Alphabetical list of all DVD-Audio and DualDisc Reviews. Click the letters below to navigate...
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Ryan Adams: Gold
Performance = 2
Sound = 6
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“Wait a minute – this isn’t the same guy who sang “Summer of ’69.” No, unfortunately, it’s not. That’s Bryan Adams with a B. Click here... |
AIX All Stars: Surrounded By Christmas
Performance = 8
Sound = 9.5
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The holidays just aren’t complete without some form of Christmas music to usher in the good cheer. Let’s be honest, Perry Como has wore out his welcome. Click here... |
David Alan - David Alan
Performance = 6
Sound = 8.5
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This epononymously titled DVD-A is David Alan’s first solo album, being released on the DTS Entertainment label. It contains a DTS track that can be played through a DVD video player, as well as the DVD-Audio track. Click here...
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Trey Anastasio (self-titled)
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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I’ll admit that I have a hard time finding anything Trey Anastasio does to be bad. He is the consummate guitarist and musician. Click here... |
Audioslave - Audioslave
Performance = 9
Sound = 9
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Isn’t it ironic (unlike a black fly in your chardonnay or rain on your wedding day) that the two best rock records on DualDisc are from modern-day super-groups? Click here...
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Awaken
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Bringing together street culture with the most cutting edge technology, Awaken is a more than just a disc with some high resolution techno music and cool cover art. Click here... |
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Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
Performance = 9
Sound = 7.5
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The mono mix level is higher than the stereo or 5.1 tracks. It has that original sound: a bit harsh in the mid-range, and an audible tape hiss in the background. Click here... |
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 Op.125
Performance = 7
Sound = 7
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If you are at all familiar with other performances of Beethoven’s Ninth, this interpretation will probably shock you, and not necessarily in a nice way. Click here... |
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major. Op.68, Pastorale
Performance = 9
Sound = 9
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The album pairs Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony with Respighi’s symphonic tone-poem, Pines of Rome. Click here... |
Bela Fleck: The Blue Grass Sessions
Performance = 8
Sound = 8.5
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This is the way that bluegrass music is meant to be experienced. Generally, when these musicans get together to jam, they sit in a big circle and musically feed off each other. Click here... |
Pat Benatar: Live From The Front Row
Performance = 8.5
Sound = 8.5
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Recorded at the University of Texas’ Frank Erwin Center in Austin, this performance has great energy. Click here... |
Big Head Todd & The Monsters: Crimes of Passion
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Big Head Todd first came to national prominence in the early ‘90s. With their blend of rock, blues and jazz, they quickly became known for great live performances and a string of outstanding albums. Click here... |
Bjork: Vespertine
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Musically, Bjork’s Vespertine is a modern-day voyage through a wonderful world of sounds, eclectic lyrics and poetry. Click here... |
Blasters, The: Live - Going Home (DTS-ES)
Performance = 8
Sound = 7
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In 2002, Dave Alvin decided that he wanted to have a musical family reunion. Click here... |
Blue Man Group: Audio
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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You’ve seen them on the Intel Pentium TV commercials, but if that’s all you’ve seen, you have no idea at all of what Blue Man Group is all about. Click here... |
Blue Oyster Cult: Long Day's Night
Performance = 7
Sound = 7
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Drum fills move nicely across the front soundstage, but rarely do percussive effects find their way into the rears. Click here... |
Bond - Explosive
Performance = 6
Sound = 6
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Even if you think you’ve already heard and seen everything, the group Bond is quite possibly like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. |
Brides of Destruction - Here Comes the Brides
Performance = 2
Sound = 3
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How do I start this review? Ah, I know: this album sucks! It’s hard to imagine an album being more of a waste of time than this one. Click here... |
Jonatha Brooke
Performance = 9
Sound = 9
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The latest album from Jonatha Brooke was a real killer on CD. Now that it’s out on DVD, with 5.1 and stereo mixes on a DVD-Video and a DVD-Audio side, it’s made all the more incredible. Click here... |
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Chicago: II
Performance = 9
Sound = 8.5
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The sound is more fleshed out and organic than the original recording. It has a more enveloping feeling that lends itself well to a 5.1 mix. Click here... |
The Church - Forget Yourself
Performance = 9
Sound = 8.5
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The Church, self-proclaimed art-rockers from Australia, have been around for about 25 years, and while they have had their hits and misses, it’s too bad Forget Yourself, originally released in July of 2003, is the album they chose to release as a dual disc |
Clapton & BB King: Riding With The King
Performance = 8
Sound = 7
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This collaboration between two living legends, B.B. King and Eric Clapton, is obviously a good idea in principle. Click here... |
Crystal Method: Legion of Boom
Performance = 8
Sound = 9.5
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So you’ve invested in a DVD-Audio capable system complete with a discrete connection (all six cables), a new preamp, a big tight sub and even some capable rear speakers – but your life is somehow still not complete. Click here... |
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Deep Purple: Machine Head
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Would this classic rock album survive the test of time – and would the remix survive the translation into surround? Click here... |
Devo: Live 1980 (DualDisc)
Performance = 7
Sound = 3
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Looking back 25 years later at DEVO, what sticks in my mind the most isn’t the red spud energy hats or the legless white uniform space suits. It is the numbers of bands who have since driven down the alternative rock road that DEVO paved. Click here... |
Doobie Brothers: The Captain and Me
Performance = 7
Sound = 7
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Here the Doobies, already with two drummers, are augmented by some interesting additional forces, notably Jeff Baxter, who was later to join the band Click here... |
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Missy Elliot: Miss E... So Addictive
Performance = 7
Sound = 8
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Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott’s latest album So Addictive is a funky and very updated blend of hip-hop and R&B. Click here... |
Ellis, Lauren: Feels Like Family (DualDisc)
Performance = 8
Sound = 8.5
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Take notice and move over, you fleet-fingered soulful string benders, bottleneck blues barons, lap steel Lotharios, there’s a new Mosrite maven in town... Click here... |
Everclear: So Much For The Afterglow
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Everclear is one of those bands that have managed to blend high-energy rock and pop with catchy real-life lyrics in a very enjoyable way. Click here... |
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Donald Fagen: The Nightfly
Performance = 6.5
Sound = 8.5
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As part of the dynamic duo known as Steely Dan, Donald Fagen has had a successful career as a solo artist keeping true to the jazzy-pop stylings of his former band. Click here... |
The Fixx: 1011 Woodland
Performance = 7.5
Sound = 8
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Fans used to hearing the original will get a nice surprise with the improved sound and slightly different arrangement, and with a different guitar riff at the beginning of the song. Click here... |
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
Performance = 9
Sound = 8
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You get a virtually perfect approach to repurposing existing catalogue items for the new medium of DVD Music. Click here... |
Foreigner
Performance = 9
Sound = 8
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Foreigner is a bit cheesy to this member of Generation X, yet their musical talent and, more importantly, their songwriting gifts give them staying power more than 20 years after their call to glory. Click here... |
Foreigner: 4
Performance = 8
Sound = 7
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If you like the band, this album is without doubt their best-known, and you will want to check out the surround remixes on this disc. Click here... |
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Astrud Gilberto: Now
Performance = 6
Sound = 6
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Verve Records, in an attempt to capitalize on the good looks of Astrud Gilberto and the popularity of the “Ipanema” hit, signed her and started developing her career with the hopes of widespread commercial success. Click here... |
Grateful Dead: American Beauty (DualDisc)
Performance = 10
Sound = 8.5
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How do you review an album that’s 35 years old (really?!?), has worldwide appeal and is generally thought of as the best studio album by one of rock’s greatest acts? Well, I’m about to do it... Click here... |
Al Green: Greatest Hits
Performance = 9.5
Sound = 8.5
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This DVD-Audio title is an excellent introduction to the format for new users because, as a greatest hits collection, the record is loaded with familiar tracks, welcoming melodies and funky grooves. Click here... |
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John McEuen & Jimmy Ibbotson: Nitty Gritty Surround
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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This album is one of the most interesting in the initial set of AIX releases. John McEuen, aka "The String Wizard," is an extremely influential artist in the bluegrass field, but his work has touched many other genres as well. Click here... |
Immersion
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Although the largely abstract nature of the compositions may not be to everyone’s taste, if you like this sort of thing, you are in for an audio treat . Click here... |
Insane Clown Posse
Performance = 7
Sound = 8.5
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They’ve been in the rap game since the early ’90s and, despite virtually no radio airplay and no videos, and albums that have been bashed by critics, ICP has released several platinum albums. Click here... |
Inside The Music: New Age
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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As a whole, the "Inside the Music" series is an excellent introduction to the benefits of DVD-A. Click here... |
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Josh One - Narrow Path
Performance = 7
Sound = 8
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Josh One is the producer and arranger of this diverse musical collection. And since he is also a DJ, Narrow Path is naturally a dance music project. |
Laurence Juber: Guitar Noir
Performance = 9
Sound = 9.5
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I was immediately impressed with the resolution of the recording. The 5.1 “stage” mix is enveloping rather than surrounding, with sounds seemingly coming from above as well as all around. Click here... |
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Knopfler, Mark - Shangri-La
Performance = 8.5
Sound = 9
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The thick, fold-out cardboard cover of my double-disc copy of this shimmering gem of an album is already beat to hell from being transported everywhere and played in the car, in various computers, at friends’ homes and offices and in my spiffy new 5.1 system at home. Click here... |
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Led Zeppelin: How The West Was Won
Performance = 9
Sound = 6
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As long as you have a surround sound system set-up and a DVD player, you can hear Led Zeppelin in an entirely new way. Click here... |
Living Colour: Collideoscope
Performance = 7
Sound = 4
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Living Colour was one of the bands that saved the late 1980s from being totally worthless. Here came this band, without warning, to save us from all the bland hair metal that was permeating the airwaves then. Click here... |
The London Philharmonic: Classical Masters Series - Grieg
Performance = 7
Sound = 7
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Grieg was a distinct best-seller. I’m sure that his ability to turn a good tune had something to do with it, coupled with the fact that he virtually single-handedly created a Norwegian national music. Click here... |
Lopez, Jennifer: Rebirth (DualDisc)
Performance = 2
Sound = 3
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Rebirth. A fairly momentous title, wouldn’t you say? Fraught with implications and portent. Throwing down the silver lame gauntlet. I’m back. I’m reborn. Click here... |
LTJ Bukem - Planet Earth (DTS-ES)
Performance = 8
Sound = 9
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A compilation of beats, riffs, hooks, mashes, slams and jams, Planet Earth takes some of the best mixes by a variety of DJs and MCs and spins them together in one fantastic-sounding CD. Click here... |
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Then and Now (DualDisc)
Performance = 8
Sound = 7
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Lynyrd Skynyrd is one of those bands that trigger a whole rush of memories simply by being mentioned. Click here... |
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Bob Marley: The Best of The Early Years
Performance = 8.5
Sound = 6.5
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The music on this DVD-Audio disc gave me a better perspective of why Marley rose to the status he achieved and what his music was all about. Click here... |
Bob Marley: Soul Rebels (DualDisc)
Performance = 7.5
Sound = 5
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This is not new music from the Rasta Prophet, and I say that of necessity because even though Bob Marley’s been gone 23 years, there’s no telling what might pop up tomorrow. Click here... |
John McEuen & Jimmy Ibbotson: Nitty Gritty Surround
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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This album is one of the most interesting in the initial set of AIX releases. John McEuen, aka "The String Wizard," is an extremely influential artist in the bluegrass field, but his work has touched many other genres as well. Click here... |
Metallica: Black
Performance = 7.5
Sound = 6
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The “Black Album,” as it is known, was the follow up to …And Justice For All and was the band’s first effort with high-profile record producer Bob Rock. Click here... |
Ministry: Animositisomina
Performance = 7.5
Sound = 8
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When the music surrounds you, it takes you directly inside the eye of the hurricane that rages on inside the mind of Ministry founding member and primary songwriter Al Jourgensen. Click here... |
Ministry: Animositisomina (DualDisc)
Performance = 4
Sound = 8
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Ministry gives us Animositisomina, which continues pretty much right along where you thought Ministry was headed. Click here... |
Motorhead: Overkill & The Ace of Spades (DualDiscs)
Performance = 8/8.5
Sound = 3/8.5
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Look, it’s Motorhead. I don’t have to tell you about Motorhead. Let’s just get right to the 5.1 sound … Uh, yes … I see a hand raised out there … Holy Jailbait, what a reptile. No class. Click here... |
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Willie Nelson: Night and Day
Performance = 9
Sound = 9
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Willie Nelson's Night and Day, along with other releases from Connecticut-based Surroundedby Entertainment’s small but impressive catalog, flies in the face of common practice by being DVD-A only. Click here... |
Aaron Neville: Devotion
Performance = 9
Sound = 9
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It is probably one of the most moving albums I have ever reviewed. It’s another high-quality release from 5.1 Entertainment. Click here... |
Aaron Neville: Believe
Performance = 8.5
Sound = 8.5
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My first exposure to Aaron Neville came as quite a surprise. Opening up for the Grateful Dead on the legendary New Year’s Eve show at the Oakland Coliseum in 1987, the Neville Brothers Band took the stage by storm. Click here... |
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Art Pepper: Meets The Rhythm Section
Performance = 9
Sound = 10
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Crashing the West and East Coast jazz sounds together was potentially risky, but the results are nothing short of brilliant. Click here... |
Glen Phillips: Abulum
Performance = 7
Sound = 8
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I was never a great fan of Toad the Wet Sprocket, but it was evident even to me that Glen Phillips had more to say than most artists using the by-then-rather-tired "alternative" label. Click here... |
Bucky Pizzarelli: Swing Live
Performance = 9
Sound = 10
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In this case, at least, the audio quality is excellent in both formats – in fact, it is quite astonishing – but there is more to it than that. Click here... |
Polyphonic Spree, The: Together We're Heavy
Performance = 7
Sound = 8.5
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I learned in music school that if you want to have any chance of making a lot of money in the music biz performing in a band, keep the number of members in the group small so you don’t have to divide up the royalty checks too many ways. Click here... |
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Performance = 9.5
Sound = 9.5
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Thank God for computers and the Internet -- you know, those things we slaves to Bill Gates curse all the time? |
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Queen: A Night at The Opera
Performance = 9
Sound = 8
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A Night at the Opera certainly qualifies as Queen’s equivalent of Led Zeppelin IV or Sergeant Pepper. Click here... |
Queen: The Game
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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The Game is mixed in a more adventurous mix that matches the outlandish style of the band’s music perfectly. Click here... |
Queensryche: Tribe (DualDisc)
Performance = 8
Sound = 7.5
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Taken from the liner notes of Tribe: “The chain around the neck of humanity is our tendency to pass judgment on others.” Click here... |
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Joey Ramone: Don't Worry About Me
Performance = 6.5
Sound = 6
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Ramone kicks off the album with a rock ‘n’ roll cover of the Louis Armstrong song “Wonderful World.” Click here... |
REM: Automatic For The People
Performance = 7.5
Sound = 8.5
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It’s just plain infectious as the backing vocal line “Maaann on the mooooon” radiates from behind your head. These vocals are placed perfectly on the best track on the album. Click here... |
REM: The Best of R.E.M.
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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This DVD-Audio disc from R.E.M. is a definite must for any R.E.M. fan, providing high-resolution versions of many of the band’s hits from the time they first made it big to the present day. Click here... |
R.E.M.: Out of Time (DVD/CD)
Performance = 9
Sound = 9
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Out Of Time represents one of R.E.M.’s greatest musical achievements. Click here... |
Rundgren, Todd: Liars
Performance = 9
Sound = 9
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Todd Rundgren’s latest release is a substantive project indeed. It touches upon big stuff, such as God, the afterlife, relationships and various other moral dilemmas. Click here... |
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Poncho Sanchez - Poncho at Montreux (DualDisc)
Performance = 8.5
Sound = 9
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Ask anyone who is into 5.1 surround sound what they are passionate about and they will rant, rave and even drool about the audio experience. Click here... |
Seal: IV
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Originally released as a 16-bit CD in September of last year, I hadn’t heard this disc until I reviewed it as a DVD-Audio disc. Or had I? Click here... |
Seal: Seal
Performance = 8
Sound = 7
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Seal’s 1991 debut album is paradoxically both chilled and warm at the same time. There is a lockstep-like precision to the album’s instrumental elements, yet Seal’s scratchy, yearning voice somehow softens the blunt force of this work’s sonic onslaught? Click here... |
Gene Simmons: ***HOLE (DualDisc)
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Gene Simmons’ solo CDs do not just present the KISS man sans the makeup, but with this poorly titled ***HOLE disc in particular (the asterisks stand in for the “A” word used to describe one’s posterior, by the way), we also get a glimpse of the rock star’s rarely revealed soft white underbelly. Click here... |
Paul Simon: You're The One
Performance = 7
Sound = 7
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What you get is a surprisingly wide-ranging collection of stories, some in the third person and some much more personally presented. Click here... |
Simple Minds: New Gold Dream & Once Upon a Time (DTS 5.1)
Performance = 6.5/6
Sound = 7.5/7.5
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Simple Minds holds a clear place in history, but it seems to be less a place in musical history than it is a place in the history of popular culture. Once Upon a Time and New Gold Dream are separate Simple Minds albums that have each been re-released in a DTS DVD-Audio format. Click here... |
Simple Plan: Still Not Getting Any... (DualDisc)
Performance = 5
Sound = 8
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When evaluating music, or almost any art for that matter, it’s often necessary to highlight the differences between creations celebrating simplicity and lesser examples that are just plain simplistic. Click here... |
Sinatra at the Sands
Performance = 9
Sound = 7.5
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This new DVD-Audio title captures the incomparable Frank Sinatra live at the legendary Copa Room at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, circa 1966. Click here... |
Sprinsteen, Bruce: Devils & Dust (DualDisc)
Performance = 7.5
Sound = 8
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Bruce Springsteen is a modern American icon – it’s hard to criticize him because he tries so hard and cares so much and always means his best. Click here... |
Stone Temple Pilots
Performance = 9
Sound = 6
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The deliberate rocking groove and hard-hitting rhythms set the pace for a record that defined an entire decade of music. Click here... |
Studio Voodoo: Studio Voodoo
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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The album leads off with "This Beat is Voodoo," and the surround recording of us leaving the building – by the sound of it, recorded with a Soundfield surround mic or similar – and getting into a car. Click here... |
Larisa Stow: Moment By Moment
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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It’s an excellent demonstration of the surround music medium, and the music is great also, which is how it should be. The pressing question here is: why hasn’t this lady got a major record deal? Click here... |
Styx: Cyclorama
Performance = 7
Sound = 7
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When bands that are staples of classic ‘70s rock radio make albums in the year 2004, it’s very hard to listen objectively. Most people, myself included, know Styx best from their epic hit song “Come Sail Away”... Click here... |
Surf City Allstar Band
Performance = 5
Sound = 6
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One of the things that California will always be known for is the sound of surf music. It was the soundtrack of the ‘60s and even though The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Motown are what’s remembered most from ‘60s music, surf music was one of the decade’s best sellers. Click here... |
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T. Rex: Electric Warrior
Performance = 8
Sound = 8.5
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For me, T. Rex is one of those bands that was perfect for its time, which was the early ‘70s. The glam rock movement was in its beginning stages and really starting to take off... Click here... |
Take 6: Take 6
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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The material here ranges from a capella gospel to big-band jazz, and Take 6 demonstrates an impeccable sense of timing and rhythm that is seldom heard. Click here... |
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
Performance = 9
Sound = 10
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Telarc International made recording history in 1978 when they used digital audio technology to record the 1812 Overture for an album that essentially launched the company. Click here... |
Tipper: Surrounded
Performance = 7
Sound = 8
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With a sound that I can only describe as “sci-fi techno,” listening to Surrounded is like being stuck inside the movie “A Clockwork Orange” while being forced to play space adventure video games. Click here... |
Toy Matinee
Performance = 9
Sound = 9.5
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It’s just incredible, with truly wonderful playing, much deeper lyrics than you’ll find on even the above-average rock album . Click here... |
Jeff Trott: Dig Up The Astroturf
Performance = 6
Sound = 7
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The writing and instrumentation combine to lend a post-psychedelic feel to the cuts, though they are rendered 21st century by drums and other sounds that come across as sampled or looped, whether or not they actually are. Click here... |
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Velvet Revolver - Contraband (DualDisc)
Performance = 9.5
Sound = 7.5
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In the post-Classic Rock era, super-band Velvet Revolver has risen from the ashes of Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots to form what many consider to be the best band in rock and roll today |
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Yes: Fragile
Performance = 9.5
Sound = 9.5
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Musically, the album is a true classic that plays well from beginning to end, with familiar hits that keep you satiated between the experimental bits. Click here... |
Neil Young & CrazyHorse: Greendale
Performance = 8
Sound = 8
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Neil Young is one of those artists who I’m always anxious to see what he’s up to. His music defies category. Click here... |
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Frank Zappa: Halloween
Performance = 9
Sound = 9
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They created what sounds like a single concert from the five evenings’ worth of 24-track master tapes, sometimes using several nights’ performances on one song. Click here... |
DVD-Audio is one of the two competing pre-recorded audio formats positioned to replace the Compact Disc after the CD’s 20-year reign as the ruler of the world’s music stores. DVD-Audio is derived from the same DVD disc that DVD-Video movies are recorded on. However, with DVD-Audio, the space on the disc is configured to optimize high-resolution audio, surround sound and added value features. Click here to read more...
DVD-Audio Players Reviewed: Meridian 800 • Meridian 598 • Kenwood DV4070 • Kenwood DV5700 • Lexicon RT-10 • Marantz DV-12S1
