The J. Geils Band: Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

The J. Geils Band: Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 13, 2023

"Proper English" is hardly ever the purview of your everyday rock lyricist, but many years ago an unexpected example of what might be called a Venn Diagram which displays circles indicating rock fans and grammar policemen intersected for me, when a friend was talking to me about this album and started riffing on how the biggest single off of this appealing J. Geils Band album maybe should have used "must have" instead of "must of," with even that not sufficing, since some real curmudgeons would want "got" to morph into "gotten". Unnecessary pedantry aside, this is kind of an interesting offering from Rhino (and the Atlantic side of the old Warner Elektra Atlantic alliance), in that I would argue the Geils aggregation, as fun as they could be, were arguably not in the same overall commercial league as some of the other artists represented by Rhino's line of Quadio releases. And in fact it's probably the case that the J. Geils Band actually reached its commercial apex some time after this 1974 release, though the album did climb into the Top 30 on Billboard and sparked that kinda sorta aforementioned single, which got to Number 12 in 1975. The album has a kind of loose honky tonk ambience and the four channel version has some fun discrete channelization that kind of reminded me of the early "wide imaging" stereo releases from the likes of Enoch Light and Command Records. You have to give this album its pop culture zeitgeist where it's due, though, and in that regard, the album features a "cameo" by none other than George Jessel.

The track list for this album is:

1. Detroit Breakdown
2. Givin' It All Up
3. Must of Got Lost
4. Look Me in the Eye
5. Nightmares
6. Stoop Down #39
7. I'll Be Coming Home
8. Funky Judge
9. Gettin' Out

The J. Geils Band: Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While there is video content here, like most hi-res audio Blu-rays, it's simply a menu, and because this release like Rhino's Jefferson Starship: Red Octopus (if kind of strangely not like their Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies), allows you to use the color buttons on your remote to choose which audio codec (red for DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0, yellow for DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0), you really don't even have to have your display on to enjoy this release. I've heard from several regular readers of my long running hi-res audio Blu-ray reviews that they'd actually prefer (repeated) screenshots of the menu rather than photos of the band, etc., on reviews, so you get seven screenshots of the menu here.

The J. Geils Band: Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

J. Geils Band: Nightmares. . .and other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle offers DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options, and I'm assuming anyone interested in this release is going to want to listen to the quadrophonic version, so the bulk of my comments will focus on that. I've mentioned in my previous reviews of this new(ish) line of Quadio releases how the stereo versions are fine, though their high end can almost sound muffled when compared to the 4.0 option, but I'd say that difference is somewhat less noticeable this time around, perhaps due to the prevalence of some of the high end work on the piano. That said, as with Rhino's other Quadio releases, I can't imagine most audiophiles not preferring the 4.0 mix, and in some ways, perhaps unexpectedly this has some "showier" moments than some of the other Quadio releases I've reviewed. Front to back separation is frequently evident (listen to those aforementioned keys on the intro to Detroit Breakdown for just one example), but there's also some appealing side to side imagery as well as discrete channelization at times ( Must Of Got Lost has some noticeable separation of rhythm guitar and drums). There is some verbiage in the insert booklet that mimics similar information in other 4.0 audio Blu-rays about how to utilize bass management, but I'd say whatever choice your particular system offers, don't expect a surplus of low end emanating from the subwoofer (per design), which is not to suggest that there's any real lack in either the lower midrange or actual lowest frequencies. Fidelity is top notch throughout.

The J. Geils Band: Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No on disc supplements are offered, and in fact not even any of the bonus tracks on the 2005 CD reissue are offered here, much like the older Universal Music Group hi-res audio offerings would omit any alternate tracks. An insert booklet is included.

The J. Geils Band: Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While in some ways this is one of the more unexpected offerings from Rhino's Quadio line of audio Blu-rays, it's highly enjoyable and features some nicely immersive four channel listening. For fans of either the band or quadrophonic recordings (and maybe that's another Venn Diagram to be explored), Recommended.