Product Description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 10/07/2002

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19613 in DVD
• Brand: Uni
• Released on: 2002-04-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Live, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.com
This famous filming of Portishead's first-ever live gig in New York--along with the accompanying album--is now considered a modern classic. The concert itself is a wonder to behold, as Portishead (Geoff Barrows, Adrian Utley, Beth Gibbons, Andy Smith) smoke cigarettes, chew gum, scratch records, and behave in a generally hip manner while around them the 30-piece New York Philharmonic Orchestra and a 5-piece horn ensemble do their thing. The performance and subsequent recording of this gig has, in some cases, offered a preferred body of work to Portishead's studio-based albums, proving that a live gig does not always equal poor production values. From the haunting "All Mine" to the ever-popular "Glory Box," the energy from the band members and orchestra adds a breathtaking edge to the well-known tunes. The camera itself takes on part of the magic of the concert, sweeping majestically across the action and the audience, helping to capture the slow, silky essence of this urbanized opulence. --Paul Sullivan

Customer Reviews

Magnificent...also DVD is NOT defective!
Just a great concert....nothing like it really and ANYONE will enjoy. Also the DVD has VERY little sound thru the center channel of the 5.1 dolby digital surround mix. I got this email from Fruit who manage Portishead, the DVD is OK...

Dear Mark,

Many thanks for your email regarding the Portishead DVD. Please find below
a report from Jon Underwood the Project Manager for the PNYC DVD. I hope
this helps you with the problem you're experiencing. Should you have any
other enquiries please don't hesitate to contact me.

Many thanks for your continued support of Portishead.

Kind regards
Loren Wright
FRUiT

Reported problems with PORTISHEAD DVD - Response from Jon Underwood

USE OF CENTRE CHANNEL IN 5.1 SURROUND MIX FOR DVD

With movies the centre channel is generally reserved for dialog only.

In most 5.1 speaker setups the centre speaker is one of least quality
(smallest dynamic range). It is designed to handle dialog but not much
more.

When making a 5.1 mix for music there are no 'rules' for how the sound
is assigned to each of the 6 speakers.

It is the engineers job to decide (with the musican) how best to do this.

__________________________________________________________

From talking to various engineers, general opinion seems to be that:

If creating 5.1 from a multitrack master, the engineer may
choose to put some drums and vocal - centre channel.

If creating 5.1 from an existing Stereo master, the engineer
may attempt to use EQ to isolate drums and vocal for a centre
channel.

Use of the centre channel can spoil the stereo separation
(makes it sound mono)

In the particular case of "Portishead Live at Roseland New York",
(for the reasons described above)
It was the decision of the Engineer and Adrian from the band
to minimise use of the centre channel.
The center speaker is used only for occassional bits of dialog
from the band members and audience.

Jon Underwood - The Portishead DVD Project manager

It's live Portishead, what more do you want?
The concert
Portishead, live at the Roseland Ballroom, NYC. I'd consider this a "best of", as well as a live album, as it's the better tracks from both their self-titled and Dummy. There's a 17-piece violin group, trombones, violas, cellos, and a whole pile more instruments playing that gives it a very big sound. This was the first Portishead album I bought (on CD, in late 2001), and the rest of them sound... "weaker" by comparison. I didn't even know that there was a DVD of it until a few months ago, when Xenex told me that JB-HiFi had a pile of them in stock. ...The Portishead one seems a lot less distant, with the cameras wandering though the performers while they play, cutting to closeups of the crowd, but at the loss of a "professional" feel. The video is somewhat grainy, but I don't think it would feel right with crystal-clear imagery. The spaces between tracks are filled with colour washed footage of New York, and there's even an improv hip hop piece about halfway through the set list. If you're a Portishead fan, you'll want this (or you already have it). If you're thinking about buying a Portishead album, this is probably the best one to get.

And hey, it's worth the price just to see Beth sneeze champagne while trying to drink and laugh at the same time.

1. humming

The violins set up a nice theremin-esque sound at the start of this one, with John Baggot providing backing on the keyboards. Geoff Barrow seems to set off the main part of the song with his decks, but you can't see any of the guitarists in the shot, so I'm not sure.

2. cowboys

Synth, guitars (with the chorus pedal firmly pressed) down, and Geoff doing some background scratching. Beth's vocals are radically different than in the last song, managing to sound anguished without being over-done.

3. all mine

Baritone/alto saxophones, trombone, and two trumpets give it a "big band" feel. Beth's vocals, are, as always, excellent.

4. half day closing

Bass guitar intro, with violins just on the edge of hearing (honestly, you wouldn't know if the camera wasn't pointed at them). The vocals are fed through some sort of weird reverb/compression filter, giving them a metallic edge.

5. over

Starts off with just Beth and Adrian on acoustic guitar, before Clive Dreamer starts drumming. Geoff picks up later on with some scratching, and the keyboards kick in.

6. only you

Heavy, plodding bass guitar to start, with Geoff's scratching starting off the other instruments. Beth spends the entire song singing with a lit cigarette in her hand.

7. seven months

Nice violins at the beginning, with a sort of funky guitar. The vocals seem to be fed through the same filter used on Half Day Closing. Excellent distorted guitar work near the end from Adrian.

8. numb

Quick fly-through of the stage, before cutting to footage of the equipment being placed. This track doesn't seem to have been an actual concert one, as the band are mostly focused on individually ... and you can't see an audience. Jumps to piano/double bass bit and some hip hop at the end.

9. undenied

Some backstage footage here, descriptions of the audio setup, before moving on to concentrate on the performers. Somewhat, anyway. There's some grainy footage of some New York streets thrown in, too.

10. mysterons

The annoying "ticking" drum beat on the album version, while still present, doesn't sit in the foreground and distract you from the rest of the song. There doesn't appear to be a theremin lurking anywhere on stage, so I'm guessing that the creepy alien noises were done with a combination of violins and some samples scratched by Geoff.

11. sour times

A fast, upbeat, almost jazzy version of the track. I prefer this one to the album version. Both Geoff and Clive play drums on this (with an excellent solo at the end), while Andy Smith (their other DJ) does the turntable work.

12. elysium

Geoff jumps back on the decks, Beth picks up a guitar, and they start playing again. The closeups of Beth's vocals look so serious until you notice Adrian chewing gum in the background with a huge smile on his face.

13. glory box

Nice and mellow; the crowd seems to love this one. Beth's vocals are less extreme than on the album version, which seems to work better.

14. roads

Initially feels quite sad, but picks up at the end.

15. strangers

The band really get into this one, and the crowd is up and bouncing around. A great song to "finish" with. Lots of nice footage of the crowd, and a few words from Beth right a the end.

16. western eyes

Run backstage to have a beer and a smoke, then break out the champagne and hit the trombonist to up for a quick solo. The song starts playing just as the credits roll.

Beth Gibbons: vocals, guitar - Geoff Barrow: decks, drums - Adrian Utley: moog, guitar, kabassa - John Baggot: keyboards, piano - Jim Barr: bass, double bass - Clive Dreamer: drums, percussion - Andy Smith: decks - and others. ...

* road trip

Looks like they put a camera on a motorbike and rode it around for a bit, fading to a new scene when the old one got boring. The music is a very, very scratched-out instrumental version of Only You, and it gets annoying very, very quickly. As much as I like scratching, I can't stand five minutes of the same thirty seconds played over and over again.

* wandering star

Concert footage from their 1995 Seattle show mixed with stuff from inside a tour bus and some shots of buildings. Kinda cool.

* to kill a dead man

I can't really say much about this one without spoiling it... Basically, it's a spy movie about an assassination, and what happens afterwards, starring some of the people from Portishead (mostly Beth and Adrian). The song is called, funnily enough, 'theme from "to kill a dead man" '.

The video clips
I've only watched these once each, and only because I've never seen them on TV. They just seem more like filler material than anything else.

Completely mind-blowing
I have quickly gotten into Portishead in the past week, buying their two studio albums, this DVD and also the CD that was put out with 11 of the 15 tracks from the DVD. I watched this DVD last night and it was absolutely mind-blowing. It made me want to vomit it was so good. I can't believe I didn't know of Portishead before. While I watched it (and then the extras also), I couldn't believe that a band could be so good, so cool, so dark. There's not one happy song and every song is darker than black and just DIRTY. No modern band can touch this music. This DVD is insanely good. A must for anyone who knows good music.