Zep At Their Best !!!

Well, the wait was worth it, I have had the original release (on VHS ) since it was first released and although I was impressed the first time round, this is special!! It was like listening again for the first time and the sound quality is excellent. If like me you had the oppertunity to see Zep in the 1970's you will remember them in all their glory, if you didn't then this is a fine example of Zep live and unharnessed. To be picky, I would have liked the extra tracks on disc 2 to have been in their original concert running order, but apart from that this is as good as you will get. Thanks to Jimmy Page for an exeptional remix," Its been a long time since I Rock n' Rolled this much !!!!!!!

Picture quality

A previous reviewer had doubts regarding the picture quality, and I think he is right. Perhaps it is due to the fact that the TV set has to do an NTSC to PAL conversion, and something is lost in the conversion process.
Why have the makers not given us a PAL version? Nevertheless there is much to enjoy on this DVD. T Powell

Missing Don Felder

Nice collection but there's a huge space where Don Felder should be. The session guy gets the notes (most of them anyway) but not the feel, and they made him stand way over to the left just so there was no mistaking the fact that he wasn't really part of the 'family' . When Felder plays on HFO the pure enjoyment and mastery comes bursting out of the screen and overall HFO it is the best production but I bought them both anyway.

the comfort of feeling sad?

What is surprising - especially given the fact that the number of posthumous Nirvana releases now outstrips the records they made whilst together - is that the legendary 1993 MTV Unplugged Set sees its first DVD or VHS release 14 years after the event. Regarded by many as the highpoint of Nirvana's career, and in many ways, a mere taster of where Nirvana were going to go next on their inevitable journey into being older statesmen of rock, it now stands as the only existant recording of the way Nirvana could have been but ultimately never were. Whilst I, personally, would rather they have released a full concert from each one of their respective eras,"MTV Unplugged" is a fitting testimony to the group. Firstly, the music sees the band at their absolute defining moment of artistry - where the heavy guitars and the screaming that was seen as typifying them (and pigeonholding them as onedimensional) were profoundly shoved aside in favour of revealing the very nature of the band underneath the bombast and the sound. Cobain has never seemed so aware, so alive - despite this being just four short months before his demise. In some ways, you could almost predict that he knew that this was a watershed moment for Nirvana, where they stepped out of their cliché and started to be respected for what they knew they were all along.

Music : fourteen acoustic performances by the group covering their entire career. Thankfully, the well worn hits such as"Teen Spirit" and"Lithium" are nowhere to be seen, in favour of LP tracks and obscure covers (being recorded for the only time in Nirvana's career). This allows the viewer to see an alternate perspective to the group - that of artists instead of what they were seen as at the time ; fixture of the rock pantheon, the tortured soundtrack to the Pre-Emo masses and the poster boy for neurosis. Cobains death retrospectively gave the group a gravitas that the trends of the time were too shallow to see but was always right under their noses. The performance is superlative in content and style and should you only ever own one Nirvana record then"Unplugged" is the one to choose. The extras - five rehearsal songs and a scant MTV interview feature with people who were there (and not the band, despite what the package tells you) - are short and unexceptional but of some interest. Overall, it's a good package - but not amazing by any standard - and if you own the CD, it should come fairly low on your list of priorities. If you don't have the CD go straight to this DVD instead.

At Last !! The DVD

As a huge fan of The Sessions" ever since I happened upon the first series all those years ago, we've finally got this latest series on DVD. And it's beautifully produced as well. Another great mix of traditional ballads, jigs and reels, and more contemporary songs and tunes, performed by some of the most talented and inspirational musicians you're ever going to see crammed into one room.

Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, as usual are the musical directors, although I have the impression these guys would need the minimum of direction. And everyone seems to be having FUN !!!

There's so many high spots on these two discs - Tim O'Brien for example I'd almost never heard of until now. Great voice, tremendous songwriter, and plays wonderful guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and I think that may be him playing the whistle on one track as well(don't you just hate him!) And Joan Osborne again I knew very little about, but listen to her singing"St.Teresa" and"Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends". What a fantastic voice, and she really knows how to put a song over. My spine's tingling even now.

And the little solo that Jerry Douglas drops into"Brother Wind" is, even for him, ridiculously fast without being flash (almost).

There's so many great singers and players on this - There's no weak link -I could be here for hours singing their praises, but skip that - I really don't see how anyone with a real interest in any kind of music could be disappointed with this. Look on the BBC Scotland website and look at the number of people who have contributed their thoughts and said that even though they have't previously listened to this kind of music, they've been captivated by it.

And the Transatlantic Sessions show I saw @ the Royal Concert hall in Glasgow last week-end was"Pure Dead Brilliant".

Buy this ~ sit back ~ and enjoy! And then hope someone will actually get round to issuing the previous series on DVD

Bruce's best

This is a fantastic concert D.V.D. The sound balance is perfect, the new versions of old songs are brilliant and the lighting is atmospheric. A must buy for fans.

Fantastic!!!

Absolutely fantastic! I don't know what else I could say to describe how i felt watching this DVD... it"got me on my knees!". a breathtaking experience. i only wish i was there live! PS the hidden clip on disc 2 isn't necessarily next to the words MAIN - mine was beneath the guitar solos bit :)

Not for the Purists

This film of Verdi's Otello has an awful lot going for it. Ably led by the masterful conducting of Lorin Maazel, the performance enshrines marvellous portrayals of Otello and Desdemona by Domingo and Ricciarelli who deliver performances which both vocally and on the screen often touch greatness. With the typically sumptuous sets of Zefferelli, the film is often quite memorable (for example, at the unforgettable close of the first act).

Yet, as previous reviewers have pointed out, it is indeed a pity that the director chose to cut the Willow Song. That said, with a running time of 1hr 58Mins, Zefferelli wields the axe on Verdi's score with disconcerting ease, with the consequence that the poetic beauty of Boito's libretto and the dramatic sweep of Verdi's music are all but destroyed. A snippet here, a few pages there, barely a scene passes without Zefferelli's meddling; and it's not for dramatic continuity either, as ridiculously, the director insists on inserting two ballet sequences into the action midway throught the first act and after the arrival of Venetian ambassador in Act III. The music, I believe, may have been cribbed from one of Verdi's other operas, but sits uncomfortably within the sublime score of Otello and adds nothing to the dramatic credibility of the action.

Consequently, this is not a film for someone who loves Verdi's opera. As an introduction to Otello, Verdi or even the genre of opera itself, I cannot think of anything more seductive or appropriate: maybe this was the audience that Zefferelli was targetting and so if you are remotely familiar with Otello, I suspect that you will be disappointed with this film, more disconcerted by the director's habitual butchering of the score than seduced by the undeniably beautiful film sequences. No, if you insist upon a film of Otello, I would point the reader in the direction of Herbert von Karajan's early 1970's effort, undeniably flawed and with minor cuts of its own, but with even finer performances by Mirella Freni as Desdemona and Jon Vickers as Otello than here and accompanied by the incomparably grand Berlin PO, it is an altogether more faithful rendering of this wonderful opera and the more moving for that. However, if it is Domingo that you want, then the televised transmissions with Levine from The Met, Muti from La Scala and, to a slightly lesser extent, Solti at Covent Garden, are all superior to what's on offer here.

Overall, I'm glad to have seen this film, but I love Verdi's Otello too much to ever want to see Zefferelli's Otello ever again.

Brilliant!

This is one of the most interesting and visually exciting documentaries I've seen. A real insight into Paul Weller's exciting career and life.

An EXCELLENT interpretation of real life

In my opinion this the best portrayal of the real life ike & Tina Turner,Anela Basset gives a BRAVURA performance as Tina Turner and especially Larry Fishburne the most controversial scene is when Ike rapes Tina-not that Im sick-minded but that scene in particular adds a lot of realism to the story

WHO'S BAD

I was a bit weary about buying this on dvd altough i have enjoyed his videos down the years would i feel it would be a waste of money?
Well the answer to that is NO, just watching this left me in awe of a genius. To much is made of his personal life and yet we forget he is probaly the most talent artist ever.
It was great to see the full lenght bad video and the fantasic Black or White.
Not sure what people were on about moaning bout poor quality sound?
If you have to buy one Dvd this year make it this one, well worth it.

Enjoyability depending...

The enjoyability of this dvd will depends very much on 2 things -
1. How much you like Fall Out Boy.
2. How much you like live music.

For those of you who have never heard live music, don't expect this dvd to sound like the songs you will hear on your cd player.For those that have heard live music and like it, its fantastic.
Expect good songs, good singing and good instramental music. I will point out how different Patrick sounds live to how he sounds on cd, he has a lot more depth and I personally think his voice is quite unusual.
Look out for the"Beat it" cover as it really is excelent, I wasn't expecting them to pull it off to be honest (never having heard it done by FOB before) but I was suprised how good it was.
The behind the scenes part of the dvd is great, I was expecting the"we get up, we eat, we practise" sort of thing to find a bit of that along with a lot of Pete doing amusing things. I wont tell you what they are, it will spoil it but lets say if you like Jackass type things (the funny stuff not the gross stuff) I think you will like it.
Bad points -
Some of the music sounds too quick, as if it is being rushed. But thats about it really
Over all a very enjoyable dvd for the fans of FOB and live music. Not one for people who like the polished sounds of cd only. For those people I suggest you put on your mp3 players now.

simply brilliant

I bought the Vinyl when it first came out, then the CD,and now the DVD. I had forgotten how brilliant the show was, What a stunning hour it was, I encourage anyone who likes to see a star perform in concert to order this NOW, you will not be disappointed, Liza at this time in her life was as artistic as her mother,and deserves the ultimate accolade of a living legend. FABULOUS!!!!

Louisiana rain

A masterpiece. Unlike Scorcese whose relationship with Robbie Robertson distorts `The Last Waltz' into a dishonest albeit lasting piece of film making, Peter Bogdanovich does not allow himself to get in the way of his muse. For over five hours the director of `The Last Picture Show' lets the protagonists do all the talking, without voice-over or any agenda besides telling the story. If Bogdanovich only had access to the hundreds of hours of archive Petty and Heartbreakers footage this would have been a great film, but with the addition of Jim Lenahan's pre Heartbreakers 8mm footage this becomes quite unique. The foresight, or luck, involved with finding that early stuff - clearing the yard for a local free concert in their hippy university hometown of Gainesville Florida, the band breaking down on the way out to LA etc. etc. - provides this film with another dimension, making it a historical document. Through a mixture of talking heads, rare footage, stills, rehearsal and broadcast material it traces Petty from childhood infatuation with Elvis and the Beatles, to teenage meeting up with Campbell and Tench, through early local success and subsequent career highlights including Stevie Nicks, Dylan, Dave Stewart, Jeff Lynne etc. right up to a triumphant 30 year anniversary homecoming gig. Totally dedicated to his craft, Petty emerges as the highly ambitious but trusted leader of an enormously talented pool of musicians. Prepared to take on the record industry to the point of self-destruction over publishing rights, album costs etc. he also comes out as a man of considerable integrity. One of the funniest scenes - besides bassist Ron Blair's face after chewing a lump of hash at German customs and then having to perform for a TV show a few hours later - is Petty taking no prisoners when haranguing some hapless A&R man over material for a Roger McGuinn album. How that unfortunate man must cringe now. There is revealing background biography too, supported by home-movies: Petty's attachment to his mother, still being pissed at his abusive father who, despite early opposition to the music, has now built his identity around being the father of rock and roll in Gainesville. I found the film too short. I watched it all the way through and I could have walked round the block and come back for another five hours. Besides the 2 dvds, there's a short booklet, some neat little posters, a great dvd of the 30 year homecoming concert and a cd of some rare recordings that I haven't got around to yet. Some of the promo video footage will be familiar to people who have followed Petty's career but its good to see it presented chronologically here. Petty has quietly emerged to the front row of a few truly premier league rock and roll figures and his story deserves this kind of treatment. I would suggest if you like his music you must own this, and even if you only have a passing interest in rock or good documentary film-making it is well worth watching too. Does anyone else have this kind of footage around for good directors to play with - or is this a one-off?

Kings Of The World

This is a brilliant DVD. It shows the band at their best - full of energy and having a ball. As ever, they demonstrate that they are masters of their craft and it is no wonder that Steve Lukather has just been voted the best rock guitarist of all time in a major internet poll. His solo spot is out of this world. The production of the vocals are 3000% better than the CD version and Greg Phillinganes is shown to be a hidden gem of a vocalist. They have been 'fixed' a bit but not obviously so like on the CD. The offbeat version of Rosanna and the superb Gypsy Train are the highlights for me but it is really all truly amazing. Around 2 hours of concert and 30 minutes of interviews make this excellent value and is worth twice the price.

An amazing night

I was lucky enough to go this concert last September with my brother Aidan and niece Sarah. What could have been maudlin and cheesy event turned out to be celebratory and uplifting. The house band T.rexstasy were phenomenal and Danielz is an ideal front man. Highlights for me were - surprisingly - Shakin Stevens and ofcourse Marc Almond. His version of Teenage Dream was superb. It was great to see Gloria Jones being so warmly welcomed by all the fans and the 'one time only' duet of Tainted Love with Marc Almond was a sight to behold. The sight and sound of hundreds of Marc fans singing the refrain from Hot Love at the tube station afterwards will stay with me forever.