Classic Heep Live from the Byron Era
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List Price: $23.98
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$21.99
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Features
• Best of
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• Live
• Import
• NTSC
In Theaters : 13 July, 2004
DVD Release : 15 June, 2004 |
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DVD : Usually ships in 4 to 8 days |
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Classic Heep Live from the Byron Era Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Buy this only after reading this full disclosure...
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I have to assume the other reviewers were watching a different DVD, otherwise they have real low standards. I gave it one more star than it deserves b/c a true fan still needs to purchase it. Only because there really is no other footage available from what I read...
I am a huge fan of Rock, and I rely heavily on these reviews when exploring bands I haven't heard before. I.e. Budgie, Elf, Colosseum, etc. But I have never written a review before until now. I feel I must write this review to offset all the positive I've heard concerning this DVD. The reviews and liner notes really got my expectations high, only to be disappointed. I wouldn't feel so bad if I knew what to expect.
Now, by no means am I telling you NOT to buy it, just to know what your getting into so you don't have the same false expectations that I had going into viewing this DVD. I am a huge Heep fan. My first intro to The Heep was back in the early eighties when I picked up a radio promo copy of "Innocent Victim". After that great sonic explosion, I graduated to even better LPs (cassettes at that time) such as "Look At Yourself", "Demons and Wizards", "Classic Heep Live", "Wonderworld", I could go on and on... I'm also a huge Deep Purple fan (go figure), so my musical standards were set pretty high when it comes to concert DVDs. I have a few DP DVDs and love them all. When reading the DP reviews for their DVDs, I learn that some aren't the best quallity footage; some black and white, some poor camera angles, etc... When I read the reviews and the DVD sleeve for this Uriah Heep Classics Live video, I'm led to believe this is the greatest find since King Tut's tomb. THAT IT'S NOT!!!
What it IS, is some kind of a poor concert fantasy sequence that I could have done better if I were to fall asleep with a Heep CD playing and DREAMED I were at a concert. At least the audio would sound better. The notes say the sound had been remastered. I think by some 14 year old fan in his basement maybe. The sound is mediocre at best. Also, it's not until track 8 or so at the U.S. show, that the video and audio are actually in sinc. The whole first half of the DVD is filled with what seems to be cut up video clips from some shows put in sinc with the audio from other shows. Many video clips are repeated over and over and slow motion is used when they can't find video to match. I was so disappointed with what I was seeing and hearing, I had to pop out the disc to see if it was truly the same title to confirm I didn't just get ripped off. The U.S. footage looks like they were performing at a high school gymnasium... this from one of the greatest arena bands in the world at the height of their success?! "Shady Lady" is the best track on the DVD in regards to video quality and video to audio sinc.
Now I must get started on the "great" David Byron. I enjoy what he did on the studio albums, but my expectations were heightened after reading how important he was to Heep and what a great front man he was. I expected the master showman. When I think great front men, my standards are high; i.e. Paul Rodgers, Ian Gillian, Coverdale, David Lee Roth, even Freddie Mercury. David Byron is a ridiculously dressed Freddie-wanna-be, which would be OK if he was a great singer/performer which he's not. He is a good singer and when it comes to performing, he's a pretender. Now granted this is a small sampling and I'm too young to have had a chance to see him live, in person myself. Far be it for me to speak ill of the dead, I really hope someone that has actually witnessed him live, can prove me wrong.
Now, I know you may be thinking this isn't worth your hard earned cash. That's only partly true. If you're a casual fan or someone just getting introduced to the great Uriah Heep, you'll want to pass on this one. If you are a long time fan like me, you NEED this DVD b/c there is no better option, as they say, it's better than nothing. As a die hard fan, we like to "will" it to be better than what it is, but that only works if you have a strong imagination. But then I guess you could watch a better show in your dreams. Only buy this DVD if you can find a cheap used copy. Don't waste your hard earned cash on a new copy at full price, you'll just be disappointed and have buyers remorse.
As lovers of rock music, there are certain things we just have to accept; There will never be new recordings that sound as good, warm, and pure as The Stones "Out Of Our Heads" or Beatles "Rubber Soul", Metallica will never be what they used to be on "Master Of Puppets", there will never be a perfect, full, uncut video copy of Deep Purple MkII circa 1972, and there will never be quality concert footage of Uriah Heep from the 70s...
P.S. there is one more reason to spend a few dollars on this video, to see Mick Box play lead with a broken arm/wrist during the U.S. show...
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Classic Heep Live from the Byron Era dvd movie.