The Performance
Jamiroquai is a British band whose sound has evolved along with its ever-changing band members over the years. Forming in the early-1990's and being one of the pioneers of the acid jazz movement, the band, fronted by lead singer and songwriter Jay Kay, would eventually take their sound into the areas of pop, rock, fusion, funk, and soul. It would now be difficult to put one label on them at all, actually.
Watching and listening to Jamiroquai perform today one can recall acts of the 1970's such as Parliament, Sly and the Family Stone circa There's a Riot Goin' On and Curtis Mayfield. Their jazzy progressions, funky rhythms, and soulful vocal harmonies would place them in today's neo-soul movement, although they sound more authentically retro than most acts saddled with that label today.
Jamiroquai: Live at Montreux 2003 captures the band in performance for their third appearance at the Swiss jazz festival. The concert covers fifteen of Jamiroquai's numbers, starting with the funky, grinding opener, "Use the Force," which leads directly into three of the band's biggest hits "Canned Heat," "Cosmic Girl," and "Little L." My personal favorite of the show is the sleek, "Butterfly," sounding like Barry White on acid.
Frontman Jay Kay knows how to entertain a crowd and Jamiroquai, even with a simple dark set, puts on an enjoyable live show. This is timeless rock/funk/soul/jazz music.
The Picture
Jamiroquai: Live at Montreux is granted an AVC/MPEG-4 encoding of its 1080i/60 source for this Blu-ray release from Eagle Rock Entertainment. Concert video releases live and die more by their audio than by their picture quality. With that being the case, some leeway can be granted for a less than stellar transfer from a concert release. In the case of this Jamiroquai performance, that may be necessary, because the picture suffers from high levels of video noise, unstable black levels, motion artifacts, and some instances of posterization. There are times on close-ups when detail looks quite sharp and revealing, but mostly the level of detail is soft.
The Sound
Jamiroquai: Live at Montreux is provided with both a LPCM 2.0 and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix in addition to a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Sadly, the sound on this release is a colossal mess, regardless of which option one chooses. In the DTS-HD MA mix the balance of frequencies is off. It is pushed in the lower midrange making everything sound boxy. The mix is also very muddled, with instruments all competing for the same space. There's very poor instrumental separation and vocals are thin and often lost in the din of sounds. The bass is practically nowhere to be found in this mix. There is a hole in the bottom end. The PCM 2.0 rectifies things only slightly, bringing the vocals more forward and beefing up the low frequencies slightly, filling the gap between low end and midrange. Still, ambience sounds constrained in both mixes with no "air" around the instruments and a complete lack of dynamics. In a word, the sound here is a disaster.
The Extras
Space Cowboy 1995 (1.33:1; 480i/60) -- In this bonus performance, Jamiroquai "light's up" at Montreux performing their song "Space Cowboy."
Final Thoughts
Jamiroquai put on a fun show at Montreux, with memorable, danceable, and energetic songs, but the Blu-ray presentation mars the whole affair with sub par video and sound.
Where to Buy
Product Details
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