|
|
 |
> > Music DVDs |
 |
|
|
Rated: Exempt
Staring:
Gary Brooker,
Joe Brown,
Sam Brown,
Jim Capaldi,
Eric Clapton
Director:
David Leland
A celebration of the life and music of George Harrison, the Concert for George is a record of the November 2002 Royal Albert Hall tribute. Organised by close friend Eric Clapton, the show brought together the musical luminaries of George's generation, who not only inspired his music but were in turn inspired by him. Artists ranging from Joe Brown to Ravi Shankar perform touching but not overtly sentimental versions of his best-loved tunes. The many highlights include the Monty Python gang (joined by guest member Tom Hanks) performing "The Lumberjack Song", and a bare-arsed version (literally!) of "Sit On My Face". For the first time since the demise of the Beatles, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney share the same stage. Director David Leland does an excellent job of capturing the intimacy of the concert, as well as the emotions of those in attendance. Apart from the behind-the-scenes interview snippets included in the theatrical version, the cameras rarely move away from the main action on the stage. Shot in suitably restrained colours, the live performance footage makes for stimulating viewing, a particular highlight being Ravi and Anoushka Shankar's opening sitar recital. All in all it's a touching five-star tribute to one of the greatest musical icons of the 20th century. On the DVD: Concert for George two-disc set has two versions of the concert: the complete two-and-a-half-hour show and a shorter theatrical version that received a limited cinema release--this latter includes backstage footage of preparations for the concert, as well as interviews with some of the key performers from the night. Additional material is included on both discs: footage from the rehearsals, the Monty Python team backstage and interviews with many of the performers. Three versions of the concert soundtrack are also featured, ranging from ordinary stereo to an ear-shattering DTS version. --John Galilee
    Amazing!, 2008-03-15 This is the most incredible DVD and anyone who grew up in the sixties (like I did) will find it extremely moving. Although it is a concert for George Harrison after his death, as most people performing said, it felt as if he was there himself. His son Dhani looks exactly like him and appears to also have George's modest persona.
Altogether a wonderful, wonderful DVD and Joe Brown's final tribute "I'll see you in my dreams" moved me to tears-I defy anyone to listen to it with dry eyes.
|
|
List Price: £29.99
Our Price: £12.50
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Parental Guidance
Staring:
Neil Young
    Stunning, 2008-03-07 A joy just to sit back, watch & listen. The songs from his Prairie Wind CD seem to be his reflections on life, death & friendship from the viewpoint of someone who has lived a full & varied life while the more familiar songs are sung beautifully & given a new lease of life. The fragility of his voice on some tracks seems to enhance rather than detract from the music. The quality of the sets, together with the impressive number of musicians and friends that accompany Mr Young make this an superb concert indeed.
|
|
List Price: £24.99
Our Price: £5.46
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Exempt
Artist:
Aled Jones
    The Ultimate `must have' Christmas Carols DVD, 2008-12-07 Aled Jones travels to far distant places around the world, to source the origins of some of our favourite Christmas Carols. Interspersed at strategic points within the documentary are vocal performances by Aled himself, Libera and The Adventist Vocal Ensemble.
The venue (St Bartholomew the Great, City of London) provides a dramatic backdrop and sets an authentic stage for the carols. The lighting, production and filming was of an exceptional standard. The behind the Scenes extra revealed over 2,500 candles were lit; most of these guided an atmospheric walkway the length of the floor for the Libera boys to walk down towards the high altar as they were singing holding candles of their own.
A particular delight for me was the inclusion of the world-renowned boys choir Libera, who got to perform two carols (Gaudete and While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night) on their own. Liam (Connery) performed a stunning solo opening to `Gaudete'; Josh (Madine) a sweet and angelic solo beginning too `Once in Royal David's City', and Ben (Philipp) was confident and faultless with his solo contribution during `While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night'.
Libera also assisted Aled on most of his carols, and the collaboration of Aled's strong tenor voice with the ethereal treble voices of the choir worked like a dream. The inclusion of the full choir added further weight to the soaring harmonies and spine tingling descants as most of the carols reached their climatic conclusion.
The Adventist Vocal Ensemble gave an uplifting and unique rendition of Mary's Boy Child. I will be sure to find more about them in the future.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable and feel good factor festive music DVD, that would stand proud at the front of anyone's Christmas music collection.
|
|
List Price: £4.99
Our Price: £3.94
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Suitable for 12 years and over
Staring:
Julia Stiles,
Sean Patrick Thomas,
Kerry Washington,
Fredro Starr,
Terry Kinney
Director:
Thomas Carter
Save the Last Dance enjoyed a profitable release in early 2001, with box-office earnings that exceeded anyone's expectations. Its performance illustrates the staying power of a formulaic film that avoids the pitfalls and clichés that would otherwise render it forgettable. Since there's nothing new here, you'll appreciate the original quirks in a character-based plot that's just around the corner from Flashdance, and just as familiar. Sara (Julia Stiles) gave up a promising ballet career when her mother was killed while rushing to attend her daughter's crucial audition to Juilliard; Sara blames herself for the accident, and at her new, mostly African-American high school in Chicago, she's uncertain of her future. Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) has no such doubts; his own future is bright, and his attraction to Sara is immediate; they connect (predictably), and Sara's dormant funk emerges, with Derek's coaching, as she learns hip-hop dancing in a local club. Obligatory subplots are equally routine: Derek's sister (Kerry Washington) is a single mom struggling with her child's absentee father; Derek's best friend (Fredro Starr) feels trapped in his gangster lifestyle; and Sara's once-estranged father (Terry Kinney) is doing his best to correct past mistakes. Within the confines of this standard follow-your-dream drama, director Thomas Carter capitalises on a script that allows these characters to be real, intelligent, and thoughtful about their lives and their futures. It's obvious that Stiles's dancing was intercut with that of a professional double, but that illusion hardly matters when the rest of the film's so earnestly positive and genuine. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
    Brilliant Film, 2007-03-19 I have had this dvd sitting on my shelf for about a year. The other night i decided to watch it and i have to say it is fantastic. The storyline is really true to life with brilliant characters and a great soundtrack. It tells a story of a girl named sara who has a dream of getting into dance school to study ballet. Her mother is killed on the way to sara's audition so she has to go to live with her estranged father in an all black community in a rough area of chicago. She is befriended by a girl named Chenille. Sara quickly falls for Chenille's brother Derek who introduces her to the world of hip hop. They have a good relationship but find that they are constantly trying to justify a white girl/black man relationship. The film also addresses the gangster gun culture with Derek's best friend Malakai trying to gain 'respect' in an east side/west side storyline. I really enjoyed this film and since watching it have watched it again about 5 times. I would definitly recommend it and the fact that Sean Patrick Thomas is HOT doesn't hurt either.
|
|
List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £1.99
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Exempt
Staring:
Take That
    Utterley Amazing!, 2008-03-27 Being one of the hundreds of thousands that went to see Take That on tour I placed my pre-order for the Beautiful World DVD many weeks before it was actually released.
With very fond memories of the live tour I was unsure whether the DVD would be able to re-create the atmosphere I experienced in the MEN arena at Manchester.
It did.
The hairs on my neck stood up when the amazing classical overture kicked in at the very beginning and it did not stop there. The entire DVD is edited with excellent interludes and the extras on the DVD give you an insight into the tour that I have never experienced before.
All in all the DVD as a whole took me back to that cold December night where I experienced possibly one of the best concerts around.
The added extras on the DVD just make for an excellent peek into what life is really like on tour!
You are bound to enjoy this DVD even if you are not the biggest Take That fan.
|
|
List Price: £19.99
Our Price: £13.98
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Suitable for 15 years and over
Artist:
One Giant Leap
1 Giant Leap has created a unique music, TV and film project. Featuring an incredibly diverse collection of collaborators from Noam Chomsky to Will Young, Maxi Jazz to Tim Robbins, Billy Connolly to Michael Stipe. What About Me? is the culmination of 4 years' work by Duncan Bridgeman and Jamie Catto. They visited 50 global locations collecting wisdom and musical jewels. Then they lovingly pieced them together into the TV and film mosaic that is What About Me?. It's an inspiring and alarming look at our collective insanity: how we are ego-driven, needy in relationships, insatiable in desire, addicted to status, wounded by childhood and unable to stop thinking, but how we still manage to be inspired and creative... While Duncan and Jamie sought out wisdom from the likes of Noam Chomsky, Eckhart Tolle and Stephen Fry and the cream of the worlds thinkers, writers, and entertainers they also met many people just getting on with their lives - gravediggers, taxi drivers, brain surgeons, street kids... Unscripted, with no storyboard, these conversations all reveal how we are connected not only through our creativity and our beliefs but most of all through our madness! Starting with pre-composed backing tracks in a laptop studio, the music grows as each layer is added, seamlessly mixing international stars like Alanis Morissette, KD Lang and Michael Franti with Bedouin Musicians, Chinese rappers, Gabonese Pygmies, Tuvan throat singers, Egyptian folk musicians, Japanese taiko drummers, and also the royalty of today's world music scene including Baaba Maal, Lila Downs, Rokia Traore, Oumou Sangare, Zap Mama.
    Inspirational - Again, 2008-06-12 Truly quite unique (apart from the first one of course) and dare I say even better. I watched the TV series on Channel 4 and was so pleased to find the series on the DVD too as well as a 2 hour movie about a dozen short films and extras too.
I still sometimes go and watch the trailers at the whataboutme.tv website during the day to give me a spark
Such a fantastic line up too, Lila Downs, KD Lang, Will Young, Carlos Santana, Stewart Copeland, Baba Maal, Zap Mama.. .and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head .... I mean really and that also doesn't even touch on all the philosophies of people like Stephen Fry, Susan Sarendon and Ekhart Tolle.
I can't wait for the album and was thrilled when I found some tracks on Myspace and Facebook
|
|
List Price: £19.99
Our Price: £7.99
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Exempt
Staring:
Led Zeppelin
Director:
Dick Carruthers
Legendary and long sought-after, this live Led Zeppelin collection is nothing less than the rock music equivalent of the Holy Grail. Quite simply, this is what all the fuss was about. Given that they were the biggest band in the world, Zeppelin were notoriously camera-shy in their heyday. Their official filmic legacy until now has been just the fascinating but flawed The Song Remains the Same. While this new set presents some previously unseen footage from the same 1973 Madison Square Garden gigs, its real wonders lie in the earlier (1970) Royal Albert Hall footage and the later Earls Court (1975) and Knebworth (1979) concerts. Everything here looks and sounds new-minted, thanks to painstaking restoration and remastering of both audio and visual sources, a Herculean labour of love on the part of co-producer Dick Carruthers working hand-in-glove with Jimmy Page. Trawling through thousands of yards of previously unseen film and unheard tape recordings--some with missing visuals, some with missing audio--Page and Carruthers have chosen only the best possible footage available. They were also at pains to make the segments segue seamlessly so that the viewer is treated to what feels like a continuous concert--just sample the transition from a grainy Super 8 "Immigrant Song" (Sydney, 1972) to "Black Dog" at MSG. Highlights? It's not hyperbole to say that every powerhouse minute of this collection (some 230 minutes of concert footage plus another hour and a half of extra DVD material) is a rare musical and visual treat. But hearing Page's violin bow work on "Dazed and Confused" in DTS or Dolby 5.1 is an experience not soon forgotten. On the DVD: Led Zeppelin two-disc set presents all the footage in pristine 4:3 picture ratio (the Madison Square Garden footage is letterboxed) with Dolby 5.1, DTS or PCM Stereo sound options. Note that the audio is uncompressed for maximum ear-shattering enjoyment. The menu screens do not pop up beforehand, but have to be selected. It's well worth doing so. Enjoy the music first, then discover that even the menus have been painstakingly designed to provide still more unseen footage and unheard recordings (some screens don't cycle round, but present another song in its entirety). Extras include rare TV appearances, interviews and bootleg footage. --Mark Walker
    Sell your soul to the devil., 2008-03-29 There are fewer more iconic bands than 'Led Zeppelin'. 300 million albums in ten years, they must have been doing something right. As famous for their off-stage antics as for their performances, this compilation contains footage from 4 of their most famous shows.
Albert Hall 1970 sees the Zeppelin still finding their feet yet putting on one hell of a show. And it's a joy to see 'Bonzo' blast out his iconic drum solo 'Moby Dick' for 10 minutes non-stop.
Disc 2 has the bulk of 3 different shows spread across the disc. Madison Square Garden, Earls Court '75 and Knebworth, at a time when 'Led Zeppelin' were without question, the biggest band in the world. Knebworth being particularly good and the last time the world would see 'Led Zeppelin' (well with Bonham at least).
There's loads of extras, and the picture quality is fabulous. But the real draw is obviously the four hours of non-stop Zeppelin. So climb the 'Stairway To Heaven' today. You know you want to.
|
|
List Price: £24.99
Our Price: £10.50
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Exempt
Artist:
Bruce Springsteen
    Glorious!, 2008-01-20 It's hard to capture in words the strength of this performance from 17 awe-inspiring musicians. The mixture of heady vocals, powerful acoustic guitars, a wonderful brass section, piano, accordian etc etc give truly fantastic renditions of Springsteen numbers and fresh takes on traditional songs like O Mary Don't You Weep. This is powerful stuff from first to last and I find the three-star review almost incomprehensible.
|
|
List Price: £14.99
Our Price: £7.16
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Suitable for 15 years and over
Staring:
Robert Arkins,
Michael Aherne,
Angeline Ball,
Maria Doyle Kennedy,
Dave Finnegan
Director:
Alan Parker
An irresistible, comic drama from director Alan Parker (Evita, Mississippi Burning), overflowing and alive with passion, humor and music, The Commitments showcases some old R&B standards in a new light. A headstrong, fast-talking, ambitious young Dubliner (Robert Arkins) fancies himself a promoter of talent, and sets about assembling and packaging a local Irish R&B band. His group of self-absorbed, backbiting, but stunningly talented individuals begin to succeed beyond his wildest dreams, until petty jealousies and recrimination threaten to scuttle the whole deal. A moody, vivid and soulful exploration of the Dublin club scene as well as a showcase for some wonderful unknown actors, the film (and its wonderful soundtrack) also features the actual band covering classic soul tunes from the likes of Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. It's that combination of soul and soul music that makes The Commitments a special little film. --Robert Lane, Amazon.com --This text refers to the VHS edition of this video
    all for glen, 2004-02-24 the commitments captures the true essence of north dublin; the factories, housing estates, drug problems, musical ambition... but one stand out figure in this film who everyone else has over looked... irish cult hero, the lead singer of the best irish band in history (The Frames) and all round gentleman; the eclectic and wonderful mr.Glen Hansard. he plays the ginger lead guitarist. someone mentioned that some characters have went on to great things, but you forget glen. if none of you have heard the frames, which is appears you havnt, shame on you. they may not have had the publicity of front pae coverage of the corrs, but searh for them and i promise you wont regret it. the frames represent the message at the core of the commitments, charm, colour, honesty and good music.
|
|
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £3.96
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Rated: Exempt
Staring:
ABBA
    Abba STILL GOLD, 2003-08-24 This DVD which has finally been released, is brilliant. It has the original videos of Chiquitita, One of Us and Thank You for the Music, which on the Definitive Collection were put through a video filter, and the picture was not as clear as here on GOLD. Also the videos for I Have A Dream and Lay All Your Love On Me, as well as the 1992 version of Dancing Queen.
While this video is not as long as the Definitive Collection it is a must for the essential Abba collector, as well as anyone who has enjoyed the ABBA GOLD CD.
Watch, listen and enjoy
|
|
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £4.97
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|