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05/21/2007
Country Round Up. DVD.
Following on from my new found love of Contemporary Country music (well, over a year now) I've been buying up various music DVD's. Rather than do seperate reviews I thought I'd just lump them all together in one Country Round Up. Yeeha!
First off, a good DVD to mention is Today's Best Country Music. featuring 10 tracks by various artists, that I will list for you:
Six-Pack Summer: Phil Vassar
How Forever Feels: Kenny Chesney
One More Day: Diamond Rio
Born To Fly: Sara Evans
Everything's Changed: Lonestar
Guys Do It All The Time: Mindy McCready
Just Let Me Be In Love: Tracy Byrd
Complicated: Carolyn Dawn Johnson
He Didn't Have To Be: Brad Paisley
You Wont Ever Be Lonely: Andy Griggs
A few things worth mentioning from this list. First, Tracy Byrd, is a bloke. No, really!
Second, other than Tracy, Andy Griggs and Phil Vassar I ended up buying albums from all the other artists. Lonestar and Brad Paisley, I'll go into later.
Another thing worth mentioning is how different these videos are to your average MTV nonsense. These guys and gals are'nt interested in being the next sexy star, poncing around in underwear, rather they're interested in telling stories and having fun. In fact that seems to be the overriding factor with this genre. Stories and fun.
OK, on to some other DVD's.
Brad Paisley The Video Collection 2006.
After seeing Brad's song He Didn't Have To Be above, it was clear he's a cut above average. This is a guy that can very easily engage you with some very emotional songs, and then have you grinning with his sense of humour.
Tracks worth noting:
Did you know Brad hosts a Bass fishing tournament? Well he does, and one song focuses on his girlfriends dislike of all his time out on the lake. He has to choose between her or the fish. The song is called "I'm Gonna Miss Her", also featuring Jerry Springer.
When I Get Where I'm Going. Featuring Dolly Parton. She's only in the video for a second, but wow, she looks good for her age! I reckon anyone who sees this video and hears the song will think, I want this song playing when I go.
Whiskey Lullaby featuring Alison Krauss. An outstanding duet. Featured on Alison's album A Hundred Miles or More. A heartbreaking story in the aftermath of WW2.
Lonestar Greatest Video Hits
After seeing Lonestar's video Everything's Changed, you again realise this is another very accomplished group. A very successful band, it's quite a surprise to hear their lyrics and see their videos and realise this is a group with family very much at the heart of what they do.
Although you only get 6 tracks on this video (for a very cheap price mind you), not one is a filler. All of them are genuine hits. Starting with Amazed, the song that made the band famous. Also of note are My Front Porch looking In, if your not singing this by the end get your money back. Not A Day, which was dedicated to the US soldiers in Iraq and was adopted by them as their song.
A superb group. I did read that the lead singer is due to move on and go solo, this will be a big loss if true to a wonderful group.
Shania Twain The Platinum Collection
By far the most disappointing DVD here. Which is a shame when you thing Shania has probably done more than most to bring Country to the ears of the masses. If the MTV style video is what you like, little content but lots of girls in different outfits, then you'll probably like it. It has to be said though, the videos improve as you watch (a massive 21 videos!), but I think that also says, Shanias best was her first. I'll just sum this one up by saying the CD sounds a LOT better.
Martina has a very similar approach to brad. In this collection of 11 videos, with introductory interviews on about 9 of them, you have a collection of very moving, emotional songs with a few good laughs too. The interviews are pretty good, though I watched them after I'd seen all the videos. Some of the stories have a slightly enigmatic ending, and Martina is kind enough to go into detail on what really happened. I wont spoil the stories for you here, but I will say they're happy endings.
There are some real Country Rock ballads amongst this collection, Wild Angels, Love's The Only House and Life Number 9, and it's good to see some thought put into the stories that accompany what are some very hard subjects.
Overall, it's a surprise watching this collection. I'd heard her music a number of times but when you really see what she's singing about it's an eye opener that means you wont listen again the same way.
An Evening With The Dixie Chicks
This is the only live performance I've bought, though a lot of the videos have a few live performances on them, this is a full concert.
Basically featuring the whole of Home, which at the time was their new CD. First thing to note, is it's probably good that it was new at the time because the songs the audiance do know are all accompanied by their singing.
Another thing to note, as with all these DVD's, when offered with 5.1 or stereo sound, the stereo is best. In the case of this DVD you get PCM stereo, which is superb.
The actual quality of this live video is slightly strange, all the others I'd see have been your typical music video quality, which on the whole is very good. Here there are 2 distinct types of quality depending on which camera is shooting at the time. You have a very clear TV quality camera for most of the show, but interspersed with widescreen film quality footage. Strange, but you get used to it after a while.
Even though this is Home sandwiched between a few other tracks, it really is like listening to a Best Of album, there are so many fabulous songs here. The girls themselves, self confessing White Trash, introduce a lot of the songs, and you can't help but like these misfits.
For what is the most successful girl group ever in any genre they really are a normal bunch.
You have Martie Maguire talking about how her second husbands plan was to go to Vegas and win enough money for a wedding ring, a story that inspired the track White Trash Wedding, you have Emily Robison confessing to taking a break and getting "knocked up" and now they'll have to take another break, and of course Natalie Maines fresh after getting herself in trouble again, by what sounds like badmouthing the national anthem. I did'nt look up what the actual offence was, but the crowd did'nt seem that bothered. I was also amazed how good these girls are at playing. Flute, guitar, banjo, they really are a talented trio.
Natalie Maines also knows how to engage the audiance, telling stories and generally having a great time doing what she's doing. Nice to see her Dad there too playing guitar.
A very enjoyable concert from a superb group that unfortunatley got themselves in hot water, but need to bring out another album soon.
Summary.
If you can get hold of a copy of Today's Best Country Music, to be had on Amazon for a few quid. Take a good look at some of today's best Country artists and then dive in with the ones you like.
12:35 Posted in Film | Permalink | Email this