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This DVD:

Cert:

Cat.no: WNRD2399

Running time: 39 minutes

Year: 1986

Pressing: 2006

Region(s): All, PAL

Sound: Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Fullscreen: 4:3

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £12.99

Extras: Interview

Back in 1986, one of my favourite years for music, Cutting Crew emerged on to the pop scene, front by the oddly-named Nick van Eede and a group of guys with similarly strange mulleted hairstyles that couldn't have been from any other era.

They reached No.4 in August with (I Just) Died in Your Arms, a massive radio hit also, but the problem with that is that when a band tries to release a follow-up single it tends to get ignored as they're still wrapped up with the first one. Hence, I Just Died In Your Arms' release didn't translate into single sales, only reaching No.31 and a remix, a year later, struggled a bit further to No.24.

That's a great shame as one of my favourite albums was their debut release, Broadcast, one of those hidden gems I bought from Music Zone on Princes Street in Stockport on cassette for just £2.99 and played until it almost snapped. In fact, 10 years later I was still listening to it and now I've put this DVD on I should really think about getting the CD at a bargain price as the tracks from it still sound as fresh as ever and they take me back to a simpler time when I was just 14.

Watching this DVD, filmed at Knopf's Music Hall in Hamburg on January 31st 1987, I can appreciate the intricate melodies as songs follow a general conventional path but skew off into unexpected lines very briefly as three men on guitars plus keyboards and drums work in perfect harmony. It's worth noting that the music and vocals don't always come across as even and clear-cut on this DVD as they do on the album, but then this was most likely an early live performance for them as at one point Nick says it's their first gig in Europe.

Either way, albeit a short set this does showcase a good selection of their slow tunes, Died In Your Arms, I've Been In Love Before, Sahara and their rockier ones, Any Colour, a fantastic opener to their debut album, Fear of Falling and one to air-guitar to, One For The Mocking Bird which, if it did get a release over here, didn't even make the Top 75. Bah, the UK single-buying public had no bloody taste back then.... (nor, now!)

With a band line-up that hails from both the UK and Canada, had the radio stations and UK music scene given them a chance, Cutting Crew should've been the next 'A-Ha' in terms of popularity. One of the most underrated bands of the '80s, they certainly had the mesmerising tunes as well as the hairstyles.

Broadcast (1986)	The Best Of Cutting Crew (2003)	Grinning Souls (2006)

The picture, presented in 4:3 fullscreen, is not the best. It's colourful but close-up shots can be a bit jerky and long shots make you feel more like you're watching a Video cD. Yes, I know it's a 20-year-old concert but a bit of remastering wouldn't have gone amiss.

The sound is in both Dolby Surround and Dolby Digital 5.1. Clearly it certainly wasn't originally recorded in the latter, and what it tends to do is copy most of the front output into the rear speakers so that it literally echoes around the room. It's probably more palatable to go for the former option which keeps the music at the front and has some crowd noises behind you in the surround channel as that'd be more reflective of what it's like to be at the gig.

The menu features a looped piece of an instrumental from Fear of Falling which, just as it's about to get going back into the meat of the song.... doesn't, and just loops round again. This gets very annoying after a while if you leave the menu playing.

There's one chapter per track, which is spot-on, with separate menus giving you the option of either the straight-forward 'Track Selection' and a stylish 'Individual Playlists' menu that lets you choose the tracks you want to hear and their order. Just select and press 'Play'.

Extras are few and far between on this DVD, alas. In fact, it's just a 5-minute interview with Nick van Eede and guitarist Kevin Scott Macmichael, hosted by Full House Rock Show's curiously named Alan Bangs. On the one hand, full marks must go for giving a whacking 9 chapters to it during that short piece, given the number of DVDs out there where you get, say, a whole hour-long documentary about a film which doesn't have *any* chapter points to break it up.

On the other hand, Nick and Kevin's interview has stupidly been dubbed over in German for its target audience, even if English subtitles are an option. Surely they could've got a clean version of the audio for an alternate version of the interview?

Oh, and I can see *why* they would like to close the set on Died In Your Arms, but I would like to have seen them do the title track of Broadcast as it was an absolute corker of a finale to that album.

Overall, as great as the music is on this disc, the briefness of it and the lack of decent extras makes it one for the die-hard fans only.

The full list of tracks included are :

1. Intro - Alan Bangs 2. Any Colour 3. Fear of Falling 4. Sahara 5. One For The Mocking Bird 6. I've Been In Love Before 7. Instrumental Solo 8. I Just Died In Your Arms

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2006.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: