Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Ilgu laiku gribēju saņemties noskatīties Džordža Harisona piemiņas koncertu, un nu tas ir izdarīts. Šajā koncertā Džordža draugi svinēja šī neapšaubāmi izcilā (vai arī tomēr apšaubāmi izcilā?) mūziķa dzīvi, izrādot viņam godu. Koncerta dalībnieku vidū atrodami tādi pašsaprotami vārdi kā Pols Makartnijs, Ringo Stārs, Eriks Kleptons (šķiet, ka viņu draudzību nespēja iznīdēt pat tas, ka Kleptons Džordžam atvīla sievu), Džefs Linne, Toms Petijs, Gerijs Brūkers, Džordža dēls Dhani, Bilijs Prestons un Ravi Shankar meita Anuška. Koncerta ievadā tiek izpildītas pāris Ravi Šankara sacerētas kompozīcijas (kā nekā arī paša Harisona organizētais koncerts Bangladešas atbalstam sākās tieši Šankara uzstāšanos). Tam seko dziesmas, kuras radījis pats Harisons. Jāatzīst, ka patiesībā man tieši ievada daļa šķita emocionāli visspēcīgākā, lai gan nekādi sevi nesauktu par indiešu mūzikas cienītāju, taču šī bija tā koncerta daļa, kas šķita vissirnīgākā un mazāk iestudēta. Tiesa, visvairāk iestudētā daļa arī ir ok - pārtraukums, kurā vispirms tiek izpildīts "Sit on my face" no Monty Python repertuāra, bet tad Maikls Peilins kārtējo reizi pauž savu vēlmi būt par malkascirtēju (jā, Monty Python dalībnieki šeit ir sastopami, tiesa - bez Džona Klīza, bet ar plikiem dibeniem). Turpmākā koncerta daļa manai gaumei ir bišķi pārāk moderni aranžēta, un tādā veidā šī uzstāšanās zaudē kaut kādu daļu no nepieciešamā personiskuma. Pie plusiem tikām varu pieskaitīt, ka šeit neparādās nekādas attiecīgā brīža superzvaigznes - tikai tādi mūziķi, kuru ceļi ar Harisona dzīves gājumu ir nopietni pārklājušies. Tāpat varu tikai paust savu atzinību tam, ka divās dziesmās koncertā tiek izmantots viens no Harisona mīļākajiem instrumentiem - ukulele, un konstatēt faktu, ka Dhani vizuāli ir vienkārši 100% sava tēva kopija. Vienlaikus - šis noteikti ir tāds koncerts, kura galvenā vērtība bija tiem, kas tur piedalījās - gan kā dalībnieki, gan kā skatītāji, bet televizora (vai jebkādā citā ekrānā) liela daļa šī pasākuma jēgas nav uztverama. Vienlaikus - dziesmas jau, protams, ir labas.

The gritty axemen of Led Zeppelin are called the greatest rock band of the 70`s, the Beatles of the seventies, whatever you want - you can call them even Al if you like. And they were a pretty strong live outfit - with Jimmy Page flashing and dashing his fingers at the speed of light, with Jack Bonham dashing and smashing his drums like a mad scientist, with Robert Plant screaming the lungs right out of his mouth as if he was grabbed by the balls. Yeah, and they also had John Paul Jones - the base player, I don`t really know that much about him. And on this DVD you can see them still pretty fresh - with the material from their two first album being performed live along with something that could be covers of I don`t what or a live improvisation. Anyhow, the track selection could be better - only something like five of the 13 tracks are from the best the Zepsters ever recorded - I means stuff like "Communication Breakdown" and "Dazed and Confused", while on the unknown (to me) songs they do quite boring jamming, and I also am not particulary fond of "Moby Dick" - the ultralong drum solo. Still, Jimmy Page playing the guitar with a violin bow is totally cool (even if it`s a bit useless).

After the singer of my once favourite band had passed away, the remainings "Queens" organized a huge tribute concert at the late Wembley stadium, at which some of the biggest names of popular music participated - among others Tony Iommi, Metallica, Paul Young, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, George Michael, Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Slash and Axl Rose participated at this massive event. On the DVD we don`t get the whole concert but just the various performers playing together with May, Deacon and Taylor the songs of Queen, and that is a big minus, knowing that there was much more in the concert, while here we have a second disc featuring a reahersal for the concert. Who needs this sort of stuff anyway! As for what we get - the musical performance is always up to notch, except for maybe "We Will Rock You" which sounds much more powerful in the fast paced and more "bouncy" usual live version - and not the traditional "boom - boom - bang" with no guitars until the solo. Concerning the singers - Roger Daltrey is good, so is Hetfield, Lisa Stansfield is ok, David Bowie and Annie Lennox are not bad, Zucchero sings like a half dead man, and Elton John singing together with Axl Rose may have seen good on paper - one being an enemy of homosexuals, the other being gay - but it stills sounds pretty lame what they do on "Bohemian Rhapsody".

The bald gay person named Michael Stipe is the singer of one of the most popular contemporary rock bands. R.E.M. is the title of this band. And they have been around for almost 25 years now. On this DVD a retrospective of their videos is given from the day they joined a major record label. Most of these songs I know by heart without watching the videos - "Everybody Hurts", "Man on the Moon", "Losing my Religion" - and these are just the most popular once. The overall quality of the songs is certainly superb. And some of the videos are also quite intersting - for example the one for "The great beyond". On the negative side - the amount of extras isn`t extremly high - ok, if the so called "Bonus videos" were really something rare I would understand it but "I`ll take the rain" and "Lotus" don`t seem very rare to me. Then there are three songs performed live -they are pretty nice but nothing more. And as for the interviews between the songs - they aren`t particulary intersting, I`d rather hear Stipe and co. talking about the songs, and the videos, and not just talking `bout "things".

A island somewhere in the ocean gets partly destroyed and some of the celebrities of the music world participate in a benefit concert for the already mentioned island. Featuring are Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Mark Knopfler, Phil Collins, Elton John and Carl Perkins. What is my impression of that? First, the concert is a bit boring - not that it is such a surprise that a benefit concert lacks real energy. About the participators: Clapton is technically advanced as usually but the way he treats `Layla` can not be approved by me. Macca has never been a good live musician and he hasn`t become better while getting old. Mr. Knopfler is just not my kinda of musician, which can be also said about Phil Collins. Elton John does his usual piano stuff and is not too bad with it. Last but not least - Carl Perkins performs - guess what! - `Blue Suede Shoes` and is surely better that I expected him to be.