The Film
From their beginnings aping the blues music of the United States to their looming over the landscape of early-seventies prog-rock, The Moody Blues is a rock and roll legacy that has influenced countless generations of musicians who have picked up guitars, oodled and doodled, or just plain rocked out.
Threshold of a Dream -- Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 captures the band members in their stride. Right in the prime of their early post-blues period and performing at the now notorious 1970 Isle of Wight festival in Britain, which has come to be known over the years for its rowdy fans eager to shout down the musicians and rail against the commercialism of the music industry.
The first half of the disc offers a brilliant surprise for fans. Rather than launching straight into the classic concert performance, there is a documentary with interview segments of the original band members reminiscing on their early careers and their performance at the 1970 show. After that, however, it's straight onto the main course, which is an appetizing buffet of all of the band's brilliant early classics like "Gypsy," "Tuesday Afternoon," "Question" and, of course, the ubiquitous "Nights in White Satin."
Like The Who at the Isle of Wight, this is The Moody Blues in all their youthful exuberance belting out with so much energy and optimism that one could hardly notice the hippie bubble had already burst.
The Picture
The 1080i/60 AVC encoding has an oddly soft overall look about it during the modern documentary segments with the band members, but the classic film footage looks rather organic. The odd shifts between the two formats are a bit disconcerting and obviously a function of the sources and not the transfer, but I still question why 1080i was settled on when so much footage is film-based. Still, Threshold of a Dream looks good enough for a film of this nature.
The Sound
There is an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless mix that offers a massive stereo spread across the front soundstage and a weighty bottom end, but surround channels are granted only mild ambience. The LPCM 2.0 mix is bit more balanced and far less boomy, which also makes it little more believable sounding. A Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is also provided.
The Extras
This is a barebones release with no extras provided at all.
Final Thoughts
Threshold of a Dream is a classic performance that needs to be on any rock and roll fan's shelf. And here it is in high definition. Enough said.
Product Details
Where to Buy:
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Movie | |
| Extras |
