Secret World Live [Blu-ray]

I have the DVD of this concert and watched it many times despite the poor quality of the video before going to see his Growing Up concert. I was immediately saddened at how much the band had changed. Different drummer and the excellent Paula Cole had been replaced by Peter's own daughter who seemed a bit lost really. Well others must have thought the comparison was not good... so poor Ms Cole has been "toned down" in the new release.Disappointing... and rather shabby treatment.So Now I have got to keep both items... the DVD to remind me of the more powerful performance and Blu Ray for the better picture.

Great concert ,the visuals are far superior than the old dvd It's not 5 stars though as the audio mix seems compressed a little,Manual Katches drums seem soft and the wonderful backing vocals of Paula Cole sound too far back in the mix,and I listen on a decent system. They ought to let Steven Wilson loose on this and do it in Atmos or DTSx,that'd do it ,still gotta recommend it, as it's such a good concert.

Excellent video restoration over the earlier DVD mess but the audio has lost some of the superb acoustics captured on the DVD`s DTS soundtrack. I suspect the concept was to provide a more immersive multi-channel sound but at the expense of the concert acoustic - big mistake in MHO. Surround channels for music should stick with ambient information or at least add it back into the surround mix of immersive soundscapes (eg. as per Cowboy Junkies Trinity Revisited). And what happened to Paula Cole`s voice level in the remastered mix - almost as if her contribution was intentionally supressed!

Peter Gabriel's Secret World tour took place in 1993, and the show this video is taken from was in front of a very enthusiastic Italian audience. PG has always been a stunning live performer - and every gig is a performance, not just a band playing songs in front of an audience. The staging of this show was hugely imaginative for its time, and this video captures it superbly. I can't fault the performance at all.So why only 3 stars? Well, some bizarre decisions seem to have been made with this new BD version. First, the visuals - the original VHS version was in 4:3 aspect ratio, but to produce this BD, the original masters were rescanned to produce a proper widescreen (16:9) version. Unfortunately, the original was shot on 16mm film, and HD mercilessly reveals its shortcomings - the picture is grainy and washed out, and you seem to be viewing the whole thing through a soft filter. Put bluntly, the quality of the original doesn't justify HD - you might as well buy the DVD and save yourself some money.But even worse is the sound. The VHS was obviously in stereo, so a 5.1 mix had to be created for this release, and the person who mixed it seems to have had no idea of what a live concert actually sounds like. The drums and percussion are mostly panned to the rear speakers only, meaning you get the vocals and melody from in front of you, and the rhythm from behind you - it's totally unnatural, and rapidly becomes wearying, to the extent that after a few minutes I switched back to the stereo mix, which at least sounds as if all the band are all on the same stage...Also, PG is notorious for "correcting" his live albums in the studio, and this one sounds as if it has had some major work done - other than the occasional burst of crowd noise, you could be listening to the studio versions of these songs. The overall effect is strangely sterile and uninvolving.Don't get me wrong - I love PG, I've seen him live on several occasions, and he is a superbly talented artist. He has also made one of the best live DVDs ever ("Growing Up Live"), and has produced some stunning surround mixes (notably the SACD of "Up"). So I don't understand why he seems to have ignored everything he has got so right in the past to produce this rather unsatisfying release.If you want a PG live DVD, buy "Growing Up Live" - as soon as that comes out on BD, I shall be buying it, but I really can't recommend this new release of "Secret World Live" to anyone other than completeists.

I am putting this comment against both of the Peter Gabriel blu-ray discs I have just bought, not because the sound is bad, but rather because the disc descriptions suggested more then the chosen encoding can ever deliver.When I close my eyes and just listen to these recordings, the restrained sound is exactly what I have come to expect and love of Peter Gabriel recorded music over many years. The problem comes when I open my eyes and compare what I am hearing with, for example, all the effort the drummer is putting into his kit and especially the cymbals, and yet of which so little can be heard.The disc packaging says LPCM stereo and HD Master Audio 5.1 surround, and in my ignorance I had assumed that these both indicated high quality sound. What a mug I had been! In fact, these names simply describe particular encoding techniques, each capable of supplying a whole range of differing sound qualities from the basic 16 bit/ 48kHz sampling rate used for most ordinary blu-rays of films, up to an amazing 24 bit/ 192kHz.Both techniques can provide amazing sound when the higher data rates are employed - just check the Blu-ray Audio disc from Patricia Barber, or the audio on the 'The Dark City' blu-ray disc - but not at that lowest spec which my player tells me these two discs use.This disappointment was part of what prompted me to check all my music blu-rays, and around half of them use the same basic encoding.The difference provided even by the 24 bit/48kHz used by most of the others is so clear when playing the discs through half decent kit, what a shame PG didn't choose to take that simple step up the quality ladder.

My decision to purchase this blu ray after I purchased the DVD many years ago was because the whole concert was so well done. Peter Gabrial is a great musician The whole performance made me watch the dvd over and over with the excellent DTS audio. The release of this concert on Blue ray just made me wonder if it could be restored to move into HD league, well I have taken a quick look having just received this Blue ray, The grain has gone which was evident in the DVD, the whole production looks so much better over the DVD, I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Peter Gabrial to anyone thinking of upgrading to blue ray do it, you will be well pleased, Also give "New Blood live in London" a blue ray worth having in 3D or standard 2D it look very good