- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080i/60 (29.97Hz)
- Audio Codec: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), LPCM 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/24-bit), Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: (Interviews Only) English, French, Spanish
- Rating: Not Rated
- Region: ABC (Region-Free)
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: Eagle Rock
- Blu-ray Release Date: August 30, 2011
- List Price: $19.98
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Counting Crows: August and Everything After — Live at Town Hall on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Performance
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Performance
[Rating:4.5/5]
Listening to to the Counting Crows debut album August and Everything After immediately takes me straight back to the early 90s alternative scene when Nirvana was still ruling the airwaves and it seemed like grunge was going to take over the world. Only a few months after stabilizing their lineup as a band, Counting Crows were signed to Gefen records and recording August and Everything After which was to explode onto the music scene. From the plaintive “Round Here,” the debut single “Mr. Jones” that immediately went into heavy rotation on MTV, and the heartland rock of “Omaha,” the Crows’ mix of alt. country, straight up rock, college jangle that hinted of R.E.M., and allusions to The Band was an instant success. To put it bluntly, they were a more commercially viable version of The Jayhawks, apparently.
August and Everything After – Live at Town Hall finds the band performing the album live in its entirety for the first and last time, for now anyway. Captured at New York City’s Town Hall on September 18, 2007, the concert was an impromptu decision with a setlist sprung on the band members a the last minute, two of them having never played some of the songs before.
No worries, the evening was a grand success in this reviewer’s opinion. Although I’ve never been a huge fan of Counting Crows and, on top of that, have always much preferred their second album, Recovering the Satellites, I have to say that this live performance injected a lot of energy into these tunes. And there are some surprising change ups as well, such as their interjection of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” in the timeless “Rain King.” Here’s one that fans will definitely want to pick up.
Track list:
- Round Here / Raining In Baltimore
- Omaha
- Mr. Jones
- Introduction To Perfect Blue Buildings
- Perfect Blue Buildings
- Anna Begins
- Time And Time Again
- Rain King
- Introduction To Sullivan Street
- Sullivan Street
- Ghost Train
- A Murder Of One
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
There is too much motion, to many quick edits, and far too low of a light level throughout this show; the end result is that this native HD production, arriving here in a 1080i/60 AVC/MPEG-4 encodement, often looks too soft and overwhelmed by video noise. Apart from those issues, I don’t see too many other issues other than some occasional stairstepping.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
My preference on this release is for the LPCM 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/24-bit) mix. While the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) mix is great at capturing a sense of space, the stereo mix has a stronger sense of stereo separation and overall cohesiveness to its mix. Also, although both mixes seem to be attempting to push all instruments out front all at once, the stereo mix feels a bit more relaxed and better achieves instrumental separation. Otherwise, both offer decent sounding high frequencies and good musical lows with clear vocals. The lossless surround mix is from an audience perspective and has a lush amount of ambience in the surrounds and crowd noise really only comes alive in between numbers when applause can be readily heard.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
There’s a lengthy interview featurette, In Depth with Adam Duritz and Charlie Gillingham (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:40:48), in which the two band members discuss the August and Everything After period of the band.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
The 90s classic August and Everything After that yielded so many memorable songs is given an energetic live play through by Counting Crows, and although its not the original lineup, Duritz is still out in front, and keyboardist Charlie Gillingham is still on here as well, which makes this a strong release for Crows fans.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product align=”right”]B0058TNSS4[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Counting Crows: August and Everything After — Live at Town Hall on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Performance
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
