Search - Steve Morse - Sects Dregs & Rock N Roll on DVD

Great music performances ruined by REALLY bad film making

Steven | Los Angeles, CA USA | 06/01/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"As a long time fan, I can't imagine ever saying a critical word, but I am VERY disappointed with this DVD. VERY. The Dregs part of the DVD is poorly mixed. Steve is often buried (especially his chordal work), Jerry is too loud and the overall mix lacks integration, feel and musicality. It really does Steve and the band a disservice and if I were managing the band, I'd pull it and remix it. (Hello, Frank are you reading?)The film editing isn't great either. For example, times when the camera shows the band and not the soloist, or long sequences of T's back, just like the bad old days when "In Concert" first started. UGH!If the mix was good, you could live with the bad visuals, but together... I find the experience kind of... dare I say unmoving, at times boring but often frustrating. You can't comfortably watch it as a film or even listen as just a soundtrack. It's impossible to feel that way when seeing the Dregs or Steve's band live. The film direction, camera work and audio mix actually ruin the performances. The director didn't miss a single filming "no no!"The duet portion of Steve and Dave (live in NY) I found even more frustrating than the Dregs footage. The director and film crew should be shot. Too many unwarranted camera moves and edits. The insensitivity to the music, the performance and most importantly the viewer (how the viewer experiences live music) is stupefying. Here's a sample: 1) Close ups of the center of Steve's guitar neck with his hands barely visible at the outer edges of the TV screen.2) Way too long close ups of Steve's face when the action was Steve's and Dave's hands.3) The refusal to simply hold the camera still for a single musical passage4) Constant pull backs to the back of the room reducing Steve and Dave to postage stamps.5) Amateur blurred close ups of the lights with pull backs to Steve and Dave. PA-LEASE!We don't need the camera or edits competing to be the performance at the expense of missing "THE PERFORMANCE" and genius that was happening right under the director/film crew's noses. There were actually moments where I found myself screaming... STOP!Sadly, the result is a very distracting and frustrating experience. A lot of the time you just can't get into the mood of what artists are playing and for the moments you can, those moods are broken by an inappropriate edit or camera move. The best part of the DVD is Steve's interview where for better or worse (bad lighting, no interviewer), at least you could focus on what Steve was doing, whether talking or playing without being disrupted or distracted by the camera or edits. But, it's still a great "Up Close and Personal" with Steve with info about his roots and influences and equipment. Cool.Overall: as much of genius as Steve Morse and the Dregs are, the DVD couldn't be more rank amateur and off point. Like I said... it's stupefying. In the year 2003 there is absolutely no excuse for such bad work. A real shame because the performances are there, but the director completely missed it, lost it, didn't get it... Not at all. As a future archival film, it is sad to think that this will be what future generations of fans will get. Hopefully there will be another DVD and a good director will be hired for the project. In the meantime, this DVD is almost unwatchable. What a waste. Steven"

Not what it should have been...

Stephen Mason | Austin, Tx. USA | 02/04/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I saw Steve give a seminar here in town in the late 80's. Although I'd never seen him perform live, I did go into the building fully aware of his talent. A new, first-hand impression that I left with was his almost hyper-sensitivity to quality and details. At one point, I remember him showing a slight degree of agitation, in front of us, towards the local sound guy's lack of knowledge regarding his set up and what should have been done before his talk with us - things that to me, as an amateur, seemed completely foreign. He stayed cool nonetheless. That's how he is, and we all know that. But a respectable, higher degree of professionalism and expectation than I'd not really seen before from another musician. He very clearly knew what he wanted.I sat through this seminar, almost entirely in awe. I've heard all of the music. I've read all of the interviews and the clinics in the magazines. I know something of his biography, and ultimately consider myself a big fan.Why Steve would put his name on this product and let it be put on the market is curious, to say the least. In a nutshell, for me anyway, it comes down to the sound on the Dregs portion of the DVD. In fact, it was sort of hard to get past that. The camera work and all of the other things that are mentioned in these reviews are valid points, but the sound in that one portion made me consider sending it back for a refund. And then there is that blurb in the back that sort of forewarns you that the weak quality on the Dregs sound is meant to give you that sense of a true live show. Ridiculous! Whoever determined what the "desired effect" should be certainly fell short. I actually think it serves as a rationalization for the weak result more than anything else. And if we need the better DVD equipment that the other reviewer mentions, they should forewarn us of that as well. Everyone should have access to his work, regardless of the equipment they own. What you hear are drums and bass. You'd be wise to have a good understanding of what these songs sound like before you see it, because you are going to need to use your imagination to fill in all of that dead space you come across in order to complete the picture for yourself.In the end, I say three stars simply because it's Steve. If there were zero volume on this thing, and only footage of Jerry playing the fiddle, I'd probably still buy it simply because it's all about Steve. I also feel like I need to support the brother whenever I can because of the way he's stuck to his principles all of these years (with only a couple rare exceptions, like this one, for example). I'm eagerly looking forward to something better in the future."

A few technical flaws, but worth every cent!

D. Mullin | Baltimore, MD USA | 05/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I picked up this eagerly-awaited DVD up at a recent Dixie Dregs show. I'm a huge Steve Morse fan and I've been drooling at the prospect of getting this DVD since it was announced last fall. The DVD contains nearly 4 hours of material, including a full Dregs concert, A Steve Morse solo show, and a 65-minute interview with Steve as he explains everything from his earliest influences, his guitar set-up, techniques, and more. This DVD is a treasure for anyone who's remotely interested in Steve Morse/Dregs music or just plain fabulous musicianship. However, the production in parts is not quite up to par with many other concert DVDs that are being released today. A previous reviewer commented only on the Dregs portion of the disc. It is a very good show, but unfortunately it was not shot by a very professional crew, which makes the experience less satisfying than it could be. Some of the camera operators have no idea how to properly frame a shot, and the video editing leaves much to be desired. There are times when you should be focused on someone doing a blistering solo, and the shot cuts away to someone else doing nothing particularly interesting and stays there way too long. Regarding the sound mix, overall it is a pretty good DD 5.1 mix (not "appalling"). The only real problem is that the delay/reverb channel of the guitar rig is mixed too loud, so that when Steve kicks it in, it is obvious and distracting. Overall though, it's great show and not to be dismissed for it's few technical flaws. The Steve Morse solo show on the other hand was shot professionally for Japanese TV, and it is excellent. He is joined later in the show by Dave LaRue and T Lavitz. The focus is more on acoustic music, but Steve still does a good amount of electric playing as well, and the playing is of course phenomenal. This show alone is worth the price of the DVD! The disc is rounded out with various interviews with Steve and Deep Purple members, a clip of Steve's solo spot from the Australia 1999 Deep Purple show, the aforementioned 65 minute interview/clinic (very interesting and informative) , a video for "Cruise Missile", and numerous photo galleries. I HEARTILY recommend any fan of Steve Morse or just incredible musicianship to purchase this DVD without hesitation! The few flaws are far outweighed by the plethora of incredible content presented here. Worth every cent!"

You almost feel it is YOUR fault !

I. J. Sloan | Rossendale, Lancs United Kingdom | 06/21/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The coments about the need for high quality equipment is, I am afraid, total rubbish ... the sound on this DVD IS very poor. I would LOVE to blame my equipment, my copy of the DVD ... anything but have to try to explain why Steve Morse, or those about him, put out such a poor product. As others have said, the "semi unplugged" section is 'night and day' compared to the Dregs. For the first two numbers of that concert, I can hardly hear Steve at all, and for the rest of the concert, Jerry scratching away dominates everything. Alan ( no relation ) must have had a case on in ER, but I really wish he hadn't !I have meddled with my set-up in every way possible, because it CAN'T be Steve putting out a poor product ... it just CAN'T !!I have come to the conclusion, with a sad heart, that it is ... I have never seen him ( Not a great "Purple" fan ) and boy was I looking forward to this release, so it is even more painful because of that. The best bit is the interview with Steve ... if you need ANY reassurance of what a great bloke he is, that section was all it took."