7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
"Crossfire Hurricane", directed by Brett Morgen, is released as part of the ongoing 50th anniversary celebrations of The Rolling Stones. This superb new film tells the story of the Stones' unparalleled journey from blues obsessed teenagers in the early sixties to their undisputed status as rock royalty. All of The Rolling Stones have been newly interviewed and their words form the narrative arc that links together archive footage of performances, news coverage and interviews, much of it previously unseen.
Starring: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts (I), The Rolling StonesMusic | 100% |
Documentary | 40% |
Biography | 11% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: LPCM 2.0
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
One of the simultaneously interesting and frustrating things about the high definition era has been the veritable glut of releases, both concert fare and documentary, about any number of admittedly great bands and artists, who as fantastic as they might be aren’t long lasting legends, while at the same time true legends have thus far been given relatively short shrift in terms of Blu-ray product available. Eagle Rock and its many imprints are to be lauded for their incredible array of releases, most of which are wonderful and which have brought any number of top flight concerts to the Blu-ray format, but when one surveys the landscape for high definition releases featuring probably the most iconic band of the sixties—The Beatles—it’s almost shocking how few there are. The Fab Four are thus far represented only by Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine, with Help! just having been announced for late June. Things are rather considerably better with regard to what most would probably agree is the second most iconic band of the same period (and well beyond), The Rolling Stones, with the following titles released: The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas 1978, The Rolling Stones Charlie is my Darling - Ireland 1965, The Rolling Stones: The Biggest Bang , The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter, The Rolling Stones: Live at the Max, Shine a Light, and Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones. Now adding to that embarrassment of riches is the interesting 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane, a rather unusually structured outing which offers a montage of imagery set to audio reminiscences by various members of the Stones and other interested parties.
The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This documentary culled together from hugely disparate sources, including some with formats as small as 8mm. Therefore, it's important not to expect a uniform video quality throughout this offering. Some of the footage, notably some of the contemporary establishing shots of various locations, looks excellently sharp, and appears to have been shot digitally. The bulk of this enterprise is cobbled together from old films and television appearances, however. Those pieces are widely variant in quality. Some of the concert footage is decent enough looking, while some of the television outings are pretty ragged looking. Though this is a progressive presentation, it's obvious that some of the source material was originally interlaced, as there are noticeable combing artifacts during fast motion.
The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix as well as an LPCM 2.0 stereo mix. While some of the audio here obviously had multitrack masters that were ported over into a 5.1 rendering, it's just as obvious that many did not and have been artificially repurposed for surround sound. For that reason, I actually preferred the LPCM 2.0 mix. For me personally, this offered a much clearer, more focused audio presentation that I found generally more pleasurable. There's nothing horribly wrong with the 5.1 mix, but it often sounds hazy and too widely disbursed for my personal taste. Fidelity is quite good, especially considering the wide variety of source audio. The contemporary interviews of course sound clear as a bell.
Eagle Rock has lumped most of the supplements in together, with a running time of 26:16 for everything. These include:
The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane is perhaps a bit too condensed for its own good, but it is so stuffed with little tidbits that I can't imagine any Stones fan not wanting to gobble this up, probably repeatedly. Filled with incredible archival video and full of some great contemporary retrospectives from the surviving members of the band themselves, Crossfire Hurricane may not be the whole story (which of course it still being told), but it's a fantastic overview of the first heady rush to superstardom. Highly recommended.
with Bonus Disc
2012
2012
1973
The Rolling Stones
2008
2009
2013
Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition
2005
2019
2015
1987
2015
Deluxe Edition | ~90m Bonus disc
2016
2018
2013
Led Zeppelin
1976
2008
2013
2004
2013
2007