Soundstage: Sheryl Crow, Live Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Soundstage: Sheryl Crow, Live Blu-ray Movie Review

Beauty and talent, what more can you ask for?

Reviewed by Sir Terrence April 17, 2009

It is difficult if not impossible to turn the radio to any pop or country station and not hear Sheryl Crows music, or her influence on other artist's music. The list of performers she has worked with, done background for, or written for is long and esteemed. Her albums have gone platinum seven times, won nine Grammy's and countless other awards. She has performed with the Rolling Stones, sung duets with Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Kid Rock, toured with the gloved one himself, Michael Jackson as a back up singer on his Bad World Tour from 1987-1989. She has collaborated with Phil Collins and Don Henley. Her songs have appeared on the soundtracks of Cars, Erin Brockovich, and Tomorrow Never Dies. A gifted singer, song writer, and musician, Sheryl plays lead electric, acoustical and bass guitar, piano, accordion, harmonica and autoharp. Her talent seems endless, as she has successfully blended rock, country, pop, blues-rock and folk music into one mainstream radio friendly sound. I have always considered her a country music artist, but it is apparent in this concert she has transcended into a much larger artistic package than that narrow definition could possibly describe.

Songs:

1 - My Favorite Mistake
2 - You're An Original
3 - The First Cut Is the Deepest
4 - Leaving Las Vegas
5 - Strong Enough
6 - Redemption Day
7 - Sweet Rosalyn
8 - If It Makes You Happy
9 - Home
10 - All I Wanna Do
11 - Soak Up The Sun
12 - Everyday Is A Winding Road
13 - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding
14 - Let's Get Free
15 - Safe And Sound
16 - I Shall Believe
17 - Steve McQueen
18 - Members Only (Blu-Ray exclusive bonus track)

Soundstage: Sheryl Crow, Live Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Captured in high definition, Sheryl Crow Live dances on Blu-ray in a 1080i/AVC encode, framed in a 1:78:1 window. Averaging about 30mbps, the encoding reveals varying degrees of detail between up close and long shots. Detail and color vibrancy noticeably drop on long shots which can be attributed to different camera's quality and calibration, or encoding issues. Black levels waiver, vacillating between inky black and dark grey depending on the shot. I also noticed some motion (interlacing) artifacts coming from the bass drum head, keyboards, and from the lighting at the rear of the stage. This is not the best looking concert video I have reviewed, but it is far from the worst.

Soundstage: Sheryl Crow, Live Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sheryl Crow Live features three audio options for your listening pleasure. The featured sound tracks are the DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track encoded at a healthy 24/48 kHz bit and sample rate, a PCM two channel track at 24/48 kHz bit and sample rate, and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track encoded at 640kbps.

While I listened to all three, I focused on the lossless 5.1 track for reference purpose. I must admit, I really did not like the way this sound track sounded. While clean, the overall sound was boxy, colored, with a noticeably truncated sound field both front and rear. The midrange sounded recessed which sapped the energy from 800Hz to about two kHz. This tended to tilt the treble response towards the upper frequencies, and created some intelligibility issues in the vocals. Instruments were well recorded, but imaging wise smeared across the front sound stage. The bass guitar and bass drum is well recorded without the bloat that usually dogs a live concert performance. The leading transients of guitar plucks and strumming are very well rendered, sounding crisp and clean without being harsh. Overall the mix was dynamic, and did a good job of relaying the live feeling of a live performance.

I did a quick comparison of the other tracks, and I preferred the PCM 2.0 mix over the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. The bass frequencies were a bit stronger in the two channel mix, but suffered from dynamic range compression, a more recessed midrange, and an even stronger push towards the upper frequencies. The Dolby Digital track sounded lifeless to the ears, even when compared to the two channel PCM track.

Soundstage: Sheryl Crow, Live Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra offered on this release comes in the form of a bonus song Members Only in high definition and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. This song is exclusive to the Blu-ray release and not found on the DVD release.

Soundstage: Sheryl Crow, Live Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I admit, while I am familiar with Sheryl Crow's music, I am not familiar with her performance style. I grew up with artists that knew how to work a crowd into a fever pitch before they opened their mouths to sing a song. I found Ms. Crow's stage presence to be somewhat flat and awkward, which caused me to become bored with her midway through her concert. However, her fans (who are probably very familiar with her performance style) will most likely love this release, and to them I highly recommend you purchase this Blu-ray release. For those music lovers not familiar with her, rent this first. You may (or not) have the same impression as I did and will not appreciate what you are viewing.