Product: Porcupine Tree: Anesthetize (2008)
Rating: 5.0
Top Notch
This review is of the DVD/Blu-Ray combo.Set list: Fantastic set list, it showcases the songs they played during the Fear of a Blank Planet tour very well. PT has a special way of doing things and releasing material, and that is the case with this DVD and their previous DVD. The band likes to release DVDs that capture the essence of the tour cycle for that album. The only song repeated on this DVD that is also on their previous DVD 'Arriving Somewhere...' is 'Halo', this is because Halo was played as the encore for just about every show during the FOABP tour, again PT is capturing the essence of the FOABP tour cycle with this DVD release.Audio Quality: Fantastic. PT is the best sounding band on CD, DVD-A, FLAC, 24 bit stereo, or whatever format of their music you have. Steven Wilson mixes his art like no other. With a good 5.1 system this film is just like being at the show.Picture Quality: The standard DVD looks amazing, it almost looks HD. The Blu-Ray is also amazing! I must admit I have seen better looking Blu-Ray music video releases, for example The Police's recent Blu-Ray release does look sharper and just more HD than this PT release. But this is PT's first Blu-Ray release and I am sure it will only get better as they release more Blu-Rays. I have no complaints about the Blu-Ray quality and I think it is amazing and up there with the best.Extras: The DVD disc has absolutely no extras, just the 130 minute long live show. The Blu-Ray includes extras, but they are kinda lame. The extras ONLY on the Blu-Ray disc are 5 live films: Way Out of Here, My Ashes, Wedding Nails, Strip the Soul/.3 and lastly Nil Recurring. The extras are NOT in High Definition, they are in standard definition which is a huge disappointment (considering the live films when played live definitely look as if they have been upgraded to HD quality, but are not that way on the Blu-Ray) While I love the live films that Porcupine Tree plays on a projector during their shows, to only receive those as extras is a bit underwhelming; considering the previous DVD had a wide variety of extras such as: addition footage of songs played live, live films, promo footage, etc.Final Impressions: It is said that this DVD was filmed with the intention of focusing more-so on the band members rather than the music. Thus this DVD has less shots of guitar shredding solos and more shots of the band members faces and profiles. So if you've seen the bands first DVD, you will see this DVD definitely has a different feel to it. This in no way makes the DVD bad or un-enjoyable, it is extremely well edited/directed and very enjoyable.This is the best music DVD/Blu-Ray I have watched. The only disappointment is the lack of extras, but the film is about the 130 minute film and not what extras it contains.Huge PT fans should own this film by now, if your a mild PT fan or a music fan looking for a great experience, then you must pick this up or find a place to watch it.