Disc two, exclusive to the Blu-ray 25th anniversary release, includes Spinal Tap's Live Earth concert performance in 2007. Introduced by Marty DiBergi himself, the band is reunited in support of Al Gore's marathon rock fundraiser at Wembly Stadium. Looking a even more long-in-the-thooth, but with as-always perfect hair, they perform "Stonehenge" from the 1983 "tour" in front of its biggest-ever audience. Also included on disc two is an interview by National Geographic Network for it's Stonehenge Decoded series with Nigel (Guest) who is an "expert" on the origins of Stonehenge. It is a dry-as-a-bone deadpan, flat out funny 2007 interview.
The Blu-ray recording has a video resolution of 1080p and an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It’s a very nice transfer, and the picture is excellent. There is an occasional artifact or halo, but even those seems to add to the slightly homemade feel of the film.
One could want no better sound (even cranked up to "11") than provided by the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It provides a front-row seat and excellent audio, whether in the concert sequences and in the rapid-fire dialogue-heavy scenes.
This is Spinal Tap is a classic comedy film from the genius of Rob Reiner, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean. Whether you've seen the film or not, if you appreciate sly, dry and dead-on satire, you should give this a try. Spinal Tap is scheduled to appear The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Tuesday, July 28.
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Article comments
1 - Orange450
I've never seen This is Spinal Tap. Now I can't wait until I do!
"Guest, McKean and Shearer (with Reiner) wrote as well as perform all the music themselves, blurring the lines between real and fictional. With only a bare-bones outline of a script and lots of a certain genius for this sort of comedy, the entire movie has an improvisational vibe and the feel of a real documentaryâ€"which, in a senseâ€"it is."
It's kinda embarrassing, but I have to admit that when I was given the soundtrack CD from A Mighty Wind as a gift a few years ago, I didn't initially realize that the movie was a spoof. Some of the music is truly lovely. I play a piano arrangement of A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow - it's beautiful by any standards. (And when I play it an octave higher than written, using the "folk guitar" setting on my keyboard, it honestly sounds a lot like the guitar/autoharp arrangement from the movie :-))
p.s. Preview Comment doesn't seem to work properly. It only shows the first few lines of the post, with no ability to scroll down and see the rest.
2 - Barbara S Barnett
I love Kiss at the End of the Rainbow! Their songs are great, and I'm sorry I missed McKean, Shearer and Guest when they appeared in Chicago a couple months ago. TWas on a Friday night, alas.
Their stuff is all first rate, and a lot of people, I'm sure would be totally fooled by Spinal Tap if they weren't in on the joke. It's actually #1 on Entertainment Weekly's Best Cult Movies of all List (which surprised me, because I would have been certain it was Rocky Horror)
3 - savta
Barbara - For some reason, I have been able to access you on twitter or anyone else for that matter. Is it only my problem or have others had the same experience?
4 - Barbara S Barnett
sorry, savta--only saw this just now (I've been out of town). Twitter intermittently gets weird. It seems to be OK now.