AKA
11-19-2003, 12:15 AM
I thought the 5.1 mix was hit or miss, depending on the song. For example, "Instant Karma!" gives me a headache and "(Just Like) Starting Over" sounds awkward to me, but songs like "Imagine" and "Watching The Wheels" were very good in their new surround incarnations. I also enjoyed hearing "Instant Karma!," "Stand By Me," and "Borrowed Time" sans fadeout.
The videos are also a mixed bag. They obviously worked very hard on a lot of them, but most segments seemed like "how can we cleverly edit together footage of a dead guy to fit the song," something that's been commonplace in Lennon videos since the early eighties. With twenty songs on the disc, it gets tiresome pretty fast. Definitely a lot of photos of John's mom, a boatload of Sean, and hardly any footage of Julian (ironically, the only video I noticed him in was a song about having a bad or nonexistent relationship with your parents).
All that aside, I really enjoyed the new video for "(Just Like) Starting Over." It was directed by Joe Pytka, the same guy who directed the "Free As A Bird" video. The videos for "Working Class Hero" and "Happy Xmas" are also very well-done. The only videos I really couldn't sit through were "#9 Dream" and "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)," which are about as entertaining as watching water boil.
Still, it's a very worthy purchase. Ask Santa for it if you haven't already.
The videos are also a mixed bag. They obviously worked very hard on a lot of them, but most segments seemed like "how can we cleverly edit together footage of a dead guy to fit the song," something that's been commonplace in Lennon videos since the early eighties. With twenty songs on the disc, it gets tiresome pretty fast. Definitely a lot of photos of John's mom, a boatload of Sean, and hardly any footage of Julian (ironically, the only video I noticed him in was a song about having a bad or nonexistent relationship with your parents).
All that aside, I really enjoyed the new video for "(Just Like) Starting Over." It was directed by Joe Pytka, the same guy who directed the "Free As A Bird" video. The videos for "Working Class Hero" and "Happy Xmas" are also very well-done. The only videos I really couldn't sit through were "#9 Dream" and "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)," which are about as entertaining as watching water boil.
Still, it's a very worthy purchase. Ask Santa for it if you haven't already.