A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 21, 2015

There was a really fascinating recent article in Variety detailing a rather epic speech (rant?) 2015 MusiCares honoree Bob Dylan gave the evening of his celebration (Rolling Stone reprinted his entire comments here). That sort of “warts and all” honesty has tended to be missing from the several MusiCares Blu-rays which have been released over the past few years (Musicares Person of the Year: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen, A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand, A MusiCares Tribute to Neil Young), as it is on A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney. Gossip mongers may therefore be a bit perturbed, but music lovers should be well enchanted by the stellar lineup of great musicians performing some great tunes written or co-written by Sir Paul.

The complete set list for this concert is:

“Get Back / Hello Goodbye / Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” – Cirque du Soleil featuring The Beatles “Love” Cast
“Magical Mystery Tour” – Paul McCartney
“Junior’s Farm” – Paul McCartney
“Blackbird” – Alicia Keys
“No More Lonely Nights” – Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
“And I Love Her” – Duane Eddy
“Oh! Darling” – Norah Jones
“I Saw Her Standing There” – Neil Young with Crazy Horse
“The Fool On The Hill” – Sergio Mendes
“We Can Work It Out” - Coldplay
“Yesterday” – James Taylor with Diana Krall
“For No One” – Diana Krall with James Taylor
“My Valentine” – Paul McCartney
“Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” – Paul McCartney
“Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End” - Paul McCartney featuring Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh

A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. (The packaging incorrectly lists this as a progressive transfer.) The image is nicely sharp and clear throughout this presentation, with good color reproduction and solid contrast. There are nonetheless occasional issues with minor crush and banding. Perhaps surprisingly, the interlaced presentation doesn't create any major issues with the bright lighting array that appears behind the performers at various points.

A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney features both a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix as well as an LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. Both of these audio options offer sterling clarity and fidelity, with well reproduced tones across all frequency ranges. There's quite a bit more breathing room on the 5.1 track, as should be expected, with some very nice directionality even (or perhaps especially) when there are only two performers on stage. The 5.1 track also significantly ups the lower end of things, providing plenty of pop in the rhythm sections.

A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this Blu-ray disc.

A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

With a composing history as storied as Paul McCartney's has been, it's well nigh impossible to get a "representative" sample of tunes for each and every fan (I personally would have loved to have heard maybe an indie rock version of "Another Day," for example). But what's here is a great cross section of Sir Paul's oeuvre, performed by an equally eclectic mix of musicians. Technical merits are generally very strong, and A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney comes Recommended.