I am watching the Sade Lovers Live DVD which is clocked at almost 2 hours. I have loved her from her very first record. I am old enough to remember buying it while in college. While I dont love her as much as Prince and I was in attendence at the one of the shows used on the DVD, I am finding the 2 hours is too much to sit through at once.

The length of Prince's latest DVD was probably made with the broader non-hardcore NPGMC viewers in mind. If it wasnt, I would imagine that it would have only been released to NPGMC members; nor all the websites and stores. The average viewers would not want to sit thtrough 2 hours of Prince unless he was their favorite artist. I made it through all 7 days of Xenophobia and still wanted more so you know which side of the fence I am on.

I think the fact that the DVD still works amidst all the cryng over the quality and running time shows that overall it is a good disc of Prince doing his thing onstage - Prince live just cant be beat. Who else can rip your ass up on guitar like WHole Lotta Love and then give you something as sweet and tender as Sometines it Snows in April all in te same show?
[This message was edited Sun Sep 7 6:40:44 PDT 2003 by LaMont]

Dude don't you have anything better to do then start thread after thread after post after post defending that crappy DVD?

I will sit back and wait for your witty comeback about my mother or whatever

lovemachine said:

Dont need a witty comeback when you obviously are not smart enough to counter the point that I made.

LaMont said:

If your point is that 2 hours is to long to sit through at one time I will say I completely disagree. If I like the artist I say the longer the better because there is no law I have to watch the entire DVD in one sitting.

Also, because of the very nature of DVD I often find myself skipping through the songs I REALLY like to watch much as you would on a cd. The problem with the Prince DVD is that for some reason the editor decided to put those LAME still pictures at the beginning of each track instead of the end, which would be the norm, so I have to sit through the pictures over-and-over again.

I can't imagine that I will watch this DVD more then I watched other poorly filmed boots such as Mill City.

lovemachine said:

It's really a sad state that we are forced to compare an OFFICIAL release with crap quality bootleg releases (which still come out as the winner BTW)... It's "Crystall Ball" all over again...

Neversin.

There is no reason at all for a DVD from someone who has been around as long as Prince to not contain the entire concert. There's also no reason to not do the DVD in 5.1 sound.

There's something seriously wrong if you think a longer DVD from Prince would bore people. To see how a live DVD should be done - check out the Bee Gees One Night Only.

[b]Did it ever just occur to anyone that the real reason they didn't inlcude more of the 2 1/2 hour show is because they didn't have usable video footage of the entire show?

Most of the 80 assembled minutes is missing close ups and quality planned shots of solos, etc. When they solo Maceo once, they don't even have a good shot of him, just a wider angle with him hanging on the edge of the shot.

I'm guessing they put together what they could from a poorly shot and poorly produced amatuer video crew.

Positivity Y'All!!!

Great point wiz, wouldn't surprise me one bit.

LaMont said:

Uh, I think Led Zeppelin could have managed Whole Lotta Love. Don't you?

Of course, maybe they'd have followed Whole Lotta Love with Going to California or That's The Way.

If not Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant on any solo tour could do just as well, with or without Jimmy Page.

wizong2001 said:

If the source material was poor, how hard would it be to just do another concert to get more footage?

Also, how does that explain 2.0 only sound? And it appears the DVD is not enhanced for widescreen televisions either.
[This message was edited Sun Sep 7 13:27:32 PDT 2003 by alandail]

alandail said:

When he played virtually the same ONA show two times at the 2002 Celebration they explained that they did it so they could tape the show. What happened to these tapes? Filling in the missing material with the Celebration show would have made a GREAT bonus.

.
[This message was edited Sun Sep 7 14:12:54 PDT 2003 by lovemachine]

LaMont said:

Why are you trying to justify the short time legnth and cutting of other stellar performance material. Come on now...

LaMont said:

How would you know? I have had many "average viewer" friends and family who were blown away by the SOTT and Lovesexy Live video's. I bet they would be able to sit through a 2 hour ONA show.

alandail said:

yeah, there is something seriously wrong with lamont.

Abrazo said:

Well, my less intellgent friends, the theory is that the longer running time was not the drawback that many people claimed because most people wouldnt care about have a longer show if they were only casual listeners of Prince. He isnt out there in the marketing machine so the interest level FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC is not what it once was. If you believe it is the same as it was when Prince was on the charts, I would submit that there is something wrong with you. I would love a 4 hours release from Prince - but I am a hard core fan that was buying his records when you were still swimming around in your daddy's nutsack. The majority of DVD buyers simply are not as interested in Prince as a the hard core fan who would want 2 hours.

LaMont said:

Bullshit. If this was the case an 80 minute DVD (actually around 65 if you take out the credits and stills) would be the norm. Stop defending every move Prince makes as he already told me that he will not suck your dick as he does not think of you like that.

Oh also you are forgetting that people have to buy the DVD before they can even get around to watching it to be bored by the 3 hour show. Do you actually think that there are people who would be on the way to the checkout lane at Best Buy and notice that the DVD is 3 hours long and decide they are not that interested in Prince? Who is the non-intelligent person in your scenerio again?


.
[This message was edited Sun Sep 7 17:32:45 PDT 2003 by lovemachine]

LaMont said:

exactly who do you think is buying the DVD besides the hard core fans? Do you honestly think that stripping out better known songs like Adore, Nothing Compares 2 U, Raspberry Beret, I Wanna B Ur Lover, Diamonds and Pearls, the Beautiful Ones makes the DVD more appealing to the casual fan?

And if your comment about how long you've been buying was aimed at me, you're way off base. I'm not some new fan - I've bought every single thing he's released since Purple Rain, including rare stuff like the two madhouse CDs. Prince the musician is brilliant, Prince the businessman/marketer leaves much to be desired. I wish he'd just hire someone to take over the business/marketing end and pay them enough to do it right.

There really is no excuse for the lack of 5.1 sound, the lack of dts sound, and the cutting of the concert. The Prince that released music under WB would have been livid had WB had done the shoddy job of promoting his music that Prince does himself.

That dvd is a boring piece of jack off, just like all of his
other video's. Need I remind you of 3COG or The Undertaker??

I'd say, stop complaining about the length of the DVD and be
thankful for it's merciful brevity.

For an artist of Prince's magnitude, this whole release is a
piece of utter shite. Let's be honest here.

The menu sucks, the choice of songs is horrible the show is
boring, not exciting and shot in a bad way. The editing is
pretty lousy and the way the credits play over one of the
few nice performances [yet only 1/3 of the song once again]
on the DVD.

Whatever kind of point Prince might want to make, this DVD
is not up to his former self's quality control.

Wether you intend a release for mass consumption or just
for a hardcore militant fambase, you always put your best
foot forward. Prince just put his foot in it this time.

Why is that so difficult to admit?

Abrazo said:

As if anyone other than those who consider Prince their favorite artist would actually buy this DVD. This sub par release is clearly drivel for the diehards and the diehards alone.

doomboogie said:

Then that would be the reason why the quality and length of the DVD is so sub par...
(btw, my point wasn't that causal listeners would buy it, but that they would be able to sit through it.)

IstenSzek said:

I am afraid I have to agree with you... I am so pleased it is only 80 mins and of those 80 I only watched 45 so far. Don't think I will bother going back in.

Looking forward to the 5 hours set DVD of Led Zeppelin live 71/72... I will get me Whole Lotta Love on that set!

doomboogie said:

For evidence you can watch the 2 DISC ZEPPELIN DVD released afew months back. That sucker clocks in at around 4 or 5 hours, has bonus interviews and such, and looks and sounds beautiful even though it was shot 25 years ago. I'm still not tired of it.

Cost me about $25 too.
[This message was edited Mon Sep 8 15:31:56 PDT 2003 by herb4]

herb4 said:

Neither am I. And I got it for $17.99

Abrazo said:

Oh be honest, if Prince was registering anything more than a blip on the culture radar, he'd have seen to it that this DVD wasn't the miserable bit of excrement that it is. There'd have been some hit songs, the quality would have been better, it'd have been a full show. It'd have been well-produced. It is none of these things. At one point, Prince was a major musical talent with a lot to offer...people were anxious to hear his music. Now, there are a select few of you that he's feeding this garbage and you sit there with your mouths wide open begging for it, ignoring the fact that it's grown stale and lacks the nourishment it once had.

Casual listeners wouldn't do any better with this DVD than they did with TRC. Unless they're intent on watching the falling apart of a once-talented artist.

doomboogie said:

That's exactly my point!

And why call this Live at the Aladdin in Las Vegas, when it's only a portion of the show? It's not a true reflection of what attendees of that show saw when half the show is missing. Why not release what the ONA tour looked like drawing from a variety of venues...like the CD?? Sure, it would have messed up continuity a little bit as far as what Prince might be wearing on the stage, but that would have been a small price to pay in exchange for a release of higher quality.

LaMont said:

But presumably Prince also believed they'd happily sit listening to 3 hours worth of material from the same tour when he released the box set to the same general public?

This theory simply comes across as a weak attempt to defend a flaw in the release.

Personally, I enjoy the DVD, I've watched it through 3 times and I know I'll watch it again. However, I can see and hear that it could have been done more professionally.