The album-side length original work called “Arpan” sounds especially alive on the vinyl version.
The traditional music featured on the first part of the concert shines, with Tabla, Sitar, Sarod and other non Western instrumentation plus chanting vocalists coalescing into what may well become a fine demo for some of you out there in audiophile-land. The music comes across quite a bit more warmly on the vinyl which is particularly appealing on the large segments of the concert performed and conducted by master musician and Ravi Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka Shankar. It may be my imagination but it feels like the audience portion is mixed a little lower on the vinyl mix than the concert Blu-ray, which makes some sense if that is the case. The high end is reigned in a bit and in many ways sounds more enjoyable for a pure audio-only listening experience. The music here appears a bit tighter, perhaps a bit more focused and less Cinemascopic than the Blu-ray Disc version. In general, the new four LP, seven-sided vinyl boxed set fares quite well but is no doubt a very different listening experience. Given that the music is designed to be part of a viewing experience, the audience portions are appropriately loud in the mix when necessary.
The original Blu-ray disc version I am referring to here - delivered in 48 kHz, 24-bit PCM Stereo (and 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio surround) - sounds big and bright, but not annoyingly so. Indeed, if done correctly, that sort of natural sounding mix can be integral to the sound of a well made live concert recording - the music is alive in every microphone. With an army of stellar musicians on stage - including at times three or more drummers and percussionists including Ringo Starr, Henry Spinetti, Jim Keltner and Ray Cooper - it is a wonder that they were able to achieve as much detail and precision to the mix as they did, what with inevitable “bleed” between instruments and vocal mics.
To that point, its important to note up front that the original recordings of The Concert For George as first heard on DVD and subsequent Blu-ray editions always sounded remarkably good as modern digital multitrack concert recordings go. As with many of my reviews of this nature I will take more of a compare-and-contrast perspective on this as all the versions of this concert have their pluses and minuses (mostly pluses, thankfully!)
I’ve long enjoyed the Blu-ray of this concert (which apparently had gone out of print and become a ridiculously priced collector’s item) so when the label approached me with the prospect of reviewing the vinyl edition, I welcomed the opportunity. It also marks the first time the entire concert has been released as an audio-only format - several tracks from the performance were omitted from the earlier CD version, probably due to time constraints and sequencing considerations. Notably, the November 2002 The Concert For George tribute performance (recorded at Royal Albert Hall in London, approximately one year after his death and featuring a rainbow of rock ‘n roll royalty) has enjoyed a new theatrical distribution, a reissue on Blu-ray Disc and super-duper deluxe edition boxed sets including first time vinyl release. George Harrison would have been 75 years old on February 25th of this year and accordingly his estate has spearheaded a number of loving celebratory releases in his honor. Twitter Facebook Email Print LinkedIn Pinterest SMS WhatsApp