7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A documentary concerning the reunion of the iconic English band the Stone Roses. A product of the Manchester music scene of the late 1980s and early '90s, the Stone Roses earned critical praise with their self-titled debut album and followed with a second album in 1994 before disbanding two years later. Fifteen years later, the band announced their reunion and plans of a world tour as well as a potential third album. In this documentary, renowned British film director and long-term Stone Roses fan Shane Meadows follows the group as they prepare for the tour. Meadows enjoys in-depth access, and the result is insight into the past, present, and future of the band.
Starring: Shane Meadows, Ian Brown (VI), John Squire, Liam Gallagher, Eric CantonaMusic | 100% |
Documentary | 82% |
Biography | 54% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: LPCM 2.0
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Before Oasis and Blur, and long before Kasabian and Coldplay, there was The Stone Roses, Manchester’s Britpop progenitors, who imploded just as the second British invasion properly began hitting the U.S. in the mid-1990s. Their eponymous 1989 debut album was commonly lauded as “seminal” during the Britpop heyday—and as recently as 2006, NME deemed it the best British album ever—but increasingly, some of the praise seems a bit much. Yes, The Stone Roses is a solid record. And yes, it was (and continues to be) hugely influential. But as the cozy glow of Britpop has faded—and it was cozy, all wrapped up in homey cultural Englishness—the album seems less groundbreaking than it is a retilling of old rock and roll soil. A bit mod, a bit punk, a bit Northern Soul, a bit jangly ‘60s pop. Some of The Beatles and a good deal of those other Stones, the rolling ones. The band came along just after the demise of The Smiths, giving the English indie music scene a bright new hope and providing the soundtrack for a brief generation of youths prone to wearing the unfortunate combo of flares, track jackets, and bucket hats. (The “Baggies” were no Mods when it came to sartorial prowess.) This might account for the massive nostalgia-driven hype that buzzed up around the band’s 2011 announcement that they were, after sixteen years of inactivity, reuniting for a world tour. Fans, some with teenaged children of their own, went mental.
MVD Visual brings Made of Stone to Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation that appears true to its source materials. The contemporary footage was shot using various high definition digital cameras—from DSLRs to GoPro action cams to larger, more professional rigs—and each has its own picture quality quirks. Noise is heavy at times, in-camera compression artifacts are occasionally visible, and highlights can be blown out, but most of this is unavoidable, and none of it is outright distracting. (I suspect the decision to shoot much of the modern stuff in black and white was as much a technical decision—in that it reduces the harsh look of digital artifacts—as it was an artistic one.) Clarity is variable, with excellent sharpness giving way to imprecise focus and back again, but this too is not unexpected for a shot-on-the-fly music documentary. Of course, the archival material is understandably all over the place, image-wise, with duped VHS footage, Super 8/16mm clips, and now-ancient-looking TV broadcasts. It is what it is, and it's displayed here as cleanly and accurately as possible.
Made of Stone has two audio options, an uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 stereo track—which is the disc's default—and a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 multichannel mix. This is an odd reversal of the usual Blu-ray audio setup, where the stereo mixdown is usually the one given the Dolby Digital treatment. It's unclear why MVD Visual didn't or couldn't include a lossless or uncompressed multichannel track. The 5.1 option is less bright and clear than its stereo counterpart, but that said, the rear channels don't get much play anyway—some bleeding room for the music, the occasional cheers and jeers of the crowds—so you shouldn't feel short-shrifted by sticking with the 2.0 track. Blasting out of the front and center, the music sounds fantastic, with crisp drum hits and room-filling bass, crunchy guitar and reasonably clear vocals. (Ian Brown isn't exactly known for putting his voice high in the mix.) The archival material can be a bit murky at times, understandably, but there's not much that can be done about that. As clear as the audio for the present-day footage is, some subtitles would've been helpful in deciphering the band's Mancunian accents.
There's clearly money in it, so the phenomenon of 1980s and '90s indie bands getting back together nowadays shouldn't be surprising—see My Bloody Valentine, Pixies, even the 2009 reformation of Blur—but Made of Stone is all about setting aside the cynical and experiencing the simple fanboy/fangirl joy of The Stone Roses' recent reunion. Director Shane Meadows follows the band from the surprising 2011 press conference announcement of their return to their homecoming gigs at Manchester's Heaton Park—which attracted 225,000 fans over three nights—and in the process he argues for The Stone Roses' place in British musical history by illuminating just how beloved they continue to be. It's a for-fans-only kind of film, but those fans will be plenty happy with MVD Visual's Blu-ray release, which includes an audio commentary, additional live material, and lots of behind-the-scenes footage. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2016
2015
2018
2012
2019
Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition
2005
2015
2016
1984
1988
2013
2013
2013
1981
2012
2022
2013
1978
2011
2012