British smooth jazz group Acoustic Alchemy climbed to the top of the charts with lively grooves and infectious melodies, capturing three Grammy nominations. Beginning as an acoustic guitar duo, these longtime radio favorit... more »es have welcomed additional instrumentalists into their line-up. Their intricate, mesmerizing sound has continued to grow and evolve through the years, absorbing many different musical influences and continuing to surprise and delight fans and critics around the world. Songs: Catalina Kiss, Playing for Time, Angel of the South, The Beautiful Game, Trailblazer, Viva Che, Cool as a Rool, Flamenco Loco, The Wind of Change, Augustrasse 18, Panama Cat, Lazeez, Red Dust, Casino.« less
Actor:Acoustic Alchemy Genres:Music Video & Concerts Sub-Genres:Pop, Rock & Roll, Jazz, DTS, New Age Studio:Image Entertainment Format:DVD - Color DVD Release Date: 03/11/2003 Original Release Date: 01/01/2003 Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/2003 Release Year: 2003 Run Time: 1hr 37min Screens: Color Number of Discs: 1 SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 0 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated) Languages:English
Great music from great musicians, an almost perfect DVD
Ziyon | Israel | 04/28/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"As a longtime AA fan I was waiting for years for a DVD to be published, and the result definitely lives up to my expectations.
Excellent selection of tracks creates a mix of classics from the Nick Webb period (e.g. Cool as a Rule, Lazeez) and selections from the band's recent albums (Beautiful Game and AArt).
Most song performances are excellent, only track I would skip is the Jazz-fusion interpretation of `The Panama Cat' which can hardly be regarded 'acoustic'. The players are all superb: Greg is always at his best, and Gilderdale is versatile and brings his own personality into the tunes - even the classic ones. His use of electric guitar is limited enough such that it does not break the 'acoustic' brand yet still adds color in couple of tracks. Sound quality is excellent even though Gilderdale's steel string guitar seems faded at times. The minimum lineup (5 in total) manages to give a rich musical spectrum - mainly due to keyboardist Tony White and despite the fact that an additional percussionist and sax/trumpet player would have contributed a lot of color to the overall sound.
Only reason this is a 4 star ranking is due to the long and sometimes embarrassing verbal intermissions between the songs. These come out very annoying and cut the song sequence such that you want to 'skip' to the next track using your DVD remote control. AA is pure music and if you want to hear them talk there is a good interview bonus section added to the DVD. Apart from that - it's great music from great musicians.
AA are still one of the best musical forms you can hear time and again and find new layers and depths each time."
Great way to see a band that's hard to see
Allan Folsom | Ft Worth Texas | 11/30/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I was actually intending to buy the cd version and not the dvd which I ordered by mistake. Upon watching the performance I compared it to the other AA performances that I have seen in the past. There seems to be something missing here performance wise...I dont know if the band, knowing that they were being filmed seemed a bit wooden and slightly awakward but I have seen them more lively at smaller more intimate venues. One element that I feel was missing...A view of the fan base for this group that is quite eclectic and very sophisticated. Musically they turn in a nice performance. I have always admired the arranging talents of this group and credit them for being quite innovative with regard to their sound. However...Substituting the keyboard synthisizer for the horns are a bit awakward sounding for the true fan. All in all a nice meld of the studio polish and performance licks to bring one a enjoyable evening on the couch seeing a band the all too often is quite difficult to see live as they seemed to be booked predominately at festivals (catalina island) and wineries in California and out of the way blues clubs on a Wednesday night in the middle of the busiest week of ones life. I would like to stress that if you do get to see them live, especially where they are the only act (avoid Catalina Island, it is a tremendous waste of time and money (sorry Art) By all means do...The band normally sits around afterwards greets the fans and in my case allowed me to jam with them a time or two. Give it a buy!"
Great Smooth Jazz Sound from St.Lucia.
Stephen Zarczynski | S.Yorkshire UK | 03/03/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"After many years of waiting Acoustic Alchemy finally give fans something good to watch as well as to listen to. The DVD is one of the best quality music DVDs I,ve ever seen, superb picture clarity and great sound, a bit of a shame it's only available in Region 1 particularly as they are a British band, but then again lots of us have multiregion players so all is not lost. Anyway highly recommended for smooth jazz lovers on both sides of the pond."
One of the best music DVDs you'll ever watch!
reikibr | Boca Raton, FL United States | 03/05/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Acoustic Alchemy fans, or smooth jazz jans for that matter, will throughly enjoy this new music DVD just released. This group has kept music fans spellbound for nearly 15 years, and this 2002 concert disk certainly won't disappoint. The songs are great - some classic Alchemy, others newer. Greg Carmichael is his usually superb guitarist, and Frank Felix plays the bass guitar like no other jazz performer. The concert was recorded live, and it brings back memories of past shows the boys have done in the U.S. The cameras get nice closeups of the group as it weaves its way through one song after another. It's definitely the gem of my DVD collection!"
This DVD is awesome!!!
Steve Graber | Canton, OH USA | 02/06/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"We read the other reviews before we purchased this DVD. They caused us some concern that the DVD would be just so-so. Comments like "the band ... seemed a bit wooden and slightly awakward" and "The lighting is too bright. The stage is too small. The director of this video ... manages to capture all the wrong angels... a microphone was blocking the guitarist's face through out the whole concert."
Then we purchased this DVD and watched it. This DVD is simply awesome! We would buy another Acoustic Alchemy DVD in an instant if there were one available. We didn't notice any of the issues that the earlier reviewers pointed out. We have watched the DVD twice so far since we bought it 2 months ago. The 2nd viewing was even better than the first! This DVD simply puts you there with the guys in the middle of a fantastic performance."