Caro Emerald in Concert Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Caro Emerald in Concert Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 30, 2013

My wife and I decided to splurge on a recent trip to Europe and flew first class on Virgin Atlantic, which was a bit of a vacation in and of itself. The first class “pods” (for they’re certainly not just “seats”) include total personal entertainment features, including a flatscreen television that pulls out for intimate viewing, and an insane amount of recordings available to listen to (on the provided noise cancelling headphones, of course). It was on our flight from New York to London that I first heard Caro Emerald’s Scenes From the Cutting Room Floor, an album that more or less overnight catapulted her to superstar status in her native Netherlands while also doing brisk business in a number of other European countries. Caro thinks of herself and markets herself as a jazz singer, but to my personal tastes she’s more of a cabaret chanteuse, and in fact, as unlikely as this may sound, her voice reminds me rather strongly of Eartha Kitt’s. There’s that same superfast vibrato and the same smoky quality, as well as a (forgive me, Caro fans) somewhat limited range. Caro is strong on image and charisma and she is incredibly appealing, if not exactly what I would term a jazz singer, in this concert performed at the art deco BBC Radio Theatre in London.

Backed by a great sounding combo that includes a punchy brass contingent as well as a DJ, Caro moves through a wide selection of material culled from her two bestselling albums. Her set list includes:

1. Just One Dance
2. You Don’t Love Me
3. Riviera Life
4. Pack Up the Louie
5. Black Valentine
6. Back It Up
7. Liquid Lunch
8. Completely
9. Paris
10. Dr. Wanna Do
11. I Belong To You
12. That Man
13. The Other Woman
14. Mad About the Boy
15. My 2 Cents
16. Tangled Up
17. A Night Like This
18. Stuck

Caro Emerald in Concert Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hooray! For once a concert video offers decent, unfiltered, stage lighting and the result is near miraculous. Caro Emerald In Concert's AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1 pops really well with vivid fine detail (the point that some very small pock marks on Caro's face are easily seen in close-ups) and great, often bold, color. There are some very minor combing artifacts on display, but you have to look quickly to spot them. Otherwise, this high definition presentation boasts a beautifully clear and well detailed image.

Caro Emerald in Concert Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While this Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix offers a much wider splaying of the instrumental forces, its more aggressive low end also tends to slightly muddy Caro's voice, just slightly burying it in the mix. Therefore, some may actually prefer the LPCM 2.0 mix on this disc, which offers Caro's vocals mixed slightly more in the foreground. Either way, both of these tracks offer excellent fidelity and brilliant clarity.

Caro Emerald in Concert Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Caro in Rehearsal includes Tangled Up (1080i; 3:17) and That Man (1080i; 3:34).


• Interview with Caro (1080i; 13:13)

Caro Emerald in Concert Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jazz? Well, not to my ears, anyway. But I'm a purist who turns to singers like Ella or Sassy if I want real jazz vocals. But Caro has a well defined style and she performs very well here, backed by a great sounding band. Her international fans will certainly want to check out this performance, which looks great and sounds fine in high definition.