| | |  | FUNKY MUSIC | Home » » » At the Max | | | | | | | Description: | | This 1991 concert film was shot in the IMAX format and was originally presented on enormous IMAX screens, with outstanding visual and audio clarity. The dimensions may have been scaled down for this DVD release, but the show is still huge in energy and talent. Filmed during a European leg of the Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels tour, this production boasts 15 songs and an extraordinary stage set with inflatable floozies (for "Honky Tonk Woman") and wild dogs (rather cleverly for "Street Fighting Man"). The Stones' set emphasizes material from the late 1960s and early '70s ("Tumbling Dice," "Happy," "You Can't Always Get What You Want"), but the band's performance is so furious that the show is far from a pandering oldies act. Highlights include "Paint It Black," at once brutal and delicate, as well as a muscular "Rock and a Hard Place," a psychedelicized "2,000 Light Years from Home," and a cheeky "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll." Once kings of a gloriously sloppy sound, the Stones prove to be as effective in their artistic maturity with small, breathtaking touches as they are with chunky orchestration. Guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood play as if they are of one mind, Richards providing powerful leads while his partner captures some of the texture of the group's original recordings. Bassist Bill Wyman, still in the band at this phase, offers wit and an encyclopedic grasp of rhythm & blues history, while drummer Charlie Watts adds control and swing. Mick Jagger prowls, climbs around the set, and delivers all the charismatic goods for adoring audiences, even touching the forbidden fruit again in a feverish peformance of "Sympathy for the Devil." The DVD also includes a full Stones discography. --Tom Keogh | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman | | Director:
| Christine Strand | | Format:
| PAL | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Run Time:
| 89 minutes | | Average Customer Rating:
| based on 37 reviews |
| | | | Used and New: | | | |
| All | |
| $14.99 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $78.99 | New | |
| Used | |
| $14.99 | Used
- VeryGood | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
( 37 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 found the following review helpful:
An Absolute Must for Any Stones Fan...Jan 11, 2000
I was not a Stones fan until I saw this in an Imax theater. Then I went back to see it again, and again. This concert video is simply the most exciting and most well done of all time. You can even hear the roadies in the background in the beginning and between tunes, it's better in Imax, but its on the video too, you just have to turn it way up! And you should turn it way up anyway. This is the Stones at their finest. The crowd, and the band are having a great time and it shows. Buy this video and watch it over and over.
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
BE WARNEDFeb 17, 2003
This is indeed an incredible DVD... BUT ONLY THE ORIGINAL THX VERSION. There is an import copy of this being sold by some retailers that's insanely horrible. I don't need to write another review about how great this concert film is but rather don't want anyone else to get burned like I did. Luckily, the retailer let me return it even thought it was opened.
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
Exellent audio; good videoSep 26, 2004
By Tom THX audio is very good - in contrary to other reviews. Noise from audiences is at reasonable level and helps create the proper concert ambient. You must have good center speaker as it will be heavily drived at times. The song performances are strong and combined with good camera work. I'm not real familiar with The Rolling Stones but this dvd gives me a very positive impression.
This video transfer from IMAX format is not as good as I expected. I can see some grainy artifacts especially in the low light scenes. Overall it's still pretty good.
17 of 20 found the following review helpful:
I have the THX version and it still sucks!Jun 04, 2004
By Boetius
"Vlad"
Like everyone else with any musical taste I love the Stones, and have been following them since I was fifteen and was hooked by "Satisfaction". That said, there seems to always be a propensity by whoever does the mixing for Stones' movies/DVDs to screw up the sound (maybe the Glimmer Twins themselves?). For instance, I have a number of bootlegs from the 1972 tour (Mick Taylor, decadence, hooray!), most of which are brilliant, full-bodied and powerful, then you get "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones", and it is comparatively anemic (actually awful) - guitars too tinny, the bottom rumble eliminated, Jagger too loud, and instead of sounding powerful, it sounds fragmented not like a real band at all. "At the Max" continues this tradition (?). I have videotape of that tour and, again, it is great, but I can't even watch this DVD, they manage to make the Stones sound boring!! The good news is that on Four Flicks, at last, a really decent job of mixing has been done that actually does sound like a Stones' concert - major regret that they didn't learn to do this before Bill Wyman left the band. At least we have "Gimme Shelter", which in its newest incarnation comes pretty close (ever hear it in a theatre with a good sound system turned up loud? Magic!) But unless you must have everything, I would avoid this one.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Sensational blu-ray imageMar 08, 2010
By jonsj The five stars are for the blu-ray image which is far beyond what I anticipated for this 20+ year old film. This is a good concert, a nice memento of Bill Wyman's last tour as the Stones' bassist, and it's got most of the old favorites in terms of song selection. But the restoration of the Imax image is really extraordinary, especially since this concert was available for a long time only on a really sub-par, washed-out looking dvd. I actually use this as a demonstration disc for my blu-ray system and hdtv. It blows away even the most recent movie blu-rays in terms of image quality, depth, crispness, and detail. Stones fanatics will get this for sure, but even casual fans might snap up this very affordably priced blu-ray.
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