty to it all, that even more than thinking about Young working with him, you hope Tweedy, Heidorn and Farrar would convene Uncle Tupelo just one more time. It would break your heart if they never did...

I am a huge Son Volt fan and a fan of Jay Farrar through everything he has done. When I saw that this show was being released on DVD I was very excited especially since they were showing clips on HDNet in high definition and it looked and sounded awesome. So, what would I suspect the DVD to be like? You would think since they went to the extra expense to shoot it so well and that there are HD clips on HDNet that the end result on DVD would be at least great even if not in High Def. Well, not so. They released it as a widescreen, non-anamorphic DVD. What a crying shame. Especially since the DVD sounds fantastic. One of the best I have heard. The fact that a corner was cut and it was released non-anamorphic is just a tragedy. Who made this call? Instead of putting out a disc that would have stood up against any other great DVD out there, they do this. I mean, they released Alice Cooper 1973 in anamorphic widescreen. Oh well, what could have been a nice gift for a lot of fans now is just a letdown.