BLU-RAY REVIEWS
Starring: Paul Stanley (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals, bass guitar), Tommy Thayer (lead guitar, vocals), Eric Singer (drums, vocals)
Is The Great Gatsby a musical? Well, not technically, says Stephen Dawson, but the music is so important it may as well be, and it’s in DTS-HD Master Audio 16-bit/48kHz.
The 1999 movie ‘Detroit Rock City’ is about a bunch of teenagers trying to get to a Kiss concert. The theme: rock (yay, ‘Kiss’!) vs. disco. It was set in 1978, before 1979’s disco-ish I Was Made for Loving You. I couldn’t really get into the movie, because I couldn’t get the lads’ excitement. Kiss? Really?
The 1970s were full of gimmicks in music. Glam, makeup, weird stage antics (decapitations!), and a fair bit of fire and brimstone. But with chronological distance we’re able to look back and realise that, musically, some of the stuff we were inclined to dismiss as being lightweight was surprisingly sophisticated and musically adept. Even Kiss.
Recorded in 2014, two of the painted lads are original. Paul Stanley, who has the most exposed flesh, looks a little wrinkly at times, but his voice seems pretty much identical to what it was forty years ago. Gene Simmon’s famous tongue appears to be in good working order, although some close-ups of the cracked white face were a touch suggestive of Heath Ledger in ‘The Dark Knight’. The show goes on, including some tentative fire-breathing and some impressive pyrotechnics.
The big selling point? A Dolby Atmos soundtrack! That means 7.1-channel sound plus overhead content, discretely handled as ‘objects’. It’s clear that the engineers have not attempted to turn a live performance into a studio sound. Instead I don’t think I’ve heard a recording that sounds more ‘live’, with sound filling the listening space completely, with stacks of room reverb making everything simultaneously distant yet close.
Yet, lots of specific ‘ unnatural’ choices have been made. While the music is delivered from a wide and deep front sound stage, the percussive blasts of flame sound to the left and right and overhead of the listening position, while occasionally a drum pattern will leap from the front stage and dance overhead. In addition there were masses of extremely deep bass accompanying the pyrotechnics.
The DTS-HD sound track possessed quite a few of the characteristics of the Dolby Atmos track, but performed less well. It was hard to compare them directly because the DTS (and LPCM) modulation levels were much lower than for Atmos. I’d say around six decibels. The blasts were still delivered from the left and right surrounds, but with less impact. The overhead drums were attempted, but they tended to crawl up the left and right sides of the room rather than being focused clearly overhead. The extra is a seven song acoustic set, quite nicely done, and delivered in plain LPCM 16/48. And the longstanding controversy is resolved: neither the main show nor the set include I Was Made for Loving You. Stephen Dawson [www.hifi-writer.com]