Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 3, 2017

D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus' "Jimi Plays Monterey" (1986) and "Shake! Otis at Monterey" (1989) arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers; archival interview with Pete Townshend; audio commentary by music critic and historian Charles Shaar Murray; two audio commentaries featuring music historian Peter Guralnick; and more. The release also arrives with a 72-page illustrated booklet featuring essays by critics Michael Chaiken, Armond White, David Frickle, Barney Hoskyns, and Michael Lyndon. In English, not subtitled. Region-A "locked".

Note: Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey are bundled with the individual release of the new 4K restoration of D.A. Pennebaker's legendary documentary Monterey Pop, and all three films are included in The Complete Monterey Pop Festival box set. Click on the link to see our listing of the three-disc box set and read individual reviews of these films.

Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in aspect ratios of approximately 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted 1080p transfers, Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"The high-definition digital transfers of Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey were created on a Spirit DataCine from the 35mm duplicate negatives. The digital transfer of the outtake performances were created from 16mm reversal prints. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision Phoenix's was for jitter, flicker, small dirt, noise, and grain management. The stereo and 5.1 surround materials for Monterey Pop, Jimi Plays Monterey, and Shake! Otis at Monterey were created by Eddie Kramer from the original analog 8-track tapes made at the concerts by Wally Heider, and conformed to picture by by Ted Hall at POP Sound in Santa Monica, California. The audio for the outtakes was mixed by Howard Frank and Dennis Dragon from the original concert recordings. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD.

Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey transfer supervisor: Maria Palazzola.
Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey colorist: Chris Ryan/Nice Shoes, New York."

Both films use the same transfers that Criterion worked with for the initial release of The Complete Monterey Pop Festival in 2009. Obviously, as far as the basic characteristics of these transfers are concerned there are no improvements to report.

During Jimi Plays Monterey there are a few more obvious fluctuations in terms of density and depth -- mostly during the behind-the-scenes footage -- but overall the film still has a very solid organic appearance. During the live stage footage you are also going to notice some minor unevenness in terms of clarity which is introduced whenever there is overexposure/underexposure of projector light, but there are no transfer-specific anomalies to report. Colors appear natural and remain stable. Image stability is very good, but keep in mind that because of the nature of the project there are some abrupt transitions. Lastly, I think that the encoding here is slightly better than that of the first release.

Shake! Otis at Monterey has an overall very similar organic appearance. Again, the stage lighting produces some sporadic image unevenness, but given the nature of the project this is indeed unavoidable. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections, or other strictly age-related imperfections to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided.

I am aware that there are different opinions as to what constitutes 'better' and 'best' audio quality when these films are viewed, but I always prefer the original tracks. So in this case my first choice was the Stereo track, which has very good depth, very good range of dynamic nuances, and clarity. As it is often the case with these type of tracks, however, some minor balance fluctuations are retained and especially when background crowd noise becomes prominent the discrepancy becomes quite obvious. On the 5.1 track overall balance is managed better while depth is expanded, so if you are not a purist this will likely be your preferred track when viewing the films. At the end of the day it is all about preference, so you can experiment with both tracks to decide which one you prefer. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

JIMI PLAYS MONTEREY

• Trailer - original trailer for Jimi Plays Monterey. In English, not subtitled. (4 min, 1080i).

• Interview with Pete Townshend - in this archival interview, Pete Townshend discusses his memory of the Monterey International Pop Festival and his struggle to communicate with Jimi Hendrix at the time. The interview was conducted in London in 1987 and produced for VH1 by Tom Kaniewski. In English, not subtitled. (5 min, 1080i).

• Commentary - an audio commentary, with additional audio excerpts, featuring music critic and historian Charles Shaar Murray, recorded in London in the Spring of 2002. The audio excerpts provide further details on the music career of Jimi Hendrix. The commentary was also included on the first The Complete Monterey Pop Festival release.
  
  1. Denny Dent
  2. Beginnings
  3. The Saville Theatre
  4. A distinct atmosphere
  5. An audience in shock
  6. Jimi's sonic universe
  7. An act of audacity
  8. R&B tradition
  9. Liberating pop music
  10. The calm before the storm
  11. Pure sound, pure theater
  12. Breakout performances
  
  AUDIO EXCERPTS
  
  1. The path to Monterey
  2. Success in London
  3. A crossover artist
  4. Hendrix's legacy
  5. Style and equipment
  6. Hendrix and social politics
  7. Pete Townsend and the Who
  8. Robert Christgau

SHAKE! OTIS AT MONTEREY

• Interview - presented here is an archival interview with Phil Walden, Otis Redding's manager from 1959 until Otis's death in 1967. The interview was recorded in Atlanta in the spring of 2002.In English, not subtitled. (19 min, 1080i).
  
  1. An interest in R&B
  2. Johnny Jenkins to Otis Redding
  3. Generosity
  4. Stax
  5. Europe to Monterey
  6. After Monterey

• Two Commentaries - presented here are two audio commentaries featuring music historian Peter Guralnick recorded in Boston in the winter of 2002. The first commentary is a song-by-song reading of the film. The second is a look at Otis's career, pre- and post-Monterey. These commentaries were also included on the previous The Complete Monterey Pop Festival release.

• Booklet - 72-page illustrated booklet featuring:


• "Pop: Ancient and Modern" by Michael Chaiken
• "Monterey Pop: People in Motion" by Armond White
• "Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey: Bold, Beautiful, and Black" by David Frickle
• "The Meeting of the Twain": Monterey and the Great California Divide" by Barney Hoskyns
• "Monterey Pop: The First Rock Festival" by Michael Lyndon
• Artists information
• Technical credits

Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey are sourced from the same masters that Criterion worked with in 2009 when it prepared the first release of The Complete Monterey Pop Festival. They are bundled with the individual release of the new 4K restoration of D.A. Pennebaker's legendary documentary Monterey Pop, and all three films are included in the new The Complete Monterey Pop Festival box set that will be released on December 12. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.