Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 Blu-ray Movie Review

Post-Ironic.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 28, 2013

Madonna’s Maverick Records is often credited with “discovering” Alanis Morissette, but the fact is she had already been recording rather successfully in her native Canada for some time before The Material Girl added her particular imprimatur to Morissette’s burgeoning career. Morissette has always been an unusually intelligent rock star, one can suddenly morph a quasi-folk ambience into a hard rock anthem, styles that seem reflective of Morissette’s own tumultuous emotional life, at least as expressed through her often arch lyrics. This 2012 Live at Montreux concert finds Morissette in very good form, surprisingly cheery (one often gets the feeling from merely listening to her that she might be on the dour or moody side), and backed by an excellent band.

Morissette cavorts across the stage in a set list of some twenty songs that sees her revisiting a number of her most iconic singles as well as lesser known gems. There’s a great variety here, with almost unplugged elements suddenly crashing up against hugely electrified choruses, something that Morissette seems to favor as judged by the form of several of the songs here. Her voice has matured rather nicely and she can still evoke incredible emotion with her plaintive wail and sinewy head voice. Her band is in top form, ably handling everything from the jangly folkish elements to the more vigorous rock aspects.

Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Eye Media (an imprint of Eagle Rock) with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. The high definition presentation here suffers somewhat from the unwise decision to light the stage in effulgent purples and blues, something that ends up casting a really odd and sickly looking pallor on the flesh tones while at the same time robbing the image of fine object detail. When those lighting schemes are not in evidence, things look a good deal better, though the interlaced presentation still has some combing artifacts that are readily noticeable in quick motion moments.

Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 features both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix as well as an LPCM 2.0 offering. Both of these tracks offer sterling fidelity, but the 5.1 track really opens up the soundfield, with nicely splayed instruments that are quite aggressively mixed but which never completely overpower Morissette's voice. There's consistent clarity throughout the mix, even when Morissette goes for a massed midrange with her backup band. Due to the sudden changes in style in evidence throughout this concert, dynamic range is a good deal wider than in many live performances.

Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.

Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Alanis Morissette: Live at Montreux 2012 finds the erstwhile enfant terrible perhaps slightly more mellowed, but still very energetic in this nice sounding concert. The video side of things here leaves a bit to be desired but the audio mixes sound excellent. With caveats noted, Recommended.