Product: Queensrche: Mindcrime at the Moore (2007)
Rating: 4.0
A non essential but very entertaining release
Well I finally gave in and bought this Dvd. As a longtime fan whose fanship of Ryche has been recently been rekindled, I was looking forward to seeing this more theatrical presentation of one of the greatest albums of all time. Also, as an added bonus, Mindcrime's underwhelming sequel is peformed live in its entirely as well.Prog-nosis (couldn't resist haha): Mindcrime 1's live performance is not up to par compared to Livecrime. The Rhythm section performs tightly, and ironically, Mike Wilton is probably in better shape guitar wise than on the original live album. His leads and warm tone benefit the band greatly (I wish he would write more). However, Mike Stone is very sloppy when playing much of the Degarmo leads, and adds unneccesary embellishments at times (example: the bluesy out of place lead at the end of Suite Sister Mary). His image is like a lost cousin of Phil Anselmo (with a mohawk) circa 1992, but thats not what grates on me. He has a very nervous approach to vibrato that doesn't compare to the smoother playing of Degarmo (and believe me, he is designated many of Degarmo's original leads). That said, some of the arrangements of the original album are embellished in new and novel ways (example: Empty Room), and this is actually welcomed as some of these interludes are fleshed out to somewhat regular songs. The theatrics are great, but Geoff Tate seems to be the perfect fit for Nikki, despite the younger actor playing the more drugged up Nikki.Vocalwise: Geoff starts out very shakily on the performance of Mindcrime I. He strains with many of the notes, and Pamela Moore actually sings a lot more this time around on many of the old songs and higher parts. By the second half of Mindcrime I however, he is back to much of his original game and sounds very impassioned.One other thing that annoyed me with the performance of Mindcrime I was the drum sound. It was flat, and overcompressed (very late nineties sounding) compared to the original performances. That may be because of the Tv I was watching it on, or that I don't have dolby surround speakers, but there was definitely something amiss as far as this element. Performance wise though it was great.Overall the performance of Mindcrime I is decent, but not great.Mindcrime II: The performance of Mindcrime II, in my opinion, is better than the album that was released with the same name.The performances are a lot more comprehensible, and it benefits from an overall better mix and mastering. The album Mindcrime II had a very muddy, overcompressed production (Rockenfield's drums are ironically better this time around as well), and I don't think that Tate was up to par on the album either.However, this was the real surprise: Mindcrime II's performance outshines the actual album, and the mix and production is 100 % better as well!I also thought Mike Stone fit the second album better, as he wrote much of it, and his leads actually benefit from being in a live setting. A better and less sloppy performance of an album that was muddy and sloppy in comparison! Very strange indeed.Geoff Tate sounded in prime form on the second dvd as well, and his theatrics (along with the others) were very entertaining.So the question is, is this worth getting? I would say that people who just detest any Queensryche (recording, live or otherwise) after 1994 could probably stay away and not miss much. I would say that people who want to see a band slowly regaining their fire and also hear a better version of a mediocre album could buy this and be very satisfied.Its a long way (BACK) to the top for the band, but if the Mindcrime II performance (on this dvd) is any indication, they are definitely headed in the right direction even moore (haha).