Dean Winchester
02-04-2006, 06:29 PM
there have been countless video collections released on DVD, many more than ever thought of back in the days of VHS, because having an artist and their 30+ videos together is easier to manage with the DVD button instead of having to fast forward a lot to get to the video you want to see.
some of the best (and reasons why):
David Bowie - Best Of Bowie -- he was doing videos a decade before MTV, and he's continued to remain relevant well into the twenty-first century. His video collection up to 1990 was released on VHS years ago but went quickly out of print. The DVD collects all of his videos (minus "This Is Not America", which was all movie clips and no Bowie) as well as a number of classic UK television appearences from the early 1970's. Add this in, a few nifty easter eggs (such as the complete, long-out-of-print Jazzin For Blue Jean short film) and it's a DVD for any true David Bowie fan
Olivia Newton-John - Video Gold I & Video Gold II -- I don't think anyone expected Universal to be so nice to us considering Olivia hasn't had a successful single or album since 1985's Soul Kiss and most of her catalog is out of print. This DVD resurrects long the long out of print Physical, Twist Of Fate and Soul Kiss video collections... remasters the videos and sound quality, gives nice colorful booklets as well as unearths some other hard to find videos of hers. I was disapointed that only two "The Rumour" era videos made the cut (she filmed a video album for the entire cd in 1988) and it really skimps on recent years, only one video past-1992, but nonetheless, the two collections are worth every cent and do a fantastic job representing Livvy at the height of her career
Beastie Boys -- I'm not a fan of theirs, but I have heard nothing but great things about their 1999 Criterion DVD
Erasure - HITS! The Video Collection -- Erasure has never been one of the greatest video artists, but they have never failed to deliver great electropop music over the past two decades. Warner released this video collection not only, collecting all (nearly 40) professionally released videos they did between 1985-2003, but also giving us a nice bonus disc featuring a number of live clips and alternate videos (ironically, the "alternate" In My Arms is the one I remember seeing on VH1 in 1997) as well as loading the set with a number of documentaries (over 2 hours worth) of the duo between 1991 to 2003. All with a retail for under $20.
ABBA - The Definitive Collection -- For a band that broke up only one year after the launch of MTV, this DVD is loaded with more videos than most artists who had their heydays in the 80's and 90's have ever made. You get all 30 videos ABBA filmed between 1974-1982, some campy, some great, all remastered, as well as five bonus videos (live performances, Spanish-only videos), a great bargain that pretty much contains every one of their hits.
some of the worst (and reasons why):
Prince - The Hits Collection -- a DVD repackaging of a useless 1993 video collection. Prince had made a good 40 videos I could count off the top of my head between 1979-1993, it almost felt like one of the execs at Warner had the names of all Prince's videos on the wall and just threw darts. A few nice "rarities" (I Wanna Be Your Lover, Dirty Mind, Uptown), A few blockbusters (Kiss, Cream, Raspberry Beret, 1999) but a lot of smash hits missing (When Doves Cry, U Got The Look, Gett Off). A video collection with no real rhyme or reason and not a very good representation of his Warner years, I'd like to see Prince release a massive 3 or 4 disc Criterion style video collection of everything himself.
Cher - The Video Hits Collection -- An extremely disapointing Cher video compilation released by Warner in 2004. Granted, a bulk of Cher's career happened pre-MTV, but the tracklisting is jumbled and useless, and a lot of videos were skipped (such as The Music's No Good Without You, Alive Again, Love And Understanding and the extremely rare pre-MTV Hell On Wheels) and the videos were in no particular order
Madonna - The Immaculate Collection and Video Collection 93-99 -- Madonna is arguably the queen of the video age, but both of her video collections thus far have been underwhelming. A number of movie clips are absent (Live To Tell, Who's That Girl, This Used To Be My Playground, etc...), other videos are also gone with no explanation (Erotica, Deeper And Deeper, Burning Up, You'll See, Justify My Love, etc...), she is in dire need of a 2-disc deluxe video collection DVD, maybe she'll get one after Confessions runs its course, it's overdue
Duran Duran - Greatest -- extremely overpriced and useless. Way too many missing videos (disc two only includes nine videos... even though it was covering the 1986-1997 era where they had a LOT of videos, just not as many hits) and relies way too much on the easter egg gimmick (easter eggs were fine on Bowie's DVD, but it was a great DVD worth it's cost even without the easter eggs). Duran were a great 80's video act, but the long-awaited video collection was a letdown.
some of the best (and reasons why):
David Bowie - Best Of Bowie -- he was doing videos a decade before MTV, and he's continued to remain relevant well into the twenty-first century. His video collection up to 1990 was released on VHS years ago but went quickly out of print. The DVD collects all of his videos (minus "This Is Not America", which was all movie clips and no Bowie) as well as a number of classic UK television appearences from the early 1970's. Add this in, a few nifty easter eggs (such as the complete, long-out-of-print Jazzin For Blue Jean short film) and it's a DVD for any true David Bowie fan
Olivia Newton-John - Video Gold I & Video Gold II -- I don't think anyone expected Universal to be so nice to us considering Olivia hasn't had a successful single or album since 1985's Soul Kiss and most of her catalog is out of print. This DVD resurrects long the long out of print Physical, Twist Of Fate and Soul Kiss video collections... remasters the videos and sound quality, gives nice colorful booklets as well as unearths some other hard to find videos of hers. I was disapointed that only two "The Rumour" era videos made the cut (she filmed a video album for the entire cd in 1988) and it really skimps on recent years, only one video past-1992, but nonetheless, the two collections are worth every cent and do a fantastic job representing Livvy at the height of her career
Beastie Boys -- I'm not a fan of theirs, but I have heard nothing but great things about their 1999 Criterion DVD
Erasure - HITS! The Video Collection -- Erasure has never been one of the greatest video artists, but they have never failed to deliver great electropop music over the past two decades. Warner released this video collection not only, collecting all (nearly 40) professionally released videos they did between 1985-2003, but also giving us a nice bonus disc featuring a number of live clips and alternate videos (ironically, the "alternate" In My Arms is the one I remember seeing on VH1 in 1997) as well as loading the set with a number of documentaries (over 2 hours worth) of the duo between 1991 to 2003. All with a retail for under $20.
ABBA - The Definitive Collection -- For a band that broke up only one year after the launch of MTV, this DVD is loaded with more videos than most artists who had their heydays in the 80's and 90's have ever made. You get all 30 videos ABBA filmed between 1974-1982, some campy, some great, all remastered, as well as five bonus videos (live performances, Spanish-only videos), a great bargain that pretty much contains every one of their hits.
some of the worst (and reasons why):
Prince - The Hits Collection -- a DVD repackaging of a useless 1993 video collection. Prince had made a good 40 videos I could count off the top of my head between 1979-1993, it almost felt like one of the execs at Warner had the names of all Prince's videos on the wall and just threw darts. A few nice "rarities" (I Wanna Be Your Lover, Dirty Mind, Uptown), A few blockbusters (Kiss, Cream, Raspberry Beret, 1999) but a lot of smash hits missing (When Doves Cry, U Got The Look, Gett Off). A video collection with no real rhyme or reason and not a very good representation of his Warner years, I'd like to see Prince release a massive 3 or 4 disc Criterion style video collection of everything himself.
Cher - The Video Hits Collection -- An extremely disapointing Cher video compilation released by Warner in 2004. Granted, a bulk of Cher's career happened pre-MTV, but the tracklisting is jumbled and useless, and a lot of videos were skipped (such as The Music's No Good Without You, Alive Again, Love And Understanding and the extremely rare pre-MTV Hell On Wheels) and the videos were in no particular order
Madonna - The Immaculate Collection and Video Collection 93-99 -- Madonna is arguably the queen of the video age, but both of her video collections thus far have been underwhelming. A number of movie clips are absent (Live To Tell, Who's That Girl, This Used To Be My Playground, etc...), other videos are also gone with no explanation (Erotica, Deeper And Deeper, Burning Up, You'll See, Justify My Love, etc...), she is in dire need of a 2-disc deluxe video collection DVD, maybe she'll get one after Confessions runs its course, it's overdue
Duran Duran - Greatest -- extremely overpriced and useless. Way too many missing videos (disc two only includes nine videos... even though it was covering the 1986-1997 era where they had a LOT of videos, just not as many hits) and relies way too much on the easter egg gimmick (easter eggs were fine on Bowie's DVD, but it was a great DVD worth it's cost even without the easter eggs). Duran were a great 80's video act, but the long-awaited video collection was a letdown.