Blow-up!

Rating:
Summary: Fairly vanilla sampler from the folks at Hollywood & Vine
Review: Well, you can't beat the price.

Fans of the acts included on this DVD won't mind ponying up the (insert relatively low dollar figure here) for this glorified in-store promo effort, but there really isn't much of interest included in this set for anyone who is more than a casual fan.

The videos themselves aren't particularly ground-breaking (where have you gone, Russell Mulcahy?); Dandy Warhols fans may be interested to know that the video for "We Used To Be Friends" that is seen on this DVD is not the same version that can be found on the Dandys' website, and fans of Coldplay and the Vines (you know who you are) will doubtless enjoy the live footage of their band. Radiohead fans may feel a bit cheated as their band isn't represented with a proper video clip...and the "footage" was already archival and dated by the time this DVD was released.

There is a "pop-up video"-style video commentary track for each song that can be applied for casual fans otherwise unfamiliar with the artists included, but while the artist selection presented here is as good as can be expected and the price is indeed most reasonable, this video compilation, contemporary for its time, is hardly as interesting as other (far more expensive) DVD collections focusing on the careers of single artists such as the Cult, the Cure, Blur, and (especially) Duran Duran.

Basically I wouldn't recommend NOT purchasing "Blow-Up", but I can hardly say that it's essential viewing for dedicated fans of the acts, either. If you watch it twice you've paid for the rental fee of a movie from Blockbuster or Hollywood, so it's hard to feel that you don't get your money's worth. Take it or leave it for what it is and feel safe with either decision.