Return to Forever: Returns - Live at Montreux 2008 [Blu-ray]

The Show: I don't know how to describe these guys. Their musicianship is just beyond excellent. If you're a fan of Return to Forever or just any one individual, you must have this show. Their performance blows me away. I saw their concert in St. Louis (USA) and I'm so happy to have one of their shows on Blu-Ray. The Montreux portion is not the entire show, but close to it. The disc contains the first electric set (minus the "Opening Prayer" tune, the only new RTF song of the tour written by Chick Corea) and most of the second acoustic set (minus the two encores). It's running time is 1 hour, 49 minutes and 16 seconds.

Video Quality: Phenomenal! It's just ridiculously sharp and clear. In some ways, watching this on Blu-Ray is better than actually being there. The Blu-Ray has a 1080i MPEG-4 AVC @ 26 Mbps encoding on a 50GB dual layer disc.

Audio Quality: Again, Phenomenal! The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (24bit/48kHz) track is just so crisp, clear and enveloping. The Linear PCM 2.0 track (24bit/48kHz) is also phenomenal when I want to enjoy straight stereo. The Dolby 5.1 track (16bit/48kHz/640kbps)....I don't plan on listening to that one.

Extras: So this made me mad. The 5 bonus tracks that we get from the July 31, 2008 Clearwater, Florida show are nice to have, but the entire time they placed different angles of video in a box pattern on the screen with some unnecessary visual effects in between. It doesn't even fill in the entire screen either. It's very annoying in my opinion. Nothing like the experience you get from the Montreux portion of the disc. The video and audio attributes are identical to the Montreux set. It's running time is 41 minutes and 36 seconds.

Final Thoughts: This is a must-have Blu-Ray. Unreal quality all around. I gave 4 stars, but I would have easily given 5 if not for the bonus tracks being like they are.

This might be one of the 10 best concert dvd's/Blu-Rays I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. If you have any inclination to buy this DVD/B-R, take my word: you will not regret this purchase.

I am of the opinion that The Raconteurs is probably the best of Jack White's projects - just a personal leaning/favorite, given the pedigrees of everyone in the band, so I was especially happy to see this come out, given that they only have (basically) two albums out (plus some loose singles & b-sides). This is primo stuff - this show is their 2008 concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival, when they were touring "Consolers of the Lonely". I saw them twice in L.A. on that tour, and this concert is at least as good as the two (stellar) shows that I saw. It's a tight hour and a half consisting of 16 songs from the two albums, and I have to say it's a great set list, containing pretty much the key cuts that most Raconteurs fans will want to hear. The best stuff here is the EPIC smoldering version of "Blue Veins" where they really let the song breathe (compared to the album version - this was a highlight of the live shows I saw), "You Don't Understand Me", "Steady As She Goes" and my personal favorite Raconteurs cut, "Top Yourself" (which Jack has been doing on his solo tour). But truthfully, there is literally not a bad cut here, and the whole band looks like they're having a blast (Brendan sounds great, and Jack L. and Patrick really anchor the sound, plus there are keys/violin too), playing energetically, stretching out a bit and bringing something extra to the live versions that weren't on the records. Start to finish, a great show. I would recommend the blu-ray, which I watched w/ DTS sound on a 100" screen - beautiful crisp hi-def picture, nice editing and good camerawork, all of which will make you think you were there. If you are a fan of Jack White's projects, or the Raconteurs in particular, this is essential, no question about it. Here's hoping he gets some comparable-quality White Stripes or "Blunderbuss" concerts out on Blu-ray.

If you end up liking this disc, check out some of the other Montreux concert discs - the Tori Amos, Mink Deville and Van Morrison ones are standouts, and there are many fine performances now available in the series.

For lovers of RTF and jazz/rock fusion this is the real deal !
For reference, my playback system is comprised of a 61" HD monitor, KEF 5.1 playback system with a Marantz SR6003 receiver, and blu-ray player.
This Blu-Ray disc shines when played back using the lossless uncompressed DTS HD Master audio option.
The bass is tight and deep and the instrument placement in the mix is "spot on" to the show I saw them do in NY last year.
The camera work is excellent and affords the viewer a great view of each player with great close-up view during their solo segments.
Also of note, the bonus tracks filmed on the US leg of this tour offer an interesting drum solo from Lenny White and "Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant" which is not included on the main program, is a a high speed musical gem.
Highly recommended for lovers of this musical genre !