REO Speedwagon: Live in the Heartland

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Dom Robinson reviews

REO Speedwagon: Live in the Heartland
Distributed by
Essential/Cooking VinylCoverDVD:
CD:

  • Cert:
  • Running time: 94 minutes
  • Cat no: SOUND003
  • Year: 2008
  • Pressing: 2008
  • Region(s): 2, PAL
  • Chapters: 18 plus extras
  • Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
  • Languages: English
  • Subtitles: None
  • Widescreen: 16:9
  • 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
  • Macrovision: Yes
  • Disc Format: DVD 9
  • Price: £14.99
  • Extras: Interview, 2 Extra Songs
  • Vote and comment on this film:View Comments

    Director:

      Joe Thomas

Producer:

    Joe Thomas

The Band:

    Kevin Cronin: lead vocals/rhythm guitar/piano
    Neal Doughty: Keyboards
    Bruce Hall: Bass/Vocals
    Dave Amato: Lead Guitar/Vocals
    Bryan Hitt: Drums and Percussion

Growing up with the pop and rock music from the ’80s being my musical background, REO Speedwagonwere always seen by me as one of those classic stadium acts from that era, pumping out good quality tunes.

That said, they only had three hits in the UK, and while their two biggest hits, Keep On Loving You and Can’t FightThis Feeling got to the top slot in the US, over here they respectively attained No.7 (April 1981) and No.16 (March 1985),while inbetween saw a No.19 for another favourite of mine, Take It On The Run (June 1981).

Performing for the American live concert TV series ‘Soundstage’, the band perform 16 songs from their repetoire over the years,and with a line-up that has changed a number of times – something that happens to all great bands, especially a band that arenow celebrating 35 years in the business, the DVD includes the aforementioned US No.1s as well as hits from their latestalbum, Find Your Own Way Home.

Kevin Cronin certainly makes for a great showman and in this concert, I found the best tracks are Find Your Own Way Home,which has a classic ’80s feel – which really works for me, even though it’s a recent track from last year, Take It On The Run,Keep Pushin’, Can’t Fight This Feeling, Time For Me To Fly, Keep On Loving You, Ridin’ The Storm Out, Golden Country andthe finale, 157 Riverside Avenue. There are a few fillers along the way, such as Dangerous Combination, but thisis still a worthy purchase for big fans and well worth a rental for anyone who enjoyed any of their music throughout their longcareer to date.

The concert is presented in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen and does look very good indeed, with nothing obvious in the way ofartifacts, but although it states that it was recorded in HD, that cannot be viewed on a standard definition disc althoughI’m watching an upscaled version via my Xbox 360 with a VGA connection so that certainly helps, although what does make itsuffer a bit is the fact that it’s an NTSC recording converted to PAL so it looks a little on the soft side. That said, it’sat its best when it comes to close-ups on the band – these look particularly fantastic on a 37″ plasma screen.

The sound is exceptional, being in Dolby Digital 5.1, however, and that shines across every single one of the 16 tracks onthe disc.

The extras include a brief Interview (10:37), presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen like the concert, in which KevinCronin (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Neal Doughty (keyboards) talk about how they got together and you doget to hear some amusing stories from their early days; plus some additional tracks (15:51) – acoustic versions of Ridin’ The Storm Outand I Needed To Fall, interspersed with some chat between the band and the presenter at XM Artist Confidential.

The DVD contains 18 chapters, one for the opening, one for the end credits and one each for the 16 tracks, so you couldn’t askfor more there. The main menu features a looped piece of music and some images, but what this disc really could use is subtitlesfor the lyrics – these should be essential on all concert DVDs.

The full list of tracks included are :

1. Find Your Own Way Home
2. Take It on the Run
3. Keep Pushin’
4. I Needed To Fall
5. Tough Guys
6. Can’t Fight This Feeling
7. Dangerous Combination
8. Back on the Road Again9. Smilin’ in the End
10. Time For Me To Fly
11. Don’t Let Him Go
12. Keep On Loving You
13. Roll with the Changes
14. Ridin’ the Storm Out
15. Golden Country
16. 157 Riverside Avenue

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2008.View the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>

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