Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways (Blu-ray - 3 disc set) Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Dave Grohl's love letter to music was originally broadcast earlier this year as a mini series on HBO. If you missed it, here's the basics.
The Foo's visit 8 US cities known for their unique music scenes - Chicago, Austin, Nashville, Los Angeles, Seattle, New Orleans, Washington D.C. and New York. The band sets up space in a well known studio in each city, and in a week's time compose and record a song specific to the feel of the city. Along the way they tell the history of the music scene in each town and mingle with some hometown favorites (Rick Nielsen, Ian MacKaye, Joe Walsh, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Trombone Shorty, Zac Brown, Gary Clark Jr., Dolly Parton, Paul Stanley, Nancy Wilson, Black Keys‘ Dan Auerbach, Public Enemy‘s Chuck D, ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons, Butthole Surfers’ Gibby Haynes, Joan Jett, Carrie Underwood and more)
At the end of each episode the completed song is presented. Although the BD package only indicates Dolby it is indeed TrueHD 5.1. This is a very entertaining, engrossing and informative series with a little something for everyone - even if you don't like the Foo Fighters. There is a bonus disc of extras - extended interviews and such and it does bear up well under repeated viewings. The $64,000 question is the mix for the songs - encoded as 5.1 TrueHD 24/48 - though not discrete - basically double stereo. If you don't like the Foo Fighters, these songs which are well written under the conceit of the premise and certainly well recorded, will not likely change your mind. However if you're a fan of the history of rock music and just as importantly the making and recording of it, then this is a no miss. A quick note for those with the werewithal - each episode is split into 8 chapters with the 8th chapter the song. DVD AE works just fine.
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