80s DVD Jukebox (Live Music Compilation)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B     Extras: C-     Music Performances: B

 

 

Classic Pictures is producing some of the best music DVD compilations on the market and a particularly solid one is 80s DVD Jukebox (2003), that collects 24 performances from the legendary German TV series Music Laden, a source for several series of DVDs from various companies.  The difference is that Classic is doing the best mastering job, including in the sound, which is 5.1 Dolby and especially surprising 5.1 DTS.

 

Needless to say, this is not the way these clips were originally recorded, but they are doing such an exceptional upgrade job with Radio Bremen that it is often like seeing these performances for the first time.  In this case, the following performances are mostly New Wave music:

 

1)     Relax – Frankie Goes To Hollywood

2)     Wild Boys – Duran Duran

3)     Only When You Leave – Spandau Ballet

4)     Such A Shame – Talk Talk

5)     Master & Servant – Depeche Mode

6)     Talking Loud & Clear – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (aka OMD)

7)     Broken English – Marianne Faithful

8)     One Step Beyond - Madness

9)     Brass In Pocket – The Pretenders

10)  Baby Jane – Rod Stewart

11)  De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da – The Police

12)  Looking For Clues – Robert Palmer

13)  I Ran – A Flock Of Seagulls

14)  Really Saying Something – Bananarama with Fun Boy Three

15)  A Message To You, Rudy – The Specials

16)  I Am The Beat – The Look

17)  (She’s) Sexy & 17 – Stray Cats

18)  New Song – Howard Jones

19)  Two Tribes - Frankie Goes To Hollywood

20)  Young Guns (Go For It) – Wham! (aka Wham U.K.)

21)  There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis – Kristy MacColl

22)  Banana Republic – The Boomtown Rats

23)  What Am I Gonna Do? – Rod Stewart

24)  Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? – Culture Club

 

 

This is an exceptional collection with just about all the artists in prime form doing some of their best or most unusual material ever.  Those who liked No Doubt’s remarkable remake of It’s My Life will enjoy another hit by Talk Talk, Such A Shame, who did not get the success they deserved in the United States.  Early Depeche Mode is represented here; something Warner Bros. is not doing enough of for my (or fans) taste.  The late Robert Palmer comes up with one of his earlier hits, Looking For Clues, which is one of the better singles he ever cut solo.  Having any footage of Bananarama with Fun Boy Three is iconic, while Howard Jones’ hit New Song is one of his underappreciated hits.  The Wham! clip defies anything you might expect from the duo, as bizarre as a similar appearance on American Bandstand for the same song.  The band had not broken in the U.S., which might have something to do with George Michael trying to be Grandmaster Flash.

 

Either way, these are all nicely taped in the PAL format and the transfer here to NTSC is as clear and clean as any previous Music Laden footage we have seen to date.  Even more remarkable is the sound, especially for the DTS.  Instead of being just an ambience boost-and-spread job, though they certainly have not gone back to the original masters and done a DVD-Audio/Super Audio CD remix, but they have come up with about the next best thing.  The sound is nice, rich and clean, with the .1 LFE subwoofer sound never muddy or phony sounding.  That makes playback a treat, like the disc itself.  The only extra offered are text fact files on all the artists, which is a fun plus, though you can never have enough extras.  The 80s DVD Jukebox is a must for all music collections that love this kind of music.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo