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Look At All The Love We Found: Live - A Tribute to Sublime (2006)
R0 - America - MVD Distribution Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (20th August 2006). |
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The Film
 “Sublime” was the cult band from Long Beach, California, which broke up at the verge of their mainstream breakthrough, after finishing their first (self-titled) major label studio album in 1996 (the band did two independent albums before that). The end came quickly, since just a few months before the album should´ve been released, the lead singer and guitarist Brad Nowell died in a heroin overdose. Despite its short timeline, “Sublime” is generally considered as a highly influenced band in the alternate rock-genre, creating a unique mix of reggae, ska, punk and hip hop, and had a big cult following among the fans especially in their home ground California. They were also an energetic live-band. “Look At All The Love We Found: Live - A Tribute to Sublime” is a tribute and benefit concert, held in “The Henry Fonda Theater, The Music Box” in California on October 24th, 2005 (not to be confused with “Sublime Tribute Album Release Party” held before that). On that night the group of musicians and bands got together to play the songs from “Sublime” and the DVD catches those moments. You can choose from two options; “Play All” runs approx. 63 minutes (annoyingly the show is not time-coded), including all the songs and adding interview-sections in between them. You can also choose “Play Concert Only”, which skips the opening titles and all the interviews, and sticks to the music. Let´s see the track list: 1) Bargain Music: "Get Out" 2) Long Beach Shortbus: "Bad Fish" 3) The Ziggens: "Paddle Out" 4) Unwritten Law: "Saw Red” (with Aimee Allen) 5) Unwritten Law: “Save Me" (with Scott Russo, Steve Morris, Pat Kim and Tony Palermo) 6) Blackalicious: "Alphabet Aerobics" 7) AWOL One, Abstract Rude, Daddy Kev and Josh Fischel: "Waiting for My Ruca" 8> Fishbone: "Date Rape" 9) Ozomatli: "April 29th, 1992” (intro) 10) Ozomatli: "Saturday Night" 11) Los Lobos: "Pawn Shop" 12) Jam session with Stephen Perkin, RAS 1, Eric Wilson, Josh Fischel, Bob Forrest, Ikey Owens, Asdru Sierra, Ulises Bella, Field Marshall Goodman, Norwood Fisher and Walter Miranda: "Santeria" 13) Jam session with Stephen Perkin, RAS 1, Eric Wilson, Josh Fischel, Bob Forrest, Ikey Owens, Asdru Sierra, Ulises Bella, Field Marshall Goodman, Norwood Fisher, Angelo Moore, 2mex, Murs and Walter Miranda: "Doin Time" 14) Jam session with by RAS 1, Eric Wilson, Josh Fischel, Bob Forrest, Ikey Owens, Asdru Sierra, Ulises Bella, Field Marshall Goodman, Norwood Fisher, Angelo Moore and Walter Miranda: "What I Got" Now at first I have to admit, that I wasn´t very familiar with the music by “Sublime”, but the bands like “Living Colour” and “Fishbone” (from which at least the latter operates partly in the same area as “Sublime”) had crossed paths with my stereo-system some years back. I have also some hip hop-background, so seeing some funk and hip hop-acts in the line-up wasn´t bad news to me at all. As is often the case with these type of tribute and benefit concerts, it´s very hard to make the audience fully happy. Some people don´t like certain artists covering music from their favourite bands, and then again not all artists can be that “good” with the material in hand. And let´s face it, often “benefit concerts” are quite lame - just imagine Elton John in front of the piano in his white suit, and you´ll get the picture. With this particular concert, most bands and artists do a pretty good job, and since the “Sublime” was what you could call a “party band”, you have plenty of vibe, energy and a feel-good attitude in the air, as well as gifted musicians. Since the concert lasts “only” 60 minutes or so and the songs are not long, the presentation stays compact and lively throughout. Some highlights for me were “Unwritten Law” and the lead singer Scott Russo (in the first song the co-singer Aimee Allen adds some needed female presence), pure rap-flow from “Blackalicious”, the crazy and wild “Fishbone”, and of course “Los Lobos”, which does the more mature and calm, very guitar-orientated performance. “Waiting for My Ruca"-song by various artists was also a mellow hip hop-act. There were some songs (like “Saturday Night”), which kind of “came and went”, leaving me cold, and I´m not that keen on jam sessions (although I like solos very much) when you´re not actually in the audience. It´s still very nice to see that at the stage and in the audience people from different ethnics groups come together, serving the same purpose of music. It had no barriers. If you choose “Play All”-option, various interviews-section are spliced between the songs. It´s basically up to you that do you want to hear these thoughts and comments about “Sublime” (they don´t really include any proper history of the band), and I´m sure that many people don´t want to watch the concert interrupted. In the case you do want to hear them, you´ll get comments from the following order: - Bob Forrest (“Thelonius Monster”) - John, Bert & Dickie (“The Ziggens”) - Scott Russo (“Unwritten Law”) - Murs (“Living Legends”) & Josh Fischel (“Bargain Music”) - AWOL One (“The Shapeshifters”) - Norwood Fisher & Angelo Moore (“Fishbone”) - Raul Pacheco & Wil-Dog (“Ozomatli”) - Norwood Fisher (“Fishbone”) reads the words of Brad Nowell - David Hidalgo & Louie Perez (“Los Lobos”) - Bob Forrest (“Thelonius Monster”) & Scott Russo (“Unwritten Law”) - Murs (“Living Legends”) & 2mex (solo artist) - Bob Forrest (“Thelonius Monster”) & Ikey Owens (“The Long Beach Dub All Stars”) - The Ziggens & Fishbone & Los Lobos & Bob Forrest “Look At All The Love We Found: Live - A Tribute to Sublime” (directed by Brandon David) is an entertaining concert, but it lacks really 100% riveting moments or truly memorable performances, and it probably is suited best in the eve of a Friday or Saturday night, when a couple of friends come over for a few, well, “sodas”. The music that “Sublime” represented is not necessarily for the people who like more calmer and "sophisticated” music - it´s for the people who respect the edgy, wild and untamed side of it, and which makes you dance, jump and shout. If you recognise these qualities, this DVD just might be the one for you.
Video
The DVD (also interviews) is presented in Anamorphic 1.78:1, and looks quite pleasant. The image is clear, black levels and colours quite solid, and the bitrate is in a good level. Probably due to the fact that the concert is shot in (HD) video, some of the background textures (like the red and blue areas) tend to get a bit restless, and the image could be somewhat sharper, but generally this was a good presentation. “Dual layer” disc is coded “R0”, and there are 12 chapters.
Audio
Choices for everyone on the audio front; English DTS 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. There are no subtitles. DTS-track was my choice, and it was quite clearly louder, punchier and more aggressive than the Dolby Digital-tracks. Since this is a concert-DVD, surround is the best way to get into the atmosphere, but some purist might also choose the Stereo-track, which is probably more faithful of the actual music. It´s in a much lower level, though.
Extras
Some extras are included, half of them hidden: - Los Lobos: "Pawn Shop"-live performance runs 5:35 minutes, and is a sample from the (apparently upcoming on DVD) “Sublime Tribute Album Release Party”-concert, and includes the original “Sublime”-member Bud Gaugh on drums. - Fishbone: "Date Rape" -music video runs 3:53 minutes, and is the song that the band recorded to the “Look At All The Love We Found: A Tribute to Sublime” CD. - “The Story” -photo gallery runs 15:02 minutes, and is telling the history of both the tribute concerts (“Album Release Party” and the one on the DVD) with photos and narration. I have nothing against these type of extras, but why not include the history of the actual band “Sublime”, rather than this quite cheesy story. - Keep case also includes the bonus CD (again, not be confused with “Look At All The Love We Found: A Tribute to Sublime” CD, that differs also from this DVD-release), which includes the following songs (these should be “never before heard covers”): 1> The Banned: “Ebin (Featuring Chuck D.)” 3:07 min 2> Dr. Israel: “Had a Dat (Brooklyn version)” 3:47 min 3> Bedouin Soundclash: “Waiting for My Ruca” 2:56 min 4> Mishka: “Roots of Creation” 2:44 min 5> Mystic Roots Band: “Don't Push (Transducer Remix)” 4:15 min 6> Brain Failure: “Burritos” 2:52 min 7> Bargain Music: “Get Out (live)” 3:40 min 8> Fishbone: “Date Rape (live)” 4:38 min 9> AWOL One, Abstract Rude, Daddy Kev and Josh Fischel: “Waiting for My Ruca (live)” 3:24 min Hold on, it isn´t over yet. There are also 3 “Easter Eggs” on the DVD, extended interviews from the selected individuals, who talk about the event and generally about the influence by “Sublime”: -“Interview with Murs (“Living Legends”)” -featurette runs 6:32 minutes, and it can be found by highlighting the “Audio” from the “Main menu”, and pressing “right”. The sunglasses are highlighted. Then just press “enter”. -“Interview with Raul Pacheco & Wil-Dog (“Ozomatli”)” -featurette runs 6:08 minutes, and it can be found by going to the “Audio”-menu, highlighting the “DTS”, and pressing “left”. A flower is now highlighted. Then just press “enter”. -“Interview with Scott Russo (“Unwritten Law”)” -featurette runs 3:23 minutes, and can be found by going to the “Bonus selection”-menu, highlighting “Main”, and pressing “left”. The face of the man is highlighted. Then just press “enter”.
Overall
“Look At All The Love We Found: Live - A Tribute to Sublime” is an entertaining party, where musicians and the audience are clearly having fun. The audience at the front of their TV-sets doesn´t necessarily get the same amount of fun by just watching the DVD and I´m sure that some “Sublime”-fans will stick to the original records, but overall the DVD rises above the average. The disc includes a good DTS-track and solid presentation, and some extras are also included (as well as the CD). Do note, that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this DVD will go to the MusiCares MAP fund. Please see more from this site here. This time you can actually do some good by buying this DVD, so don´t hesitate. For more info, please visit the homepage of MVD - Music Video Distributors.
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