Michael McDonald: Live / A Tribute to Motown Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

Michael McDonald: Live / A Tribute to Motown Blu-ray Movie Review

Soulful Dynamo

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 9, 2011

Few singing voices are as readily identifiable as that of Michael McDonald, who has been a steady presence in popular music for almost 35 years. Whether as backing or lead vocal, McDonald's soulful baritone stands out as readily in an ensemble as the singer-songerwriter's shock of white hair leaps out on stage from the monochromatic attire that is his trademark. Wherever you turn in modern American popular culture, McDonald seems to have been there. Beginning as a backup vocalist and occasional keyboard player for Steely Dan in the Seventies, he parlayed a temporary stint with the Doobie Brothers as a replacement lead vocalist into a long-term association that proved to be a major success for both of them.

In 1982, McDonald began a solo career of which the hallmark has been routine collaboration with other artists, one of many reasons why his own sound has never grown stale. The collaborative habit is no doubt born of McDonald's many years shuttling from one recording studio to another as vocalist, a practice that inspired numerous parodies, including a sketch featuring Rick Moranis on SCTV and an episode of Family Guy. McDonald also gets heavy play in the electronics store featured in The Forty-Year-Old Virgin, but one suspects that he was in on the joke, because he's never been afraid to poke fun at himself. He contributed a self-mocking song to the album for the first South Park movie (and supplied some of Satan's high notes), has made fun of himself on 30 Rock, and actually managed to hold his own with the likes of Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines, making a comic video for "Sweet Freedom" to accompany the 1986 buddy cop film Running Scared, in which the song appeared memorably on the soundtrack.

When Chicago's public television station, WTTW, revived its Soundstage series in 2003, McDonald was one of the first performers it booked. He has since returned to Soundstage several times. Two of the Soundstage concerts, the initial appearance in July 2003 and a subsequent show in June 2005 recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, have been released together by Image on a single Blu-ray. Both concerts were previously released, in 2004 and 2009, on separate DVDs, making this Blu-ray a bargain, especially with its improved image and sound.

Michael McDonald: Live

McDonald performs a set lasting just under an hour in Soundstage's usual Chicago locale. He's flanked by a small army of backing musicians, including an entire string session, but the key session players are Bernie Chiaravalle on guitar, Vince Denham on sax and flute, Yvette Preyer (whom McDonald will later describe as "very funky") on drums, Pat Coil on keyboards, Lanice Morrison on bass and Yvonne Gage, Francine Smith and Simbryt Whittington on backing vocals.

Just to keep things interesting (and he clearly relishes the variations), McDonald brings out several guests during the session. The distinguished Motown songwriting team of Valerie Simpson and Nickolas Ashford (the latter of whom only recently passed away) join McDonald to perform several of the famous duets they wrote for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough"; "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing Baby"). Later, two of the original Doobie Brothers, Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, join the band for renditions of some of that bands greatest hits, including "What a Fool Believes". Everyone joins in at the end of the session for "Takin' It to the Streets".

A show like Live highlights the signature quality of McDonald's vocals that gives them such a singular identity, even as they blend with each new configuration of musicians and musical style. Describing a musical quality in words is generally an exercise in frustration, but the word that kept suggesting itself as I watched this concert was "urgency". No matter what McDonald happens to be singing about, there's a quality in his voice that invests the subject with importance and compels your attention. No doubt that's why he's such an easy target for parody, but the mark of a truly rich talent is that you can parody it forever, and it still manages to work its magic. Listen to McDonald's rendition of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and try to imagine any voice since Marvin Gaye's lending it greater conviction.

The complete song list follows:

1. It Keeps You Runnin'
2. Sweet Freedom
3. I Keep Forgettin'
4. I Heard It Through the Grapevine
5. Ain't No Mountain High Enough
6. Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing
7. Black Water
8. Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
9. Minute by Minute
10. What a Fool Believes
11. Takin' It to the Streets

A Tribute to Motown

For this, the premiere show of their third season, Soundstage went all out. They let McDonald take an even larger band down to Nashville, Tennessee; allowed the show to run longer than the usual hour; and recruited a more varied array of guests to help McDonald celebrate the glories of Motown. He had recently released his second album of Motown covers, after the first one went platinum.

This Soundstage episode is lit more like a traditional concert, with a sharper contrast between the audience in darkness and the performers brightly lit on stage. The stage is a more formal proscenium, which was probably a necessity, given the number of musicians that had to be arrayed in the space, with room left over for guests to enter and exit. McDonald's principal ensemble includes several holdovers from the previous Soundstage concert in the persons of Bernie Chiaravalle, Vince Denham, Yvette Preyer and Pat Coil. They're joined by Chazz Frichtel on bass, Crystal Tallifero on percussion and backing vocals, Drea Rheneé and Kevin Whalum on backing vocals, Mark Douthit (misspelled as "Douthitt" in the credits) on alto and tenor sax, Doug Moffett on flute, tenor and baritone sax, and Pat Bergeson on harmonica.

The guest stars are a combination of old and new talents. Billy Preston, looking far more strait-laced than the wild figure he used to cut in the days when he was as busy a session player as McDonald, joins him for several numbers, including a heartfelt rendition of "What's Goin' On". Toni Braxton brings her velvet voice and presence to a duet of "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)". The extraordinary a cappella group, Take 6, combines with McDonald for a rendition of "Tracks of My Tears" that serves as a reminder that human beings are the original musical instrument. And Indie.Arie more than holds her own against McDonald's urgent choruses in a trio of Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell standards.

(This last item highlights an important point. Although many items in the songlists on Live and Tribute to Motown overlap, don't be fooled into thinking you're getting the same track twice. In almost every case, the arrangements and performances are so different that the song is worth hearing again. The sole exception is "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", which is always worth hearing again.)

Simply because of its sheer scale, A Tribute to Motown feels more like a traditional show biz event, with more of the "give 'em' that razzle dazzle" element than the typical Soundstage installment. Still, McDonald's love of the Motown sound and style is palpable, whether he's singing it or talking about it to the audience between songs while the technicians check their gear. As is usually the case, the leader's enthusiasm sets the tone for the rest of the ensemble.

The complete song list follows:

1. I Second That Emotion
2. I Was Made to Love Her
3. What's Going On
4. I Heard It Through the Grapevine
5. All in Love Is Fair
6. Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)
7. Baby I'm for Real
8. Tracks of My Tears
9. Since I Lost My Baby
10. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
11. You're All I Need to Get By
12. Ain't No Mountain High Enough
13. Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing
14. Nowhere to Run

Michael McDonald: Live / A Tribute to Motown Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As with other Soundstage productions released by Image, the concerts on this Blu-ray were recorded in HD by HD Ready, LLC, which produces Soundstage in partnership with WTTW, Chicago. These recordings were the source for the previously released DVDs, but they have now been converted to a 1080i, AVC-encoded Blu-ray for Image. The video is consistent with that of other discs I have seen from this series, in that the source is extremely clear and detailed, with no visible combing or distortion from the interlaced format. Minimal aliasing can be spotted on fine patterns seen from a distance, but this is a minor and occasional issue. Ironically, it's more likely to occur in Live, which is more harshly lit, including the audience. The lighting on A Tribute to Motown is frequently very bright on stage, but it's more classic stage lighting with diffusion filters, which softens the lines of objects just enough to prevent aliasing.

Black levels and resolved detail are very good, both on stage with the band and in pans over the crowd, which is well-lit in Chicago and in shadow (but visible) in Nashville. Colors are rich and well-saturated. Because of the combined length of the two programs, Image has made the wise (and unexpected) choice of using a BD-50, which has eliminated any risk of compression artifacts.

Michael McDonald: Live / A Tribute to Motown Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For both programs, the viewer has a choice between 5.1, presented in DTS-HD MA, or 2.0, presented in PCM 2.0. The 5.1 track has been conservatively mixed to spread the musicians and vocalists across the front soundstage, without any obvious attempt to "localize" each instrument. The surrounds are used to give depth and spaciousness to the music and also to place crowd noise (primarily, applause) at an appropriate distance from the stage. The 2.0 mixes have been done with sufficient care that, when played back through a decoder such as DPL IIx, they provide imaging and presence that are almost as good as the discrete track. Bass extension is strong without being overpowering.

Michael McDonald: Live / A Tribute to Motown Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

None.

Michael McDonald: Live / A Tribute to Motown Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

When someone has a voice like McDonald's, the temptation to be a giant ham must be overwhelming, because people will let you get away with it. McDonald never succumbs, and indeed does the opposite: He surrounds himself with talented musicians, often famous ones, with whom he'll inevitably have to split the attention. It seems to be his way of keeping the focus where it belongs: on the music. This Blu-ray from Image contains a lot of that and is highly recommended.