Search - Ruben Blades: Cali Concert on DVD

Virtually unwatchable and unlistenable; feels totally pirate

John Bartelt | L.A., CA USA | 02/07/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Five stars for an AMAZING concert (similar to the one I saw him give live in L.A.) by The Master - Ruben Blades - my personal, musical, and political hero, and the best songwriter and singer alive today.

Zero stars for a virtually unwatchable and unlistenable amateur production. It's a horrible, mushy mix, that I doubt even came off the mixing board, and is unsuitable for discriminating ears. Largely out of synch with the video, the soundtrack is also way low in volume. Not much EQ or dynamic range, either.

I can almost guarantee that Ruben Blades had nothing to do with, and would not approve of, this release. I suspect the audio and video were pirated. What a shame. I would give almost anything to have a top-quality DVD concert production of Ruben Blades in all his glory with Editus et al. This is nothing that anyone would want to watch (or listen to) twice, if you can even make it through once without wincing.

BTW/FWIW, I also bought the audio CD, and feel the same way about it.
"

Excellent concert, bad production video

Andres Riano | Bogota, DC Colombia | 01/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The concert was excellent, (I was there in 2004), but so I have to say I was expecting a better production on the video.
Is limited on cameras, quality is very low (too much process/compresion), no special features, no interviews, nothing.
But for the ones like me (Ruben's fanatic) this concert is a must to have, as it is the first time I see Ruben going all over his music history, including arrengements from the Fania/Colón era, as well as Seis del Solar, Editus, etc.
The concert closing...the best. Starts with Tiburon, ends with Patria. no words!.

"

Excellent performance! sub-par video quality

John D. Sullivan | Cincinnati | 02/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While it's great to have the salsa master's concert on DVD, it is disappointing the quality of the video is not so great. It still is better than the other dvd in circulation from the same performance. The sound on this one could have been better too,but at least it has DTS multichannel. The mix could have been much better,but i've heard much worst in the salsa genre.What remains is one amazing performance by Ruben and the band and what a band they are.From the opening number on the first disc to the encore at the end of the second disc you're in the presence of artistry of the highest caliber.One could only wish that Mr.Blades could perform live more often and delight us with his songs and artistry. Check out the bagpipe player on this one and you'll understand why Ruben Blades has elevated Salsa to heights never imagined on a world music scale."