Rose Royce In Concert
Picture:
C Sound: B- Extras: D Concert: B-
Thanks to
the hit motion picture of the same name, R&B vocal group Rose Royce is
always remembered as if they were a one-hit wonder for the theme from the 1976
film Car Wash, but they were much
more successful. No doubt this has been
forgotten as anything in the Disco era that had to do with Disco, Dance or
R&B induces sudden Alzheimer’s disease to those who want their memories to
begin in 1980.
With that
said, we were intrigued when we found out there was a DVD of Rose Royce,
especially a full-length concert. Though
it is only 50 minutes, it is not bad. Rose Royce In
Concert was taped on April 4th, 1993, and offers the following
songs:
1)
Is It Love You’re After
2)
I’m In Love
3)
Wishing On A Star
4)
Magic Touch
5)
Do Your Dance – Part One
6)
I Wanna Get Next To You
7)
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore
8)
Car Wash
I Wanna Get Next To You was actually a second Top 10 hit
from Car Wash, while both Do Your Dance – Part One and the
recently remade Love Don’t Live Here
Anymore (a hit for Madonna) went Top 40 on several charts when the band
benefited from the production prowess of Norman Whitfield as one of the prime
acts on his Whitfield Records label. With
that said, this is not the original line-up, but they are still pretty good.
At some
points, there are even vocal and music surprises. The band is in good enough form to make this
fun and those expecting that from the DVD will not be disappointed much, but if
only it was longer and better-captured.
The full
frame color image is from an older NTSC analog tape source. Too bad this was not sharper and clearer, but
it is color consistent with little damage to speak of. The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 AC-3, but
is somewhat compressed throughout. This
adds up to a dated-but-consistent presentation that is certainly better than
the VHS it otherwise could have only been available in. There are no extras.
It would
be nice to see more about the band, something that could have fit in a
supplement on this DVD. Nevertheless,
fans and the curious will get to see a later version of the band surviving
better than many others from there time, and that’s not bad.
- Nicholas Sheffo
