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Great DVD.

Love the live stuff the best. Interesting to note that Tim Finn plays an electric on Charlie and What's the matter with you, and that on the latter he plays barre chords, something I have never seen him do. Also I could finally clear up the who plays piano on Strait Old Line question. Tim plays piano throughout the song and Eddie plays the piano solo. I loved the almost Joy Division pretensions of Ghost Girl (always loved this song) and the way Tim's voice cracks. Also interesting to note that Neil plays a telecaster on Shark Attack. Anyone else get into sad trivia like this?

Fantastic to see the Sight and Sound stuff in such great quality, and in stereo. I could actually hear Noel's hand claps in True Colours, as opposed to my hissy mono video copy. The only thing I didn't really like was She Got Body, I presume the B&W No Bother To Me from Countdown wasn't available or too expensive or something? Anyway, just my personal preference, and doesn't detract from a great DVD. Makes me yearn for full length live DVDs... the Anniversary stuff looked and sounded so good.
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quote:
Interesting to note what looks like a Japanese drum next to Noel on True Colours. I'm not sure if he actually plays it or not.
And Tim plays a Gretch on Charlie.

It's actually a Tam Tam (large orchestral gong) that he plays during the instrumental in Charlie from the same concert. He also uses it for comic effect in My Mistake. I noticed the Gretsch, It's a Tenessean or Country Gent I think. It looks like an epiphone casino or 335 that he plays on What's The Matter With You, have to look more closely, and I'm sure it isn't plugged in.
I think they could have saved a lot of space by not doubling even tripling the sound bytes in the DISCOGRAPHY. What I mean is they had 3 best of albums and ALL the songs were re-listed as sound bytes, so what you have is many samples of the same song scattered throughout which is pretty pointless I think IMHO. I don't know how much DVD space that takes up but if it takes up a lot I'd MUCH rather wish to have all the video clips in like I Don't Wanna Dance, Next Exit & Never Ceases To Amaze Me Frowner .

Also She Got Body She Got Soul / Countdown performance, while visually interesting, was not musically fascinating as they just lip synched there way through the studio version of the song (and I thought this was meant to be LIVE as the DVD section it's in says it is). Frowner
Also there is no play all feature for the live clips, it's goes back to the menu after each of the six segments individiually finish.

On the upside it's good to see the sound / PICTURE quality of these old tracks to be top notch digital / enhanced plus the truly inspiring Sam Neil voiced over Spellbound documentary. Big Grin Wink My favourite live clip is Shark Attack Anniversary live 1983, Tim looks cute putting on weight and makeup lol. Fave studio video clip is Hermitt McDermott - great costumes and Tim's voice sound superb in it. So there you go, my favourites are Tim's instead of my usual Neil worship. Wink Big Grin Smiler Cool
Hey Campus
no sadly ABC/Countdown threw out/erased about 80% of their stuff many many years ago, the 'No Bother to me" that some fans have came from our own library...it's just a bad quality video that I own and fading fast. Sad though as so much cool Countdown stuff is gone forever. Some of the Anniversary stuff is good, some can't be used as the sound recording didn't work out....my main fear is because it was filmed by Stratford Productions would it be in the hands of the liquidators too- which means a very high price tag!!! For what it's worth the drummer from Morrisseys band uses a very similar TamTam
(and plays it incredibly well I must say).
Actually WCIBN the space to use the sound bytes runs into nothing time, it wouldn't even equal 1/20 of a clip.....the main reason to have as much on their is simply if someone is looking at a particular album they wont have to search around to check some songs...I think a few are multi links so they run to the same sound source...but the space used is nothing
for small sound samples. Nothing was lost to allow for these samples. At the end of the day we had a very tight budget and can only afford so much...and even then Mushroom generously allowed us to go over budget.....just so certain things could go on the dvd.
So far we have had lots of positive emails about Sight & Sound and the Countdown She Got Body appearance, they seem to be the faves. Countdown should have a blend of live vocal and recording which is what they usually did around that era.
Cheers
PG
I forgot to mention another sad piece of trivia that got me all excited!

When I was watching the Anniversary clip of Shark Attack, I noticed that the percussion roles were reversed. Noel playing drums, and Paul playing percussion. Was this standard for the anniversary tour? I always presumed it was noel playing the hi hats on the anniversary version of Strait Old Line, and speaking of this version of the song, has anyone noticed the absence of any vocals by Tim (except 'everybody into the pool'..). I swear that it's Paul singing harmony with Neil, and he's not singing Tim's part, but the middle harmony (if you listen to the studio version there is three part harmony on the chorus). Bit of a shame really, because I thought the song sounds tired and flat without Timbo on there. The guitar solo is also ommitted... though Eddie's synth is sounding more and more like a clean guitar as the years go by

Anyone else notice in What's the Matter With You that Neil tries to get Tim to do the What's the matter what's the matter what's the matter what'
s the matter with you bit at the end, but Tim obviously changes his mind at the last minute and Neil is left looking a bit of a fool trying to do it without him. Great look of 'concentration' on Tim's face as he stares at the neck of his guitar.

Joe
quote:
Originally posted by gryphon:
[qb]...sadly ABC/Countdown threw out/erased about 80% of their stuff many many years ago... though as so much cool Countdown stuff is gone forever[/qb]
Yes - very sad that the ABC have thrown away large amounts of timeless history, but they'd still have the VHS versions, right? I know material from VHS isn't as good as what usually gets put onto DVD, but earlier this year I taped the i983 Countdown Awards with Tim presenting a couple of awards & I also think he won 1 or 2 awards... I can't really remember, but it was really good quality (picture & audio wise), so what would be the main reason that kind of material couldn't make the DVD? (apart from the fact it was Tim solo). Just for the record, I probably don't know what I'm on about, but sureley the ABC converted all their Countdown material to VHS before they disposed of everything (???)... & a perfect "VHS quality" version of a live video can't be all bad & shouldn't have any reason to miss the DVD, especially when you compare that to other shonky material that sometimes makes DVDs (no, I'm not talking about the Split Enz DVD Smiler ).
Gawd no- they threw away about 90%, very little is ever kept on video.....they have one or two "video only" Enz copies but most of the Countdowns GTKS etc etc have all gone.
I think I have more VHS stuff and we are transfering it now but you can't really use it on DVD without major work...(refer to ten million previous posts), so no they didn't convert.... plus think of the time it would take to convert everything.....probably tensof thousands of hours...'83 Countdown awards exists as an original....plus that was more like later Countdown , its all the mid seventies etc that they have little of.
No such thing as a perfect VHS copy, its over 20+ years since the big throw away so even if they just had it on video it would be fading fast......(depending how it's stored). I did view pretty much everything they had...and a few were there Video Only copies and they were really bad...sound drop outs , patches of footage missing. It's so sad. To be honest we even worked on SHE GOT BODY a bit as it had about 5 seconds of snap crackle and pop in it..(yes I'm so technical)....but it worked out ok (7/10).... so imagine our joy when the two DVD projects are both Countdown connected artists (the other was Skyhooks)....
Anyway nuff said you get my drift....its just horrid because it's really TV History down the gurgler.....as well..not just Enz/Hooks.
Peter
quote:
Yes - very sad that the ABC have thrown away large amounts of timeless history, but they'd still have the VHS versions, right?
Oh, sorry, I couldn't help but laugh at that Smiler In a perfect world maybe. The BBC are even worse, the gaps in their archives are enormous. When you think of classic programmes like The Goon Show (radio), Doctor Who, Till Death Us Do Part, The Avengers, Not Only But Also, The Goodies, Dad's Army, Top Of The Pops etc.. are all very incomplete in their archives (most are missing for good) is it any surprise to learn that our own ABC isn't any better? For old material and B&W material, there was no need to keep it. No domestic VCRs, the BBC rarely repeat anything (unlike the ABC), and colour becoming the norm in 1970 meant that too much space was being taken up by old programmes. Solution: burn them. With Doctor WHo, the only B&W material that survives is whatever was telerecorded for overseas sales (which means transferred to 16mm B&W film) and survived or was missed by the junking orders. Very sad, as the junking at the BBC wound down in 1978, just as the domestic VCR took off, and the BBC realised what they's done, destroyed a huge ammount of their archive that could have been exploited for the domestic market.

Not Only But Also (famous sketch comedy programme by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore) is even wrose, out of three series, only about 4 or 5 complete programmes still exist, and these only survive as poor telerecordings because the director wanted a copy in the early seventies.

I was amazed that the BBC still have sight and sound, it's a fairly unknown New Zealand band from 1977 (let's be realistic here), so thank God that slipped the junking net.

Peter, on my copy of Sight and SOund Bold as Brass is a B&W Telerecording with considerable damage to the print, is this the only copy surviving, or do the BBC have a complete colour VT copy?

We should really be thankful that anything still exists for Split Enz, and that Peter has managed to get VHS copies of a lot that is long gone.

Joe
I don't wanna sound negative here but I like playing The Devil's Advocate Big Grin . If you compare the SE dvd against it's Australasian Top 20 chart competitors on the DVD market place like George, Something For Kate, Kasey Chambers, Silverchair & Regurgitator it does come up a tad bit weak.

The SFK DVD has about 40 separate clips of live and studio versions as seen here: http://www.hmv.com.au/v4/product/dvd.asp?sku=849776

The reason why I'm comparing these two bands is that Neil Finn is listed in the SFK website as a their favourite. Plus Split Enz ARE FAR MORE successful band than Something For Kate yet there DVD manages to be 4 hours in length and IMHO a far more superior and diverse track list on DVD compared to SE.

I don't wanna criticise the SE DVD. I'm sure a lot of hard work has gone in it. But my gut reaction is how can a less famous & commercially less successful band like SFK spawn a mighty list of tracks on 1 dvd?
Forgetting for the sake of the argument, of course, that every band you mentioned began in the last 15 years, has the advantage of 90s/00s technolgy, and is still extant and therefore probably having money thrown at their promotion, whereas the Enz DVD was done on a tight budget, original Split Enz material is at least 20 years old and was recorded on what is now inferior quality media.

Paul.
Nah "Who can it be " you seem to not understand the actual point around budgets.
It's a bit of a naive statement....
SFK and every single other band you mentioned are NEW bands. They have everything on digital, there are very little costs.
The cost of getting the Spellbound doco alone would be close to the cost of the whole George DVD. The reason I know this, the George DVD was done at the same time as ours by the same company....plus their manager is our old tour manager...anyway all they had to do was negotiate for the one special...all clips etc were already on sp beta.No main transfer costs, no colour grading etc...
Current bands do not have to transfer from
Umatic, 1" etc etc, they overall do not have to buy footage from areas like the BBC and the ABC- the cost is incredible....and all this has been talked about sooo many times before.
Go out into the market place and see what other Australasian DVDs there are from artists that cover the 70s and 80s and get back to me
the longer the time period goes back the more expensive it is......and there are few bands from this period who have releases.... simply because it costs a fortune to do.
I have the SFK DVD and its kinda dull...just my opinion, could also be why it's sold less then Split Enz. (:
Peter
Also, Something For Kate and george (note the lowercase "g") probably have every single show recorded for them & wouldn't have to buy old documentries or TV appearances for their DVDs, plus it would have to be a lot easier to produce & you probably wouldn't need to do as mch research as the Split Enz one.

george are probably the best band in Australia at the moment, by the way (IMO). Check them out! Go & buy all their singles, also!

Ok, ok... I now understand that you can't just copy material to a VHS like that, especially so many years ago... however, I thought ABC's clearout was more recent than 20 years ago Smiler .

One more thing... those 1983 Countdown Awards I saw & taped from Rage a while ago were actually the 1984 Countdown Awards from really early 1985 (maybe even Christmas 1984). Sorry about the mix up.

I'm just thinking that next time any given popular band does an interview or perfermance on any given TV show, they should demand they have full ownership of that part of the show or else they wont appear... so they can release the interview / song on their DVD without having to pay the owners royalties. Thoughts?
Yep S.G. was many years ago, I think a few of the Countdowns survived (the ones you see occasionally on Rage) because the producer grabbed them out of the dumpster and put as much in the boot of his cara s possible!!!!! The ABC would of kept most "event" type Countdown shows- Awards, the 10th anniversary show etc but compared to the hundreds of episodes not many exist.
A lot of tv stations wont hand over the performance rights, and there are always ten bands wanting that one spot on the show.....
so its a fine line....(and a bit of a stupid one).
The really early Enz Countdowns would of been great, our video stuff is in really bad shape but they were such great performances.
Peter
Maybe in a perfect world (before it really is too late and the footage in question is either destroyed or damaged beyond repair), the likes of the BBC would release their own DVD collection of Enz performances from 'Sight & Sound', 'Top Of The Pops' and 'The Old Grey Whistle Test', for example, amongst other BBC music shows that featured the Enz. I feel like these TV stations are taking the "dog-in-the-manger" approach to the footage they have in their archives. In other words, they aren't prepared to share much (or any) of something they have which is basically of no use or interest to them or their programming anymore. It's like a little child who is greedy and won't share. Kinda immature and pathetic, really...and a shame.
...so if any UK Frenz see someone wearing a balaclava, grappling Hook and carrying a large
split Enz road case it's only me breaking into the BBC and "borrowing" all the master copies of the footage that Gavin mentioned! (No I didn't visit the Van Gough Museum earlier).
I must say though, the BBC were incredibly efficient compared to most other TV stations, TV NZ were good too. One or two even let us have a few minutes for FREE (unheard of!!!). (:
When I first started both DVD projects I truely thought the old "better to make some money then none at all" would be appealing to these tv stations as far as buying footage. I was amazed at the amount of 'banging our heads against brick walls' that had to happen... especially with the ABC...who I used to like but probably not again. However life has a way of falling into the "what goes around comes around" and it will only be a matter of time before they need something from us and this elephant has a lonnnnnng memory! (: I have a lovely "wants" list that could be handy for future Enz projects. Mushroom were really good with this DVD and went beyond the call of duty especially budget wise, so I hope it keeps doing well (onya Dave!) for them too.
Gav's comparison to a greedy child is pretty close to being exact....for some of them.It is probably part of the reason why so few 70/80 Aussie acts have dvds available.
PG
quote:
I feel like these TV stations are taking the "dog-in-the-manger" approach to the footage they have in their archives. In other words, they aren't prepared to share much (or any) of something they have which is basically of no use or interest to them or their programming anymore.
I'd just like to say that I couldn't agree more with Gavin's comments.

I live in the Uk and I too have often wondered why the BBC don't release, and make money from, the material that they have. The Sight and Sound, Hammersmith and OGWT footage is all well known. Indeed the Hammersmith stuff is played from time to time on one of their digital radio stations. There are also a John Peel and DLT radio sessions still existing from late 70's?

There has been a programme of Cd releases from the BBC's session archives in recent times via the Strange Fruit label. I have emailed both them and the BBC to suggest Enz releases several times but with no reply! Perhaps a release via the fanclub if they are not sure about the market? Having said that there have been some releases by very obscure artists/bands which can't have sold many so I can't believe they are motivated entirely by sales Big Grin

As a Tv licence payer I feel strongly that the BBC should raise income from their archives Mad

I'll climb off my soapbox now.

Anyway it's been a great Enz year from my perspective, great DVD and an imminent webcast for those lucky enough to have the computer to view it.

Paul
Well, Gryph', I forsee some karma for those TV stations that wouldn't help you. It reminds me of the Little Red Rooster story we learnt at school as kids. But, sadly, it really seems like the BBC just doesn't know what a goldmine they're sitting on with the Enz footage they have. Just because the Enz weren't mega-stars (although we the fans know different), they don't seem interested in cashing in on a potentially lucrative market. There is widespread world interest in this material. Anyway, I hope one of their employees is reading this. RELEASE YOUR SPLIT ENZ ARCHIVES TO US, DAMMIT!!! We, the Kiwis and the Aussies got onto a good thing when the Enz were doing their thing. Yes, the majority of the rest of the world took a while to catch up. But when they did, they discovered what we Antipodeans had always known: "Wow! Split Enz rock!". Now, if only those pig-headed, arrogant, snobbish, idiotic corporate types at the likes of the BBC would just pull their heads out of their asses, so much the better.

P.S. Hey Peter. After watching the 'Spellbound' doco again, you have to agree that there's heaps of ideas for the next Enz DVD (if it eventuates). Look at the private Enz footage of them playing tennis and doing workouts, for example. Stuff like that would be great. I won't go into detail, but you know...
Chiming in a little late here but what really amazes me (even more than the fact that the ABC didn't archive their shows) is their refusal to make some money rather than none at all (to paraphrase Peter).

I don't know what the perfect price for it is but SOMEBODY there must realize that the value of this asset has a curved lifespan (like a Laffer curve if any of you are as dull as me Smiler ). We're probably in the maximum phase now and it's only gonna decline over time - how much demand do you really think there will be for a Split Enz video 50 years from now? With a decent budget from Mushroom and still pretty significant demand from the market, the footage was still too expensive to make it practical, as Peter has said. If I were them (ABC and the like), I'd be making the product affordable now and maximizing revenue. Shame on those that make these decisions. I don't think they serve their company well or their customers. So exactly how are they doing a good job I must wonder???
I purchased the Split Enz DVD and I've noticed some little bits of interest that others may not have picked up on.

With the video for Late Last Night, it appears some video wizardry was employed on this version which differs from the History Never Repeats version as it relates to the addition of some forties type black and white (or in this case brown) effects.

And in the discography for Second Thoughts, the audio sample of Walking Down A Road is the same as the Mental Notes version which should not have been the case.

Apart from that though all hats off to everyone involved.
Gav
yes I love the track suit/exercise stuff,,classic footage, and because itw as on Spellbound as you said we didnt use it as an Egg but its the perfect stuff for that.
John agree totally...plus the other way the tv stations can make money is that, the footage IS licensed per territory..so we currently have paid for it for Aust/NZ....so if the Enz DVd ever had a USA release the ABC etc would get money again, same for a European release etc.....between you me and the gatepost we Zone Free it so that fans in some areas could obtain it (UK etc)....but really if they were far fairer with the tv prices we could of made a better product and even had more footage.
I love of loved ALL of Site & Sound for example
but even what we got killed us $$ wise. I took a cut on the extras for my Fee (wavered them) just because I knew it would help with the odd extra cost. So it does pay to own your own footage.
I just want this first run to sell out , so we can head to the break even point, have that behind us and hope that one day a second Enz DVD will be released.....I think I will have to buy a few more copies for Xmas presents for people
Enjoy!
Peter
Epiphany!

The bottleneck in this process is that in the absence of sourcetape (can't remember what you guys in the industry refer to it as), the cost of transferring/upgrading VHS to DVD-ready quality it prohibitive. There must be a zillion peripheral bands out that there like the Enz that have pent up demand that is not currently $ practical to warrant the VHS-DVD transfer. All we need is for some bright spark to create the technology to minimize the cost of this process.

Unfortunately, I'm just the ideas guy. Hopefully the good people in R&D can come up with something good. And soon!! That could unlock all manner of gems - Old Grey Whistle Test, Wellington concert from 1979, etc.
What a wonderful DVD, simply one of the best in my collection!

Being in the UK, a good 85% of it I had never seen, so it was magical to watch from start to finish.

Split Enz for me has always been a band it has been hard to be a fan of.
Especially before the internet, finding out about what they were doing here
in England was like searching for a Dodo at times!
The Spellbound documentary told me everything I needed to know and didn't,
while it also showed the band develop their individual styles.

The live footage was wonderful, although I would love to see an entire show.
Strangely, having seen the original Sight & Sound broadcast in my youth,
the only memories that came back were their looks and movements and that
I now recall watching it in black & white!

The performance of Late Last Night was the song that made me rush out
and get the EP and then the albums, so to see it again was like finding
a friend after 25 years!

I personally think it has been very well put together, I like the menus
(and the egg teasers!) and the general layout.

I sincerely hope another DVD can be put together at some stage, but as an
archival record, they don't come any better than this! (Other bands take note!)

Once again I find myself regretting never having seen the band live
and should they ever 'Take A Walk' down under again, I think funds allowing,
I'll be on a plane over!

Thanks to everyone involved in the production of the DVD, you have filled a little gap in my life!

As a foot note for those ordering from overseas, it was ordered from HMV in
Australia and although it took over a month before they sent it, it did arrive in the UK less than a week later.
This is fantastic.

It took 3 days and cost � 11 with postage to get from Australia into my grubby little mitts - and I can't take the thing off !

WOW.

I am watching - American viewers - on the computer and it makes nooo difference to me at all right now. One day, like you - I will get the stuff to watch it on the TV and that will be a fine day when I have it pumping out in the living room.

But until then...

The Spellbound documentary is a BEAUTY. I've always thought that that documentary was the best thing to sum up all of Split Enz. Better than compilation albums, better than books - but that was 'til this DVD turned up.

This is the best overall record of Split Enz ever. By quite a long way. And it's only 11 quid with postage - get on the case and get it.

What an obscene amount of work has gone in here. There's no question of that - the thing is just quality overload. I can't believe it - was reading all the posts and thinking surely they haven't gotten all that on there. But they have and no complaints from here, this is so good.

So Spellbound is here and what a brilliant documentary. The sound and vision is just the business - Sam Neill, crystal clear picture interviews and everyone speaking openly - just great. My girlfriend is a total Noel lover now - she is amazed at how dismissed the costumes can (seemingly) be sometimes. Favourite gear for her seems to be Tims pink on Anniversary (quote - how did he do that, just how did he get that to flow) and the Black and Whites, the artist ones from True Colours and definitely the Enz With A Bang ones. Eeeks - that's almost all.

Bonus nerd point number 1 : THINGS IS ON DVD ! I think this is a big deal ! When I had Bitz - I *must* have had 50+ emails asking about a copy of this. Must have done. My copy is naff so I never bothered sending it out - it's great to scratch this one off the list. The song and video stand up in my book too.

Bonus nerd point number 2 : Know Your Kiwis. It cracks me up ! It's quick but I grin each time. Where else could it go except for being a hidden thingie ? I like little touches like that - and that's a good 'un.

Bonus nerd point number 3 : Lord Nord ! YAY ! Split Enz in 2000 and sounding MAGIC as far as I'm concerned. Typically adventurous. Typically a bit way out. And typically I love it ! Unreleased track - lovely. Shame it isn't longer but still - tis good, me like and (cough) I now seem to have it on a CDR Wink

So that's the hidden stuff - there is a chance that Abu Dhabi on the title music is a different recording ??? It's probably me, I haven't gone and checked back with the three (sheesh) versions of that one out there.. just sounded a bit different ? Probably not.

Enz With A Bang. GREAT STUFF ! Great. My terrible VHS version starts with Eddie cutting up that melon so all the stuff before that, including that terrific Six Months In A Leaky Boat, I had never seen or heard. Who can hear or have it all !? There is definitely plenty on this DVD for everyone.

Speaking of Enz With A Bang - I wonder just how many programs were broadcast at the time. Coz I've got stuff from THREE different broadcasts (all great performances but awful tv quality). So tapers of the recent NZ broadcast - gimme a nudge with what you have and let's get that one sorted. Great quality again on this, those occasional lines must be a fault of the filmers, can't be helped, my tape is just the same if not 10 times worse. And I don't really wanna go down the quality line here coz all this stuff is waay better than any of us could do. Miles better.

3 bits covered - love the menu. Don't have many DVDs but I do have that enormous Lord of the Rings extravaganza and the menus on the Enz DVD beat the ones on Lord of the Rings. So that will do me fine ! Love the background and the movement and selection - really cool. And the background loops seem to work much better than on any other music DVD I have. So that's good too.

Discography - great. A really good extra feature. Everything here is just history history - as many areas and years seem to have been covered marvellously. Sound samples a good move - we have them all anyway but maybe somebody in the world hasn't caught up yet and doesn't Wink

Pictures - oh I'm sick and I wish I had some of them. They are all great and no way had I seen more than 50% of them. Great stuff. All this material never seen properly before.

Posters - oh more sickness. As Spoons said - getting Enz stuff in England was impossible then. Took me over 2 months of looking EVERY DAY to get Waiata and I even knew (for once) that it was out. So for posters and pics - no chance. I'd never seen hardly any of these and some of those need to be reprinted. Great again.

Shark Attack Anniversary is BRILLIANT. Well done and big thumbs up for working something out here. I do hope something else can be done again with this stuff. Top stuff. Another thing nobody had seen etc.. Zzzz - almost getting bored with all this exclusive stuff hee hee

She Got Body Countdown - hadn't seen that either. Don't care that it's a mime - we didn't get Countdown in England - it looks as horrendous a program as some similar ones here so hats off to the band for tolerating a necessary evil.

Charley True Colours. OK ! Enough prick teasing now ! My copy of this so-called promo release with the extra songs is AWFUL in comparison. You just know that all the sound and picture here is as good as can be - this is miles better than the copy I have. Almost looks like a different gig and far more enjoyable. All this stuff makes a difference I think ! Let's see more from that gig as well please - most definitely - How Can I Resist Her. Crikey. But this is really good - watched it 4 times - blows me away.

Outback Tour - Ghost Girl appears on nothing and then when you hear it on this it's like - why doesn't it ? Too much quality ! It's GREAT ! Great again - blimey. Sadly not the greatest What's The Matter With You (Hammersmith anyone ?) but I love the song, 22 years old now and still singing it when it came on. Good enough for me.

Sight And Sound - Smiler Smiler

Worth every penny and definitely the best stuff picked for that one. Definitely. We only have True Colours once and never on video - and never has enough of a public meal been made out of the GLORIOUS Woman Who Loves You. 100% result here. Yet again - sound and picture just magic - this is 25 years ago groovers and look at them go. Miles ahead.

What a lot of stuff I've said and I haven't even got to what most people put out as a music DVD - the videos.

If it would 'just' have been the videos - all with better sound - and all remastered (the VHS does not compare no way anywhere to the DVD) - then surely we'd be giving 9/10. All the stuff above is bonus points and there's so so much.

The vids get at least 9/10 - 90 mins of brilliant songs sounding and looking as good as poss. All the other stuff, surely the DVD hits the 5 star or 10/10 level. Surely.

Jamboree, Things and Hermit are better songs and videos to me than I Dont Wanna Dance, Never Ceases and Next Exit. I dont like putting something on and thinking I may skip something - with those on it, I may have done.

Massive post. Massive release. Massive.

Best overall Enz thing ever. Captures all the years. Brilliant picture. Brilliant sound. And on it goes again - see ya later.
Re: Lozza's brilliant review --

Not sure I should clog up the forum with this, but I just wanted to say that your review of the Split Enz DVD was so incredibly enthusiastic and convincing, that I went and ordered myself a copy - even though I currently have no way of watching it! *laughs*

I just bought myself a DVD player a few months ago, but being in the US, it is of course NTSC only, and for some boneheaded reason I didn't stop to consider the whole multiregion aspect of things when I bought it.
*conks self in head*

I guess I'll worry about how to watch the DVD when it gets here. Wink I already spent some time today learning that no one I know around here has a DVD drive in their computer (nope - I don't have one of those either!).

So anyway, thanks for writing that amazing review - you certainly sold me! Not that I wasn't already sold, but you definitely pushed me over the edge. Not that I had too far to go. *laughs* Smiler And hopefully I'll be able to actually watch the thing before too many years have passed!
Joyce Darling!
I did the same thing, however, I knew my DVD/TV wouldn't play it. It gave me great impetus to get a new PC with a DVD drive. My ever-understanding wife didn't raise a stink when I dropped the dough for a new PC. She knows that I still cling to all things NZ and is very understanding.

Anyway - great DVD. Brings back memories of when I was growing up in Chch many years ago! What
a blast!

BTW: My first post - Hey everybody - Great site!
Lozza,

Loved your review, echoed my feelings exactly but you're far more eloquent than me Wink

I bought three copies in the end, just in case Wink

I love the bit at the end of True Colours from Sight and Sound when Tim has to let the audience now that the song has indeed ended! Also Eddie's expression at the same time. Woman with Noel on spoons also sublime.

Essential Purchase, everyone buy at least one, you know you'll be able to play it in the future, even if not now Wink

Who knows what future things will appear if this sells well?

Paul
Hi,
Well I'm a little stunned... as a DVD producer I don't usually get much feedback from punters about the stuff I produce so I thought I'd check out this site and see if u guys liked the Enz DVD. I'm a very happy gal.

This DVD took years off my life... literally... but was worth it. I was a huge Enz fan and fell off my chair when FMR suggested we do this title...hmmm imagine getting paid to sift through boxes of pictures, posters, tapes and scrunched up bits of film, and work out what to put on DVD?

Thanks so much for all your positive comments, much appreciated believe me. As for the person who said our menu designs were better than LOTR - big hugs to you. Will pass on to the designer. those menus were a big risk but we figured, hey it's a crazy band lets have crazy menus... glad you liked them.

To answer a question that has come up: no we didn't make Late Last Night sepia. we did a colour grade on all the video clips (mainly to restore contrast and saturation, and reduce video 'noise') but that one was already sepia in places. in some cases i had a few different versions of clips to choose from but the differences were purely technical (i.e. shall we have the one with the banding and streaks across the screen or the one with the spots and the blue line down the side???!!)- all broadcast versions of LLN I saw had the sepia touch i'm afraid.

yes we would all have loved more 'stuff' and personally i would have liked to do more restoration on the live and doco sections - pix and audio quality - but hey we did the best we could with what we had at the time... thank god for the cupboard under PG's stairs Smiler some people have harry potter under there, PG has old cans of rusty film with 'I See Red' on it!
cheers pete hope your holiday was good..

DJ
PS- some of you are scary. although having produced Wiggles DVD's, I can tell you their (adult, female!) fans are scarier. check out their message board sometime..
Go Lozza! (-: Think Mushroom should hire you to do the PR on the DVD!!!!! So happy you guys like this.
Really nice to have a Post from Di (DJ). Dianne played such a major part on both our DVD projects (Enz & Skyhooks) and I truely don't think they would of become what they are without her (and her teams) major efforts.
Plus I know she totally enjoyed climbing into all those boxes of bits and pieces from film to "fotos". Plus she became a good mate and we hope to work together on other stuff in the future.
I still remember saying "please remove that shot of Neil Finn in that bad jumper" off the menu area (: (and she did-PHEW!)....I think it would of meant my job if that one went up!!!!
Still waiting on Mushroom Australia to get back to us with sales figures (Mushroom NZ were so quick) so I haven't a clue how we are going as far as sales. The Enz DVD is viewed as a catalogue "long term" piece and we are sure Mushroom will get their $ back. My main goal is to keep the DVD in the stores and available for as longa s possible. I'd hate for the record company to sell a run or two and not have it available later on.That happened with our Enz True Colours Video and a year after release was so hard to find, and of course 1981 was the year that people in Australia started buying VCRS....so yes it could pay to stock up on a copy or two.
Anyway all good, and nice to see a Post from DJ. Holidays is great, away till Jan 22nd !!
Lunch when i return.
Gryphon.

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