Big Picture Big Sound

The Performance

Styx has been together in various forms creating music since the early-1960's. Their brand of prog-rock has not always been in favor or fashionable, but one thing is for certain, and that is they have always been passionate about their music. In May 2006 the band got together with The Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland to perform music spanning the band's entire 35-year career.

One with Everything presents that collaboration, finally in high definition on Blu-ray Disc. It's not the first time a Rock and Classical group have combined, for sure. Musicians have been seeking to mesh these two art forms for decades, from the avant-garde experimentations of John Cale and Bran Eno or George Martin's string arrangements for The Beatles to Philip Glass' Low Symphony based on the music of David Bowie, or Metallica's 1999 performance with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under Michael Kamen.

Styx' brand of prog-rock lends itself easily to this sort of collaboration and the band's energy and passion spills over onto the young musicians in the orchestra making for a fun evening. I have to admit, I went into this Styx concert video with some trepidation, because I do not know much about the band outside of their biggest hits like "Come Sail Away" and "Mr. Roboto," which are both curiously absent from this performance. In fact, beyond Genesis and Pink Floyd, Progressive Rock is one area of music that I really know very little about.

Fortunately, even in the absence of their super hits, this band who, way back when, became the first band ever to have four consecutive albums certified multi-platinum by the RIAA was able to sustain an atmosphere of fun and energy to rival any band anywhere.
 
Highlight performances include "Lorelei," a cover of The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus," and unbelievably rocking rendition of the Ray Charles hit "I Don't Need No Doctor" and the Styx classic "Boat on the Water."

The Picture

One with Everything arrives in an original1080i/60 high definition recording transferred to BD in an AVC/MPEG-4 encoding at its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The picture suffers some mild video noise and motion artifacts, but other than that, it is clear, detailed and lacking in any compression artifacts such as macroblocking posterization, and the like. Individual strings can be made out on guitars and violins, clothing looks realistic as do skin textures and hair. It's one of the stronger looking concert videos released on Blu-ray disc.

The Sound

One with Everything comes with three audio options on Blu-ray Disc, a LPCM 2.0 mix at 48kHz/16-bit and two 5.1 options -- DTS-HD Master Audio lossless and Dolby Digital. The stereo PCM and lossless 5.1 DTS-HD mixes both sound excellent, with good balance, smooth high frequencies and musical bass. Vocals are well balanced into the mix and the midrange is clear and natural without being tweaked.  The 5.1 mix offers a generous amount of ambience in the surround channels, which allows for a good, live feel to the sound. If there is one problem with the mix, it is that the string section tends to get drowned out by the rest of the sounds, which sort of defeats the purpose of the band playing with an orchestra in the first place.

The Extras

There are two bonus Christmas song performances and interviews with the band members provided in high definition as the extras on this release. It's hardly a bounty, but Styx fans can at least pull out the two bonus tracks during the holidays, f they don't mind the awful recording quality.

The extras available on this release are:

• Interviews (1.78:1/HD)
• Christmas Songs (1.78:1/HD) --
  • "All I Want"
  • "Ring the Bells"
• Quake Cam (1.78:1/HD) -- This segment shows some footage shot from a camera mounted on drummer Todd Sucherman's drum kit.

Final Thoughts

Eagle Rock has done it again and provided another thoroughly entertaining musical performance on Blu. This Styx concert video belongs in any music lover's collection whether you are a fan or not; highly recommended.

Where to Buy

• Styx and The Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland: One with Everything on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Performers: Styx & The Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Region: A
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: MSI:EAGLE ROCK
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: December 2, 2008
• Run Time: 144 minutes
• List Price: $24.98
• Extras:
  • Christmas Songs:
    • "All I Want"
    • "Ring the Bells"
  • Interviews
  • Quakecam