Version shown is the limited 2008 Japanese DVD edition with embossed metal stud cover:
The laserdisc is 84 mins long and features 15 tracks. The DVD version is 95 mins long and features 2 extra tracks: Diamonds And Rust The Green Manalishi
The laserdisc was quite an early release so some copies have laser rot on one side. Perfect copies do exist though - the one shown is pristine. That laserdisc is another one of my most played laserdiscs ever. Incredible it took the record company 24 years to re-issue this classic since the original 1984 release came out on laserdisc. It was also never re-issued on LD again and there was no USA or European pressing, just the one Japanese pressing shown. It was filmed in 1982 to coincide with their Screaming For Vengeance album which is certainly my favourite Judas Priest LP.
I was not particularly interested in buying a carbon copy of the LD on DVD so I instead purchased this alternative Julian Cope DVD which was released in 2007 which is a lot more interesting:
This alternative DVD features 5 tracks that are unique to the DVD so its a nice complimentary item to purchase for someone who already owns the laserdisc:
World Shut Your Mouth Trampolene Eve's Volcano Charlotte Anne China Doll 5 O'Clock World Beautiful Love (only on DVD) Head (only on DVD) Reward Planetary Sit In (only on DVD) Sunshine Playroom (only on DVD) Try Try Try (only on DVD)
In particular some of the DVD only tracks are really quirky from either much earlier (Sunshine Playroom 1984) or much later albums in his career (Head 1991, Try Try Try 1995, Planetary Sit In 1996) so fascinating to see now.
My introduction to Julian Cope was in 1988 when I used to set the video recorder to record late night music shows and then watch them the day after. I still have the original VHS recording which features an interview with Julian about his new album My Nation Underground at the time. I remember really liking the first single Charlotte Anne which was nothing like anything else in the charts so I went out and bought the album a few days later. I would later go on to buy many of his later albums and some of the earlier Teardrop Explodes albums as well.
Well I did a comparison of Grateful Dead Downhill From Here. I had gotten the VHS version when it came out and got the LD about 4 years ago and recently got the DVD on the cheap $5 so decided to do a multi compare. All the material is exactly the same on each version. The DVD has some trivial (literally some GD trivia and a few other things in the menu) but nothing of any major interest. I should also note this video was based on a 3 night run at Alpine Valley of which the majority is from the first night and a few songs are from the 3rd night. I attended the first 2 nights so this release has always been near and dear to my heart.
Frankly the Laserdisc blew away the DVD both in visuals and sound and I wasn't expecting the visuals to be better too. The analog tracks of the Laserdisc were way better and to be fair to the DVD I compared the Digital tracks of the LD and the DVD as well and the LD was still better on the digital tracks too. I have read a lot of people saying the analog tracks on LDs are in general inferior to the LD digital tracks. I would say as a generalization that may be true for some older analog material recorded prior to the LD era that was converted to LD. However, imo this is a general misconception that may be due to the older releases having Analog tracks that are not recorded as loud. Of the comparisons I have done for analog tracks recorded towards the end of the analog era those analog tracks sound fantastic and are just as loud as their digital counterparts. Such as this one. In fact I might say the Downhill from Here analog track on this LD might be just about the best I have ever heard any band sound not just the best I have ever heard GD sound.
There have been a few DVD pressings but honestly I have no desire to seek the other DVD pressings out as the DVD release I have noted compared to the LD is a disaster. The DVD sound has the life sucked out of it and the visuals have every stereotype of bad things related to full digital. It's Like watching a poor copy on youtube compared to the LD.
I have owned the VHS the longest and it was the one reason I got a refurbished high end VHS player because I remembered it was my best sounding VHS tape I ever had. The LD sounded better than the VHS as well. I did not compare the DVD to the VHS for sound but I wouldn't be surprised if the VHS was still better soundwise than the DVD. I will do that compare in the near future.
The majority of this release is from the first night which I attended and a few songs from the 3rd night which I did not attend. Regardless it all sounds great on the LD and it really bums me out so many people have probably only seen this via DVD.
For me I have yet to find a DVD done better than an LD. I'm sure they are out there but I haven't found one yet. So I really only buy LDs and Blu Rays unless something was only released on DVD or I might make an exception and get the DVD if it has a new surround sound mix compared to the LD.
I will post a DVD LD comparison of Jimi Hendrix "Experience" in the near future (much the same as this one) and that DVD I had prior to the LD and couldn't imagine how it could be bettered yet the LD was indeed better. (At least one LD version was better, the other LD version is horrible) More details in a future post.
i'm really interested if anyone has ever compared the DVD to LD of Joe Cocker's Maddogs and Englishmen. I know the DVD has 5.1 and the LD does not but curious about the comparison of the Stereo between the 2.
This review is a compare of the Laserdisc(s) DVD and VHS. Whenever I add a compare for a VHS the VHS is for sound only as the video of VHS just can't compete. That being said since this is a music thread and I had the VHS versions of this and Downhill From Here (my previous review) laying around I thought I would include them for sound only.
First of all the Blackburn 11/25/67 footage isn't very hifi to begin with no matter what format is used so this entire compare was a bit of a slog. That being said there were some clear winners in both audio and visual.
VALJ-3425 Experience Laserdisc contains the best picture and the best digital audio. I was surprised by this as I have had the DVD longer and always felt the DVD was very good which it is but the LD is better both in audio and visuals than the DVD
38297-3 Experience VHS surprised me as well as I felt like the analog audio on it was better than the LD audio
[BML-1] Superlive LD is a strange LD in that the first half of the LD is the same as the Jimi Johnny B. Goode Laserdisc ID6316SO and is of excellent quality. The second half of the Superlive contains the Experience film in atrocious quality both in visuals and audio. Easily the worst version here of the Experience material
440-053-194-9 Experience DVD contains the following bonus material. Some of which but not all is contained on yet other Laserdiscs.
Popside, Stockholm, Sweden, May 24, 1967 The Wind Cries Mary (a somewhat weird version is contained on LD Rock 'N' Rolls Greatest Years 67 vol 2 VAL-3112) Purple Haze Number Nine, Stockholm, Sweden, January 9, 1969 4 Red House 5 Sunshine Of Your Love Olympia, Paris, October 9, 1967 6 Wild Thing (available on Superstars in Concert Laserdisc SM068-3271) London, Saville Theatre, January 1967 7 Hey Joe (available on Superstars in Concert Laserdisc SM068-3271) Music Video 8 Dolly Dagger
The 5/24/67 Wind Crises Mary version on Rock 'n' Rolls Greatest Years 67 vol 2 Val-3112 despite sounding better and looking better than the DVD has a weird long edit where the last 2 verses are repeated and played with visual mirroring making for an unnaturally long version of Wind Cries Mary.
The items on the DVD that overlap with Superstars in Concert Laserdisc SM068-3271 sound better on the 440-053-194-9 DVD but look better on the Superstars in Concert Laserdisc.
Bottom Line: 1. The Experience DVD 440-053-194-9 DVD is the simplest place to get the most material including some that was never available on LD and with pretty good sound. 2. Experience VALJ-3425 LD is the best place to get the main Experience film (with no bonus tracks) visually and soundwise for the digital tracks only 3. Experience 38297-3 VHS actually has the best sounding analog track when compared to VALJ-3425 LD 4. Superstars In Concert SM068-3271 LD is in general a horrible sounding and looking LD. However, the Jimi material is some of the better material on the LD and visually actually bests the DVD bonus material that overlaps with it but not in terms of sound quality. It is too bad about the other material on the LD as it is some nice rare stuff but the sound is just horrible 5. Rock 'N' Rolls Greatest Years 67 vol 2 VAL-3112 has a very good looking and sounding odd unnatural edit of 5/24/67 Wind Cries Mary. Not worth seeking out imo for that. However, the other non Jimi material on the LD is excellent 6. Superlive BML-1 LD should be avoided if looking for the "Experience" film as it is awful on this LD. However, the Johnny Be Goode portion is excellent and since the Johnny Be Goode LD itself is a tough find it may be worth it to some to seek out Superlive for that material alone.
I will also add that the Experience releases were released years apart from each other leaving the possiblity of different mixes and aging film to come into play.
The LD and VHS of Downhill From Here were released at the same time so that really is a good compare and the DVD was rereleased later with nothing changed except they clearly didn't put the effort into making the transfer looking or sound as good as the original LD.
I will also add that the Experience releases were released years apart from each other leaving the possiblity of different mixes and aging film to come into play.
The LD and VHS of Downhill From Here were released at the same time so that really is a good compare and the DVD was rereleased later with nothing changed except they clearly didn't put the effort into making the transfer looking or sound as good as the original LD.
There is one more LD that has the equivalent of one of the bonus tracks on the Experience DVD and like the others the Laserdisc has both a better picture and better sound. There is an annoying leader talking about the JHE history on the Laserdisc though and towards the end there is a glitch on the LD that is not on the DVD but even with these flaws the LD of Sunshine of Your Love from 1/9/69 Early Show Konserthuset Stockholm, Sweden is better than the DVD version which again is pretty good.
Hard Rock Heaven.jpg [ 9.77 KiB | Viewed 3931 times ]
440-053-194-9 Experience DVD contains the following bonus material. Some of which but not all is contained on yet other Laserdiscs. Bold and underlined below is the track on Hard Rock Heaven.
Popside, Stockholm, Sweden, May 24, 1967 The Wind Cries Mary (a somewhat weird version is contained on LD Rock 'N' Rolls Greatest Years 67 vol 2 VAL-3112) Purple Haze Number Nine, Stockholm, Sweden, January 9, 1969 4 Red House 5 Sunshine Of Your Love Hard Rock Heaven: Best of Hard Rock VALJ-3235 Olympia, Paris, October 9, 1967 6 Wild Thing (available on Superstars in Concert Laserdisc SM068-3271) London, Saville Theatre, January 1967 7 Hey Joe (available on Superstars in Concert Laserdisc SM068-3271) Music Video 8 Dolly Dagger
I was not at all impressed with the DVD version. Despite this being a widescreen (16:9) concert video (the first done in high definition, in fact), the DVD is "hard-letterboxed" (I forgot if there is an official term for that) rather than being an anamorphic disc. In other words, they used the same master from the laser disc version (at best) to make the DVD.
So, a really high-quality Laser Disc release became a below-average DVD.
I was not at all impressed with the DVD version. Despite this being a widescreen (16:9) concert video (the first done in high definition, in fact), the DVD is "hard-letterboxed" (I forgot if there is an official term for that) rather than being an anamorphic disc. In other words, they used the same master from the laser disc version (at best) to make the DVD.
So, a really high-quality Laser Disc release became a below-average DVD.
I have this one on both LD and DVD as well and agree, the LD is definitely superior.
Particularly when things on screen get darker or the color stage lights are prominent, there are some pretty noticeable compression artifacts.
You can also often hear the audio compression artifacts. Even in the stereo mix, which is strange because it's 448 kbit AC3 for 2 channels. That's a pretty high bitrate per channel, I'd have expected it to sound better. The uncompressed PCM on the LD is night and day better.
This disc is what first got me into the LD hobby over 20 years ago, which subsequently spiraled out of control.
It was the only format it had been released on so I bought the disc and a player. Finally later in 2007 they put it on a bonus DVD with the Trick of the Tail remaster CD. I have the DVD as well, I should do a comparison. It's been years since I've watched either. I don't remember being extremely impressed with the DVD though. I don't think they put a lot of effort into a bonus DVD. Heck, there's a 99% chance they simply sourced the video from the LD.
EDIT: Reading your post again, I'm realizing I actually have a different DVD release than you. Mine is PAL and is anamorphic.
Now I realize there was a DVD/BD remaster in 2012 and I'm not sure about the framing of this one but it has additional contents to the LD.
The production featurette brings some details:
3/4th were shot on 4/3 16mm.
1/4th was shot on Super 16mm.
They re-framed the reels scanning for the 2012 remaster (less cropping).
DNR and grain reduction was used... giving it a very soft look.
The 2003 DVD is not known for having good quality picture but it might have been a choice to favor audio over video and offer full bitrate DTS 5.1 + DD 5.1 + DD 2.0 on a single disc.
The 2012 soundtrack is also considered a departure from the original one (less audience, cleaned up instruments).
Hoping for a 4K remaster that would add the grain back... and keep the original hi-res stereo!
I can understand this well. The "Invisible Touch" concert mentioned above had a possible high-definition release discussed in the 2003-2005 period, and if that had happened, I was prepared to buy a US$400+ Digital-VHS VCR (JVC HM-DH30000U) just to watch and own that tape.
Now, many years later, I do have that VCR, but the tape was never released, nor any other high-def version (so far).
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