Live Aid--Il ove it but quality appalling
340998
Don't egt me wrong -- I LOVE this CD but the qualityof mine is appalling -- it is like  real cheap radio. Problem is I cannot retuen it as I ordered it but gave it to hubby to give to me for our anniv...which just was.

The DVD is great but the quality is really poor...like a scratchy cheap radio. I cannot return it to Amazon as the 30 day limit has expired ---lesson -- don't buy too far ahead.

I usu am happy with Amazon and I understand their returns but really-- for a defective DVD just a month or 2 after the "date"......

I think this is really rank. I would order another copy and just eat the cost but what is to say this one will be OK??!!! I have tried on 2nd TV/DVD and friends' DVDs -- same result.

Return yours if defective and if a gift, open and test first -- probably made offshore and we pay i guess. lesson - don't order too far ahead for gifts and test test test!!!!!

pamm
4626707
Man, the sound quality isn't that good.  But where else are you hearing these songs live?  It has nothing to do with the remastering or whatever.  If you're a GG nut and have been waiting to hear something live from the band when Phil was still there, then, well, your options are limited.  As in, this is your only option.
4251372
Fantastic show,

Fantastic songs,

Fantastic Depeche Mode,

but... bad video and bad taste editing!!!
4104086
The music is fantastic but the sound quality is very poor which is surprising as the original 45's and 78's from Vee Jay are generally well pressed and well recorded. I am very unsure where they got these dubs from, I wish someone would issue these cuts in good quality!
659604
Sixth(?) generation recutting.  Lost the bass. Worse, somebody left one of the old tapes (on cassette?) in too much heat and they stretched--this cannot be fixed yet nobody noticed despite all the alleged hi-tech remastering from a very budget British vinyl. There is time disconnect in the musical notes, and an awful lower treble scrapey distortion that hurts ears.  Cannot compensate with 8-band equalizer, and processor that usually ameliorates 60s needle drops, at my end. Off to Salvation Army.
485377
For me, the Engelbert Humperdinck's GOLD 2CD set on Hip-O Records/Universal Music label from 2005 release is a much better choice in terms of sound quality and total hits songs.
This 40th anniversary edition actually is Asian edition. Mine was made in Malaysia. It is on Universal Music label as well.
My main concern is that Sound quality is very poor. I think it was mastered straight from the LP master, not from original master tape.
This is a 2CD set and packaged in all-rounded-four-corner jewel box which usually used to keep Super Audio CD. It is called Super Jewel Box. Mine came broken, and it is hard to find its replacement in aftermarket store. Need to special order it from a specialty jewel box store, and it is expensive too. The discs were stacked one on top of the other.
For your money, better buy the EH's GOLD album instead of this 40th anniversary one.
2995161
I am perplexed.  In this day and age of tweaking 'foibles' out of old recordings, I can't help but wonder who dropped the ball, on what should have been a priceless release.  Frank, Judy and Dean ~ together.  The sound is so bad, it is beyond comprehension.  That being said, I have to give it at least two stars, because of the songs, and the obvious admiration for the music, and each other, as these magnificent stars sing the notes.
Oh, such a pity is this experience.  $13.99?  This should be in the bargin bin, sorry to say.
1047042
The sound for this album is really muddy.  I know that it's a live album, and an mp3 version of the disk instead of the original, and I'm not a real audiophile if I'm willing to listen to either.  That's fine, I'm willing to accept that.  But the quality of this is much worse than I'm used to for either mp3s or live albums.

(Why does this mp3 album no longer show up when I search for Joy Division & Unknown Pleasures?  I could only get to this item by going through my download history.  Maybe I'm not the only one who had problems with this?)
4197315
This regards the quality of the vinyl: on two different records, there is a background "lub-dub, lub-dub" for the first few minutes on side A. One on record it popped every time it did this, but not on the other. There is also significant surface noise and popping throughout, even after being cleaned. The performance is great, but the quality ruins the listening experience. I don't think I will bother trying a third time to get something acceptable.
3245664
If there is at least ONE concert DVD in your collection it needs to be this one.  I mean with appearances by Bowie?  Crosby & Nash???  The only way this could have been more perfect is if Roger Waters walked out on stage!

However, the quality of the footage is horrible considering the technology for filming in HD has been around for almost a decade.  Sony should be embarrassed this DVD was issued in such a grainy VHS level quality.  I'm somewhat disappointed in David Gilmour allowing this to be published like this as well.  It's obvious this show is a culmination of Gilmour's life's work - why not present it in a more clear fashion?
4723156
The song was produced or recorded in terrible quality. Horrible for any dj playing this live. Needs to be mastered properly.
1163168
The song is great. BUT the quality of the file/recording is horrible. Struggle to hear it even with speakers cranked. Have had this problem with a few of the mp3 purchases. Unhappy with it
3796648
I have some information for people who are complaining about the video quality of this concert. The reason why the picture looks a bit fuzzy and is in 4:3 aspect ratio is because this concert was originally broadcast live (I believe Showtime and MTV carried it in the US at the time). It was captured using video cameras, not film cameras. Because of this, the top of the line video cameras in 1997 could not handle the sharpness required to be able to handle the pixels of the screen behind them. (For an example of this, watch Phil Joanou's "Entropy", which features filmed shots of U2 PopMart shows in South Africa; the difference is stunning). It required the use of special filters and even good old vaseline on the lens trickery.

I'm sure U2 has spent a lot of time and money to try and improve the quality of the original shoot, but to completely clean it up would have been impossible. I have a VHS copy of the concert from when it first came out, and remembered that even then they did a noticeable amount of post-production to clean it up. I remember seeing the "Gone" video from the Best of compilation and noticed that the image from that video (taken from the Mexico City performance) was sharper than I had ever seen.
462491
Great performance. Poor quality recording. Needs equalization
1100975
As per the reply from someone from the Celtic Woman production team, to whom I had written to inquire about the lip-synching issue, the audio heard on the DVD is not necessarily the same that corresponds to the images, meaning that it is dubbed and edited over the video. In addition, the images on the DVD are from different shows, and they are all edited together to make it seem as if they were all from the same concert. Here is a copy of the reply they sent me:

"Putting together DVDs and albums are very complicated and take many months of work. The DVD is shot over a number of performances, and sometimes the audio may come from a different performance and therefore may not exactly match despite the best technical efforts."

So what this means in plain terms, and I explain it for those who are so emotionally overwhelmed by the concert that they can't see straight, is that the DVD editing team took the sound recording of one concert, and put it over the images of another concert, and combined it so that the sound you are hearing as the singers perform on the DVD is not the actual sound that corresponds to the video. Also, as the email indicates, as you watch the concert progress from one song to the next, you could be seeing different concerts altogether that could've taken place weeks or months apart. All this amounts to a reprehensible misrepresentation by the producers of the DVD, in that it misleads the viewers into thinking they are watching and hearing the actual concert as it happened, rather than a dubbed-over production. No wonder there are so many discrepancies between the voices and the images, as the artists 'sing'. It is unfortunate this is so. The music is beautiful, and there certainly is talent there, this is why I am disappointed (In contrast, I could care less about Ashlee Simpson lip-synching on SNL; low talent=low expectations).

I think the producers of Celtic Woman should have just recorded a single concert, with or without flaws, and presented it as is, keeping the post-production editing to a minimum. This is what makes a live concert special; it doesn't have to be perfect, and anyone with half a brain will understand that. If we want a perfect recording that's what the studio album is for. So the bottom line is, if you're going to buy this DVD you should be aware that this is not a true live concert, in that the music you are hearing does not come from the same concert you are watching.
3414440
I usually love madness music. I had never heard them live before, though.
Either they had a bad day when recording this concert or they should thank their producers a thousand times over for  magically rescuing their studio recordings. The instrumentals are great in this live recording; vocals (lead as well as background) are abysmal. To me the vocals sound very poor and often off key, this is really not enjoyable.
3133936
If you're fortunate enough to own a good Hi-Fi VHS copy of Billy Joel's "Live from Long Island" concert, transfer the audio to CD and you'll have (despite its twenty year age) a live Billy Joel album that surpasses this, or for that matter any of the other officially released live CD's.  I remember Billy Joel stating in an interview once that he saw no point in live albums unless (as in the case of "Songs in the Attic") some considerable improvement could be made over the original studio recordings.  Clearly greed has since trumped artistry and we have yet another live album covering largely the same territory as documented on numerous previous releases.  The real crime here though, is the absolutely horrible mix!  It sounds like the drummer is in New Jersey.  Inexcusable.