Distributed by

Cat.no: 501959

Cert: E

Running time: 74 minutes

Year: 1999

Pressing: 2000

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 16

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Stereo

Languages: English

Subtitles: None

Presented in Fullscreen

16:9-enhanced: No

Macrovision: No

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Biography, "Heartbreaker" (remix) video

Mariah Carey: #1's is, as the title suggests, a video compilation to accompany her successful greatest hits album.

Rather than just release a standard album full of all her singles, this release covers most of the ground by taking in a staggering number of 14 No.1 hit singles throughout the past ten years of her career.

From the soft, lilting tones of My All, through the adaptation of the Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love in Fantasy - with an identical "I'm in hea-ven, with my boyfriend, my lovely boyfriend", etc., the poppy Emotions and Dreamlover, that first hit Vision of Love, to the James Bond-esque video for Honey, this is sure to please any Mariah fan.

Surprisingly her Nilsson cover version, Without You, is not included although it was her only UK No.1 hit to date, nor is my favourite Mariah track, Anytime You Need a Friend.

Before I move on, what on earth possessed Mariah to team up with that dopey arse "rapper", Ol' Dirty Bastard, here known as O.D.B., to ramble complete bobbins over the top of a remixed Fantasy ? It's one of those moments that add absolutely NOTHING to a song and yet remove everything it ever had!

He just sits there shouting "Japan, are you in the house? New York are you in the house? Everybody are you in the house?" Of course I'm in my fucking house - where do you think I'm watching this DVD?!

Her singles chart history in the UK to March 2000 is as follows :

Aug 90	No. 8	Vision of Love
Nov 90	No.37	Love Takes Time
Jan 91	No.38	Someday
Jun 91	No.54	There's Got To Be A Way
Oct 91	No.17	Emotions
Jan 92	No.20	Can't Let Go
Apr 92	No.17	Make It Happen
Jun 92	No. 2	I'll Be There
Aug 93	No. 9	Dreamlover
Nov 93	No. 7	Hero
Feb 94	No. 1	Without You
Jun 94	No. 8	Anytime You Need a Friend
Sep 94	No. 3	Endless Love
Dec 94	No. 2	All I Want For Christmas Is You
Sep 95	No. 4	Fantasy
Dec 95	No. 6	One Sweet Day
Feb 96	No. 4	Open Arms
Jun 96	No. 3	Always Be My Baby
Sep 97	No. 3	Honey
Dec 97	No.22	Butterfly
Jun 98	No. 4	My All
Apr 99	No.16	I Still Believe
Nov 99	No. 5	Heartbreaker
Sep 94	No. 3	Endless Love
Mar 00	No.10	Thank God I've Found You

There's no trace of artifacts and the picture quality is excellent, with an average bitrate of 7.24Mb/s. Given that most of the videos are in fullscreen, the disc is obviously not anamorphic.

The sound comes across without a hitch, booming out with the bass beats of Honey, while retaining the subtle tones of Hero. There are options for Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1.

Extras etc. :

Chapters :

There are 16 chapters, one for each song as well as the intro sequence and end credits. Four promo videos are available under the "Special Features" menu. The track listing is as follows :

1. Programme Start

2. Heartbreaker (featuring Jay-Z)

3. My All

4. Honey

5. Always Be My Baby

6. One Sweet Day (featuring Boyz II Men)

7. Fantasy (featuring O.D.B.)

8. Hero

9. Dreamlover

10. I'll Be There (featuring Trey Lorenz)

11. Emotions

12. I Don't Wanna Cry

13. Someday

14. Love Takes Time

15. Vision of Love

16. End credits

Languages/Subtitles :

All the songs are sung in English, with lyrics available in English, French and Spanish. The extras are not part of main feature so you cannot use the usual functions such as lyrics, sound selection and bookmarks.

Biography and "Heartbreaker" remix video :

The former is quite comprehensive catalogue of Mariah's activities over the past decade, while the latter is a new version of the track, this time featuring Da Beat and Missy Elliot.

Menu :

The main menu is static and silent, but has a classy look to it.

Overall, by only including the hits that topped the charts in the U.S., they're still missing out some that appear to have done better over here. Hence, I'd have preferred to have seen a complete collection of her singles on one disc, rather than just what is essentially, "The Best Mariah Carey DVD in the world... ever" (!).

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.