Customer Reviews:
Superb.......2006-01-09
I can only endorse the positives above with the slightly peevish reservation that SG's superb performance in the Whitney Houston interview is not reproduced (his auction purchase of the rights to Aux armes ... is great though).
Also, tragically, no promotional film seems to have been made for Je T'aime (but '69 Annee Erotique' is gorgeous).
There are treats aplenty here though. All the B&W versions of the stunning 'La Javanaise', the brilliant Karena, Bardot and Birkin collaborations ... the whole ludicrous glory of the Melody Nelson suite shot in video (people always make me rewind to the bit where SG reveals Melody is from 'Soonderland' - ?????). It's such a treat and a real grower.
The evolution of SG's lip synching style alone is worth the £££. And how many 'tabs' can a man smoke in a 2 DVD set?
Great music and in my experience non-SG fans and sceptics are won over v quickly indeed, particularly if you hook your DVD up to a powerful stereo rig and let rip.
Great footage but a missed opportunity.......2005-08-25
First of all, this is a treat for Gainsbourg fans, and the tv interviews are especially revealing... plus they are subtitled in English.
However I do feel that Universal / Mercury have missed an opportunity by not including subtitles for the songs. Only having a very basic grasp of French I cannot make much sense of Gainsbourg's lyrics when listening to the songs, and have previously spent time searching out translations on the net. With this DVD they could have truly advanced our understanding of Gainsbourg's artistry outside of French speaking countries by subtitling the songs. Whilst it would be impossible to fully translate all of the nuances and quirks of language that Gainsbourg uses, but at least we would have a clue.
This isn't so much of a problem with the songs up to his masterpiece L'Histoire du Melody Nelson , which are musically ingenious enough to hold the attention, but as Serge progress into the 1970's and 80's, and the reggae-lite, cheesy synths and wooden drum programming take over there isn't much to hold onto unless you know what he's going on about.
As it stands this is an indespensible purchase, but with a little extra effort this could have been the definitve introduction to a musical genius.
brilliant.......2005-08-12
bought this now, and i cant understand why i stalled. it is incredible. everything you could ever want. 50's-80's. OK the very early and very late stuff aint quite my cup of tea but it is worth seeing. it really comes into its own for the 60'-70's (of which there are a good 40 tracks). bardot and birkin are in abundance. but the real highlight is the full video clips and interview from melody nelson LP. very kitcshe and groovy.
other highlights are requiem pour un con and bonnie & clyde.
if you have any interest in serge at all then you should have this (yesterday!).
Je T'aime!!.......2005-07-30
I got this DVD a couple of days ago and I just can put into words how amazing it is! There's two DVDs with hours and hours of material. Everything's included - early performances, interviews, and duets with Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin and SO MUCH MORE!
I can't stress how incredible this package is. It's even got material here that I've never seen before like the full version of "Histoire de Melody Nelson"
If you already like Serge G it's a no-brainer - you've got to get this. If you don't know Serge yet then buy this and find out why this funny looking man was one of the greatest singer-songwriters and entertainers of the 20th century.
cest formidable.......2005-07-07
i want this,
is it in english (or even english subtitles???)
Customer Reviews:
Such a lazy compilation.......2008-02-21
I'm totally shocked by the quality of this dvd compilation, nearly every track is wildly out of sync, its seems like they made absolutely no effort to sync his lips with the actual tracks he's singing on, sometimes the audio seems to be a good couple of seconds after the video! Some tracks are even in the wrong aspect ratio, distorting the image. It's incredibly irritating!
I hope they release a new version with these problems rectified, its a pretty basic editing task, there is no reason why such a simple thing couldn't be rectified.
Such a disappointment!
Disappointing.......2007-04-28
According to the notes on the back cover, this set contains "a selection of footage chosen for its artistic quality, emotional charge and unique nature". However, that doesn't explain why there's no Je T'aime, and why instead there are countless TV show clips of Serge boredly smoking and lip-synching to his latest record...
Worst of all there's the clip for Love On The Beat... This features Serge yet again boredly smoking and lip-synching to his latest record, but this time the interminable 8 minute 'performance' is punctuated by a succession of topless dancers parading past a leering Serge. I suppose this could qualify as 'unique', as in 'uniquely grotesque' but I'd be reluctant to describe it as 'artistic' or 'emotional' (unless ennui is an emotion).
Thankfully, the brilliant clip of Bonnie & Clyde from Brigitte Bardot's TV show and the complete Melody Nelson video, just about justify this set's existence.
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