Dusty Springfield – Live At The BBC (Universal Music DVD/Hip-O Records)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C+ Main Program: B
Digging
into the archives of the BBC, the most underrated asset continues to be that of
classic, key music performances. This
time, the network and Universal Music have released a fine compilation entitled
Dusty Springfield – Live At The BBC which
features at its core, the entire Dusty TV show.
This ran nine episodes over two seasons and is essentially the singer
doing wall to wall music and talking to the audience on occasion. You get five to six songs, plus a closing
song and the show ran from 1966 – 67.
These are
all in black and white, with the 1.33 X 1 copies here a bit soft throughout,
but they look about as good as they can and seem to be either taped or are
partly 16mm saved to old PAL analog tape.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is good, but the Dolby 5.1 cannot boost, save
or improve the old TV audio. Still, it
is Dusty at her peak and is very much worth issuing.
The
extras have the same kind of audio and audio dilemma, though the newer clips
are often in color. There is How Can I Be Sure from the Morecambe
& Wise Show, I am Woman (with the infamous, negating ‘I need my man’
ending) and Since I Fell For You from
The Tom Jones Show in the early
1970s and Saturday Night Live At The
Mill has an interview and performance of I’m Coming Home Again. You
get stills, then as a final extra, there are the 12 songs offered as an
audio-only “jukebox” feature. All in
all, that is not bad, though the bonus paper pullout inside the DVD case with
more programming info and a brief essay praising her helps.
For more
of Dusty at her peak, from a 1979 concert, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3886/Dusty+Springfield+–+Live
- Nicholas Sheffo