Bachman Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Bachman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 12, 2019

Randy Bachman may have famously lent his surname to Bachman — Turner Overdrive, but any self respecting rock fan will probably know that Bachman had previously made waves as a founding member of the band that would ultimately become known as The Guess Who. Bachman co-wrote and played guitar on two of the most iconic songs in The Guess Who’s discography, “These Eyes” and “American Women” (both sung by co-writer Burton Cummings, who, like Bachman, would enjoy considerable success in his post-Guess Who career). Bachman is an enjoyable trip through Bachman’s eventful life and music industry success, and while it may not provide huge any really mind blowing revelations it's at times rather insightful, and it does offer a series of really interesting interviews and gives a nice overview of Bachman’s many achievements.

Bachman takes a pretty resolutely chronological trek through its subject's life, and it benefits immensely from some really winning interviews with Randy's family (including his brother and son). The documentary is also stuffed to the gills with fascinating interviews with a large number of industry heavyweights, including such luminaries as Neil Young, who perhaps surprisingly credits Bachman with inspiring him to take up guitar. There is copious archival footage providing ample evidence of what a force of nature Bachman was during his hit making years, and continues to be today.

Bachman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bachman is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual and FilmRise with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (largely) in 1.78:1 (some archival video hovers more around Academy ratio). As tends to be the case with documentaries like this, there's an unavoidably heterogeneous appearance to things courtesy of older archival video, some of which can look fairly ragged, interspersed with contemporary interview footage which looks digitally captured. The talking heads segments all feature excellent detail levels and a natural looking palette. Some of the archival video is at least decent looking, but none of it understandably reaches the sharpness levels of the "modern" footage.

Bachman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This is another FilmRise release that offers only lossy audio in the form of Dolby Digital mixes in 5.1 and 2.0. There is quite a bit of music scattered throughout the documentary, albeit in dribs and drabs, often interrupted, or at least talked over. That said, a lossless offering certainly would have upped the energy of even the excerpts of some of Bachman's more legendarily boisterous tunes. All of the talking head elements sound fine. As with other reviews of mine of Blu-rays featuring only lossy audio, my score reflects my opinion that no Blu-ray release in this day and age should come without at least one lossless audio offering.

Bachman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Additional Footage

  Neil Young on Winnipeg (720p; 1:44)

  
  

  Randy's Crazy Horse (1080p; 1:53)

  
  

  On Chords (1080p; 1:23)

  
  

  Building a Reprise "Here Comes the Sun" (1080p; 3:30)

  
  

  Songwriting "When No One Knows" (1080p; 2:21)

• Trailer (1080p; 1:47)

Bachman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bachman is a loving tribute to one of the few artists who has managed to hit the vaunted Number One spot with two different bands. Bachman is obviously well loved by all of the people interviewed here, and that affection suffuses this very enjoyable documentary. Recommended.