Review, buy Rock & Pop: Dexy's Midnight Runners - The Bridge [1983], AC/DC - Clipped [1991], The Colour Of My Love Concert [1995], Red Hot Chili Peppers - Funky Monks [1997], The Bee Gees - One Night Only - The Bee Gees Live [1998], Woodstock - Director's Cut [1969], Britney Spears - Live and More!, Michael Nyman - Live In Concert [1999], Bon Jovi-Breakout [1986], Vanessa-Mae - Live At The Royal Albert Hall [1995], The Best Of Rod Stewart - Featuring The Faces [1988], Britney Spears - Britney: The Videos, Prince-Love Sexy Live 1, Prince - Lovesexy Live 1 [1989], Steve Harley - The Come Back, All Is Forgiven Tour - Live [1989], Cliff Richard - Private Collection - 1979-1988, Motorhead - Live In Toronto [1982], The Blues Brothers Band - In Montreux [1989], Elton John - Love Songs [1995], The Who - Live

Filmed in Quebec in 1995, this concert souvenir captures Celine Dion as she turned the corner from pop contender to platinum princess. Long a star in Canada, and a major draw throughout the Francophone world, the Québecois vocalist was still a relatively new, if increasingly successful, commodity stateside. A clutch of single hits, augmented by two big soundtrack themes, hadn't entirely erased the suspicion that Dion's career was being bolted together on an assembly line not far from Mariah Carey's-apart from frequent overlaps in production support, both singers relied on similar mixtures of sweeping ballads and crisp, uptempo dance workouts, and both were notorious for their vocal gymnastics. The Colour of My Love works hard, as does Dion, to convince us she's already a major diva, and the approving crowd of hometown fans obviously agrees. Dion, her hair cropped in a shorter, curly "do", is equally chic in black suit or blue gown, a troupe of dancers invades for strategic uptempo pieces, and her studio duet partners for both "When I Fall in Love"(Clive Griffin) and "Beauty and the Beast" (Peabo Bryson) pop up to repeat their roles. The star attacks each song with laser-like focus, and she radiates a sense of theatrical drama. Technically, however, the special suffers from the kind of direction that mistakes swooping camera movement, sudden zoom shots, tilted frames and other concert video clichés for real drama. More problematic is abundant evidence of considerable post-production sweetening in the star's vocals-like other post-rock divas with arena-sized ambitions, Dion (or perhaps her producer) is apparently determined to reproduce the surreal sonic precision and scale of the records. It's a slippery slope that tempts perfectionists to leave less and less of the actual performance on the soundtrack, even though Dion's huge voice would still be impressive (and possibly more exciting) if rendered without such editorial tweaks. -Sam Sutherland, Amazon. [+]

com.

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Review Warner Music Vision 759938281-3 / Red Hot Chili Peppers - Funky Monks [1997]

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Funky Monks [1997] (Warner Music Vision 759938281-3)

Actors & Directors

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Release date: 2003-02-17
Run time: 60 min.
RRP: ~~£4.99~~
Price: £1.48

Review Red Hot Chili Peppers - Funky Monks [1997] / Warner Music Vision 759938281-3:

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Review Ilc Entertainment / The Bee Gees - One Night Only - The Bee Gees Live [1998]

The Bee Gees - One Night Only - The Bee Gees Live [1998] (Ilc Entertainment)

Actors & Directors

Matt Bonelli
Stephen Gibb
Barry Gibb
Robin Gibb
Maurice Gibb

Release date: 1998-09-21
Run time: 120 min.
Creator: Tom Case
RRP: ~~£14.99~~
Price: £6.95

Review The Bee Gees - One Night Only - The Bee Gees Live [1998] / Ilc Entertainment:

Taped as a lavish cable television special in 1997, One Night Only trades on the Bee Gees' shape-shifting career as pop survivors. Over the course of 111 minutes, this straightforward concert, produced at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and groomed for both video and CD posterity, sprints through 31 songs from their past three decades. Even after the inevitable disco jokes are expended, and the jaundiced viewer contemplates the role hats, hairspray, and comb-overs now play in dressing the once stylishly long-haired troika, the Gibb brothers' signature vocal harmonies and hook-laden song craft beg respect. Casual listeners can't be blamed for equating the Bee Gees with the dance floor bonanza they reaped through 1978's Saturday Night Fever, yet that commercial zenith was actually the culmination of a comeback for a group that had seemed washed up by the early 1970s. One Night Only thankfully takes an even-handed view of both their original late 1960s hits ("Massachusetts", "To Love Somebody", "Lonely Days"), building from a cannily Beatle-browed vocal sound, and the 1970s blue-eyed soul ("Jive Talkin'", "Nights on Broadway") that led them naturally into disco. The Fever hits are here, as are Gibb originals that clicked for other acts; the family circle also widens for a posthumous duet with their late brother, Andy Gibb, while Celine Dion gets star billing in the collaborative "Immortality". -Sam Sutherland.

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Review Warner Home Video / Woodstock - Director's Cut [1969]

Woodstock - Director's Cut [1969] (Warner Home Video)

Actors & Directors

Michael Wadleigh
Joan Baez
Joe Cocker
Country Joe McDonald
Richie Havens
Roger Daltrey

Release date: 1994-08-08
Run time: 215 min.
Creator: Dale Bell
Price: £9.99

Review Woodstock - Director's Cut [1969] / Warner Home Video:

The three-day Woodstock music festival in 1969 was the pivotal event of the 1960s peace movement, and this landmark concert film is the definitive record of that milestone of rock 'n' roll history. It's more than a chronicle of the hippie movement, however; this is a film of genuine historical and social importance, capturing the spirit of America in transition, when the Vietnam War was at its peak and anti-war protest was fully expressed through the liberating music of the time. With a brilliant crew at his disposal (including a young editor named Martin Scorsese), director Michael Wadleigh worked with over 300 hours of footage to create his original 225-minute director's cut, which was cut by 40 minutes for the film's release in 1970. Eight previously edited segments were restored in 1994, and the original director's cut of Woodstock is now the version most commonly available on videotape and DVD. The film deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and it's still a stunning achievement. Abundant footage taken among the massive crowd ("half a million strong") expresses the human heart of the event, from skinny-dipping hippies to accidental overdoses, to unpredictable weather, mid-concert childbirth, and the thoughtful (or just plain rambling) reflections of the festive participants. Then, of course, there is the music-a non-stop parade of rock & roll from the greatest performers of the period, including Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Canned Heat, The Who, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Sly & The Family Stone, Santana and many more. Watching this ambitious film, as the saying goes, is the next best thing to being there-it's a time-travel journey to that once-in-a-lifetime event. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

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Review Sony Bmg / Britney Spears - Live and More!

Britney Spears - Live and More! (Sony Bmg)

Actors & Directors

Ryan Polito
Britney Spears

Release date: 2000-12-04
Run time: 80 min.
RRP: ~~£12.99~~
Price: £12.57

Review Britney Spears - Live and More! / Sony Bmg:

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Review Virgin Records Ltd. / Michael Nyman - Live In Concert [1999]

Michael Nyman - Live In Concert [1999] (Virgin Records Ltd.)

Actors & Directors

Chris Rawlence
Michael Nyman

Release date: 1999-07-05
Run time: 50 min.
RRP: ~~£11.99~~
Price: £14.95

Review Michael Nyman - Live In Concert [1999] / Virgin Records Ltd.:

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Review Jon Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi-Breakout [1986]

Bon Jovi-Breakout [1986] (Jon Bon Jovi)

Release date: 1986-06-01
RRP: ~~£7.99~~
Price: £14.77

Review Bon Jovi-Breakout [1986] / Jon Bon Jovi:

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Review EMI / Vanessa-Mae - Live At The Royal Albert Hall [1995]

Vanessa-Mae - Live At The Royal Albert Hall [1995] (EMI)

Actors & Directors

Vanessa-Mae

Release date: 1995-11-20
Price: £11.99

Review Vanessa-Mae - Live At The Royal Albert Hall [1995] / EMI:

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Review Wienerworld Ltd / The Best Of Rod Stewart - Featuring The Faces [1988]

The Best Of Rod Stewart - Featuring The Faces [1988] (Wienerworld Ltd)

Actors & Directors

Rod Stewart
The Faces

Release date: 1992-10-05
Run time: 58 min.
RRP: ~~£10.99~~
Price: £19.99

Review The Best Of Rod Stewart - Featuring The Faces [1988] / Wienerworld Ltd:

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Review Sony Bmg / Britney Spears - Britney: The Videos

Britney Spears - Britney: The Videos (Sony Bmg)

Actors & Directors

Jamisin Matthews
Britney Spears
David Rountree

Release date: 2001-11-26
Run time: 30 min.
RRP: ~~£9.99~~
Price: £0.25

Review Britney Spears - Britney: The Videos / Sony Bmg:

Not as definitive as its title suggests, Britney-The Videos is a bare 30 minutes long and contains only two actual promotional videos for singles "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know". The only other item of interest to anyone (other than the sort of Britney Spears obsessive who is but a short step from a restraining order) is the undeniably spectacular performance of "I'm a Slave 4 U" at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, during which a boa constrictor briefly became the most bitterly envied creature on planet earth. The rest of The Videos is naked hucksterism of which all involved should feel thoroughly ashamed. Apart from a rendition of soppy ballad "I'm a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" lifted from an Australian television programme, everything else is an advertisement for other products: Pepsi, a forthcoming HBO concert special and Spears' imminent movie debut. Someone is taking Britney fans for granted-and for mugs. -Andrew Mueller.

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Prince-Love Sexy Live 1

Actors & Directors