The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Uncut Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Uncut Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 23, 2018

As is mentioned in the liner notes of the insert booklet included with this release, there was a certain “corporate” quality to The Rolling Stones of the 1990s, as evidenced by a comment made by Mick Jagger himself. That said, if, as certain American politicians have been known to aver, “corporations are people”, the Stones’ offer a “corporate” sensibility that is both larger than life and monolithic. This 1994 concert, which has reportedly never been released in complete form before, is culled from a Miami performance as the band supported the then new Voodoo Lounge album. This is yet another incredibly high energy affair from the Stones, with the peripatetic Mick running rampant across the arena stage, and the rest of the band providing a lot of enthusiastic support. Several guest performers also show up, including Sheryl Crow, Bo Diddley and Robert Cray.

The concert features an introduction by Whoopi Goldberg which is followed by these tracks:

• Not Fade Away
• Tumbling Dice
• You Got Me Rocking
• Rocks Off
• Sparks Will Fly
• Live With Me with Sheryl Crow
• (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
• Beast of Burden
• Angie
• Dead Flowers
• Sweet Virginia
• Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Hearbreaker)
• It's All Over Now
• Stop Breakin' Down Blues with Robert Cray
• Who Do You Love? with Bo Diddley
• I Go Wild
• Miss You
• Honky Tonk Women
• Before They Make Me Run
• The Worst
• Sympathy for the Devil
• Monkey Man
• Street Fighting Man
• Start Me Up
• It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
• Brown Sugar
• Jumpin' Jack Flash

The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Uncut Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Uncut is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080i (upconverted) transfer in 1.33:1. This is the latest in Eagle Rock's so-called "SD Blu-ray" releases, many of which have featured archival Stones videos, and anyone who has either purchased or seen some of these prior releases will know pretty much what to expect here. The upscaling isn't always kind to the sometimes lurid lighting regimens utilized, and there is fairly rampant posterizing when cameras are aimed directly at the battery of lighting batteries. There are also combing artifacts especially noticeable in some of the guitar strumming and drum playing. Sharpness and detail levels are pretty variant and very much in line with many of the previous Stones SD Blu-ray releases. All of this said, this looks surprisingly spry (and perhaps at least a bit better than some of the screenshots might indicate), at least in the better lit moments, and the ubiquity of close-ups helps to support at least adequate detail levels.

The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Uncut Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Uncut features LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, with the disc authored to default to the stereo track. As in many of these archival live recordings, the stereo track arguably gives the vocals a bit more forward standing in the mix, but the surround offering really nicely opens up the sonics and provides what is probably a more accurate accounting of the arena acoustics. That said, there's definitely a "cavernous" sound to the surround track in particular, where higher frequencies like constant crowd noises can sound just slightly phased at times. The surround mix is notably louder and punchier than the stereo track. The surround track also probably elevates some of those raucous crowd noises, but prioritization commendably tends to keep the band's sounds most prominent. There's appealing clarity on both tracks, with Mick sounding almost ferocious at times, and the instrumental array sounding clear and full bodied.

The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Uncut Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Tracks (1080i; 24:01) includes Shattered, Out of Tears, All Down the Line, I Can't Get Next to You and Happy, with LPCM 2.0 audio. The bonus tracks have been authored together, though you can start playback at any of the selections courtesy of chapter stops. Playback continues to the next song(s) (if any) automatically.

Additionally, Two Bonus CDs of the concert (including Whoopi Goldberg's introduction) are included.

The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Uncut Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Stones fans probably won't mind the substandard video quality of this, and the energy of the performance is certainly high octane every step of the way. This is another "SD Blu-ray" release that may be best appreciated by some fans as what amounts to an audio Blu-ray. Recommended.