CONCERT FOR GEORGE

[Rhino]

BLU-RAY

The home video presentation of 2002’s all-star salute to the late George Harrison offers a case study in the difference between a great concert and a great concert movie. Both the original DVD release and this lovingly rendered new Blu-ray rendition include two discs: the first featuring the complete show presented in chronological order, and the second offering the film as it was seen in theaters. The concert itself begins with more than a half hour of Indian ragas composed in Harrison’s honor by his mentor, Ravi Shankar (as well as Jeff Lynne’s rendition of Harrison’s own “The Inner Light”), followed by a procession of artists singing Harrison’s songs with a crackerjack set of players whipped into fighting form by bandleader Eric Clapton.

The film is a very different experience. The Indian section of the show is confined to a brief interlude in the middle, the performances are broken up by interviews and rehearsal footage, and director David Leland keeps everything moving along at a lively clip. The artists involved were all close friends with Harrison, whose Rolodex luckily included names like Clapton, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. But the show is utterly stolen by the relatively little-known (in the U.S., at least) English singer Sam Brown, who hurls her big, bold voice into “Horse to the Water” with abandon. Whichever way you watch, the Concert for George and Concert for George are fitting testaments to both Harrison’s music and the love and loyalty he engendered among his very talented friends. – Chris Neal