Review of Stereophonics: The Performance & Cocktails Video Collection

Introduction

Music`s a funny business. One person`s rave is another`s retch. Welsh band The Stereophonics have been hailed by some as the saviors of British rock and reviled by others as a feeble rip-off of either Oasis or Radiohead.

However, most critics (and listeners that I have spoken to) seem to take the middle ground with The Stereophonics, calling them "good" but not "great". And I think that`s fair.

Much of their material is listenable, melodic, hummable and occasionally edgy and impassioned. But, based on the evidence of their albums - Performance and Coctails being the most recent - they are unlikely to achieve true greatness.

And neither will their videos. Nevertheless, with all the most recent being based on famous movies (go on, check them out; you`ve got M*A*S*H, The Italian Job, Apocalypse Now, etc) they are quite entertaining and well worth watching a time or two.

Despite being called "The Performace & Cocktails Video Collection", this DVD also features the videos from their previous album "Word Gets Around", along with various other bits and pieces.

Video

From a video point of view, this is a bit of a mixed bag. Quality ranges from the pretty terrible on the (apparently) self-shot documentary footage to the not-too-bad of the video for "Mama Told Me Not To Come".

In general it is pretty mediocre. All perfectly watchable and a good way ahead of the equivalent VHS, but never reaching the heights that an exceptional transfer can. The source material may be at fault here, though.

Audio

The sound quality is probably the most disappointing aspect of the disk. It is straight stereo PCM and sounds ever so slightly muffled, with the dynamic range noticably compressed.

It is listenable but the CD, played through the same components sounds significantly better - clearer and sharper.

Disappointing for a music video.

Features

For disks like this, it is hard to know where the main content ends and the "special features" begin. At least you know where you stand with movies.

Anyway, the disk is called "The Performace & Cocktails Video Collection", so let`s assume that everything that isn`t a Performace & Cocktails video is an extra.

In that case, this disk gives a good account of itself.

You get the videos from the previous album, some live and Top Of The Pops tracks and the video for Mama Told Me Not To Come. This latter is the video highlight, having best image and sound quality, a neat sense of humour and a cameo from America`s favourite Welshman - Rhys Ifans - and, of course, Tom Jones.

In addition to the video, you get some footage covering the making of the videos and a photo album.

The documentary footage is self-indulgent and totally uninformative. You get some random footage of the boys larking about, a few shots from the video and, just when you think you are going to learn something, the video proper kicks in.

The photo album is a bit dull, but the shots are of a good quality, and if you`re a fan you`ll probably enjoy them. Actually, the same can be said for the documentary footage. Not for the casual viewer, but better on than off.

For a video compilation, this isn`t a bad set of features and is certainly better than some of, say, Warner`s straight copies of the VHS equivalent.

But Eurythmics` PeaceTour and Talking Heads` Stop Making Sense have done this much better and are the standard we have to judge music DVD`s by.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a mediocre DVD with respectable features let down by average picture quality and disappointing sound.

It might be a worthwhile purchase for a fan. However, if you are tempted to buy solely because you quite liked the Performance & Cocktails CD, exercise caution.