Black Country Communion Live Over Europe [DVD] [2011]

Great band with all the tracks from the first two CDs, but what's up with the sound on this DVD - the track intros sounds fine then drops out when the rest of the band comes in - it's like someone keeps turning down the volume!
And what's with the documentary bits in the middle of it all?

I have been waiting with great anticipation for this DVD to arrive ever since I pre-ordered it weeks ago. I am a massive fan of Joe Bonamassa in his own right, and of BCC too. Their first album was simply fantastic, and the second one was even better. Joe is going to be, if he isn't already, the best blues/rock guitarist the world has ever seen. Glenn Hughes is not showing his age one tiny bit, his stage presence and the power and range in his voice is just as it has always been. Jason on drums is showing a huge developing talent, and Derek on keyboards is also highly accomplished. Their music, original or covered, is achingly good.

So, it really really really depresses me to say what a huge disappointment this DVD is, after all the waiting. When it kicks off, the sound is OK, but a bit muffled. This is through the TV, or through the surround system in either dolby or DTS modes. It isn't *awful* (if you want to hear what an awful DVD sounds like, watch Joe B's live DVD at the Albert Hall), but it just isn't very crisp. Some tracks are much better than others, and this is obviously down to different venues - but as there is no information as to what tracks were recorded where, I can't say where is good and where is bad. Sista Jane for example stands out as being much better sound wise. In this day and age, there is really no excuse for a top-end band like this producing sub-standard sound.

But the real ruination of this production comes from the visuals. The camera work and subsequent editing is, quite simply, atrociously bad. I buy live DVDs because I want to experience some of the atmosphere of the actual event, and get some feeling of what it was like to be there. The editing of this film leaves you with no chance of doing that whatsoever. Most cuts are 1 or 2 seconds long, and there is incessant childish yanking of the zoom and focus on the cameras that puts me very much in mind of the cliched "psychedelic" look of an episode of Top Of The Pops from about 1971. You can't concentrate on watching anything for a moment, you simply aren't given the chance. To have the audacity to think that an incredible guitar solo from Joe needs a bit of help from some out of focus shots of up his nostrils, or even better, a view of the *back* of the neck of his guitar, is just an insult both to Joe and to the viewer. Instead of thinking "what an incredible bit of guitar playing that is", you just sit there thinking "for the love of god, keep the camera still and let me watch the same shot for more than 4 seconds, PLEASE". I have just watched the DVD and I didn't watch one track all the way through. I just got repeatedly fed up and skipped to the next. The whole disc is like that.

The video shooting/editing is apparently the work of a German company and personnel, and having seen some clips of German music programmes on the net and their equally nauseating camera work, it is clear where this influence is coming from. Some of the cuts seem really jarring and incongruous, which leads me to suspect that some of the tracks (visuals at least) may even be cobbled together from more than one performance. Maybe this is why there is a dearth of info on what was recorded where, which let's face it would have been at least interesting to know.

Then the final insult comes when Smokestack Woman, one of their standout tracks, is given appalling treatment at the end of the DVD, when it is played at much lower volume as background to the credits, over a load of unrelated slow-mo shots. It is just bizarre.

So, if you are not too fussed about the quality of sound you listen to, and are easily and readily amused by frantic blurry shaky zoom-in zoom-out miss-the-action camera work, this will be right up your street. If you like good clear sound and like to be able to watch what the artists are actually doing through calm, steady, intuitive sensitive camera work, and have at least some sense of being there at the event, forget it. Put one of their CDs on and just enjoy the music.

The band is fantastic and you should buy their albums. This DVD is a huge disappointment, and it's a huge disappointment to have to say so. It will be going on my shelves in the "will probably never play it again" pile. I only give it three stars out of respect for the musicians, it really deserves one.

An excellent DVD showing this group at it's best. As ever Glenn Hughes commands centre stage and gives some marvellous vocals.