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Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert: E
- Cat.no: 780 332 2
- Running time: 89 minutes
- Year: 1990
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 20
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £17.99
- Extras : Scene index
The Very Best of Elton Johncovers the excellent recording career of the much-trumpted-gay man’s life up until 1990, thus,thankfully, not including any of the Disney crap he released later.
It stems from a double-CD release that also came out around the same time which includes alot more tracks and if you already have that then you’ll know what a great listen it is.A full compilation would have made a perfect partner to the CD, but what’s on show is stillworthy of a purchase.
It was in mid-1990 when Elton (real name Reg Dwight) announced that he would no longerprofit from singles releases and all such profits would go to charity (hmm.. just after the1989 releases of Sacrifice and Healing Hands completely stiffed under the Top40) and came back with… yes, you guessed it – a double-A side of Sacrifice / HealingHands. It made No.1.
Another No.1 charridee hit was his rewritten Candle in the Wind in 1997, in tributeto the late Princess Diana, who died after a car crash in August of that year.Amazingly, the coroner’s final report read that the driver, Henri Paul, bodyguard toMohammed Al-Fayed, was pissed as a fart as he piled into a stone pillar. Yep, that’lldo it every time.
His second single, Rocket Man, made No.2 in April 1972. Kate Bush‘s remakewas a load of “No.2″s !
Elton scored a No.3 hit in 1985 with Nikita, showing his love for a Russian femaleguard while the cold war was still on. However, Nikita is a boy’s name.
Live Like Horses (No.9, Dec 96) was a single released from Pavarotti’s albumfor Warchild’s charity. The song was promoted on The National Lottery show which turnedinto a double disaster when the machine wouldn’t start because John Willen hadn’t shut thedrum properly and a ‘random’ woman chosen from the audience turned out to be theproducer’s Mum. Elt or Pav couldn’t start the balls rolling because their segment wasprerecorded. “Live” like horses? “Eat” like horses, more like.
Elton John‘s single releases to date (September 2000) are as follows :
Most of the music promos here are in 4:3 fullscreen, while the ratios for I’m StillStanding and Passengers vary considerably throughout the songs.The picture is much better for the later tracks, while the earlier onesare mostly studio-based performances and of lesser quality, looking abit soft-focused.The average bitrate is 5.96Mb/s, creeping close towards 8Mb/s.
The sound is excellent and the quality of the tunes cannot be faulted. Generally, theaudio print of choice is Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo).
Three of the songs, Your Song, Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word and Rocket Manare in mono, but I’m using the ‘Arena’ setting on my Sony STRDB-930 which gives the entireDVD a ‘live’ feel.
Extras : Chapters :
There are 22 chapters, one for each song, plus an intro and end credits sequence, the latterfeaturing most of Song for Guy, a tune that doesn’t feature on the DVD elsewhere.The track listing is as follows :
- 1. Your Song
2. Daniel
3. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
4. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (with Kiki Dee)
5. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
6. Rocket Man (Live)
7. Blue Eyes
8. I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues
9. I’m Still Standing
10. Kiss the Bride
11. Sad Songs (Say So Much)
12. Passengers
13. Nikita
14. Wrap Her Up (with George Michael)
15. Candle in the Wind (Live)
16. Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting) (Live)
17. I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That
18. Philadelphia Freedom (Live)
19. Sacrifice
20. You Gotta Love Someone
Languages & Subtitles :English only, with no lyrics. Menu :Silent with some animation in the form of Elton’s name “signed” onscreen like the aforementionedtrack names.
Overall, as is the way with all music DVDs, the only people to buy them will be fansof the artist.
I am, but it’s a shame that (a) not all of his greatest hits are to be found here and,(b) it’s unforgivable that the intro to each track can’t be seen because of the elongatedtitle sequence for each song, which is just the title being ‘written’ out on a blue background.It’s nice to see it introduced, but that should really fade out and then let the song beginfrom the start. Hey, I’m just a completist, ok?
And there’s no extras too.
Now, let’s have a second DVD release please containing the rest of his best hits as well as aselection of non-Disney tracks from the last ten years.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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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.