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Jethro Tull - Living with the Past

Jethro Tull - Living with the Past

List Price: $24.98
Your Price: $19.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't waste your money on this
Review: Much is said about this DVD. I must admit that i am very dissapointed with it. For me a good concert DVD should be representative of what the concert was like. A concert from start to finish and not overproduced with cheap effects, images from other concerts in between and interviews during the songs (Bouree!)It's a matter of taste I suppose but to give an indication of what I find excellent concert DVD's: Roger Waters'In the FLesh and Roxy Music Live at the Apollo.

Another thing that bothers me is the fact that there is no live feel to the DVD. You get the feeling that a lot of songs were recorded without audience during soundcheck or reheasals.

It's a shame that an excellent band like Tull who are live very good release a piece of [junk] like this. Avoid this one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: I so wanted to like this DVD. I own every Tull vinyl disc and doubled-up by buying every Cd version over the years. I was looking forward to the DVD.
It seems to me the Ian Anderson Group of Companies is merely trying to wring the last buck or two it can out of the Tull franchise whilst expending the least possible amount of effort.
But I digress.
In the cover booklet (nicely done, BTW - far surpassing the material on the DVD itself), much fuss is made about the technical aspects of the recordings, suggesting a state of the art experience was about to unfold. Not to be, though, and the devil is in the details..... as an example, the audio is in the older Dolby pro Logic format, not the standard Dolby 5.1 or even DTS. I have many other music DVDs and they are all 5.1. Most modern surround sound systems in North America will not give the recordings their due because of this. (Even the worst B-movie is released in 5.1 these days.)
The so-called "bonus tracks" merely whet the appetite, and are not full tracks at any rate. Both the Uriah Heep and Fairport Convention "tracks" last about 60 seconds and then fade to black. It was fascinating (albeit briefly) to listen to Heep recreate a classic hit for them, but all too short.
The various interviews sprinkled throughout carry narry a single caption. Who the heck are we listening to? Does Ian Anderson believe we all just instinctively know who everyone is? Come on, guys......crank up the character generator.

The editing and effects sequences during the main "concert" part of the DVD are fairly pedestrian......merely updated versions of the fairly cheesy VHS tapes Tull has released over the years. If anything, they reinforce the nagging feeling that the Tull concerts I attended 15 years ago are exactly the same as the concert they performed yesterday.
The final straw was the "outtakes" section......the last thing I want to see in a Tull DVD is a series of retakes of Anderson's Deep Vein Thrombosis commercial. Either Ian has developed a mammothly inflated sense of his own self-importance or he has just been getting some very bad advice from his producer.We're all aging, folks. We get it. I don't buy DVD's to listen to semi-ailing former rock legends flogging their pet projects (or diseases). If Ian does a Metamucil commercial, shall we be seeing that too in a future release?
Not I, I'm afraid. After paying big-time to own the Tull collection, twice-over, plus 7 concerts over the years and countless T-shirts and spilled beers, this longtime fan has finally ceased contributing to "The Ian Anderson Group of Companies".
Cheerio!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: How can we not Live With the Past?
Review: This is a great retrospective of a fantastic history.
Who else has done what they have done?

Who else--- Ian Anderson-- has produced such a marvelous
body of work? Is there anyone else comparable to him?

I doubt it...

Ian... You are the best!!!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Tull fans deserves more than this DVD
Review: I rushed into buying this DVD and I confess the watching
experience was not what I expected. The DVD has no flow
due to some interviews that happen between every song. Also,
the "special effects" during the songs are annoying and
"cheap". They look worse than the effects you can get with
your [price] home video camera.

The good side of the concert is that the setlist is good
and the length of the concert is very reasonable (+- 2hours).
I'd recommend this DVD if you are a Tull fan but this
is NOT a good sample of what the group is. Another
concert was released in Brazil ONLY (region 0).
I've ordered mine today. I hopping for a better concert...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Worth waiting for............
Review: I find the DVD from Jethro Tull worth the wait - in Denmark it was released one month later than in the US.

Fine interviews and a very nice reunion setup.

This is a very good video, and now we just have to wait for more from the archives.......

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: great concert,no need for interviews
Review: Any concert from this band on to DVD is a blessing,but as a
Canadian reviewer here somewhere stated,do we need the interviews
between every track? It's annoying if you have it hooked up to
a hi-fi,and the booming of the narrative is a downer.
We need 70s/early 80s Tull concerts...there are loads around
tv vaults,same with Cheap Trick,we need concerts from when all
great rock bands were at their peak.
Ian Anderson is in fine voice on this concert,and thankfully
nearly all the tracks are from earlier days,and doesn't sound
like Dire Straits (thankfully).
I would love to see the original line up of Tull in a concert,
as the sound quality on the 3 tracks they do together here,are
clearer and better than the main concert.Smaller venues always
seem better to me.
It's still worth buying this great DVD,as Jethro Tull are one
of the best surviving rock bands here in England. Ray Lang.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Living With The Past Production Techniques
Review: I have to say I was extremely disappointed with this DVD. The sound quality is truly awful, be prepared. I also found the videography very amatuerish, nothing special at all. When are we gonna lose that lame MTV quick editing that has been used for almost 20 years now? Each tune has cuts of other shows interspersed within them in Black and White and really terrible video sequences which are the worst. One of the shows they used is an outdoor show that looks like Tull were playing at a half empty county fair!... I love the big yellow "French Fries" sign in the background, too bad they missed the Ferris Wheel. I didn't mind the interviews in between the tunes too much, but there isn't too much you haven't heard before. Before "Bouree", Ian makes a big deal about Jonathan Noyce's bass solo which we don't even get to hear because they overdubbed an interview with him over it. I don't know, maybe it wasn't that great a solo after all. The 1968 Line Up reunion is an interesting, pretty mediocre performance, but once again is produced with that annoying stop-action video that you've seen a million times. Oh, and I guess Mick Abrahams, Glenn Cornick and Clive Bunker weren't allowed to talk since there are no interviews with them. The "Extra Features" section is an absolute joke with 2 one-minute edits of Ian playing with Uriah Heep and Fairport Convention, about 3 minutes worth of interviews that didn't make the final cut, a 2 minute segment of Ian recording a public service announcement for DVT, and half of the song "Beside Myself" which can be viewed from different angles. Yeah, I woulda felt too privileged if they gave me the whole song anyway! OK, sarcasm aside and in all due fairness there are some really good songs here and the segments of Ian playing "Wond'ring Aloud" and "Life Is A Long Song" with a string quartet are absolutely superb. I've been a Tull fan all my life and really hated to put down one of their projects, but I have to be honest, they could have done a much better job on this one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: hard to believe
Review: Well..........where do I begin. I had a hard time rating this
due to the fact that it STILL IS all things TULL (and how can that be bad?) so I give it the two stars on this merit alone.

The missing 3 stars are here:
1) 2.0 sound.......? Give us a break. I am new to this DVD thing (as I always wait a few years for formats and prices to settle) but c'mon! It is 2002! Was it a "label" decision to rush this? I would of waited so why didn't they? Do I just have the wrong audio option chosen? Given that most of the material here
is from their songlist of the last 12 years, you can find better audio and performances on other audio cds.
2) The footage and film production leaves me boggled. I just ask myself......why? I would of been happier with raw footage and a nice mix of audio rather than being taken to soundcheck
synchs and disoriented with slow motion antics. The REUNION was cool and the performances are actually quite refreshing but why oh why does it have to be brown(black?) and white(sepia) and all that fast/slow camera angle stuff......really detracts from something that I would of, otherwise, enjoyed.
3) Usually outtakes(sic) and "bonus" material should be fun and
in full. NEITHER here!


I was so disappointed with most of this I didn't fool with any
of the options other than what I tried so can't help you there.
Was thinking about buying the audio cd but why do you need to republish THE ZURICH TAPES again? The last 2 TULL cds and this DVD are just another big wakeup call for me and these labels. I simply must say one word.....greed?...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: I have been a fan of Jethro Tull for over 30 years. Recently saw him perform live for the first time in Fort Myers Florida. The concert was outstanding. The DVD brings back the thrill of the concert and then some. I bought the DVD even though several people mentioned less than great sound and although I do not get a full surround sound, it is overall fabulous and pratically hypnotic. Lots of close ups and views from different concerts. I would highly recommend for any Jethro Tull fan.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Jethro Tull Living with the Past - Now
Review: Great selection of Tull concert favourites interspersed with interesting interviews with band members and fans.
Only 2 gripes (hence a 3 star rating). Why is the picture not widescreen and why only a Dolby Stereo Soundtrack as these days anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 are statndard for recent concert recordings. Other than this heartily recommended.


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