Review of Stadium Rock: The Ultimate Anthology

Introduction

Oh god no! It`s another "Ultimate Anthology" with various bits of footage from across the years that probably didn`t cost a lot in copyright clearance fees. This time it`s the Ultimate Anthology of Stadium Rock. If you`ve grown up in the last 30 years, stadium rock probably means bands and artists like U2, Genesis, Dire Straits, INXS, Oasis, Queen, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen. People who have really rocked stadia in the last 30 years or so.

But given what I`ve said about low copyright clearance fees you wouldn`t expect that line up that I`ve just mentioned. And you`d be right, as this is what the tracklisting on the box says:-

Uriah Heep - Easy Livin`
Thin Lizzy - Wild One
Deep Purple - Child In Time
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
UFO - Boogie
Asia - Heat of the Moment
Magnum - Vigilante
Saxon - Ride Like The Wind
Meat Loaf - Modern Girl
The Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin
Wishbone Ash - Down the Dust Pipe (the caption that appears on screen suggests a different song though!)

Video

We get a full frame picture for each track, almost all of which just look like standard video footage from the 1980s and 1990s. As with most of the "Ultimate Anthology" DVDs, visually it`s nothing to write home about, just various different sets of blokes (and a few ladies) on stage looking like a stereotypical 1970s/1980s naff rock band.

Audio

A choice of DD2.0 stereo, DD5.1 and dts soundtracks. The stereo soundtrack is not bad, and if you select one of the two 5.1 versions, they both sound like average remix jobs which mostly use the front three channels. There`s not much audience in the mix, and some of the instruments could have been a bit better placed too. On the whole these are ok soundtracks, but nothing special.

Features

Not a thing.

Conclusion

Like many music discs, this one would usually be for fans only. But I couldn`t think of anyone who would want to listen to just 1 track by each of these bands. And if they could, it`s very unlikely that they would pick the exact tracks that are listed here, as only the Meatloaf and Moody Blues tracks are actually well known. I won`t be rushing back to listen to it again. In fact it will probably never go near a DVD player again.

The picture quality is average, but the sound is what you`re after with a music DVD. The various different soundtracks are not bad (and they do put a disclaimer on the box about not getting your hopes up given the age of the source material etc.) But at the end of the day I just can`t see who this would appeal to.

Not really recommended for anyone.