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    Ballads Never Looked So Good
    Sony Music Video/Sony BMG . R4 . COLOR . 82 mins . E . PAL

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    Contract

    Ah, the ballad, designed to tug at the old heartstrings and make people go all squooshy inside, and many a chartbuster has come in the shape of such a beast.

    Here a selection of the sweet (Cyndi Lauper’s Twue Cowors), the soulful (The Chimes’ cover of U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For) and the tasteful (Monique Brumby’s sweet The Change in Me)
    Click here to enlarge and send to a friend
    Celine Dion pictured in safe mode...
    share time with the bizarre (Munchener Freiheit’s Keeping the Dream Alive, disembodied clip and all), the comical (Bad English wailing through When I See You Smile (which we might suggest would only be after a serious bout of hairdressing)) and the downright overwrought (Celine Dion’s histrionic assault on The Power of Love) in what is a peculiarly compiled affair that takes a somewhat lottery-like approach to delving into the massive Sony Music archives.

    Sadly the chance for some much needed variety and credibility is overlooked - the likes of Oasis’ Wonderwall or Travis’ Why Does it Always Rain on Me? pop to mind just for starters - and little in the way of classics, or even memorable hits for that matter, are on offer. This leaves many an obscure choice taking up disc space, which can only raise questions as to the brief for the compilation of Ballads Never Looked So Good – I’ll admit it, personally I think Toto suck harder than my Dyson, however surely any ballad-loving punter would rather clap ears upon their smash Africa rather than the little known Georgy Porgy? Would anybody be worse off for never hearing Shazza O’Neil’s Maybe again (if indeed they ever heard it in the first place)? Does anybody even remember Rick Price, let alone want to relive him? Still, at least somebody had a sense of humour; the disc does come to its conclusion with Air Supply’s Love and Other Bruises. What’s truly disturbing is that it’s actually one of the few classic ballads that’s on offer here.

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    Contract

    As with previous releases in this deceptively named Never Looked So Good series, vision is all over the place depending upon the age of the various sources. The usual culprits are out in force at various times; grain, speckles and blobs, whilst colour goes on a trip between being decently saturated on newer clips, to delivering that dated, washed-out, somewhat fuzzy look that will be quite familiar to anybody who grew up watching shows like Countdown and Sounds on others.

    Audio has a better time of things, seemingly being re-dubbed from decent sources without causing anything major in the way of synch issues – after all, most clips are mimed and some poppets are better at it than others. It’s only in Dolby Digital stereo, but this delivers what is close to CD quality sound, and should satisfy most who venture into a pact with this particular disc.

    Nothing in the way of extra bits and bobs has been included; it’s just ballads and 20 of them.

    Ultimately, DVD music compilations are a fabulous idea, however so is putting a little thought into their assembly. At the end of the day that simply hasn't happened here.


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=2997
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  •   And I quote...
    "Little in the way of classics, or even memorable hits for that matter, are on offer…"
    - Amy Flower
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Pioneer DV-535
    • TV:
          Sony 68cm
    • Receiver:
          Onkyo TX-DS494
    • Speakers:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse RBS662
    • Centre Speaker:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse ECC442
    • Surrounds:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse ECR042
    • Subwoofer:
          DTX Digital 4.8
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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