Review of Cabaret Voltaire: Live At The Hacienda 83/86

Introduction

Before "Cabaret Voltaire: Live At The Hacienda 83/86" dropped through my letter box this week, I had not seen of heard of Cabaret Voltaire before.

According to Cherry Red Records` website, "This is the first ever DVD to feature Cabaret Voltaire, leaders of the Industrial genre and one of British music`s most enigmatic alternative bands. The DVD features "the Cabs" at their magnificent live best in 1983 and 1986, with both shows coming from the world famous Hacienda club. Cabaret Voltaire have long been celebrated for the stunning visual aspects to their shows, with video footage and projections playing a big part in the overall mood of a gig"

Video

I spent some time thinking about an introduction to this video section, discussing the merits of DVD compared to VHS and the vast increase in picture quality that has resulted. The purpose of this introduction was to highlight that despite the technology available, Cherry Red Records seem content to release discs with totally unacceptable picture quality.

However, to avoid beating around the bush, I`ll get straight to the point - the picture quality on this DVD is the worst we here at DVD Reviewer have EVER seen by quite some margin. I actually discussed with Robert whether we could introduce a -1 score so that Cabaret Voltaire actually scored lower than previous discs that have achieved 0.

Take a look at the screenshots. They do not lie. That almost black image with a small dull coloured blob in the middle represents what is being sold as a concert video. To make matters worse (and yes, they get worse), the "footage" is taken from what appears to have been a cheap 1983 Amstrad VHS camcorder, and is exceptionally low resolution and grainy. In addition, there are continual VHS white specs on the print because the "footage" wasn`t in very good condition.

This is simply abysmal. Cherry Red Records should not be allowed to put the DVD trademark on rubbish like this.

Audio

The soundtrack comes in Dolby Digital 2.0 and you probably will not be surprised to learn that it isn`t particularly impressive. The sound is muffled, relatively low fidelity and suffers from compression of the treble.

Features

Extras include three "bonus" videos. The bonus presumably being that unlike the atrocious main features you can actually see the band. The picture quality is still however well below the required standard.

Conclusion

I`ve got a message for Cherry Red Records:

I`ve now watched two of your DVDs, and out of my 700 disc collection, they have the worst picture quality by a substantial margin. Please do not release any more discs of such low quality. I didn`t pay for these discs - if I had I would be returning them as they are not fit for the purpose intended in my opinion.