Music Concert/DVD Review: 'John Denver: Rocky Mountain High - Live in Japan'

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© 2009 Windstar Productions and Eagle Rock Entertainment.  Cover photo © 1981, 2009 Stars and Stripes
On October 13, 2009, Eagle Rock Entertainment (through its Eagle Vision distribution arm) released John Denver: Rocky Mountain High - Live in Japan, a DVD that presents a performance by singer-songwriter-actor John Denver recorded live at Tokyo's NHK Hall in May of 1981. Featuring a set of 18 songs that were, at the time, among Denver's "greatest hits," this 72-minutes-long presentation captures one of America's greatest performers at the apex of his musical career. It also gives viewers who were born after Denver's all-too-soon passing in 1997 a time machine into the past to see the then-37-year-old superstar charm his mostly-Japanese audience with his natural wit and gentle demeanor as well as with his musical gifts.


 (Note: The above video is from another Eagle Rock Entertainment concert DVD.)

 Filmed in 1981, this concert captures John Denver at the height of his commercial success in front of a warmly welcoming Japanese audience. Backed by a superb band, John delivers hit after hit in his distinctive, intimate style and connects with the audience with sincerity and humor. Highlights of the show include "Take Me Home, Country Roads," "I'd Rather Be a Cowboy," "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Matthew," "Back Home Again," "Thank God I'm a Country Boy," "Rocky Mountain High," "Annie's Song," and many more. -  Back cover blurb, John Denver: Rocky Mountain High - Live in Japan

 John Denver: Rocky Mountain High - Live in Japan consists of the following playlist:


  1. Starwood in Aspen
  2. Take Me Home, Country Roads
  3. Follow Me
  4. I'd Rather Be a Cowboy
  5. Leaving on a Jet Plane
  6. Goodbye Again
  7. Rocky Mountain Suite
  8. Matthew
  9. Fly Away
  10. Dancing With the Mountains
  11. Back Home Again
  12. Thank God I'm a Country Boy
  13. Sleeping Alone
  14. Rocky Mountain High
  15. Eagle and the Hawk
  16. Annie's Song
  17. Calypso
  18. Sunshine on My Shoulders

The region-free DVD contains one of the two live concerts that aired on Japan's NHK television network during John Denver's tour of the country back in May of 1981. The footage was lovingly and carefully restored by a California-based digital production team (Enliven Entertainment of Santa Monica) led by executive producer Harold Thau and producer Barry Ehrmann. 

The task of upgrading the archival material (presumably originally stored on videocassette) for the DVD format involved video restoration and color-correcting by David Marriner and Marc Schrobilgen, while the audio restoration and 5.1 mixing were handled by Peter A. Barker.   

The DVD has no extra features or post-concert interviews with John Denver, nor does it come with subtitled lyrics. It does, however, come with an insert that, in addition to the credits and a DVD-case sized reproduction of the NHK promotional poster from May 1981, contains an essay by Lowell Norman about Denver's personal connections to Japan (he had lived there during one of his Air Force pilot father's tours of duty). In the two-page essay, Norman not only gives readers an overview of Denver's Spring '81 tour in Japan, but also delves into the singer's affection for the country and its people. 

All in all, this 2009 DVD is a wonderful window into the past that gives us a glimpse of a now-legendary American artist at the height of his professional career. John Denver: Rocky Mountain High - Live in Japan is a showcase for feel-good music and uplifting songs about love, nature, and our common bonds as people. 

Whether you are a life-long John Denver fan or are just now discovering an artist worthy of being counted in the ranks of America's greatest musicians along with Stephen Foster, George and Ira Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael, and Irving Berlin, John Denver: Rocky Mountain High - Live in Japan is definitely worth adding to your collection of concert DVDs. As John himself might have said, "It's far out!" 

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