Four years ago,
I reviewed Sheryl's
Rockin' The Globe Live
DVD and rather enjoyed it, the only track which didn't do it for me being her
first hit, All I Wanna Do, which she reportedly can't stand herself
but I guess every artist will have one of their own tracks that they're fed up
of performing even if the audience still want to hear it.
Now, with 2004 barely a month old we have a DVD release of her 2003 "C'Mon
America" concert. As the list below shows, she hasn't had many singles out
between her last DVD and this one, and so there's not much new material. Only
Soak up the Sun does it for me as a pop tune, but I really couldn't see
the point of Steve McQueen as it just didn't work and the cover of
The First Cut is the Deepest was very lacklustre.
For this new concert, all the songs are performed in a very traditional fashion,
leading to a totally unremarkable viewing, so if, like me, you're not too keen
on the recent material and you have the 1999 DVD then you may as well stick
with that. The only stand-out tracks for me here are Home, Leaving Las Vegas
and Strong Enough, making me wish she'd drop the poppy stuff as it doesn't
really suit her and she can actually excel in these more ethereal-sounding
tunes.
There's a couple of other important reasons not to rush out and buy
this disc either, but at least one of them isn't Sheryl's fault.
Her UK singles chart history to the end of 2003 is as follows :
Jun 94 No.66 Leaving Las Vegas
Nov 94 No. 4 All I Wanna Do
Feb 95 No.33 Strong Enough
May 95 No.33 Can't Cry Anymore
Jul 95 No.24 Run Baby Run
Nov 95 No.43 What I Can Do For You
Sep 96 No. 9 If It Makes You Happy
Nov 96 No.12 Everyday Is A Winding Road
Mar 97 No.22 Hard To Make A Stand
Jul 97 No. 8 A Change Would Do You Good
Oct 97 No.25 Home
Dec 97 No.12 Tomorrow Never Dies
Sep 98 No. 8 My Favourite Mistake
Dec 98 No.19 There Goes The Neighbourhood
Mar 99 No.19 Anything But Down
Sep 99 No.30 Sweet Child O' Mine
Apr 02 No.16 Soak Up the Sun
Jul 02 No.44 Steve McQueen
Nov 03 No.37 The First Cut is the Deepest
The track listing is as follows, but since there's an extra chapter at the
start for the credits you'll need to add one to the list below when making
your selection:
1. Steve McQueen
2. There Goes the Neighborhood
3. Riverwide
4. My Favourite Mistake
5. C'Mon, C'Mon
6. The First Cut is the Deepest
7. Strong Enough
8. Redemption Day
9. If It Makes You Happy
10. A Change Would Do You Good
11. Home
12. Weather Channel
13. Leaving Las Vegas
14. All I Wanna Do
15. Soak up the Sun
16. Everyday is a Winding Road
17. You're an Original
18. Let's Get Free
19. I Shall Believe
20. Safe and Sound
21. Rock N Roll
Ok, now for the first of the disc's two problems, this one of which is not
La Crow's fault. While the disc is presented in 16:9 widescreen, it's not
anamorphic. This is the sort of thing we might have expected - yet detested -
when DVDs first came out but nearly six years on from their first introduction
on these shores in April 1998 and it shouldn't be allowed any more. The print
itself is clean, but it still doesn't stop me from declaring: Shame on
you, Universal.
Sound quality's perfectly fine, though, coming across exactly as it should
be, and with a Dolby Digital 5.1 option although while this will be clearer
than standard stereo there's no split-surround effects here.
And onto this disc's second problem - no extras. You can't go on tour for
several months and have nothing to say, surely? There's some 'setting up of
the stage' footage during Riverwide in place of a live performance
but I certainly wouldn't class that as an extra. There were no extras on
Rockin' The Globe Live
either.
Nothing much else to say except that the menus are basic and functional with
some music from the concert, and sadly there's no subtitles for lyrics. Why?
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
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