VH1 Divas Live

• Cat.no: 200858 9
• Cert: E
• Running time: 80 mins
• Recorded: April 14th 1998
• Pressing: 1998
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 24 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo
• Languages: English
• Lyrics: English, French, Spanish
• Presented in Fullscreen
• 16:9-enhanced: No
• Macrovision: No
• Disc Format: DVD 5
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Scene index; Foreward by Wayne Isaak, Senior Vice President, VH1

---

Director:

Michael A. Simon

Featuring:

Celine Dion
Gloria Estefan
Aretha Franklin
Shania Twain
Mariah Carey

Plus special appearances from:

VH1 Divas Live is the concert recorded on my26th birthday – April 14th, 1998 – featuring five of the world’s biggest femalesingers around today and was put together in aid of VH1’s Save The Musiccampaign which provides music education which is otherwise lacking in America’sschools.

The vocal greats making the line-up are: Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan,Aretha Franklin, Shania Twain & Mariah Carey, with introductions made byJennifer Aniston, Patricia Arquette, Teri Hatcher, Sarah Jessica Parker& Susan Sarandon, the former two proving it was a cold theatre when theywalk on in their bra-less outfits.

Finally, Carole King pops in to join the girls for their singalongtowards the end.

What I find best about this disc is the picture quality: crystal clear withouta hint of artifacts, just as if you’re watching a high-quality broadcasttelevision picture. A whole spectrum of colours embrace the set – and theoutfits – along the way and all of them look fantastic onscreen. The averagebitrate is a very good 7.10Mb/s, peaking at 10Mb/s on occasion. Given thatthe performance is displayed in 4:3, the disc is obviously not anamorphic – aprocess used for prints with a ratio of 16:9 or wider which allows extraresolution on widescreen televisions.

The sound is available in both Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 formats and thesoundstage is reproduced in crisp and clear fashion with ballads such asMy All, You’re Still The One and My Heart Will Go On and moremeaty numbers including Chain Of Fools and Man! I Feel Like AWoman, not to mention Celine’s Tina Turner-dancing during River Deep,Mountain High.

There are 24 chapters here, breaking the gig down into separate tracks as wellas for the introductions and charity promos, including one track for thestart of the concert, so you can’t ask for more in that respect. The tracklisting is as follows :

Mariah Carey

1. Start
2. Mariah Carey Introduction
3. My All
4. Make It Happen

Gloria Estefan

5. Gloria Estefan Introduction
6. Turn The Beat Around
7. Heaven’s What I Feel
8. Megamix: Dr. Beat/Conga/Rhythm In Gonna Get You/1-2-3/Get On Your Feet

Shania Twain

9. VH1 Save The Music Spot Introduction
10. VH1 Save The Music Spot
11. Shania Twain Introduction
12. Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
13. You’re Still The One

Aretha Franklin & Mariah Carey

14. VH1 Save The Music Promo
15. Aretha Franklin Introduction
16. Chain Of Fools

Celine Dion

17. Celine Dion Introduction
18. River Deep, Mountain High

Celine Dion & Carole King

19. Carole King Introduction
20. The Reason

Celine Dion

21. My Heart Will Go On

Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain

22. You’ve Got A Friend

The Divas

23. Natural Woman
24. Testimony/Credits

Languages/Subtitles :

All songs are sung in English and lyrics take the place of subtitles duringthese, not to mention that all the non-music parts are subtitled too and itall comes in three flavours: English, French and Spanish.

Other extras :

Just one extra here: a multi-page foreward by Wayne Isaak, VH1 Senior VicePresident: Music and Talent Relations, which gives you an insight into how thewhole event came together.

Menu :

A static, pictureless menu with the usual options…and that’s it.

Overall, to me the concert seems like an exercise in self-congratulation andback-slapping, especially for Natural Woman as they all gush together,occasionally applauding to one another. And heaven help you when they startchanting “Jesus” in the next song Testimony, all dancing about like abunch of tambourine-bashing clap-happy Christians. However, to those of thefemale persuasion they’re sure to lap up every minute of it.

If only a little thought had gone into the presentation, there could have beenanimated colourful menus with biographies and discographies on each of the fivemain lungs-n-larynx combinations, but not a trace of any such thing. There’salso no insert with my DVD so I don’t know if this is intenational or not.I presume this DVD is exempt from classification although I cannot find theusual ‘E’ for Exempt BBFC certificate on the packaging.

Still, if the idea of a concert with these five girls appeals then the soundand picture quality will not disappoint.FILM : ***PICTURE QUALITY: *****SOUND QUALITY: *****EXTRAS: *——————————-OVERALL: ***½

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.