When Incubus found significant chart success, they were a long way from their beginnings. It's the same old story - band gets a decent following, then changes musical gears. While some of their fans are still along for the ride, Incubus' dramatic 'softening' of the majority of their music into viable chart rock saw many of their die-hard fans drop away in sell-out frustration. For every one of these fans that disowned the band, however, tons more would take their place. In the end, the decision to lose their significantly harder edge was most beneficial to the band. Not only did their fan base improve, so did the quality of their music.

As part of the album launch, The Morning View Sessions was recorded in New York at Sony studios and sees the band performing a 50/50 mix of current and older material. Especially for fans of the group, the concert is an intimate and laid-back affair. The members of Incubus are in great spirits throughout, clearly enjoying themselves and lavishing in the abundance of positive atmosphere from the crowd.

The set list is as follows:

Pardon Me
Stellar
Glass
Circles
The Warmth
Mexico
Drive
Warning
New Skin
Just a Phase
Nice to Know You
Wish You Were Here

Although this reviewer would be lying if he claimed to be a fan of the band (frankly, lead singer Brandon Boyd has some of the worst lyrics this side of Wang Chung), The Morning View Sessions still proved to be a highly enjoyable experience. So that bodes pretty well for fans... which is nice.

Another solid video transfer from Sony finds The Morning View Sessions in almost flawless condition. Magnificent shadow detail, vivid yet natural colour reproduction and not an artefact in sight makes for some very efficient use of the DVD medium. However, there is one thing holding the presentation back, and that is the lack of 16:9 enhancement. As a result, some detail will be lost on widescreen devices, and occasionally the image can appear a teeny bit soft.

Two audio tracks have been provided for The Morning View Sessions - a PCM stereo track and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. While the PCM track has a tad more definition than the Dolby Digital one, 5.1 provides the ideal listening experience for the concert. It is sharp and relatively clear, with excellent separation and good definition for each instrument. One problem with the audio transfer, however, is an odd glitch present within the 5.1 track. Seemingly the result of slight over-compression, the music seems to peak a little from time to time and results in a slight drop, or suck if you will, in volume. Although this may or may not be present depending on your set-up.

Fans of the group should get quite a bit out of the extras that have been stashed away on this disc.

First up, there is the original cut of the Music Video for Wish You Were Here, letterboxed and presented in stereo PCM. After you're done with that, you can head over to its perfect accompaniment extra, the Making Of the music video for WIsh You Were Here.

There is also a 13-clip gallery of Additional Footage entitled Living on Morning View, recorded while the band were tracking for the album at the stunning beach-side mansion that inspired the album name, Morning View. Interesting footage, to be sure, but it would have been much more preferable to be able to play all of it back to back, rather than selecting each individual clip.

Also included is a Photo Gallery reel entitled At the Concert. Running for around two and a half minutes, it features video stills taken from the concert and is backed by a nonsensical rant from one of the band members about one of his dreams. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Anyone wishing to get inside the lyrical mind of Brandon Boyd will be chuffed to know that Lyrics have also been provided in subtitle form for the entire concert.

One point has to be deducted from this section, however, as the menu here is extremely annoying. How annoying you ask? Try the constant, overwhelming sound of frog croaking on for size.

Any Incubus fan should thoroughly enjoy The Morning View Sessions, and hey, if someone like myself who doesn't even like the band can get something out of it, then it should be ten times as beneficial for those that do. Great concert, stunning video, nice sound, good extras; you'll no longer wish you were there, because you pretty much are.