When I bought Purple Rain in 1997, it was my first DVD, and I didn't realize how poor the video quality was until I'd bought a few DVDs that were actually remastered.

Since then I've bought a HDTV and um... well... after 892 dvds, the Aladdin DVD is the worst picture quality I have seen yet on DVD.

It looks like Prince had created it for a much smaller screen (aka downloads only) but then decided he could make a lot more money selling it on DVD.

The audio quality? Again... disappointing. I won't quite say awful, because it's Prince.

Apparently either Prince has no money to produce a quality DVD, or hasn't watched any music DVDs recently.

Oh, and what a fucking hypocrite. Prince won't work with WB artists? But he'll cover "Whole Lotta Love" and pay WB for the rights to have it on his DVD? Too funny. (That alone is worth the price of the DVD, btw.) However, the version of "Whole Lotta Love" sucks compared to the version he did at the celebration...

P.S. Thanks Prince for showing us how much better the 93-96 NPG band was better than the current line-up. You can really tell during "The Ride." Oh well... maybe someday you'll give us "Stars & Bars" on DVD. As if...

suomynona said:

Compared to the superb, totally unrestrained show I witnessed last October in Frankfurt/Germany, this DVD is lame. The impression that at least I should be happy about Prince putting out such a DVD doesn't change the fact that its quality is quite poor. But in contrary to your opinion, I don't think it has something to do with the current line-up, but far more with Prince's behavior in front of cameras once they are rolling (or just video taping) - he doesn't let himself go anymore, and ultimately fails while trying to deliver a "perfect" performance instead of thinking 'Hey, I've got nothing to loose - let's go crazy!'... Just my two cents.

Then of course it doesn't help to edit a whole concert down to 80 minutes (the outside of the DVD packaging doesn't inform you about the running time - guess why...?) of 14 tracks that seem to stand for their own, only connected by still photographs (of the "New Translation of the Holy Scripture" for example) or even blank screens (!) while you hear applause overdubbing coming out of your stereo speakers.

Speaking of sound: Direct to DAT is not the answer! Dolby Digital 2.0 - are you kidding? Never heard of DTS 5.1? Hello 'sound engineers'?! - Could you please inform your employer about the standard formats in which the sound normally reaches the ears of DVD customers nowadays?

Would you mind to contact the Steely Dan crew for more info on the subject, please? Or why not just start listening to the "Two Against Nature"-DVD to hear the difference? Or any other proper Music-DVD released these days?

Even as an amateur I can tell that recording each channel separately (with mobile HD-recording equipment the Prince camp should be able to afford) and letting the surround mixing be done by industry professionals (who could even reproduce the environmental sound of the concert location by the way) would be better than directly recording the stereo mixdown with a DAT device...

To the people defending the sound of this DVD: Even in stereo you can tell the difference - just listen to the sound of the NPGMC ad contained on the DVD, and compare that stereo to the stereo of the concert footage. Hear?

I can live with the sub-standard picture quality though. But next time Prince is referring to "The Teacher", it'd be fine if Mr Parker was actually being shown playing, and if so - fully within the frame.

The tracking: It lists "Sometimes It Snows In April" as last track. The truth: The last regular track should be called "Credits", with "Sometimes..." playing above in what seems to me the size of 1/6 of the screen.

Concerning the packaging: The cover is fine with me, but the picture of Nikka Costa on the back - how cheap is that?

The end of the Bonus Track: "To secure the rights for future experience: Join the NPG music club now!" No, thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Anachronist
[This message was edited Tue Aug 26 4:53:36 PDT 2003 by Anachronist]
[This message was edited Tue Aug 26 4:54:39 PDT 2003 by Anachronist]