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Rating: Summary: Wretched Review: Bad menus. Sloppy packaging. 7 minutes of Beach Boys...50 minutes of junk adverts.
Rating: Summary: For the Completist Only! Review: Only 4 video clips exist on this 70 minute DVD by the Beach Boys... lip-synched performances of DO IT AGAIN, CALIFORNIA GIRLS, BREAK AWAY and SURFIN' USA, vintage 1968/1969, from German television. And sadly, the videos are edited with pre-programmed fades, so we lose a bit of the open and close of each performance. The producers have included these videos twice on the disc - the second time including annoying "pop-up" biographical factoids for our viewing pleasure. The rest of the disc is padded out with promotional music clips from other Ventura music releases. If you can live without these four vintage performances, then stay away from this misleading collection.
Rating: Summary: fun (if not fun, fun, fun) Review: This package is odd, no question, and perhaps best left to serious fans, but it's not as disposable as my fellow reviewers have made it out to be.Yes, it's brief. Yes, the intro and outro edits are a nuisance. Yes, the menu music (some weird metal-funk hybrid) doesn't suit a Beach Boys feature. Yes, the cover photo is misleading...a 1962 shot (with Brian and Dave) representing 1968/9 footage (with Al and Bruce). Yes, the performances are lip-synched. On the other hand, if you're a devotee on my level...that level being they're my favorite group of all time but I wouldn't pay over one figure for Summer in Paradise...there's plenty on this EP to make you smile (and laugh). The clip for "Breakaway", featuring Dennis chuckling at his own feeble attemps to drum-sync, should make you miss him all the more, and it's a surreal hoot to see Mike in his Maharishi bedsheet gear miming to "Surfin' USA". Also, as mentioned elsewhere, it sounds great. Though Classic Pictures might come off as a little amateur in their presentation, it's obvious there's a team of true music lovers at its core. The trove of previews might urge you to delve further into their catalog. I've got designs on that Who EP myself. Incidentally, if you're looking for visual history on The Beach Boys, I recommend Endless Harmony without hesitation, and the 2-fer of An American Band/I Just Wasn't Made For These Times is a heck of a deal.
Rating: Summary: fun (if not fun, fun, fun) Review: This package is odd, no question, and perhaps best left to serious fans, but it's not as disposable as my fellow reviewers have made it out to be. Yes, it's brief. Yes, the intro and outro edits are a nuisance. Yes, the menu music (some weird metal-funk hybrid) doesn't suit a Beach Boys feature. Yes, the cover photo is misleading...a 1962 shot (with Brian and Dave) representing 1968/9 footage (with Al and Bruce). Yes, the performances are lip-synched. On the other hand, if you're a devotee on my level...that level being they're my favorite group of all time but I wouldn't pay over one figure for Summer in Paradise...there's plenty on this EP to make you smile (and laugh). The clip for "Breakaway", featuring Dennis chuckling at his own feeble attemps to drum-sync, should make you miss him all the more, and it's a surreal hoot to see Mike in his Maharishi bedsheet gear miming to "Surfin' USA". Also, as mentioned elsewhere, it sounds great. Though Classic Pictures might come off as a little amateur in their presentation, it's obvious there's a team of true music lovers at its core. The trove of previews might urge you to delve further into their catalog. I've got designs on that Who EP myself. Incidentally, if you're looking for visual history on The Beach Boys, I recommend Endless Harmony without hesitation, and the 2-fer of An American Band/I Just Wasn't Made For These Times is a heck of a deal.
Rating: Summary: Beach Boys DVD Review: What a nice DVD The sound in DTS was out of this world. I just wish I was alive when the Beach Boys started out. If you like this DVD you will love Pet Sounds on DVD Audio.
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