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Dom Robinson reviews
Pinnacle Records
- Cat.no: IX 5529 EAUKD
- Cert: E
- Running time: 99 minutes
- Year: 1994
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 22
- Sound: DTS 5.1, Linear PCM Stereo
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 9 languages available
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index
Director :
- Beth McCarthy
Producer :
- Carol Donovan
The Eagles: Hell Freezes Over :The last three words are what the band said would have to happen beforethey got together and played again. On April 25th and 26th, 1994, they announced thatthey never broke up, they just took a fourteen-year vacation.
The concert features timeless classics (Hotel California, Desperado),selections from Don Henley‘s 1989 End of the Innocence masterpiece(The Heart of the Matter, New York Minute), a couple of tracks that holdspecial memories for me (Wasted Time, The Last Resort) plus some new material(Get Over It, Love Will Keep Us Alive).
Finally, Seven Bridges Road is listed as a “Bonus DTS Audio Track”, so if, like me,you haven’t got a DVD player capable of outputting DTS or an amp to play it through, you’restuffed. They should’ve put a Dolby Digital 5.1 option on there (same goes for the wholeconcert too). I might consider upgrading to DTS if I could count the number of discs availableon more than two hands (!)
Their rather short singles chart history to mid-2000 is as follows :
Of course, the Eagles were more of an album-selling band and only a foolwould not have their Greatest Hits album in their collection.
The picture quality is very good with zero artifacts, but it loses a little in theway of sharpness by being converted from NTSC material. It’s certainly very watchableand is what I expected. Presented in fullscreen, the average bitrate isa first-rate 9.6Mb/s.
The sound is top-notch with all the loud tracks bursting out of the speakers withflavour, while the softer tunes inspire a more relaxed atmosphere.
This is also one of the first discs released in the UK to feature a DTS 5.1 soundtrack,as wasSheryl Crow: Rockin’ the Globe Live.For the rest of the planet, we only get a plain stereo option.
“For the record, we never broke up…
…we just took a fourteen-year vacation”
Extras. : Chapters :There are 22 chapters, the first four being preamble about how they came back together whichyou’ll watch once, but the remainder is the concert, which you’ll watch many times over.The track listing is as follows :
- 1. Coming Together
2. Practice Makes Perfect
3. Backstage Jitters
4. Showtime
5. Hotel California
6. Tequila Sunrise
7. Help Me Through The Night
8. The Heart of the Matter
9. Love Will Keep Us Alive
10. Learn To Be Still
11. Pretty Maids All in a Row12. The Girl From Yesterday
13. Wasted Time
14. I Can’t Tell You Why
15. New York Minute
16. The Last Resort
17. Take It Easy
18. Life in the Fast Lane
19. In the City
20. Get Over It
21. Desperado
22. Seven Bridges Road (Bonus DTS Audio Track)
Subtitles :These are available in 9 languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian,Danish, Finnish and Dutch. However, there’s no English option available and the subtitlesonly cover the first eleven minutes of chat, anything said between the songs, but none ofthe lyrics, so it’s a pretty shameful option that makes you think there’s more availablethan there is. Menu :
An animated menu with pics of the band behind the Eagles logo, with no music, butit’s on so short a loop it makes the whole thing seem pointless.
Overall, this is an excellent concert and everyone certainly seems to be enjoyingthemselves. However, since there’s no extras to speak of, is it worth £19.99 ifyou have all the albums from which the tracks are taken? Probably not, unless you’rea completist.
For a look at what Don Henley‘s been up to lately, check out Jason Maloney‘sreview of his latest album,Inside Job
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
0OVERALL
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.