Product: Porcupine Tree: Anesthetize (2008)
Rating: 4.0
Amazing 5.1 Mix But Not As Sharp As Other Blu-Rays
Porcupine Tree are my current favorite band, and I was finally able to order this Blu-Ray and spin it. I was anxious to see it, especially after some HD clips were posted by the director on YouTube, namely the track "Way Out Of Here."The performance is dark, dangerous, moody and extremely skillful. The unexpected star of the show (besides Mr. Wilson, of course) is Richard Barbieri and all of the rich textures he brings to the music on his keyboards and well-timed and -selected samples. Their previous live DVD ("Arriving Somewhere") left his performance somewhat of a mystery--you knew he was there by the sound, but the camera seldom showed what he was doing. On "Anesthetize" the director finally gives you a sense of his contribution to the band, especially live.Steven Wilson's 5.1 mix is nearly perfection, and if you didn't really want to watch the show, you'd be perfectly happy to close your eyes and enjoy the enveloping live sound. There were a few oddities in the mix, but only subjective. I felt that Wilson's electronic piano was a little understated in the 17-minute title piece, but that was all I could find that bugged me about the mix.The picture did not quite live up to the potential of Blu-Ray, but I chalk that up to the filming environment. Low light levels have a tendency to add a lot of grain to even the best digital HD cameras, and harsh stage lighting through stage-smoke pretty much banishes normal black levels from the recorded experience entirely. However, this is more than made up for by the skillful direction and camerawork. I felt like I got a sense of what every performer was contributing to the live performance and that you were watching a band rather than a single star surrounded by secondary musicians. A real plus was the complete absence of the stylistic effects that director Lasse Hoile felt compelled to use on "Arriving Somewhere"--the scratched-film overlays, sprockets, melted frames, forced monochrome and sepia, etc. He chose just to let the raw stage performances shine instead of adding unnecessary visual augmentation.This is a fine concert film, which I highly recommend to PT fans, prog fans and music fans in general. You should add it to your Blu-Ray collection today!