Jeff Beck Performing This Week…Live at Ronnie Scott's on Blu-ray Disc Review
By Brandon A. DuHamel
The Performance
Are you kidding me? Jeff Beck playing live at the intimate setting of London's renowned Soho Jazz club Ronnie Scott's? What true music lover wouldn't want to be there? That is what is captured here on this Blu-ray Disc from Eagle Rock. Over a decade before Eddie Van Halen came on the scene, long before anyone ever heard of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai or Eric Johnson, there was Jeff Beck. The man replaced Eric Clapton in one of 1960's staples of Blues-rock, The Yardbirds, a band that would also see the future guitarist for Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, pass through.
Throughout his influential career, though never managing to attain the sustained commercial heights of his friends and peers, Jeff beck would go on to collaborate with such musical stalwarts as Rod Stewart, Jan Hammer, Sir George Martin, and even eventually Eric Clapton.
Beck's one-week stay at the famous club on November of 2007 was the first time he had played a venue so small since the 1969 debut of The Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart. Interestingly enough, in the intervening years, Beck's music, though still weighted in Blues and Rock, had grown fittingly appropriate for a Jazz venue such as Ronnie Scott's. Jeff Beck had long since been pioneering his own brand of instrumental Fusion and Jazz Rock.
The show deservedly brought out many celebrities throughout the week to come see Beck perform. At one point during the show caught on this release, one can see none other than Robert Plant taking in the sounds in the audience.
Beck and his unbelievably skilled band (they would have to be to keep pace with the notorious perfectionist), which includes the young, Australian, twenty-something bass phenom Tal Wilkenfeld, tap the guitarist's wealth of material from his lengthy career, including tracks from his debut instrumental album
Blow by Blow, like the frenetic "Scatterbrain" and the Stevie Wonder cover "Cause We Ended as Lovers."
Some welcomed guests also join Beck during the performance, adding some spice to the mix. Joss Stone lays down her typically soulful vocals for a moving rendition of The Impressions' "People Get Ready," which Beck also scored a minor hit with, with Rod Stewart about twenty-years ago. Also joining Beck on stage were Imogen Heap for "Blanket" and "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and, last but not least, Eric Clapton, for two Blues classics -- Muddy Waters' "Little Brown Bird" and Willie Dixon's "You Need Love."
You'd think that would be enough to make this a great concert disc, but it only gets better. There is an additional Rockabilly set from the same night provided with Jeff Beck and The Big Town Playboys. This set is straight up, authentic Rockabilly, with classic numbers like "Train Kept 'a Rollin'," "My Baby Left Me," and "Race With the Devil" -- move over Brian Setzer, this is great stuff.
The Picture
Originally shot in high definition,
Performing This Week Live at Ronnie Scott's shows up on this Blu-ray edition in a 1080i/60 AVC/MPEG-4 high definition transfer that looks passable, but is certainly not among the best concert videos available on BD today. The picture is rather soft, shows quite a bit of motion artifacts, there are occasional moiré patterns that pop up on Jeff Beck's guitar strap and on the grids of the guitar amps, and video noise is a particular nuisance. Black levels are a bit inconsistent as well, occasionally crushing and sometimes looking greyish, but contrast levels are solid and steady. The transfer also has solid colors with accurate flesh tones and it displays no macroblocking or haloing.
The Sound
Jeff Beck Performing This Week…Live at Ronnie Scott's is provided with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, LPCM 2.0 (48kHz/24-bit) and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio options provided. Both the lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes provide good listening experiences, but the stereo mix has a slightly more balanced and accurate soundstage more akin to an intimate Jazz venue. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix opens things up with far more ambience and a much "boomier" low frequency extension, which makes it understandable why a venue like Ronnie Scott's is not really the right place for such a loudly amplified band. The mix engineers, however, seemed to have been able to address this issue better in the stereo mix than in the 5.1 mix where things seem too large, and a tad too "bassy."
Still, the lossless 5.1 mix is not all bad -- Jeff beck's guitar sounds more powerful and there is more midrange presence in the 5.1 mix than in the stereo mix.
The Extras
The best supplement offered here is the aforementioned Rockabilly, which should have a lot of replay value for Jeff Beck fans and music fans in general. Apart from that, there are in-depth interviews with Beck and both of his backing bands that will also be of great value to music fans.
Final Thoughts
This is a must have for fans of instrumental guitar music, Jeff Beck fans, or music fans in general; there isn't much to say after that besides going on record to say that we hope that Eagle Rock Entertainment can keep up the good work in bringing some fine concert videos to Blu-ray.
Where to Buy
Product Details
- Performer: Jeff Beck
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Audio/Language: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, LPCM 2.0 (48kHz/16-bit), Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rating: Not Rated
- Studio: Eagle Rock Ent
- Bu-ray Disc Release Date: March 31, 2009
- List Price: $24.98
- Extras:
- Interviews with Jeff beck and the band members
- 7 track Rockabilly set with the Big Town Playboys
