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Dom Robinson reviews
Live in Paris
Pinnacle Records
- Cat.no: IX 9428 CYUKD
- Cert: E
- Running time: 84 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 23
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 10 languages available (NOT English!)
- Widescreen: 1.77:1 (16:9)
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: New band documentary, Exclusive Technicians Documentary,Promo videos and MTV Unplugged performance, Stills Gallery, Morphing AlbumCover, Song Lyrics
Director :
- Maurice Linnane
Producer :
- Ned O’Hanlon
The Band :
- Dolores O’Riordan (Vocals, Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Keyboards)
Noel Hogan (Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar)
Fergal Lawler (Drums)
Mike Hogan (Bass Guitar)
Russell Burton (Keyboards)
The Cranberries: Beneath the Skin: Live in Parisis an 84-minute concert recorded at the Palais Omnisport de Bercy onDecember 9th, 1999.
Fronted by Dolores O’Riordan, the lady with the ever-changing hairover the years and with an incredibly distinctive voice, this Irish bandcame to the fore in the UK in February 1994 with Linger, a track that,while not being their biggest hit to date is certainly one of their mostplayed and certainly the most radio-friendly for all those middle-of-the-roadstations that latch onto one single track from a band/artist and ignore allothers.
They have since gone on to produce a number of other – and better – hitssuch as Ode to my Family, Promises and probably my favourite of all,Zombie, which was written in the hope of peace being found in NorthernIreland, but there’s about as much chance of that happening as there is ofthe country’s now-ex Secretary, Peter Mandelson, ever uttering a wordof truth again.
The concert on this disc is a basic on-stage affair with occasional videowall footage, but the whole band appear to be enjoying themselves.
Their singles chart history to the end of 2000 is as follows :
The picture quality is questionable. Some scenes appear better than others,but – and it may be just down to the filming process used in part – a numberof scenes suffer as a result as the encoding can’t cope and throws up artifacts.
An increasing number of concerts are being filmed and presented in anamorphic16:9 and this is one of them. The average bitrate is an almost-static5.89Mb/s.
The sound, however, is first-rate. The Dolby Digital 5.1 places every songloud and proud, providing an aural treat. Whichever your favourite tracksare, you can rely on them sounding at their best.
Extras. :The supplemental material kicks off with a New band documentary in twoparts, lasting 18 minutes in total, containing chat from each member and anExclusive Technicians Documentary (13½ mins) where the crewmembers have their say. All of these are in anamorphic 16:9.
Promo videos are included for Promises, Animal Instinct andJust My Imagination. The first two of these were shot in a mattedwidescreen ratio but neither are anamorphically-presented. Live performancesof Not Hollywood – from 1996 – and Saving Grace – from 1999 – arehere too, as is a rare live airing for How from 1993, plus 1995’sYesterday’s Gone from MTV Unplugged.
There’s a Stills Gallery with 73 images showing the band on stage,the crew, plus backstage shots of the band sat about their dressing room,a section of Dolby Digital test signals to check all yourspeakers are connected and aligned properly and a Morphing Album Coverthat lasts about 30 seconds for Bury the Hatchet, their 1999 release.
I understand Song Lyrics are included too but there’s something wrongwith the whole menu system, designed by Storm Thorgerson, that don’t allowyou to manoeuvre correctly on a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player, so I had toaccess each of the extras blindly via the onscreen remote control.
On the subject of lyrics, that’s exactly what’s lacking from the subtitles.Also, out of the 10 languages, none of them are English, just: French, German,Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch and Finnish.All you get from these, though, are the spoken introductions from Dolores,when you really need the lyrics to actually be seen as you’re watching theperformance. Whose clueless idea was it to make that NOT happen? I’ve seenthe same thing happen on other music releases and it beggars belief.
There are 23 chapters. 22 for the music and one for the end credits.The track listing is as follows :
- 1. Promises
2. Animal Instinct
3. Loud and Clear
4. Ode to my Family
5. The Icicle Melts
6. Linger
7. Wanted
8. Salvation
9. Desperate Andy
10. Go Your Own Way
11. Pretty
12. When You’re Gone13. I Can’t Be With You
14. Waltzing Back
15. Free to Decide
16. Zombie
17. Ridiculous Thoughts
18. Dying in the Sun
19. You and Me
20. Just My Imagination
21. Delilah
22. Dreams
23. End Credits
Overall, despite the menu problems and lack of English lyrics onscreen,the concert itself and the extras, once you’ve found them, justifies thepurchase, particularly if you’re a Cranberries fan 🙂
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.