Customer Reviews

Threshold of a Dream: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival [Blu-ray]

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

 

 

After having listened to several live Moody Blues recordings, I didn't have very high hopes for this DVD, but I've enjoyed other Isle of Wight Festival DVDs, including Jethro Tull: Nothing Is Easy Live at the Isle of Wight 1970, the Who Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 (Special Edition), and Jimi Hendrix - Blue Wild Angel (Live at the Isle of Wight), and I really enjoy the Moody's work on their core seven albums. So I gave this DVD a shot and was surprised by how enjoyable it turned out to be. Despite the inclusion of stock footage that seems to show up in all the Isle of Wight DVDs, and the fact that some of the songs are fragmentary, and interspersed with present-day interview segments, in the end, I still enjoyed the show. The main block of the concert is uninterrupted, the song selection is great, and the stripped-down, live arrangements were well performed. Plus it's great to watch the (then) young band having a good time. This DVD is certainly better than the massively overdubbed The Moody Blues - The Lost Performance: Live In Paris '70 or the over-produced, well-past-their-prime Moody Blues: Lovely to See You (2005).

This captures the moddies at a peak time, its like you are being there, the new inteviews are justgreat, the pice is very nice also

if you will, and like any other good scrapbook, this one is aged, unpolished, faded, yet glorious, magnificent, and invaluable to anyone who was around during its inception way back in 1970. Here the Moodies are presented as they looked and sounded at the top of their game, before Beta, VHS, laserdiscs, DVD's or high definition. The dazzle then isn't in the 5:1 or the HD. Nor is it in the performance itself. Rather, it's that we have this 41 year old time capsule of our beloved cosmic troubadours now pulsing through our flat screens. This is the stuff we got to see but were too smashed to remember (joke). It takes about 22 minutes before the show starts so don't be anxious or dismayed. Till then there are some fine new interviews, one of particular interest with Mike Pinder (who demonstrates how his mellotron worked). John Lodge, Justin Hayward and Graeme Edge are also on hand. The concert footage is unexpectedly rendered in wide screen with much less grain than I expected though it must have been enlarged from 1:33 negatives. Justin Hayward took it upon himself to bring the audio up to the highest standards possible and it's quite remarkable what he accomplished, but again, don't expect too much. It's only a scrapbook intended for avid fans, OK? Now if you fellow cosmic rockers are looking for their most pristine concert video, I'd recommend the "Lovely to see You" blu-ray. Rock on....

The prolbem with buying CD's, DVD's and Blu-rays is if they SUCK, there nothing you can do about it.