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Dom Robinson reviews
Visual Entertainment
- Cert:
- Cat.no: VSLD 10308
- Running time: 145 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: varies
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Picture Gallery, “Making Of”
Featuring:
- Kelly Jones (Vocals and Guitar)
Richard Jones (Bass)
Stuart Cable (Drums)
Tony Kirkham (Keyboards)
Stereophonics: The Vids,or “Call us what you want but don’t call us in the morning: The Performanceand Cocktails Video Collection”, is a ‘greatest hits’-type package from theirhuge-selling album, proving it is possible to be a male three-piece band fromWales without drowning your lyrics in politics.
Containing some behind-the-scenes footage, this DVD towers head and shouldersover the conventional VHS release (£12.99) as that features tracks onlyfrom the current album and Mama Told Me Not To Come featuring TomJones, but the DVD-exclusive tunes on here effectively double the lengthof the entertainment.
Their singles chart history to September 2000 is as follows :
Mar 97No.51Local Boy in the PhotographMay 97No.33More Life in a Tramp’s VestAug 97No.22A Thousand TreesNov 97No.20TrafficFeb 98No.14Local Boy in the Photograph (re-issue)Nov 98No. 3The Bartender and the ThiefMar 99No. 4Just LookingMay 99No. 4Pick a Part That’s NewSep 99No.11I Wouldn’t Believe Your RadioNov 99No.11Hurry Up and WaitMar 00No. 4Mama Told Me Not To Come (with Tom Jones)
The picture quality is mostly fine, but a lot of their promos are shown ata matted widescreen ratio of 16:9 or wider and I’d like to have seen thempresented anamorphically. IfAustin Powers: The SpyWho Shagged Me” can manage anamorphic widescreen videos fromMadonna and Lenny Kravitz, why can’t this one?The average bitrate is steady 5.20Mb/s.
All the tunes come across perfectly well in Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)without a hitch.
Extras. : Chapters :There are 12 chapters for the main songs. The track listing is as follows :
- Main tracks :
- 1. The Bartender and the Thief
2. Just Looking
3. Pick a Part That’s New
4. I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio
5. Hurry Up and Wait
6. Mama Told Me Not To Come
DVD Extras :
- 7. Local Boy in a Photograph (’97 version)
8. More Life in a Tramp’s Vest
9. A Thousand Trees
10. Traffic
11. Local Boy in a Photograph (’98 version)
12. Traffic (Top of the Pops)
And there’s more… :A 5-minute Picture gallery of stills and a Making Of sectionproviding plenty of background info to how some of the promos were made. Menu :
Animated with sound, the main menu is the result of a camcorder stuck to acar and the road ahead. Different I suppose.
When I first received this DVD, the only quip I could think of was that Imight say “there’s more life in a tramp’s vest than there is on this DVD”,but that doesn’t apply because it’s an excellent compilation with extrasworth checking out.
The only sort-of disappointment is the Top of the Pops ‘Traffic’performance. They’re miming to a crowd in the rain while a bunch of uglykids try their best to get in the way of the camera.
Fans of the band should also tune into SkyDigital music channel MTV2(Channel 446), where they get regular airplay.
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.