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Dom Robinson reviews
Sanctuary Digital Entertainment
- Cert:
- Cat.no: SDE 3012
- Running time: 57 minutes
- Year: 1984
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): All, PAL
- Chapters: 12
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-Enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £15.99
- Extras: Track by track audio review
Gary Numan: Berserker reminds us that the electropop musician hasn’t left his roots ever since he began, even though he disappeared for years on end for most of the 90s and has recently enjoyed a return to the charts with “Rip”.
The concert on this DVD was recorded in 1984 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, but for all the nostalgia it’s worth and despite being nowhere near the venue on the night, I’m damn sure he was on stage for longer than the 57 minutes that this DVD runs.
The best tracks for me are “We are Glass” and “We Take Mystery To Bed”, but sadly the first of these two is endlessly talked over by Numan as he prepares for his gig, with slowed-down stage footage shown. What’s wrong with showing it properly?
There are 12 chapters on the disc, each with a track bar the last one, which are as follows:
1. We Are Glass
2. Berserker
3. Remind Me To Smile
4. Sister Surprise
5. Music for Chameleons
6. The Iceman Comes 7. Cold Warning
8. This Prison Moon
9. My Dying Machine
10. We Take Mystery to Bed
11. This is New Love
12. Credits
Filmed in 4:3, the picture is very good with a clean print. The sound comes in both stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1, according to the menus, but the latter doesn’t sound any different, but then does that matter since the synth sound is perfect however it’s played and really takes you back.
Extras? Rather than have a brief audio commentary clip for each track, the screen has a symbol placed on it (just one step from a “SKY ONE” logo, it feels like) for a few seconds, during which, when pressed, it will reveal a DJ-type person who waffles nonsense about the track before going back to the music. Annoyingly, he’s shown from different angles rather than just pointing the camera to film it, so looking like a reject video from a student. And that’s it.
There’s a subtitle option, but nothing uses it(!) The menus are nicely laid out and have some clever bits between them, also with music over the top and interesting animation, but the real meat is the concert and you won’t be missing much if you only have a CD of the same tracks already.
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.