The J. Geils Band: Bloodshot Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

The J. Geils Band: Bloodshot Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 11, 2024

In somewhat the same way as Rhino is going in reverse order with regard to Jefferson Starship Quadio offerings by releasing Jefferson Starship: Red Octopus before Jefferson Starship: Dragon Fly (i.e., in reverse order from the way the original albums came out), this second Quadio release of a J. Geils Band offering follows Rhino's release of The J. Geils Band: Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle, even though this album predates that one in terms of original release date. Sequencing aside, this is another fun high energy set from the band, and it was probably the album that introduced a lot of people to the band. Give It to Me offered the band its second trip to the Top 40 and is probably the best remembered tune off of the album, but there are a number of other enjoyable songs on the disc, and there's some especially good interplay between Seth Justman's keyboards and J. Geils' guitar.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

The J. Geils Band: Bloodshot Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As can be seen by the screenshots accompanying this review, the video content of this AVC encoded disc is simply a static menu. This disc features the kind of authoring I personally prefer, where using the colored buttons on your remote allows you to toggle between audio codecs, so it's not strictly necessary to even have a monitor or display on to enjoy the disc.

The J. Geils Band: Bloodshot Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The J. Geils Band: Bloodshot features a high energy DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 track that has a really authoritative sounding midrange and low end, though the engaging vocal work is never buried. Immersion is quite impressive, with the massed rhythm instruments often emanating from all four channels, but with some really interesting uses of the rear channels in particular, especially for isolated moments like acoustic piano in tunes like Make Up Your Mind and Struttin' With My Baby. While those two tunes can tend to weight things toward the left rear channel, other tunes, like that quasi-reggae opening of Give It to Me, flip that to the right rear channel for repetitive keyboard work. Give It to Me is also a great example of how lead vocals can be discretely positioned toward the front, and then various backups enter from different channels at different moments.

The J. Geils Band: Bloodshot Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As with every Quadio release I've reviewed, there is no on disc supplemental material. The insert booklet recreates the original album's cover information, while offering the Quadio standbys of a picture of the boxes holding the master tapes, as well as Rhino's typical verbiage on setup.

The J. Geils Band: Bloodshot Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

These Quadio releases are almost by default a certain kind of time capsule, and Bloodshot is probably no exception to that general rule. There's some fantastic playing throughout the album, and some inventive arrangements that highlight the band's vocal and instrumental strengths. Recommended.